DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS A Comparative Analysis of Representations of Male Queerness and Male-Male Intimacy in the Films of Europe and America, 1912-1934

Since the publication of Vito Russo's now classic study, The Celluloid Closet, in 1981, much has been written on the representation of queer characters on screen. However, no full length work on the representation of queer sexualities in silent and early sound film has yet been published, although the articles and chapters of Dyer (1990), Kuzniar (2000) and Barrios (2003) are currently taken as the definitive accounts of these issues. However, each of the above studies deals with a specific country or region and, since their publication, a significant number of silent films have been discovered that were previously thought lost. There has also been a tendency in the past to map modern concepts of sexuality and gender on to films made nearly one hundred years ago. This thesis, therefore, compares the representations of male queerness and male-male intimacy in the films of America and Europe during the period 1912 to 1934, and does so by placing these films within the social and cultural context in which they were made. This allows us to understand not how modern audiences read them, but how they were understood by audiences when they were initially released. While previous studies have concentrated on a relatively small group of films, this thesis looks far beyond this and, although it does re-examine these core works, it also explores previously neglected films, those that have only recently been rediscovered and, 3 | P a g e through a study of newspaper articles, reviews and advertisements, films that are now lost. This approach has produced some surprising conclusions, not least that, aside from the core group of European “gay-themed” films (Vingarne, Anders als die Andern, Michael and Geschlecht in Fesseln), it is in America that queer characters were dealt with more sensitively and with more compassion in the films of this period. It has also been possible to re-examine friendships or relationships on film that were previously regarded as having a homosexual subtext and, instead, demonstrate that these were actually representations of the “romantic friendship” popular in the late nineteenth century in America or the comradeship experienced by those that served in the battlefields of World War I

Putting it together : The process of producing, musically directing and starring in a musical

The purpose of this project was to coalesce the demand roles of actor/singer, musical director, and producer onto one person. In preparing for this thesis, the author was granted the role as producer for the play titled The Last Five Years , a one act-musical. This production was held at California State University San Bernardino in 2009

Deep reinforcement learning from human preferences

For sophisticated reinforcement learning (RL) systems to interact usefully with real-world environments, we need to communicate complex goals to these systems. In this work, we explore goals defined in terms of (non-expert) human preferences between pairs of trajectory segments. We show that this approach can effectively solve complex RL tasks without access to the reward function, including Atari games and simulated robot locomotion, while providing feedback on less than one percent of our agent's interactions with the environment. This reduces the cost of human oversight far enough that it can be practically applied to state-of-the-art RL systems. To demonstrate the flexibility of our approach, we show that we can successfully train complex novel behaviors with about an hour of human time. These behaviors and environments are considerably more complex than any that have been previously learned from human feedback

Irrigation Development: It\u27s Potential Impact on South Dakota\u27s Economy

Irrigation development has been and will continue to be a key issue facing the people of the state of South Dakota. As irrigated acreage increases, benefits accrue throughout the State. The irrigator\u27s income earning potential is expanded and income variability is reduced as drought impacts on yields are ameliorated. In addition, a more stable, larger quantity of feed can be produced for livestock production. This may allm-1 for expansion in the livestock industry or less importation of feedstuffs into an area. The nonfarm economy may also benefit from irrigation development. Since irrigation requires the purchase of more inputs such as seed and fertilizer, allows for the feeding of more livestock and enhances consumption of nondurable and durable goods, what is the impact of develment on the State\u27s economy? It has been hypothesized and generally accepted that as irrigators increase purchases and sales, turnover or multiplier effects on the State\u27s economy are positive. The magnitude of these turnover effects on South Dakota\u27s economy, however, is not agreed upon

An Investigation of Students’ Conceptual Understanding in Related Sophomore to Graduate-Level Engineering and Mechanics Courses

Interviews were conducted with students from a sophomore-level mechanics of materials class, a sophomore/junior-level structures class, a senior-level steel design class and a graduate-level advanced steel design class to investigate students’ conceptual understanding of bending and normal stress. The graduate students generally demonstrated higher computational skill and confidence but they were not significantly different from the sophomores in terms of conceptual understanding. Interestingly, the seniors showed markedly lower confidence in their ability to solve the problems posed in the interviews. Common difficulties include a conceptual definition of stress and reasoning involving the normal stresses developed under bending

A Positive Relationship Between Religious Faith and Forgiveness: Faith in the Absence of Data?

Religious faith and beliefs appear to play an important role in the lives of many individuals and are the topic of much research. The present study investigated the relationship between religious faith and forgiveness in a sample (n = 196) of college students. Students were asked to complete the Heartland Forgiveness Scale and the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Analyses of scores on both measures revealed a positive, significant correlation between these constructs, suggesting that there is a meaningful relationship between religious faith and the tendency to forgive. Implications and directions for further research are discussed

Frugal Leafy Green Shredding & Washing Machines

The goal of this project is to create specialized frugal appliances to assist women in rural Cameroon by reducing the amount of time it takes to prepare food. Specifically, the project focuses on two tasks: slicing eru leaves and washing bitter leaves. After researching the market and collecting information from women in South Cameroon, two appliances were designed: an eru leaf shredder and a bitter leaf washer. The shredder is a manual shredding device that uses a rotating blade and shaft subsystem to slice leaves, reducing labor time by 62% and increasing safety with features such as a hopper and an ergonomic crank handle. The washer is a manual washing device that features a rotating agitator that reduces the amount of time taken to wash bitter leaves by 50% and reduces the amount of water usage by 75%. Both devices are held in a portable housing unit that allows them to be easily moved and stored

Prospectus, May 30, 2012

THERE\u27S NO PLACE LIKE SUMMER CAMP, Cobra\u27s Softball Season Closes With Third Place Finish, Summer Camp Music Festival 2012, Parkland Hosts Jump Rope for Heart, The Benefits of Summer Classes at Parkland College, R.I.P., Encyclopedia Britannica, In Life and Economics, A Little Friction Can Smooth Things Out, Mast Resigns, Leaving a Trail of Success, William M. Staerkel Planetarium Summer Previewhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2012/1014/thumbnail.jp