The temporalized Massey's method

We propose and throughly investigate a temporalized version of the popular Massey's technique for rating actors in sport competitions. The method can be described as a dynamic temporal process in which team ratings are updated at every match according to their performance during the match and the strength of the opponent team. Using the Italian soccer dataset, we empirically show that the method has a good foresight prediction accuracy

The Weekend: Time, Space and Everyday Life in Manchester and Salford

The central issue is an analysis of the social construction and significance of the weekend. This is examined in the contexts of both historical and contemporary Manchester and Salford. The analysis uses theories of spatiality and temporality within everyday life, examining the extent to which the weekend can be considered both different to, and part of, everyday life. It considers whether the weekend can still (or could ever) be considered a more autonomous `time space' or if `flexible' working patterns will undermine it. In that these micro processes of everyday life are where the macro economic policies are enacted, this study has wider political implications. Two main methods are employed. Primary and secondary historical source materials used to understand aspects of both the development of the weekend and the way in which it has been practised in Manchester and Salford. The contemporary weekend is addressed through two pieces of fieldwork; one with people holding allotments in south Manchester and the other with supermarket workers in Salford. These consist of interviews with individuals which were recorded, transcribed and manually coded to develop themes. The analysis indicates that the weekend remains an important and pervasive institution. However, for some social groups, notably those working in the retail sector, the weekend is being eroded. There is increasingly a divide between workers like these, who are expected to work at weekends, and those who have weekends `off as a matter of course. Key areas of the analysis include marking the boundary between the week and the weekend, what people do, who they see and where they go; in short, an assessment of how the everyday spatialities and temporalities of interviewees construct their weekends. As well as contributing to our understanding of the hitherto relatively unexplored institution of the weekend itself, this thesis adds to our understanding of the temporal and spatial construction of our social world and the constraints under which this process operates

H. P. Blavatsky's Theosophy in Context: The Construction of Meaning in Modern Western Esotericism

To contact the author for further details go to www.h-e-r-m-e-s.orgAbstract of PhD Thesis by Tim Rudbøg, 15 December 2012 H. P. Blavatsky’s Theosophy in Context: The Construction of Meaning in Modern Western Esotericism H. P. Blavatsky’s (1831-1891) Theosophy has been defined as central to the history of modern Western spirituality and esotericism, yet to this date no major study has mapped and analysed the major themes of Blavatsky’s writings, how Blavatsky used the concept ‘Theosophy’ or to what extent she was engaged with the intellectual contexts of her time. Thus the purpose of this thesis is to fill this gap. The proposed theoretical framework is based on the centrality of language in the production of intellectual products, such as texts—but contrary to the dominant focus on strategies, rhetoric and power this thesis will focus on the construction of meaning coupled with a set of methodological tools based on contextual analysis, intellectual history and intertextuality. In addition to an overview of Blavatsky research this thesis will map and analyse Blavatsky’s use of the concept ‘Theosophy’ as well as Blavatsky’s primary discourses, identified as: (1) discourse for ancient knowledge, (2) discourse against Christian dogmatism, (3) discourse against the modern natural sciences and materialism, (4) discourse against modern spiritualism, (5) discourse for system and (7) discourse for universal brotherhood. In mapping and analysing Blavatsky’s discourses, it was found that her construction of meaning was significantly interconnected with broader intellectual contexts, such as ‘modern historical consciousness’, ‘critical enlightenment ideas’, studies in religion, studies in mythology, the modern sciences, spiritualism, systemic philosophy, reform movements and practical ethics. It, for example, becomes clear that Blavatsky’s search for an ancient ‘Wisdom Religion’ was actually a part of a common intellectual occupation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and that her critique of the Christian dogmas was equally a common intellectual trend. To read Blavatsky’s discourses as the idiosyncratic strategies of an esotericist, isolated from their larger contexts or only engaged with them in order to legitimise minority views would therefore largely fail to account for the result of this thesis: that in historical actuality, they were a part of the larger cultural web of meaning