Integrated Communication Systems and Kinesic Code-Switching in Interpersonal Interaction

The purpose of the study is to find support for the integrated communication systems hypothesis. To find support for this hypothesis a specific group of participants were selected: bicultural and bilingual individuals that were tested in four different conditions. A new and highly reliable motion capture system together with special software was used to measure gesture velocity. Two working hypothesis were formulated. The secondary hypothesis was verified: the bicultural and bilingual participants change their gestural pattern depending on what language they speak. We call this a kinesic code-switching. The tendency is somewhat stronger in the face-to-face condition compared to the audio only condition. The primary hypothesis was supported in competition with alternative hypotheses: the only hypothesis that can fit all the results in this study, all four test conditions, is the integrated systems hypothesis. The participants most likely use two intertwined communication systems when they communicate in an interpersonal situation

'A New Type of Part Writing': Notation and Performance in Beethoven's Late String Quartets

Beethoven’s late string quartets are among his most extraordinary and elusive works. A source of fascination to performers, audiences and scholars alike for nearly two centuries, they are defined by an aesthetic of ‘difficulty’. This thesis argues that one crucial source of difficulty lies in Beethoven’s eccentric uses of notation in the quartets – a difficulty that has had profound implications for the future study and performance of the works. Mirroring the stylistic pluralities of the late quartets themselves, issues of notation and performance are explored through a variety of methodologies, drawn from the digital humanities, Peircean semiotics, anthropology and critical theory. Although the late quartets are the central impetus, this thesis is ultimately about the relational nature of creativity. It conceives of notation not as a textual codification of the composer’s intentions, a private act of composition in the mind, but rather as a mediating material that describes, enacts, engenders, and is dependent upon, social activity. Using Wagner’s notion of Beethoven’s ‘Hearing Eyes’, Chapter 1 considers the influences of Beethoven’s material, writerly approach to composition in his later years and the peculiarly textual emphasis of the quartets’ early reception. Through an analogy with maps and scores, it highlights the importance of considering notation from the perspective of individual performers’ parts. Chapter 2 situates the notational complexity of the late quartets within Beethoven’s entire output through the use of computational methods and statistical analysis. In contrast, Chapter 3 maps a networked understanding of Beethoven’s notation and explores its inextricable entanglement in the social, political and technological currents of 1820s Vienna. Using Alfred Gell’s theory of art and agency, Chapter 4 extends this network to include non-human actors and examines the different ‘material lives’ of the string quartets, both past and present. Ethnographic methods and the insights of twenty-first-century performers are employed to situate this material agency in practice in Chapter 5. The final chapter engages Theodor Adorno’s seminal work on Beethoven’s late style to mediate a very personal source of insight into the unique difficulties of the late quartets: my own, as performer, scholar and listener

Snapshot photography:a phatic, socially constructed mnemonic technology

This practice related research study explores my cognitive response to a biographical snapshot photograph celebrating my first day at school. The experience triggered an exploration of the relationship between snapshot photographs and memory. The finding of a second almost identical snapshot photograph of my son taken twenty years later by me prompted me to question why my father and I should take almost identical snapshots. I argue that the invention of photography was driven by the desire to capture the images created by the camera obscura by mark-making with the pencil of light as an aid memoir. I argue that the desire to externalise memory using mnemonic technology is innate with primal origins in parietal art and lithic technologies. The discourse explores the cultural evolution of technology through Jaques Derrida’s theory of originary technicity and Bernard Stiegler’s concept of the cultural evolution of technology by epiphylogenesis and the notion of the externalisation of memory as prosthesis. I explore the emergence of snapshot photography from the canon of photography through the theories of cultural evolution, technological momentum, and social constructivism, together with psycho-social notions of desire, ritual, performativity and intentionality in the establishment of snapshot photography as a ubiquitous ingrained social practice. The research is informed by a studio practice element that uses the adventures of Lewis Carroll’s, Alice as a conceptual framework to explore a journey of agency, self and auto didactical knowledge acquisition. I discuss the search for an appropriate methodological framework for art practice based research. My practice is a catalyst for enquiry; a project usually starts with an artefact that forms the locus of a question, the search for the answer to those questions, often leading epistemically, to unexpected places and relationships. The mode and manner of my enquiry are rhizomatous, pragmatic and serendipitous; the relationship between practice and theory is flexible, one informing the other. Through practice, I explore the deconstruction and textualisation of the visual metaphor of memory through the rhetorical devices of ekphrasis and memory texts and a visualisation of the nature and originary technicity of snapshot photography and an exploration of self and place. The thesis for this study is founded on the premise that snapshot photography is a socially constructed, phatic, mnemonic mark-making technology with origins in parietal forms of visual expression

Investigating Regulatory Compliance: Key Issues in the Management of Food Safety Risk in the Fast Food Industry in Jamaica

Food safety is a critical issue that must be implemented and monitored in all aspects of food delivery to the public. Consumers at fast food restaurants are at risk if the proper food safety measures are not applied. Understanding why safe food practices are not followed can help management identify risks and delegate resources accordingly. In the study, the researcher adopted the constructivism view, as it is believed that there is no single reality or truth and that reality is created by individuals and groups. It is also considered that people gain knowledge and understanding through the combination of their own experiences and ideas.Fast food restaurant managers/owners are responsible for making sure employees follow safe food handling practices so as to ensure compliance with government regulations and reduce the risk of customers becoming ill from consuming unsafe food. Therefore, this study aims to investigate regulatory compliance in the fast food industry in Jamaica by focusing on the management of food safety risk as a strategy that may be used to improve compliance with national food safety regulations. It seeks to ascertain managers'/owners’ perspectives on the factors contributing to noncompliance. Exploratory interviews with fifteen fast food managers/owners were conducted.Manual analysis of interview transcripts was done (Appendix 7.5). Major thematic codes identified in this study included Operational Challenges; Staff Training; Roles of the Manager; Food Safety Inspector related Challenges. The data was visually mapped and relationships between different themes and theoretical ideas were represented. Based on the four major themes identified, thirteen related subthemes were identified.The results indicated that Food Safety Inspectors must be clear and consistent with their actions to ensure that fast food restaurants are in compliance with national regulations. To do otherwise may result in Food Safety Inspectors being seen as barriers to compliance. The study discovered a significant lapse in the number of inspections of fast food restaurants taking place around the city, as 60% of the interviewees indicated that they have yet to be inspected. This has implications for the Fast Food Industry as to how food safety is ensured and that contaminated food may be passed on to the consumers. Future research is needed to determine the rationale behind this lapse as the safety of the public is at risk. This study also discovered communication challenges between Food Safety Inspectors (FSIs) and managers/owners. It was clear that there is a need for FSIs to focus on the development of soft skills as poor interpersonal skills impacted compliance