The Oulipo and Modernism: Literature, Craft and Mathematical Form

The Oulipo is known primarily for the use of formal constraints in writing. The constraint is an arbitrary application of rigorously defined formal demands (often drawn from mathematics) in the process of literary or poetic composition. The group was founded in 1960, and their remit was limited to the formulation of constraints rather than literary texts. There is thus no literary theory proposed by the Oulipo, and little in the way of critical interpretation of their methods in terms of its wider significance to the condition of art in the period of their emergence. Their approach is often counterposed to the Surrealists: where the Surrealist response to the conditions of rationalised modernity attempted to explore the unconscious, the non-rational and chance, the Oulipo’s use of constraints is consciously determined and resists the passivity of chance. The counter-model to the Surrealists for the Oulipo is the mathematical collectiveNicolas Bourbaki. Bourbaki’s rigorously abstract axiomaticmathematics provides the formal prototype of the most abstracted rationality for the Oulipo to use as compositional structures. The Oulipo also bear an ambivalent relation to structuralism, but where structuralism tends towards a descriptive identification of ‘deep structures’ of signification, the Oulipo instead deploy structures as historically-specific compositional material. This thesis proposes to read the practice of the Oulipo as a production of the ‘new’ through a form of construction as ‘craft’ that is itself receptive to critical interpretation. It contends that the Oulipo can be seen to offer a distinctive trajectory among the various responses to what Adorno identifies as a crisis of art’s autonomy in the latter half of the twentieth century; in other words, that they pursue an alternative modernism. I argue that the Oulipo’s use of arbitrary rigidified logical structures in literary composition is categorially alien to the latter’s concept, and thus that it forms a kind of resistant material which must be worked with. This model of skilled engagement recalls, in self-consciously paradoxical ways, the outmoded concept of craft which provides an alternative to, on the one hand, the post-romantic idea of artistic freedom, and on the other, full subsumption by technological procedure, maintaining a refracted instrumentality in the logic of method that yet resists pre-determination

Preliminary Evaluation of a Dodder Anthracnose Fungus from China as a Mycoherbicide for Dodder Control in the US

Dodder (Cuscuta spp.) is a noxious, parasitic, annual weed throughout most of the United States. A fungus used to control it in China was imported under permit for studies with U.S. dodder species in containment. The fungus, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, sporulated on liquid and solid media at room temperature. Conidia from 7-12 day old cultures were diluted to 3.5 to 7 X 16⁶ spores ml^-1 for host range inoculations. Germination on water agar at 24 hrs was higher at 28 than 30 or 24 C. Inoculated plants were exposed to dew periods of 12-1 4 hrs at 24 or 28 C, then transferred to growth chambers with 1 2-hr photoperiods at constant temperatures of 24, 28, and 32C. Dodder species were severely diseased but rarely killed. Symptoms were most severe on native collections of Cuscuta campestris after 4 to 5 days incubation when this species on periwinkle seedlings was inoculated with 3.5 to 7 X 10⁵ spores ml^-1 . Cuscuta cuspidata, C. pentagona, and C. campestris from a California seedlot were also tested under optimum conditions for disease. The C. campestris from California was the most susceptible. Inoculation of 16 species in eight plant families revealed no other host except sweet potato which developed a necrotic fleck. This research indicates a need for strain improvement prior to field tests

Excitation of the W triplet Delta (U), W singlet Delta (U), B prime triplet Sigma (U) (minus), and A prime singlet Epsison (U) (minus) states of N2 by electron impact

Electron energy-loss spectra have been obtained for N2 at 20.6 eV impact energy, and scattering angles of 10-138 deg. The differential cross section for excitation of the W triplet Delta(U) state is the largest triplet-state cross section at all scattering angles, and is the largest inelastic cross section at angles greater than 70 degrees. (Author Modified Abstract

Estimation of genetic parameters for height using spatial analysis in Tsuga heterophylla full-sibling family trials in British Columbia

Non-spatial and spatial analyses were carried out to study the effects on genetic parameters in ten-year height growth data across two series of 10 large second-generation full-sib progeny trials of western hemlock [Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.] in British Columbia. To account for different and complex patterns of environmental heterogeneity, spatial single trial analyses were conducted using an individual-tree mixed model with a two-dimensional smoothing surface with tensor product of B-spline bases. The spatial single trial analysis, in all cases, showed sizeable lower Deviance Information Criterion values relative to the non-spatial analysis. Also, fitting a surface displayed a consistent reduction in the posterior mean as well as a decrease in the standard deviations of error variance, no appreciable changes in the additive variance, an increase of individual narrow-sense heritability, and accuracy of breeding values. The tensor product of cubic basis functions of B-spline based on a mixed model framework does provide a useful new alternative to model different and complex patterns of spatial variability within sites in forest genetic trials. Individual narrow-sense heritabilities estimates from the spatial single trial analyses were low (average of 0.06), but typical of this species. Estimated dominance relative to additive variances were unstable across sites (from 0.00 to 1.59). The implications of these estimations will be discussed with respect to the western hemlock genetic improvement program in British Columbia.Fil: Cappa, Eduardo Pablo. British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range; Canadá. University of British Columbia; Canadá. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Recursos Naturales. Instituto de Recursos Biológicos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Yanchuk, A. D.. British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range; CanadáFil: Cartwright, C. V.. British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range; Canad

