30 research outputs found
The charisma code: communicating in a language beyond words
No full textThe Charisma Code offers a wealth of tools for resolving conflict, inspiring engagement, and changing culture." Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com THE ERA OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP IS HERE. While we know the next big innovations will spring from global culture, it's not always clear how to join this planet-without-borders conversation. The Charisma Code is a handbook for connecting across cultures. The best connectors are the biggest influencers, and those who influence culture change the world. The key is unleashing your inner soul forceyour charismato attract, connect, engage and bring value to your relationships. In her barrier-breaking book, cultural anthropologist, Robin Sol Lieberman, reveals how anyone can tap the language beyond words to build bridges, open doors, or start revolutions. As Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love, says, The Charisma Code unlocks some best-kept secrets regarding living and leading from a power within us all." The Charisma Code inspires readers to choose courage over comfort, compassion over ignorance, and freedom over fear. Charisma helps communicate who you arethe most engaging tool you can use when inviting others on your ride!
Precursor- and waste-free synthesis of spark-ablated nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability towards airborne organic pollutant degradation
No full textPhotocatalyst synthesis typically involves multiple steps, expensive precursors, and solvents. In contrast, spark ablation offers a simple process of electrical discharges in a gap between two electrodes made from a desirable material. This enables a precursor- and waste-free generation of pure metal oxide nanoparticles or mixtures of various compositions. This study presents a two-step method for the production of photocatalytic filters with deposited airborne MnOx, TiO2, and ZnO nanoparticles using spark ablation and calcination processes. The resulting MnOx and TiO2 filters demonstrated almost twice the activity with outstanding performance stability, as compared to sol-gel MnO2 and commercial TiO2. The introduced method is not only simple, precursor- and waste-free, and leads to superior performance for the case studied, but it also has future potential due to its versatility. It can easily produce mixed and doped materials with further improved properties, making it an interesting avenue for future research.ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storag
Collective Values, Behavioural Norms, and Rules: Building Institutions for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction
No full textGrowth, Poverty, Rules, Institutions, Human behaviour
Distinct Roles for Condensin's Two ATPase Sites in Chromosome Condensation
No full textCondensin is a conserved SMC complex that uses its ATPase machinery to structure genomes, but how it does so is largely unknown. We show that condensin's ATPase has a dual role in chromosome condensation. Mutation of one ATPase site impairs condensation, while mutating the second site results in hyperactive condensin that compacts DNA faster than wild-type, both in vivo and in vitro. Whereas one site drives loop formation, the second site is involved in the formation of more stable higher-order Z loop structures. Using hyperactive condensin I, we reveal that condensin II is not intrinsically needed for the shortening of mitotic chromosomes. Condensin II rather is required for a straight chromosomal axis and enables faithful chromosome segregation by counteracting the formation of ultrafine DNA bridges. SMC complexes with distinct roles for each ATPase site likely reflect a universal principle that enables these molecular machines to intricately control chromosome architecture.BN/Cees Dekker La
Cult: A Composite Novel
No full textCult (redacted)
The first component of the thesis is a composite novel called Cult which falls into two parts with seven narratives in each. Part 1 tracks the protagonist, Ellen, from her first involvement with the cult through to her eventually leaving it. Although fiction, the first half of the book answers the kinds of questions the author is asked when people discover that she was once a sannyasin (a follower of the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh). While the experiences of meditation, group therapy and communal living are all faithfully rendered within the stories, the need for strong characters, narrative drive and a lightness of touch takes precedence.
Part 2 picks up Ellen’s story some twenty or so years later and explores what becomes of her in middle age. It also looks at other groups in society, such as academia, the law and the internet dating community which each have their own jargon, hierarchies, rituals and rules but are not considered to be cults.
The book examines the question raised in the Epigraph, ‘how do we be together when we feel so alone’ with a focus on relationships other than the familial and the romantic.
