Mythologisierung und Bildlichkeit in Bertolt Brecht's "Baal" : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in German at Massey University

Text in GermanEin textkritischer Vergleich zwischen den früheren Fassungen und der letzten Fassung von Bertolt Brechts Baal macht, wie gezeigt werden soll, eine Wandlung der Gestalt Baals von der Personifizierung des Vitalismus in den früheren Fassungen zu einer mythologisierten Figur in der letzten Fassung sichtbar. Füc Carl Pietzker ist der Aussenseiter Baal "ein vitalischer 'Fettkloss' mit einer 'feinen Seele'". 1 Pietzker, Carl: Die Lyrik des jungen Brecht. (Suhrkamp Verlag. F/M 1974). S.239. Der Baal der früheren Fassungen ist eine Person, die das Leben in einem Rausch mit einem Trieb für den sinnlichen Genuss durchläuft, ohne sich an gesellschaftlichen Sitten zu stören. Mit derselben Vitalität geniesst er auch die Schönheit der Natur und besingt diese. Im ersten Kapitel dieser These versuche ich darzustellen, dass der Baal der letzten Fassung nicht bloss "ein vitaler Fettkloss mit einer feinen Seele" ist, sondern dass Brecht durch die Mythologisierung der Baal-Gestalt ein ganz neues Mensch-und-Welt-Verhältnis schafft, das universellen Wert hat. Im zweiten Kapitel werde ich zeigen, dass die Brechtsche Mythologie auf verschiedenen zeitbedingten und deshalb historischen Verläufen beruht. Das Alte und das Neue trennt die Menschen nicht einfach in zwei Haufen, eben Menschen alten und Menschen neuen Schlags, sondern das Neue ringt mit dem Alten in jedem Menschen selber. 2 Bertolt Brecht: Gesammelte Werke in acht Bänden. (Suhrkamp Verlag F/M 1964). Band VII, S.934. Die Dialektik dieser historischen Einflüsse bildet die Form und den Gehalt des "Choral vom grossen Baal" und schafft eine ästhetische Einheit. Im dritten Kapitel soil angeführt werden wie die Bildlichkeit des ganzen Dramas sich auf die im zweiten Kapitel genannten Kulte gründet und so das Thema der Brechtschen Mythologie mitaufbaut. [FROM FOREWORD

Method for Statically Checking an Object-oriented Computer Program Module

A method for statically checking an object-oriented computer program module includes the step of identifying objects within a computer program module, at least one of the objects having a plurality of references thereto, possibly from multiple clients. A discipline of permissions is imposed on the objects identified within the computer program module. The permissions enable tracking, from among a discrete set of changeable states, a subset of states each object might be in. A determination is made regarding whether the imposed permissions are violated by a potential reference to any of the identified objects. The results of the determination are output to a user

Frequency-Locked Loop Based Estimation of Single-Phase Grid Voltage Parameters

Estimation of amplitude, instantaneous phase, and frequency of a single-phase grid voltage signal are studied in this letter. The proposed approach uses a novel circular limit cycle oscillator (CLO) coupled with a frequency-locked loop. Due to the nonlinear structure of the CLO, the proposed frequency adaptive CLO technique is robust against various perturbations faced in the practical settings, e.g., the discontinuous jump of phase, frequency, and amplitude. The global stability analysis of the CLO and local stability analysis of the frequency adaptive CLO are performed. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique over a very recent technique proposed in the literature

Multiple Nonlinear Harmonic Oscillator-Based Frequency Estimation for Distorted Grid Voltage

International audienceIn the presence of nonlinear loads and various disturbances, harmonics and dc bias may corrupt the grid voltage signal leading to distorted grid. Frequency estimation of distorted grid signal is a challenging issue. In this paper, multiresonant nonlinear harmonic oscillators-based frequency estimation technique is reported for the distorted power grid. The proposed approach has also been applied for detecting the sequences of the unbalanced grid. In the proposed approach, a nonlinear harmonic oscillator is used as the proxy of the grid signal. Then, using the frequency-locked loop, an adaptive approach is proposed to estimate the frequency and other parameters (sequences) in the presence of harmonics and dc component. Local stability analysis and parameter tuning are provided. Comparative experimental results are provided with two other nonlinear state-of-the-art techniques. Experimental results demonstrated the suitability of the proposed technique

