Adaptation of LR parsing to production system interpretation

This thesis presents such a new production system architecture, called a palimpsest parser, that adapts LR parsing technology to the process of controlled production system interpretation. Two unique characteristics of this architecture facilitate the construction and execution of large production systems: the rate at which productions fire is independent of production system size, and the modularity inherent in production systems is preserved and enhanced. In addition, individual productions may be evaluated in either a forward or backward direction, production systems can be integrated with other production systems and procedural programs, and production system modules can be compiled into libraries and used by other production systems.;Controlled production systems are compiled into palimpsest parsers as follows. Initially, the palimpsest transformation is applied to all productions to transform them into context-free grammar rules with associated disambiguation predicates and semantics. This grammar and the control grammar are then concatenated and compiled into modified LR(0) parse tables using conventional parser generation techniques. the resulting parse tables, disambiguation predicates, and semantics, in conjunction with a modified LR(0) parsing algorithm, constitute a palimpsest parser. When executed, this palimpsest parser correctly interprets the original controlled production system. Moreover, on any given cycle, the palimpsest parser only attempts to instantiate those productions that are allowed to fire by the control language grammar. Tests conducted with simulated production systems have consistently exhibited firing rates in excess of 1000 productions per second on a conventional microcomputer

Placement and displacement : the fallen woman in discourse : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University

This thesis is an invitation to reconsider the process of reading and representing the fallen woman. It combines an eclectic theoretical approach, drawing on works by Foucault, Derrida and Kristeva, with the metaphor of colonisation and the palimpsest. Using this construction, the thesis examines the placement of the fallen woman in discourse. The first section discusses how she falls in discourse, and uses textual and visual examples (predominantly Esther Barton from Gaskell's Mary Barton, Monica Widdowson and Rhoda Nunn from Gissing's The Odd Women). The reading of these figures uncovers three characteristic issues in the fallen woman's representation: her construction as murderer, the 'justice' of her death, and her pornographic interaction with the reader. This examination of the placement of the fallen woman continues in the second section. Here, the thesis explores how representations of her placement in discourse also suggest a displacement--that is, how her fall in discourse is a fall from discourse. Reading her site as a palimpsest of colonising representations uncovers the placement and displacement of the fallen woman in discourse

SUBVERSIA: THE \u3ci\u3esub\u3c/i\u3eURBAN SUBVERSIVE

The palimpsest is, by definition, \u27writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased.\u27 It provides a conceptual field for the layering of text, or meaning, over time. This text may be built up by successive authors and can be altered by additions and erasures. Traces of these amendments remain, providing a history of revision of the original text. Additions that comment on and interpret the primary text are called marginalia. Landscape operates as a palimpsest, with written, rewritten, erased, and revised layers of history. While typically considered ahistoric, the suburban commercial strip also operates as a palimpsest, one composed more of systems and processes, both natural and artificial, than of historic references. It is the role of the margin to comment upon the main text of the site, to reveal the layers of history, systems, and processes imbedded within it, and to add an additional layer of meaning and function to the existing landscape palimpsest that is absent from the normative condition. The primary text of the most recent layer of the suburban strip palimpsest consists of a system of roads, parking lots, and buildings- primarily big-box retail. This system is monoprogrammatically consumptive and prescriptive, and seeks a homogenous landscape and inhuman scale in order to maximize profitability. This is achieved through cut/fill construction, providinging large expanses of unnaturally flat terrain and massive earthworks of retention. The natural topography and natural systems of the landscape are subsumed and subjugated by this system, often by a thin veneer, ephemeral in both construction and in program. The residual landscape of the margin resides between these elements, and its resultant architecture must, in contrast and as commentary, provide varying scales and typologies of non-prescriptive space that are inherently bound to the imbedded layers of the site. Movements made in the marginal conditions have resultant reverberations in the main text of the site, and space is created as a direct result of these movements. An architecture of erasure in the margins and redistribution in the primary text will reveal some imbedded layers through void, call attention to others through accretion, and provide spaces for subversive non-consumptive counterprogramming

