Using storage factors to balance storage subsystem loads

Computer Scienc

Redundant disk arrays: Reliable, parallel secondary storage

During the past decade, advances in processor and memory technology have given rise to increases in computational performance that far outstrip increases in the performance of secondary storage technology. Coupled with emerging small-disk technology, disk arrays provide the cost, volume, and capacity of current disk subsystems, by leveraging parallelism, many times their performance. Unfortunately, arrays of small disks may have much higher failure rates than the single large disks they replace. Redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID) use simple redundancy schemes to provide high data reliability. The data encoding, performance, and reliability of redundant disk arrays are investigated. Organizing redundant data into a disk array is treated as a coding problem. Among alternatives examined, codes as simple as parity are shown to effectively correct single, self-identifying disk failures

Double bind: female subjectivity in selected works by Elfriede Jelinek and Anne Duden

This research project takes as its central focus constructions of female subjectivity in selected texts by the writers Elffiede Jelinek and Anne Duden. At the time of writing, few full-length studies which engage with this concept in texts by German women writers have been published. A clear preference is still demonstrated within the field of German Studies, either for subjectivity to appear as one theme among a number of others, or for studies to focus on the complete oeuvre of an individual female writer. A theoretical basis to the thesis is provided by readings of psychoanalytic and postmodernist writers. This theoretical element is employed, not as a metanarrative framework, but as a means of exploring the resonances between two areas of textual practice: the theoretical and the literary. In addition, the thesis embodies a 'clinical' dimension which draws on the author's training in, and practice of, counselling, a further area of activity which focusses on the 'self. As it is still the case that the majority of clients who seek counselling are women, this experience is particularly relevant to the subject of this thesis. The following summary provides an overview of the structure of the thesis: (i) The metaphor of the 'double bind' to describe female subjectivity emerged from the experience of reading texts by German women writers, and particularly the work of Elfriede Jelinek. In engaging with the implications of the 'double bind', the following questions have been asked. ♦ What is the nature of the 'double bind'? ♦ Why does the image of the 'double bind' recur so frequently in relation to female subjectivity? ♦ What forms does the 'double bind' take? ♦ Which ways out of the 'double bind' might exist? ♦ Can the 'double bind' also be viewed positively? (ii) The negative image of femininity conveyed by the 'double bind' is reflected in postmodernist critiques of the self, and in feminist reactions to those critiques. These observations give rise to a dialogue in the thesis between theoretical and literary textual practice. In an attempt to find alternative ways of viewing the 'double bind', the thesis explores other related concepts. These include Jacques Derrida's theory of deconstruction, Jane Flax's concept of the 'core self, and D.W. Winnicott's notion of the transitional space. (iii) Three texts by the writer Elfriede Jelinek - Die Klavierspielerin, Krankheit oder moderne Frauen and Lust - are analysed in terms of their relationship to the 'double bind'. A dialogue is established between Jelinek's textual practice and the developmental theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. (iv) The thesis acknowledges the deficits of classical psychoanalytical approaches to female subjectivity. A reading of 'feminist corporeal theory' provides the view that these approaches suppress the question of the role of the female body in the construction of subjectivity. (v) Three texts by the writer Anne Duden are analysed - Das Judasschaf, Übergang and Wimpertier. The work of this writer provides a literary example of an approach to female subjectivity which focusses on corporeal experience. (vi) In summarising the approaches taken by Jelinek and Duden to the question of female subjectivity, the thesis argues that Elfriede Jelinek's aim in the three texts analysed is to radically deconstruct received notions of femininity, thereby precipitating the reader into a transitional space. Anne Duden, on the other hand, explores the experience of inhabiting the transitional space itself. Both writers exhibit an interest in 'borderline' experiences, a concept which is introduced in the conclusion to the thesis, evoking the shift from the more negative notion of the 'double bind' to the more positive concept of the 'transitional space'. In addition, in the work of both writers the body emerges as a transitional space in its own right (vii) The thesis concludes that the process of redefinition of the 'double bind' of female subjectivity involves a continual engagement with the 'transitional space', including that provided by the female body. In their refusal to provide any alternative to their dystopian visions, the literary texts analysed represent powerful examples of this process of ongoing engagement and deconstruction

Reports to the President

A compilation of annual reports for the 1990-1991 academic year, including a report from the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as reports from the academic and administrative units of the Institute. The reports outline the year's goals, accomplishments, honors and awards, and future plans