Prevention of mother to child transmission of hepatitis B

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide with a high prevalence in resource limited settings (RLS) like the Thailand-Myanmar border (6.2%). In these settings the main route of transmission is from mother to child (MTCT). Chronic HBV infection can progress into liver failure, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer which lead to death in 25% of the perinatally infected patients. There is no curative treatment for HBV and the main target to stop the HBV epidemic is preventing MTCT. The current strategy for preventing MTCT is by vaccination, a birth dose vaccine followed by three additional vaccinations later in life, combined with the administration of hepatitis B immunoglobulins (HBIG) after birth. In RLS these strategies are challenging due to home deliveries, people living far away from clinics, absence of a cold chain and presence of out-of-pocket expenditure. Moreover, even with perfect administration of HBIG, birth dose and three vaccinations, MTCT can still occur in 8-32% of the cases. An additional way of preventing HBV transmission is by maternal treatment with Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF), that reduces the HBV DNA load to a minimum at the time of delivery. TDF after rapid diagnostic test is a cost-effective option in a RLS if given at the correct time and dosage. Focusing on the wellbeing of mothers and children would not only support HBV elimination but also contribute to strengthening maternal and child health and achieving the health component of the Sustainable Development Goals in the wider context

Genetic mutations linked to Parkinson's disease differentially control nucleolar activity in pre-symptomatic mouse models

Genetic mutations underlying neurodegenerative disorders impair ribosomal DNA (rDNA) transcription suggesting that nucleolar dysfunction could be a novel pathomechanism in polyglutamine diseases and in certain forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia. Here, we investigated nucleolar activity in pre-symptomatic digenic models of Parkinson's disease (PD) that model the multifactorial aetiology of this disease. To this end, we analysed a novel mouse model mildly overexpressing mutant human alpha-synuclein (hA53T-SNCA) in a PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1/ PARK6) knockout background and mutant mice lacking both DJ-1 (also known as PARK7) and PINK1. We showed that overexpressed hA53T-SNCA localizes to the nucleolus. Moreover, these mutants show a progressive reduction of rDNA transcription linked to a reduced mouse lifespan. By contrast, rDNA transcription is preserved in DJ-1/PINK1 double knockout (DKO) mice. mRNA levels of the nucleolar transcription initiation factor 1A (TIF-IA, also known as RRN3) decrease in the substantia nigra of individuals with PD. Because loss of TIF-IA, as a tool to mimic nucleolar stress, increases oxidative stress and because DJ-1 and PINK1 mutations result in higher vulnerability to oxidative stress, we further explored the synergism between these PD-associated genes and impaired nucleolar function. By the conditional ablation of TIF-IA, we blocked ribosomal RNA (rRNA) synthesis in adult dopaminergic neurons in a DJ-1/PINK1 DKO background. However, the early phenotype of these triple knockout mice was similar to those mice exclusively lacking TIF-IA. These data sustain a model in which loss of DJ-1 and PINK1 does not impair nucleolar activity in a pre-symptomatic stage. This is the first study to analyse nucleolar function in digenic PD models. We can conclude that, at least in these models, the nucleolus is not as severely disrupted as previously shown in DA neurons from PD patients and neurotoxin-based PD mouse models. The results also show that the early increase in rDNA transcription and nucleolar integrity may represent specific homeostatic responses in these digenic pre-symptomatic PD models.Peer reviewe

Is Entrepreneurial Success Predictable? An Ex-Ante Analysis of the Character-Based Approach

This paper empirically analyzes whether the character-based approach, which focuses on the personality structure and the human capital of business founders, allows prediction of entrepreneurial success. A unique data set is used consisting of 414 persons whose personal characteristics were analyzed by different methods, namely an one-day assessment center (AC) and a standardized questionnaire, before they launched their business. Results are partly unexpected and weaker than previous ex-post findings: first, we found correlations between the AC data and the questionnaire in one subgroup only. Second, the predictive power of the AC data is slightly better than that of the questionnaire, but lower than expected in theory. Interestingly, for those subgroups where the AC data have low predictive power, the questionnaire does better. Third, when success is measured in terms of employees hired, the character-based approach is a poor predictor. Copyright 2008 The Authors.

Media Innovation, Professional Debate and Media Training: An European Analysis

The media are in the focus of attention. Enabling digital information and communication technologies force the professional messengers to reorient themselves from monomedia journalistic outlets to multimedia information handling companies. Societies are growing more complex, with globalisation and localisation developing seemingly hand in hand. Media companies are at the same time converging and concentrating as well as becoming more specialised and differentiated. Such developments challenge the total of media output, the organisational structures, workflows, and working conditions of contemporary journalists. Consequently, the (further) training issue comes to the fore as an important instrument of facilitating and coping with change. This report focuses on the role of training, in particular further training, in this innovation process. The European Journalism Centre, in cooperation with The Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), undertook a project on describing the state of the art in further journalistic training and education in a number of European countries. Five countries were selected, based on their respective size and 'weight' of the media market: Austria, Denmark, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.European Journalism Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands