Rhetoric and philosophy in Swift's "A Tale of a Tub"

My aim is to show that Swift's rhetorical method in the Tale is determined by his adherence to a tradition of political philosophy which held that there is a radical distinction between the philosopher, or lover of knowledge; and the non-philosopher, or lover of delusion. In this ultimately Platonic view, 'noble lies' are though to be more useful to the generality of mankind than certain truths which weaken the fabric of society. The philosopher must work with illusions rather than attempting to destroy them; in fact, to be of any use to the state, he must vigorously maintain opinions which he secretly believes to be false. If he wishes to speak to his philosophical readers as well, his text must contain a second, concealed level which can be uncovered by readers with enquiring minds, but which is not apparent to the non-philosophical majority.I suggest that the forceful defence of Anglicanism in the Tale is swift's popular level, and is secretly contradicted by an argument addressed to the philosophical reader, in which swift admits that established opinions - among which we can number not only Anglicanism but Christianity itself - are false, but asserts that it would nevertheless be folly to discard them. Form and content are thus perfectly welded, as swift practises exactly what he preaches. The Tale's rhetorical method is shaped by a dual aim: to lead on the enquiring reader to its deepest levels, and to exclude'superficial' readers from all but a defence of healthy illusions. The Tale encourages two types of response because what is beneficial to one type of reader is not so to the other. This study treats equally of form and content because the Tale both utilizes and illustrates the principles which it secretly advocates.<p

Energy harvesting from vibrations with a nonlinear oscillator

In this paper we present a nonlinear electromagnetic energy harvesting device that has a broadly resonant response. The nonlinearity is generated by a particular arrangement of magnets in conjunction with an iron-cored stator. We show the resonant response of the system to both pure-tone excitation and narrow-band random excitation. In addition to the primary resonance, the super-harmonic resonances of the harvester are also investigated and we show that the corresponding mechanical up-conversion of the excitation frequency may be useful for energy harvesting. The harvester is modeled using a Duffing-type equation and the results compared to the experimental data.</jats:p

Dynamic performance of squeeze-film bearings

Earlier work has shown that oil-film forces can be modelled by linear coefficients. Identification techniques were used to generate numerical values for these coefficients. This paper has shown the invalidity of applying the perturbation techniques normally used in bearing studies to derive expressions for linearized coefficients to represent a cavitated oil-film. An alternative approach was developed based upon energy techniques to obtain estimates for linearized coefficients. Some current work being undertaken suggests that an alternative analytical approach is possible. These results will be reported in due course

An optimized tuned mass damper/harvester device

Much work has been conducted on vibration absorbers, such as tuned mass dampers (TMD), where significant energy is extracted from a structure. Traditionally, this energy is dissipated through the devices as heat. In this paper, the concept of recovering some of this energy electrically and reuse it for structural control or health monitoring is investigated. The energy-dissipating damper of a TMD is replaced with an electromagnetic device in order to transform mechanical vibration into electrical energy. That gives the possibility of controlled damping force whilst generating useful electrical energy. Both analytical and experimental results from an adaptive and a semi-active tuned mass damper/harvester are presented. The obtained results suggest that sufficient energy might be harvested for the device to tune itself to optimise vibration suppression

Life story resources in dementia care: a review.

PURPOSE: Life story work has a relatively long tradition in the caring sciences and is recognised as an important component of dementia care and practice. However, to date, there has not been a review of accessible life story resources. The paper aims to discuss these issues. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Following a systematic approach to identification and inclusion, 11 life story resources were reviewed to ascertain areas of commonality and divergence between the materials. FINDINGS: The authors were able to group the analysis under eight areas and at the end of this process, it was uncertain if life story work is a formal staff intervention or an informal activity that people with dementia and their families could engage in. Resources also varied in terms of whether the life story information was organised in a chronological way, or with topics of interest/discussion or with a combination of both. Life story evaluation and its impact on the life of the person with dementia is in need of development. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Across the resources the authors identified four reasons to do life story work which the authors have named as: emotional connections; interactional connections; building new connections and practical care connections. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS: There was limited guidance aimed at helping people with dementia to develop and compile their own life story. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This paper provides new insights into the usefulness, future directions and content of life story resources in dementia care. It will be of interest to those in health and social care as well as people living with dementia

An experimental and theoretical study of transient negative ions in Mg, Zn, Cd and Hg

A range of experimental and theoretical techniques have been applied to the study of transient negative ions (resonances) formed in electron scattering from the Group II metals Mg, Zn, Cd, and Hg at incident electron energies below the first ionization potential. A wealth of resonance structures have been observed and from the experimental observations and theoretical information, classifications are proposed for some of these negative ion states

Sobre espaços, turistas e homelands imaginadas

Este texto explora relações entre espaços, identidades e processos turísticos. Baseado em trabalho de campo antropológico (realizado em Portugal, Malásia e Sin gapura), aborda-se o processo de construção social do espaço do bairro português de Malaca (1929-2009). Discute-se o processo de apropriação social do bairro por várias categorias de pessoas e argumenta-se que, desde a sua produção colonial à sua reapro priação contemporânea, coexiste uma retórica de nostalgia empacotada subjacente aos usos do espaço