203 research outputs found
Creative Assets and the Changing Economy
No full textThis paper evaluates recent claims that art and culture have become more valuable assets in the new economy. Based on conversations with several prominent cultural economists, the author argues that advocates and scholars should be more cautious in their attempts to draw out the implications of the changing economy on culture. Rather than spend time calculating the impact or size of the “creative economy,” the author argues that we should direct our analytical and policy energies toward better understanding how creative work and institutions are changing and what might be done to foster a more robust, creative and diverse cultural life.
Extracting finite structure from infinite language
No full textThis paper presents a novel connectionist memory-rule based model capable of learning the finite-state properties of an input language from a set of positive examples. The model is based upon an unsupervised recurrent self-organizing map [T. McQueen, A. Hopgood, J. Tepper, T. Allen, A recurrent self-organizing map for temporal sequence processing, in: Proceedings of Fourth International Conference in Recent Advances in Soft Computing (RASC2002), Nottingham, 2002] with laterally interconnected neurons. A derivation of functionalequivalence theory [J. Hopcroft, J. Ullman, Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages and Computation, vol. 1, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1979] is used that allows the model to exploit similarities between the future context of previously memorized sequences and the future context of the current input sequence. This bottom-up learning algorithm binds functionally related neurons together to form states. Results show that the model is able to learn the Reber grammar [A. Cleeremans, D. Schreiber, J. McClelland, Finite state automata and simple recurrent networks, Neural Computation, 1 (1989) 372–381] perfectly from a randomly generated training set and to generalize to sequences beyond the length of those found in the training set
A Study of Transgressed Boundaries in The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper
No full textThis paper endeavours to delineate the gender dynamics and ethical quandaries arising from the repercussions of war and the decisions undertaken to preserve societal norms, as depicted in the 1988 science-fiction novel entitled The Gate to Women’s Country, written by American author Sheri S. Tepper. Serving as a critique, the narrative provides insight into inquiries surrounding the supposed genetic determinants of violence. It interrogates established paradigms pertaining to gender, introducing a society meticulously crafted through scientific design
An experimental and analytical exploration of the effects of manufacturing parameters on ceramic pot filter performance
No full textThesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-165).Ceramic pot filters (CPF) are a promising low-cost option for household water treatment, providing a barrier of protection against-microbiological contaminants for households with or without reliable piped water supplies. The goal of this thesis is to provide CPF manufacturers with tools to increase their ability to reach performance objectives for CPF flow rate, bacteria removal and strength. This is achieved by experimentally determining relationships between these three aspects of performance and three manufacturing values: percentage rice husk, rice husk size and wall thickness. These relationships are used to run a series of optimizations that result in design recommendations including the recommendation to increase wall thickness to improve bacteria removal and to tightly control rice husk size to maintain consistent flow rates. In addition to the experimental relationships, this author seeks a theoretical explanation of filter performance. Through this process, the author determined that hydraulic head can be increased without decreasing bacteria removal and that incomplete combustion should not be of primary concern to manufacturers. While the results in this study are preliminary, the systematic approach to the CPF design shown here can be used in future studies to further analyze and improve the CPF design.by Amelia Tepper Servi.S.M
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Corpus-based connectionist parsing
No full textSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN035559 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Predictable non-linearities in U.S. inflation
No full textWe expand Nakamura’s (2005) neural network based inflation forecasting experiment to an alternative non-linear model; a Markov switching autoregressive (MS-AR) model. The two non-linear models perform approximately on par and outperform the linear autoregressive model on short forecast horizons of one and two quarters. Furthermore, the MS-AR model is the best performer on longer horizons of three and four quarters
Social Cohesion In New Town Dronten
No full textHalfway through the twentieth century, the Netherlands started draining the Zuiderzee in the middle of the country, to create the province Flevoland. Flevoland consists of three parts, the Noordoostpolder, Southern Flevoland and Eastern Flevoland, where among others the town Dronten is located. Nowadays, the municipality of Dronten counts over forty thousand residents, though eighty years ago this piece of land was nothing more than a stretch of seawater. Even before the land of Eastern Flevoland was fully reclaimed, designs for its layout were being made. The first concrete plans of building ‘new town’ Dronten started in 1958 and a few years later the first houses were built on a freshly reclaimed piece of land. In this implemented plan, municipality Dronten consists of only three towns: Dronten, Biddinghuizen and Swifterbant. Initially, however, there were other plans where the municipality of Dronten would consist of multiple small towns, in Dutch called kernen, around the centre Dronten. Due to changes in mobility and experiences