Molecular Hydrogen Optical Depth Templates for FUSE Data Analysis

The calculation and use of molecular hydrogen optical depth templates to quickly identify and model molecular hydrogen absorption features longward of the Lyman edge at 912 Angstroms are described. Such features are commonly encountered in spectra obtained by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer and also in spectra obtained by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, albeit less commonly. Individual templates are calculated containing all the Lyman and Werner transitions originating from a single rotational state (J'') of the 0th vibrational level (v'') of the ground electronic state. Templates are provided with 0.01 Angstrom sampling for doppler parameters ranging from 2 <= b <= 20 km s^-1 and rotational states 0 <= J'' <= 15. Optical depth templates for excited vibrational states are also available for select doppler parameters. Each template is calculated for a fiducial column density of log[N(cm^-2)] = 21 and may be scaled to any column less than this value without loss of accuracy. These templates will facilitate the determination of the distribution of molecular hydrogen column density as a function of rotational level. The use of these templates will free the user from the computationally intensive task of calculating profiles for a large number of lines and allow concentration on line profile or curve-of-growth fitting to determine column densities and doppler parameters. The templates may be downloaded freely from http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~stephan/h2ools2.htmlComment: 20 pages, 2 tables, 6 figures, submitted to PASP 02-04-2003 Accepted for publication on 03-05-2003 with revisions, including modified fg1, modifed fg6 to become fg2 to support improved error discussion. To appear in the June 2003 issue of the PAS

The excitation of O2 in auroras

Newly measured electron impact cross sections for excitation of the a 1 Delta g and b 1 Sigma g+ electronic states of O2 were employed to predict the absolute volume emission rates from these states under auroral conditions. A secondary electron electron flux typical of an IBC II nighttime aurora was used and the most important quenching processes were included in the calculations. The new excitation cross sections for the a 1 Delta g and b 1 Sigma g+ states are more than an order of magnitude larger than previous estimates, and lead to correspondingly greater intensities in the atmospheric and IR-atmospheric band systems. The calculated intensity ratios of the volume emission rates of 7621 A and 1.27 microns to that for 3914 A are smaller than obtained from aircraft observations and recent rocket experiments

Experimental and analytical investigation of the bubble nucleation characteristics in subcooled flow

An experimental and analytical study of bubble nucleation characteristics for a polished aluminum surface under sub-cooled flow boiling of water is conducted. A high magnification (up to 1350X) microscope and an atomic force magnifier were used to visualize the aluminum surface to determine a range of cavity sizes on the heater surface as well as gain insight into the shape of the cavity. A high-speed camera was incorporated to study the actual bubble nucleation from these cavities. A review of existing theoretical models available in literature to predict bubble nucleation characteristics in flow boiling is also presented. A new bubble nucleation model is proposed which uses experimentally determined bubble geometry and results from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. Experimental data was collected through the use of the high-speed flow visualization system available in RIT\u27s Thermal Fluid Laboratory. The data is obtained to study the effects of sub-cooling, flow rate, and wall superheat on the nucleation characteristics of different size cavities. This data is also compared with existing models as well as the one proposed in this investigation

Does Roush show that evidence should be probable?

This paper critically analyzes Sherrilyn Roush’s (Tracking truth: knowledge, evidence and science, 2005) definition of evidence and especially her powerful defence that in the ideal, a claim should be probable to be evidence for anything. We suggest that Roush treats not one sense of ‘evidence’ but three: relevance, leveraging and grounds for knowledge; and that different parts of her argument fare differently with respect to different senses. For relevance, we argue that probable evidence is sufficient but not necessary for Roush’s own two criteria of evidence to be met. With respect to grounds for knowledge, we agree that high probability evidence is indeed ideal for the central reason Roush gives: When believing a hypothesis on the basis of e it is desirable that e be probable. But we maintain that her further argument that Bayesians need probable evidence to warrant the method they recommend for belief revision rests on a mistaken interpretation of Bayesian conditionalization. Moreover, we argue that attempts to reconcile Roush’s arguments with Bayesianism fail. For leveraging, which we agree is a matter of great importance, the requirement that evidence be probable suffices for leveraging to the probability of the hypothesis if either one of Roush’s two criteria for evidence are met. Insisting on both then seems excessive. To finish, we show how evidence, as Roush defines it, can fail to track the hypothesis. This can remedied by adding a requirement that evidence be probable, suggesting another rationale for taking probable evidence as ideal—but only for a grounds-for-knowledge sense of evidence