95 research outputs found
Born to blush unseen: Betty Trask in Frome
No full textBetty Trask (1893?–1983) is the very definition of a forgotten author. When her will left a king’s ransom to create a prize fund for first-time novelists, nobody knew that she had any connection with novel-writing whatever. Since then, over a hundred living novelists have drawn four-figure sums from the fund; but still not a single one of Trask’s own novels has been reissued. Mario Vargas Llosa, writing on Betty Trask four months after her death, was fascinated by a life so enveloped in obscurity as that of this “misteriosa filántropo de las letras inglesas” had been: a life “austera, discreta, poco menos que invisible.”
The basis of his fascination is also one of the most compelling justifications we have for recovering neglected writers’ lives. Trask, for Vargas Llosa, perfectly encapsulates what Don Quijote puts forward as the peculiar property of fiction: its ability to pierce the clouds of nonentity (or, in Virginia Woolf’s terms, the cotton wool of non-being) with rich imaginative life. Whether they are men of La Mancha or women of the Mendips, “a través de la ficción los seres humanos logran romper los límites en que viven encarcelados.
The life of Betty Trask (1893 - 1983): fiction, fame, and Frome
No full textThis piece ponders the many paradoxes that attach to the Frome author Betty Trask: a purveyor of middlebrow romances who pitches her tent in the territory of both Elizabeth Gaskell and Virginia Woolf; a writer who went global, at the hands of Mario Vargas Llosa, by virtue of being incorrigibly provincial
Generalized moving least squares interpolation for solution of partial differential equations
No full textMethods for computing the solution of partial differential equation typically require three key ingredients, namely: (1) how to represent the simulation domain, (2) how to represent the approximate solution and (3) how to enforce the governing equation. For example, the Finite Element Method requires a mesh to satisfy conditions (1) and (2). Doing so, however, places strict requirements on the mesh that are difficult to meet in applications.
This thesis mainly concentrates on utilizing the Generalized Moving Least Squares approximation in order to fulfill requirement (2) of the three key ingredients. Thereby, we reduce the requirements on the mesh to represent the unknown functions. Generalized Moving Least Squares builds a polynomial approximation for a function by minimizing the squared residual errors at specific locations throughout the domains. In the first part, we will fulfill condition (1) by a point-cloud (particle) representation of the simulation domain and condition (3) with a finite-difference-like collocation scheme on the strong form of the Partial Differential Equations at the particle locations. We apply this scheme to solve steady-state Stokes flow. Our results indicate that the error for both velocity and pressure field exhibits a high-order convergence rate. Additionally, the performance benchmarks suggest that our parallel implementation of the method is scalable for larger systems, and thus has potential to be executed on sizeable supercomputing clusters.
In the second part, we will borrow the framework from the Finite Element Method and satisfy condition (1) with a mesh. The resulting method has compactly supported discontinuous shape functions which are generated from generalized moving least squares. These discontinuous polynomials are then applied within a Discontinuous Galerkin variational formulation with interior penalty to accomplish condition (3). Since the basic functions are separated from the shape of the underlying elements, the dependence on the mesh quality is, therefore, removed. We derive \textit{a priori} error bounds of this formulation, specifically for solving Poisson's boundary value problem and the linear elasticity problem. The numerical result demonstrates the expected convergence behavior even on poor-quality meshes. Moreover, we have found that this scheme is able to maintain much higher stability, when compared against the conventional Finite Element Methods
Optimization Based Particle-Mesh Algorithm for High-Order and Conservative Scalar Transport
No full textA particle-mesh strategy is presented for scalar transport problems which provides diffusion-free advection, conserves mass locally (i.e. cellwise) and exhibits optimal convergence on arbitrary polyhedral meshes. This is achieved by expressing the convective field naturally located on the Lagrangian particles as a mesh quantity by formulating a dedicated particle-mesh projection based via a PDE-constrained optimization problem. Optimal convergence and local conservation are demonstrated for a benchmark test, and the application of the scheme to mass conservative density tracking is illustrated for the Rayleigh–Taylor instability.Accepted Author ManuscriptRivers, Ports, Waterways and Dredging EngineeringEnvironmental Fluid Mechanic
An asymptotically compatible treatment of traction loading in linearly elastic peridynamic fracture
No full textMeshfree discretizations of state-based peridynamic models are attractive due
to their ability to naturally describe fracture of general materials. However,
two factors conspire to prevent meshfree discretizations of state-based
peridynamics from converging to corresponding local solutions as resolution is
increased: quadrature error prevents an accurate prediction of bulk mechanics,
and the lack of an explicit boundary representation presents challenges when
applying traction loads. In this paper, we develop a reformulation of the
linear peridynamic solid (LPS) model to address these shortcomings, using
improved meshfree quadrature, a reformulation of the nonlocal dilitation, and a
consistent handling of the nonlocal traction condition to construct a model
with rigorous accuracy guarantees. In particular, these improvements are
designed to enforce discrete consistency in the presence of evolving fractures,
whose {\it a priori} unknown location render consistent treatment difficult. In
the absence of fracture, when a corresponding classical continuum mechanics
model exists, our improvements provide asymptotically compatible convergence to
corresponding local solutions, eliminating surface effects and issues with
traction loading which have historically plagued peridynamic discretizations.
