552 research outputs found
Light into Darkness: the Gothic Roots of Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945)
No full textThis essay stems from the hypothesis that contact zones between genres or modes and media enable us to analyse those exchanges that revitalise established forms and conventions. Coherently with this remit, it will explore the Gothic dimension of Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological thrillers, with a focus on Spellbound (1945). The film will be discussed in relation both to the rather obscure novel in which it is rooted and to the wide range of ‘psychological melodramas’ that Hollywood produced in the 1940s. While the metamorphosis of the Gothic into the psychological thriller partly resulted in a ‘sanitation’ of Gothic transgressiveness, it also concurred to its refunctionalisation within the conceptual framework of psychoanalysis, ultimately proving its resilience
The unbearable lightness of equilibria in a low interest rate environment
No full textStructural models with no solution are incoherent, and those with multiple solutions are incomplete. We show that models with occasionally binding constraints are not generically coherent. Coherency requires restrictions on the parameters or on the support of the distribution of the shocks. In presence of multiple shocks, the support restrictions cannot be independent from each other, so the assumption of orthogonality of structural shocks is incompatible with coherency. Models whose coherency is based on support restrictions are generically incomplete, admitting a very large number of minimum state variable solutions
After Sherlock: The Age of Fallible Detectives
No full textIn the wake of Sherlock Holmes’s success, writers and critics explored the relationship of the fallible detective to the ideological and aesthetic characteristics of the Golden Age. The author examines this phenomenon, shedding light on the transition between the infallible detectives of positivism and the vulnerable detectives of post–World War II psycho-thrillers
From Enigmas to Emotions: The Twentieth Century Canonization of Crime Fiction
No full textStarting from the early–twentieth-century criticism of the “clue-puzzle” tradition, the author investigates the progressive return of emotions to the scene of both creative and critical crime writing. The analysis encompasses aspects of the twentieth-century canonization of crime fiction, dispelling some lingering critical prejudices and presenting the genre as complex
A Raft in the Sea of Loneliness: Katherine Mansfield’s Discovery of Cosmic Anatomy
No full textM. B. Oxon’s Cosmic Anatomy and the Structure of the Ego (1921) was a prominent feature of Katherine Mansfield's 'myth' right from its inception, in the years following her death, when J.M. Murry orchestrated the publication of her uncollected writings. When Mansfield’s Journal appeared in 1927 the public came into contact with a little-known book that had changed the life of the author one year before her death. This article investigates the role Cosmic Anatomy played within the imagination of Mansfield, in relation to her late production. It also sheds light on the personality of Oxon, whose real name was Lewis Alexander Richard Wallace, notably on his relation with Mansfield's mentor, A.R. Orage, investigating Wallace’s contribution to The New Age (the journal Orage edited), which can be defined as the 'alternative thinking' laboratory in which Cosmic Anatomy is rooted
An American Model for the EU Gas Market?
No full textIt is generally believed that the American model is not suitable for Europe, yet North America is the only large and working competitive gas market in the world. The paper shows how its model could be adapted as a target for market design within the European institutional framework. It starts from analysis of the main peculiar economic features of the gas transportation industry, which should underpin any efficient model. After the Third Package is properly implemented the EU will share several building blocks of the American model: effective unbundling of transportation and supply; regulated tariffs which, for long distance transportation, are in fact largely related to capacity and distance; investments based mostly on industry’s initiative and resources, and the related decisions are increasingly made after open and public processes. Yet Europe needs to harmonize tariff regulation criteria, which could be achieved through a monitoring process. National separation of main investment decisions should be overcome, possibly by organising a common platform where market forces and public authorities interact with private suppliers to require existing and develop new capacity, whereas industry competitively offers its solutions. Such platform would allow for long term capacity reservation, subject to caps and congestion management provisions. Auctions and possibly market coupling would play an important role in the allocation of short term capacity but a limited one in long term. Market architecture and the organisation of hubs would also be developed mostly by market forces under regulatory oversight. The continental nature of the market suggests a likely concentration of trading in a very limited number of main markets, whereas minor markets would have a limited role and would be connected to major ones, with price differences reflecting transportation costs and market conditions. Excessive interference or pursuit of political goals in less than transparent ways involves the risk of slower liquidity development and higher market fragmentation. With this view as a background, regulatory work aimed at completing the European market should be based on ensuring the viability of interconnections between current markets and on the establishment of common platforms and co-ordinated tariff systems, fostering the conditions for upstream and transportation capacity development.Hubs; infrastructure; target model; network tariffs; gas market design; capacity allocation
Ascari e Schiavoni: il razzismo coloniale a Venezia. Giorno della Memoria 2017 a Ca\u27 Foscari
No full textLa mostra, tenutasi nella Cultural Flow Zone di Ca\u27 Foscari dal 19 gennaio al 12 febbraio 2017, nasce come spazio di riflessione in occasione della ricorrenza dell\u27ottantesimo anniversario della prima legge razziale sulla "tutela della razza".
Ascari e Schiavoni: due figure emblematiche, due costruzioni retoriche che ci hanno permesso di accostare le due aree geografiche maggiormente coinvolte nel progetto espansionistico italiano, l’Africa e i Balcani.