Collisions, Chasms and Connections: a Performative Exploration of the Composite Novel Form
The second part of the thesis is both a critical and creative response to three contemporary American books: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout; A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan; and Legend of a Suicide by David Vann. The critical element comprises a close reading of the three books; a chronological reconstruction of their overarching storylines; and a consideration of what their authors have said about writing the books. It concludes that, in the composite novel, the simultaneous presentation of multiple views and storylines operate much like a 3D image to give the impression of depth to the characters and situations rendered. The creative element of the essay is a playful and personal response to the texts
Detective fiction in Cuban society and culture.
No full textPhDThe object of this thesis is to reach towards an understanding of Cuban society through a
study of its detective fiction and more particularly contemporary Cuban society through
the novels of the author and critic, Leonardo Padura Fuentes.
The method has been to trace the development of Cuban detective writing and to
read Padura Fuentes in the light of the work of twentieth century Western European
literary critics and philosophers including Raymond Williams, Antonio Gramsci, Terry
Eagleton, Roland Barthes, Jean Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, Jean François Lyotard and
Jean Baudrillard in order to gain a better understanding of the social and historical
context from which this genre emerged.
By concentrating on the literary texts, I have explored readings which lead out into
an analysis of the broader philosophical, political and historical issues raised by the
Cuban revolution. Since it deals primarily with modes of deviance and notions of legality
and justice within the context of the modern state, detective fiction is particularly well
suited to this type of investigation. The intention is to show how this is as valid in the
Cuban context as it is in advanced capitalist societies where such research has already
been carried out with some success.
The thesis comprises an introduction, ten chapters and a conclusion. The chapters
are divided into three sections. Chapters 1 to 3 attempt a broad theoretical, historical and
socio-political analysis of the cultural reality within which the Cuban revolutionary
detective genre emerged. Chapters 4 to 6 analyse the Cuban detective narrative from its
inception in the early part of the twentieth century until the emergence of Leonardo
Padura Fuentes as the foremost exponent of the genre in Cuba after 1991. Chapters 7-
10 concentrate upon the work of Leonardo Padura Fuentes, offering a reading of his
detective tetralogy informed by the preceding discussion.
The contribution made by the thesis to knowledge of the subject is to build upon the
work of Seymour Menton and Amelia S. Simpson on the development of the Cuban
detective novel and to provide analyses of the pre-Revolutionary Cuban detective
narrative and the work of Leonardo Padura Fuentes for the first time in the English
language. The thesis concludes that the study of this popular genre in Cuba is of crucial
importance to the scholar who wishes to reach as full an understanding of the social
dynamics within that society as possible. In particular, it proves that Cuban detective
fiction provides a useful barometer of social change which records the shifts in the Cuban
Zeitgeist that have taken place over the past century
Investigating Performer Uniqueness: The Case of Jascha Heifetz
No full textThis thesis is based on the conviction that the greatest musical performers of history can and should be granted the same level of academic scrutiny and study as is so often received by the greatest composers. Composers had the early advantage of producing durable manuscripts, while performers prior to the age of recording were unable to leave more than impressions in the minds of those who heard them. With the recent successes of numerous investigations into performance and recordings, including the CHARM and CMPCP projects, such studies are becoming ever more viable and significant.
The thesis focuses on the violinist Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) and primarily his performances of the Bach solo violin works (BWV 1001-1006). While there have been studies of individual pieces, of particular performers, and of multiple recordings of the same piece, a study focussing on specific repertoire played by a specific performer is something that has been somewhat overlooked in the literature. The thesis draws on numerous methods to distil what is distinctive and unique about Heifetz. This includes an examination of what and how the performer played, why the performer played that way, and how that way of playing compares to other performers. The study concludes with a discussion of Heifetz’s unique performer profile in the context of violin performance history.
Focussing on one of the most famous and successful performing musicians of the twentieth century along with some of the most frequently played pieces, this case study will suggest research methods and approaches transferable to related studies. The thesis draws on original interviews with former Heifetz students, friends, and colleagues, and on over thirteen months of archival research in the Jascha Heifetz Collection held by the Library of Congress. This array of previously untapped material aided the analytical and empirical investigations into Heifetz’s uniqueness
Childhood in the works of Silvina Ocampo and Alejandra Pizarnik
No full textThis thesis
explores childhood as
theme
and perspective
in
the Argentine
cuentista and
poet
Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993)
and traces this thematic
and vital
link to the
Argentine
poet
Alejandra Pizamik (1936-1972). The
study
looks
at childhood not only
in
relation to their literary texts but
also
in the
writers' construction of self-identity
within
their
socio-literary context, and at
the
role played
by
visual art
in their
aesthetic.