The Allopoiesis of the Urban Artifact and the Palimpsest of Context

This thesis contends that Pathological Urban Artifacts , as defined by Aldo Rossi, could be made Propelling through Allopoiesis in combination with the palimpsest of the urban context. The proposal consists of a dialogue between the two strategies of growth, aiming to reconnect the Artifact to the city. Allopoiesis is the process by which a system produces something other than the system itself. In this thesis, allopoiesis is the mapping of the artifact’s underlying geometry as catalyst for urban development. Rossi sees in the Propelling Urban Artifact a formal structure that confirms the presence of the city and persists through time independent of program. Alternatively, Allopoiesis offers a strategy for urban development as a projective project (propelling) derived from the Urban Artifact. Palimpsest is defined as “a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.” In this thesis, palimpsest becomes a single map created by the superimposition of several historical periods. The development, use and occupation of the Artifact has been arrested, thus a pathological diagnosis. The development of the context is inconclusive. The strategy for growth of the Artifact must be projective, and specific in relation to its “system.” The strategy for growth of the Context is the continuation of its on-going logic of historical appearances, disappearances, and reappearances. The project attempts to define a procedure that maps the Artifact’s system, and claims that this system is based on morphological development. The overlaying of both Artifact and Context’s morphological developments create a hermeneutic texture, or a framework for a third city. Constructed as a single drawing, both the Allopoiesis of the Artifact and the Palimpsest of Context create a new projective map for the site. Subsequent interpretations of this new map as a series of figure ground conditions create a generative process for urban intervention

Photography as a tool of Alienation: Aura

Regular photographical imaging record volumetric planes with smooth surfaces. The reason is the camera’s deficiency in perceiving and documenting the visual richness of “persuasive” details in life. HDR imaging methods used in creating this artwork series titled “Aura” helped making invisible organism-like textures emerge and point to the notions of decay and symbiosis. One of the main objectives in this series of artworks is to facilitate the emergence of the experiential visual complexity between the animate and inanimate, that is otherwise not possible to record. The latent aura of textural presences around us is not always noticeable easily since we tend to consume things too fast. With the rich textures achieved after high-dynamic-range-imaging (HDRI) procedures, a new symbiotic painterly visual relationship between biological (humans) and non-biological (space) was intended. In addition, the paper will focus on photography rather as a tool of personal world making, instead of photography as witnessing. During the process of unfolding this practice; notions of superimposition, palimpsest, painting vs. photography, truth, photography as an apparatus to provoke de-familiarization will be covered. The final aim is to confirm photography as a visual language that enriches and transforms human perception

Towards reviving post-Olympic Athens as a cultural destination

This paper examines the effects of global change on the status and qualities of the Greek national capital, Athens, focusing on how they affect the development of cultural tourism in the city. Although Athens constituted one of the most significant destinations for Greek tourism in the past, in recent years it started to weaken. Athens is characterised by a series of problems, among them are the degradation of its environment and quality of life and traffic congestion. However, in terms of tourism development, the Olympic Games helped in re-imaging the city and upgrading its infrastructure. This study based on semi-structured interviews with top officials reveals how global change has affected Athens’ socio-cultural/economic status, identity and image. Despite the tourism policy/planning responses to global changes, Athens’ tourism continues to decline leaving unexplored potential such as its rich cultural heritage, new multicultural identity and the New Acropolis Museum. The paper suggests that cultural elements of capital cities must be multidimensional including a variety of attractions and amenities. The use of cultural heritage assets needs to be in line with global developments in order for cities to effectively leverage heritage for cultural tourism

Olympic legacy and cultural tourism: Exploring the facets of Athens' Olympic heritage

This study examines the effects of the Olympic Games on Athens’ cultural tourism and the city’s potential to leverage the Olympic legacy in synergy with its rich heritage in order to enhance its tourism product during the post-Games period. In doing so, a qualitative and interpretive approach was employed. This includes a literature review on Athens’ 2004 Olympics to identify the sport facilities and regeneration projects, which constitute the Olympic legacy and heritage. Based on that, an empirical analysis was undertaken, by collecting official documents about the 2004 Olympics, and conducting five semi-structured interviews with tourism/administrative officials. The findings indicate that the Olympiad contributed significantly to Athens’ built and human heritage, revealing the dimensions of new venues/facilities, infrastructure, transportation and aesthetic image of the city, and human capital enhancement. Hence, the Games affected to the multifaceted representation and reconstruction of the city’s identity and cultural heritage. However, the potential afforded from the post-Olympic Athens remains unrealised due to lack of strategic planning/management. The study concludes that there is a need to develop cross-leveraging synergies between the Olympic legacy and cultural tourism for the host city. Finally, a strategic planning framework for leveraging post-Games Olympic tourism is suggested in order to maximise the benefits of Olympic legacy and heritage in a host city’s tourism development

The Spatial Dictionary

This thesis and the corresponding portfolio ‘The Spatial Dictionary’ is an investigation into the use of written language as a generative and descriptive approach for the design of Interior spaces. The potential utility of the dictionary as an object is explored as a conceptual ‘tool-box’ for the use of Interior designers. The dictionary is to be viewed here as a mechanism to translate both concrete and abstract visual ‘concepts’ into a written commentary, using a defined list of terms, whilst inadvertently exploring the notion that the exploration of this spatial vocabulary gives us an insight into what constitutes interior space and design. This thesis investigates the position that spatial language is not simply one of identification of phenomena pertaining to space but it can also be used as a tool for the intention and creation of interior spaces and desig