of other projects, these plans developed. Creating freshly reclaimed land into a municipality and multiple towns is quite a unique situation. Since this was the case in Flevoland, a new piece of land without any history, people came from all over the country to start a new living environment and community. Starting a new society gives accordingly the opportunity to do things completely different, whether the possibility exist that new residents take old habits and values with them. Therefore it is interesting to gain more insight in how issues such as social cohesion are taken into account by the planning, designing and development of a new municipality and a town such as Dronten. Based on this topic, the following research question for the thesis arises: To what extend is social cohesion recognisable in the spatial planning and urban designs of the period 1950 until the 1980 of municipality and ‘new town’ Dronten? AR2A011Architectural History ThesisArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Science
Clinical Medicine and Clinical Trials
No full textThe author discusses the role of clinical trials in clinical medicine
Mothers, men and mind control : an analysis of Sheri S. Tepper's novels : Grass and The fresco
No full textThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Sheri S. Tepper, one of the most prolific feminist science fiction writers, uses her novels to address humanity‟s ignorance about, and indifference towards, various social, gender and environmental issues, and in so doing, she attempts to rectify these issues by creating an awareness of them. Her novels generally focus on four main issues: motherhood, both as ideology and experience; the essentialized nature and acceptance of the superiority of masculinity; the influence of religions, traditions and ideologies; and an ever-increasing concern for environmental preservation. These issues are all interlinked in her novels. Though some of her works have received critical attention, most notably The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall (1996), most have received little. I will present a critical analysis of Tepper‟s Grass (1989) – a novel which has received some critical attention – and The Fresco (2000) – a novel which has received very little critical attention. Although these novels deal with the same issues, they do so in different ways: Grass is a much more layered critique of modern society, whereas The Fresco is a rather blatant critique and the passionate voice of its author filters through more prominently than in Grass. I will be examining Tepper‟s portrayal of motherhood, masculinity and the influence of ideologies, religions and traditions in both of these novels. Although there will not be a section devoted to Tepper‟s environmental views, these will be highlighted within the other sections. Tepper ultimately stands for women‟s rights to opt for motherhood as a free choice. She also insists that ideologies, religions and traditions – society‟s oppressive straitjackets – should adapt to modernity, and that the acceptance of masculinity as the dominant gender be destabilized. Rectifying these problems, in Tepper‟s view, would also lead to the preservation of the environment for future generations. In my conclusion I address the most frequent critique directed against Tepper‟s work, namely that her novels are repetitive with regard to thematic content, by suggesting that her work is repetitive because she feels the need to reiterate the same issues in her novels, to indicate that the same societal problems of the past are still prevalent.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sheri S. Teper, een van die vernaamste feminis-wetenskapfisksie skryfsters, gebruik haar romans om die mensdom se onkunde oor, en onverskilligheid teenoor, verskeie sosiale-, geslags- en omgewingskwessies aan te spreek in „n poging om hierdie kwessies op te los deur mense meer bewus te maak van die kwessies. Haar romans fokus gewoonlik op vier hoof kwessies wat aan mekaar verbind is: moederskap, beide as ideologiese en fisiese ervaring; die genoodsaakte aanvaarding van manlikheid as die dominante geslag; die invloed van gelowe, tradisies, en ideologieë op die samelewing; en „n toenemende besorgheid oor die bewaring van die omgewing. Alhoewel sommige van haar romans kritiese aandag ontvang het, in besonder The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) en Gibbon’s Decline and Fall (1996), het die meeste baie min kritiese aandag ontvang. Ek beoog dus om twee van Tepper se romans, Grass (1989) en The Fresco (2000), krities te ontleed. Alhoewel Grass ietwat meer kritiese aandag ontvang het, het The Fresco byna geen kritiese aandag ontvang nie. Beide die romans spreek dieselfde kwessies aan, maar in verskillende maniere: Grass is a baie meer subtiele kritiek van die moderne samelewing, terwyl The Fresco „n baie meer flagrante kritiek is en die passievolle stem van die outeur is baie meer opmerklik in diè roman. Ek beoog om Tepper se uitbeelding van moederskap, manlikheid en die invloed van ideologieë, gelowe en tradisies in beide hierdie romans ondersoek. Hoewel daar nie „n spesifieke seksie gaan wees wat opgedra is aan die ondersoek van Tepper se omgewingsboodskap nie, sal dit tog uitgelig word in ander seksies. Daar sal gewys word dat Tepper vir die regte van vroue staan om moederskap vrylik te kan kies. Sy beveel ook aan dat dat ideologieë, gelowe en tradisies moet aan pas by die vereistes van moderne samelewing, en dat die aanvaarding van manlikheid as die dominante geslag omgekeer moet word. Deur hierdie probleme reg te maak, in Tepper se opinie, sal dit lei tot die bewaring van die omgewing vir toekomstige generasies. In my gevolgtrekking spreek ek een van die algemeenste kritieke teen Tepper se romans aan, naamlik dat die tematiese inhoud herhalend is. Ek voel dat die werklike probleem is dat Tepper dit nodig ag om dieselfde kwessies uit te beeld, aangesien dit aan dui dat probleme van die verlede steeds voorkom in die huidige samelewing.Master
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