Chapter 1
contrasts Silvina
with
her
elder sister
Victoria Ocampo through their
differing literary
appropriation of a shared childhood. It distinguishes Ocampo from
Adolfo Bioy Casares and
Jorge Luis Borges in terms of
her fictional logic
and
her
treatment of games, drawing comparisons instead with Julio Cortdzar.
Chapter 2
undertakes close reading of various Ocampo texts, including
some
for
children,
in
order to explore
her
vision of childhood through nostalgia, adult-child
power relationships, aging and rejuvenation, and moments of
initiation or
imitation.
Chapter 3
turns to Pizarnik
and the myth of the child-poet.
It
analyses
her
child
personae through Andre Breton's Surrealism, Jean Cocteau
and
Octavio Paz, through
her borrowings from Alice in Wonderland
and
Nadja,
and
through
her
obsession with
madness, death,
orphanhood, violation and transgression.
Chapter 4 is
comparative.
It
outlines the context
in
which
Ocampo
and
Pizamik's
passionate friendship developed,
and considers
Pizamik's
essay on
Elpecado
mortal.
It
then explores their broad
mutual
literary
and
thematic
affinities.
My
conclusion is that Ocampo's works achieve equilibrium between childhood and age,
whereas Pizarnik's
much-discussed poetic crisis of exile
from language itself
parallels
her deep sense of anxiety at being
exiled from the world of childhood.
This thesis
contributes to the
study of
Argentine literature by drawing
revealing
comparisons
between
two key
writers
through their shared obsession with childhood,
arguing that
an understanding of their attitudes
to childhood
is fundamental
to
appreciating
fully their
work.
I
refer to unpublished
letters
of
Ocampo,
material
from
private
interviews,
photographs and relevant paintings
by Leonor Fini, Alicia Carletti
and others
Music made visible in time and space : concepts of simultaneity in tone-eurythmy choreography
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 105-113).Eurythmy is an art of movement that expresses music and speech. This dissertation explores eurythmy's musical field, called tone-eurythmy, in its multifaceted appearances, background and within its philosophical context. Tone-eurythmy, carried out by performers moving in space and time, makes music visible. It transforms music into a new movement-art form, that of audible-visible music, by expressing musical components as well as the artistic intentions within a composition and those held by the performing artists. The dissertation examines how musical concepts are seen by eurythmists to integrate ideas of wholeness and to understand music as both audible and inaudible. It draws on studies and findings from music psychology to show distinct effects of musical elements on the human being, and to indicate the similarities between those and the qualitative expressions of music through tone-eurythmy
The securitisation of the United Kingdom's maritime infrastructure during the 'war on terror'
No full textThis thesis examines counter-terrorism efforts in relation to the United Kingdom's ports and harbours (its 'maritime infrastructure') in the context of the 'war on terror'. To do this the thesis utilises the Copenhagen School's securitisation theory as the analytical frameowrk through which a case study, focusing on developments in a five year period between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2009 and utilising the cases of Felixstowe, Holyhead and Tilbury, is undertaken. The thesis argues that UK maritime infrastructure was securitised in the context of the macrosecuritisation of the 'civilised way of life', which were in a mutually reinforcing relationship. By reorienting emphasis towards the 'post-securitised environment' and on to examining what securitisations 'do' in practice, the thesis subsequently demonstrates the substantial impact of securitisation on the management of UK maritime infrastructure. More specifically it argues that a counter-terrorism security response was evident which constantly evolved, was layered and increasingly expansive in scope and that had a series of prominent, recurring features. The thread which ran through this response was the pursuit of increased power in relation to UK maritime infrastructure, undertaken by the British state and port owners in particular. The thesis concludes by noting how the key findings of the case study progressively demonstrate a greater level of complexity to the securitisation of UK maritime infrastructure than can at first be apparent