Ascari e Schiavoni, anche se appartenenti a momenti storici diversi, condividono un’identità di ruolo, entrambi membri di truppe straniere poste al servizio dell’esercito della potenza dominante.
Gli ascari erano soldati africani mercenari inquadrati nelle truppe coloniali italiane; gli s-ciavoni erano un gruppo di soldati slavi appartenenti ad un reparto speciale della Repubblica di Venezia.
I due termini permangono nell\u27uso del parlato locale o nella toponomastica urbana veneziana, riproducendo l\u27eco dell\u27espansione coloniale passata.
Blog ufficiale della mostra: https://razzismocolonialevenezia.wordpress.com/La mostra, tenutasi nella Cultural Flow Zone di Ca\u27 Foscari dal 19 gennaio al 12 febbraio 2017, nasce come spazio di riflessione in occasione della ricorrenza dell\u27ottantesimo anniversario della prima legge razziale sulla "tutela della razza".
Ascari e Schiavoni: due figure emblematiche, due costruzioni retoriche che ci hanno permesso di accostare le due aree geografiche maggiormente coinvolte nel progetto espansionistico italiano, l’Africa e i Balcani.
Ascari e Schiavoni, anche se appartenenti a momenti storici diversi, condividono un’identità di ruolo, entrambi membri di truppe straniere poste al servizio dell’esercito della potenza dominante.
Gli ascari erano soldati africani mercenari inquadrati nelle truppe coloniali italiane; gli s-ciavoni erano un gruppo di soldati slavi appartenenti ad un reparto speciale della Repubblica di Venezia.
I due termini permangono nell\u27uso del parlato locale o nella toponomastica urbana veneziana, riproducendo l\u27eco dell\u27espansione coloniale passata.
Blog ufficiale della mostra: https://razzismocolonialevenezia.wordpress.com
Counterhistories and Prehistories
No full textFar from being objective entities, literary genres should be regarded as cultural constructs,
the development of which can be analysed in a “meta- critical” mode. During the course of
modernity, crime fiction underwent a process of specialisation due to societal and epistemological
changes that brought about an increasing focus on the investigation. Yet, this process
never severed the ties between this highly successful and partly formulaic literary output and
the much broader body of crime narratives. This chapter aims not only to remind us of this
phenomenon, but also to investigate the concomitant critical and theoretical constructions,
starting from the early twentieth century, when detective fi ction crystallised into a literary
genre that resulted from complex interactions between literary production and reception. It
will then move on to the second half of the century, when this theoretical perspective was
progressively deconstructed, also in response to the renewed experimental freedom claimed
by practitioners of the genre. Having traced the shift from detective fiction to crime fiction , that is,
from the restrictive theoretical and historical paradigms that characterised Golden Age detective
fiction to the current emphasis on the creative power of cross- genre pollination, these pages will
finally show how this counterhistorical awareness can lead to a renewed interest in the prehistory
of the genre
Shigella flexneri remodeling and consumption of host lipids during infection
No full textShigella flexneri is a major cause of bacillary dysentery in the developing world, predominantly affecting the pediatric age group, with malnutrition being a common co-morbidity. Lipids are key nutritional components, and their abundance and composition are likely to influence the pathobiology of S. flexneri. S. flexneri expresses a plethora of polysaccharides on its cell surface, but how this hydrophilic surface layer influences S. flexneri interaction with hydrophobic host molecules, such as fatty acids and lipids, is not well understood. In this study, we sought to interrogate how this hydrophilic layer affects S. flexneri during its intracellular lifestyle and how lipid homeostasis changes in both the host and pathogen. We characterized changes in S. flexneri cell envelope composition and surface-associated glycolipids, in particular lipopolysaccharide (LPS), during different phases of infection. We found that a dynamic capacity in LPS expression is necessary for the pathogen to manage delicate interaction with host fatty acids and maintain optimum virulence. Additionally, through confocal immunofluorescent microscopy, coupled with transcriptional and lipid analyses, we demonstrate that S. flexneri induces major host lipid remodeling during infection, by hijacking host lipid homeostasis pathways to its own benefit. Finally, this study suggests that fatty acid supplementation can influence the persistence and magnitude of S. flexneri infection. This work provides novel insights into the potential roles of balanced and sufficient dietary fatty acid intake in protection against gastroenteric pathogen infection.Alice Ascari, Sonja Frölich, Maoge Zang, Elizabeth N. H. Tran, Danny W. Wilson, Renato Morona, Bart A. Eijkelkam
New Possibilities in the Fabrication of Hybrid Components with Big Dimensions by Means of Selective Laser Melting (SLM)
No full textAbstractThe application of laser technology to welding of dissimilar AISI316 stainless steel components manufactured with selective laser melting (SLM) and traditional methods has been investigated. The role of laser parameters on weld bead formation has been studied experimentally, with particular attention placed on effects occurring at the interface between the two parts. In order to assess weld bead characteristics, standardised tensile tests were carried out on suitable specimens and the fracture zone was analysed. The results highlighted the possibility of exploiting suitable process parameters to appropriately shape the heat affected and fusion zones in order to maximise the mechanical performance of the component and minimise interactions between the two parent metals in the weld bead
- …