When fracture occurs, our formulation automatically provides a sharp
representation of the fracture surface by breaking bonds, avoiding the loss of
mass. We provide rigorous error analysis and demonstrate convergence for a
number of benchmarks, including manufactured solutions, free-surface,
nonhomogeneous traction loading, and composite material problems. Finally, we
validate simulations of brittle fracture against a recent experiment of dynamic
crack branching in soda-lime glass, providing evidence that the scheme yields
accurate predictions for practical engineering problems
Conservative, high-order particle–mesh scheme with applications to advection-dominated flows
No full textBy combining concepts from particle-in-cell (PIC) and hybridized discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) methods, we present a particle–mesh scheme for flow and transport problems which allows for diffusion-free advection while satisfying mass and momentum conservation – locally and globally – and extending to high-order spatial accuracy. This is achieved via the introduction of a novel particle–mesh projection operator which casts the particle–mesh data transfer as a PDE-constrained optimization problem, permitting advective flux functionals at cell boundaries to be inferred from particle trajectories. This optimization problem seamlessly fits in a HDG framework, whereby the control variables in the optimization problem serve as advective fluxes in the HDG scheme. The resulting algebraic problem can be solved efficiently using static condensation. The performance of the scheme is demonstrated by means of numerical examples for the linear advection–diffusion equation and the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The results demonstrate optimal spatial accuracy, and when combined with a θ time integration scheme, second-order temporal accuracy is shown.Rivers, Ports, Waterways and Dredging EngineeringEnvironmental Fluid Mechanic
Reading acts of narrative appropriation: four instances of fraudulent memoir
No full textPhDThis thesis examines acts of narrative appropriation, the telling of purportedly‘authentic’ life stories by those for whom the stories are not theirs to tell. This
misuse or subversion of genre - the discipline of historical writing and the category
of autobiography - becomes a means for cultural, social and political dissimulation,
and the analysis focuses both on the act: the event, trespass, or ‘theft’ of another’s
life story, and on the cultural meaning that this event reveals. These narrative acts
are approached theoretically through discussions of what it means to be an author, a
reader, and through the consideration of literary and social genre, category and form.
In exploring identities at particular risk of appropriation, this thesis shows how
fraudulent appropriated narratives affect our reading of the world, and in turn
influence our perception of already marginalized social groups. My primary
examples include prostitution ‘narratives’, Native North American ‘memoir,’ and
fraudulent Holocaust survivor ‘testimony,’ with each text providing decoded
evidence of ‘genre-bending’ exhibiting a social and political intent. These works
seek to be read as authentic personal narratives, as autobiography, and that is how
they have been presented to the reader. However, they are imposters – fictional tales
desiring the elevated status of historical authenticity and willing to bend the rules
and contracts of genre to achieve their end. Here the appearance of authenticity is
achieved through the use of cultural and social ‘myth,’ or perceptions of cultural
identity, and as such its fraudulent construction is first and foremost a social act,
with a social and economic motivation. As this thesis concludes, these texts are
most successful when their own political and social ideologies echo and confirm that
of the readership; when their subjects, the fraudulent ‘I’ at the center of the text is
also a performative elaboration of cultural belief
An Asymptotically Compatible Approach For Neumann-Type Boundary Condition On Nonlocal Problems
No full textIn this paper we consider 2D nonlocal diffusion models with a finite nonlocal
horizon parameter characterizing the range of nonlocal interactions,
and consider the treatment of Neumann-like boundary conditions that have proven
challenging for discretizations of nonlocal models. While existing 2D nonlocal
flux boundary conditions have been shown to exhibit at most first order
convergence to the local counter part as , we present a
new generalization of classical local Neumann conditions that recovers the
local case as in the norm. This convergence
rate is optimal considering the convergence of the nonlocal
equation to its local limit away from the boundary. We analyze the application
of this new boundary treatment to the nonlocal diffusion problem, and present
conditions under which the solution of the nonlocal boundary value problem
converges to the solution of the corresponding local Neumann problem as the
horizon is reduced. To demonstrate the applicability of this nonlocal flux
boundary condition to more complicated scenarios, we extend the approach to
less regular domains, numerically verifying that we preserve second-order
convergence for domains with corners. Based on the new formulation for nonlocal
boundary condition, we develop an asymptotically compatible meshfree
discretization, obtaining a solution to the nonlocal diffusion equation with
mixed boundary conditions that converges with convergence
Vowel duration issue in Civili
No full textThe main goal of this article is to define the problem of vowel duration in Civili (H12a). It shows that the so-called Civili vowel-length desperately needs to be re-examined, because previous works on the sound system of this language hardly explain a number of phonological phenomena, such as vowel lengthening, on the basis of data at hand. Demonstrating the problem in question, the author first reviews previous works that all identify a vowel lengthening in Civili. From different analyses the complexity of the phenomenon is found out by observing differences from an analysis to another, and by regarding difficulties the different phonologists came up against. Then, the problem is also seen through the weakness of each analysis results. This eventually shows more aspects of the vowel duration issue, and leads the author to make a clear distinction between vowel length and vowel lengthening that can be all regarded as only vowel duration. Finally, the article shares a possible way for a solution through an experimental approach of the Civili sound system
Don Berry
No full textIn his first two novels of the early Oregon country, Trask and Moontrap, Northwestern author Don Berry placed himself within what has come to be perhaps the essential tradition in serious Western American literature. Like such earlier writers as Willa Gather, Robinson Jeffers, and Walter Van Tilburg Clark, and like his contemporary fellow-Northwesterner Gary Snyder, Don Berry conveys to us a sacramental belief that transcendent power or energy awaits man’s explorations within the natural world. Further, Berry’s work asserts that this participation, this ultimate reconciliation with the patterns of earth and sky, water and rock, must be undertaken in defiance of the conventional social order if one would reach his full potentiality for human freedom and awareness. That meaning is conveyed to us in the central figures of Trask and Webb in Berry’s first novels, and in a somewhat different form through the spiritual discoveries of Ben Thaler, the first-person narrator of Berry’s third novel, To Build a Ship
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