From reproduction to creativity and the aesthetic: towards an ontological approach to the assessment of devised performance

In this article I attempt to interrogate some of the issues around the assessment of live work. I use a range of theories, particularly Ranciere’s notion of the ‘aesthetic regime’ of art, to suggest a three pronged ontological approach to assessment that seeks to avoid the dangers of Bourdieu’s and Passeron’s concept of reproduction, and which instead values students’ creations. Firstly, I suggest that educators should embrace the ambiguities in moments which allow for the shifting of conceptual boundaries. Secondly, I propose that in such moments a social interaction is created between artwork/student and spectator/assessor that is indicative of both the arts generally and live performance specifically. Finally, I suggest that we require students to explore the frontiers of what can be created, explored, shown and understood through performance. I conclude by using the work of the company Goat Island to offer some practical examples of what this might mean for both live performance and assessment practices

The ‘third thing’: Rancière, process drama and experimental performance

In this paper I attempt to find links between my own interest in experimental theatre and process drama. Through the theory of Jacques Rancière, particularly The Ignorant Schoolmaster, I suggest that both share a space for mutual reflection between spectator and performer, and between teacher and student. I suggest that this space is possible through the artificial space of the ‘third thing’ of art, where a hierarchical pedagogy can give way to a more processual model of learning and understanding

Rancière’s theatrocracy within and beyond the theatre

Jacques Rancière’s writing over the last fifty years offers a range of ways of reflecting on both the art form of theatre and of performance more broadly. The relationship between spectator and artwork, so central to much performance and theatre theory, has been core to his writing on aesthetics. And although Rancière has engaged directly with theatre less frequently than with other art forms, an interest in theatricality and performativity runs throughout his work to the extent that Peter Hallward (2006) has described his work as proposing a “theatrocracy”. This collection was inspired by the implications of his interest in theatre, but also by the high level of interest many theatre and performance scholars have taken in his work. In this collection, we have sought to incorporate writings covering his work from a range of perspectives. We have sought to consider how the notion of theatrocracy in his work might enhance understanding of the potential and limitations of his wider philosophical project. We have also sought to consider how his ideas might be applied to and illuminate understanding of theatre, both generally as an art form and in relation to specific theatrical examples. Finally, we have sought to consider how specific examples of theatre and performance both within and beyond the theatre might in turn enrich understandings of his writing

Beyond you and I: role play and reflection-in-action in communication training

This article will explore the development of communication training within nurse training. Beginning by outlining current thinking around this practice, it then discusses Schön’s notion of reflective practice and its frequently cited relevance to nursing before pointing out some of its limitations. In particular, it looks at the limitations of the individual being able to critically reflect on their self within a broader social context. Drawing on the theories of Habermas and Bourdieu, it suggests that encouraging a greater awareness of one’s own social context, and hence of one’s own subject position, would develop a deeper awareness of other potential perspectives and a better ability to listen to patients. Finally, it argues for the use of role play in assisting nurses to gain such awareness, particularly in difficult clinical situations such as end-of-life care

The intermediate state in Paul

The intermediate state in PaulThe point of view taken in this paper is that the apostle Paul envisions, between death and the resurrection of the body at the Parousia, an interim period during which the disembodied soul is in the immediate presence of Christ, though in a state of 'nakedness'. The background of Paul's view lies neither in contemporary Hellenistic religious-philosophical speculations nor in 'late-Judaism'. Two crucial 'forces' in particular moulded his perspective, viz the teachings of Jesus and His own raptureto 'Paradise'

Gravitational Waves from Rotating Proto-Neutron Stars

We study the effects of rotation on the quasi normal modes (QNMs) of a newly born proto neutron star (PNS) at different evolutionary stages, until it becomes a cold neutron star (NS). We use the Cowling approximation, neglecting spacetime perturbations, and consider different models of evolving PNS. The frequencies of the modes of a PNS are considerably lower than those of a cold NS, and are further lowered by rotation; consequently, if QNMs were excited in a sufficiently energetic process, they would radiate waves that could be more easily detectable by resonant-mass and interferometric detectors than those emitted by a cold NS. We find that for high rotation rates, some of the g-modes become unstable via the CFS instability; however, this instability is likely to be suppressed by competing mechanisms before emitting a significant amount of gravitational waves.Comment: 5 pages, proceedings of the 5th Edoardo Amaldi Conference On Gravitational Wave

The Impact of Hydrodynamic Mixing on Supernova Progenitors

Recent multidimensional hydrodynamic simulations have demonstrated the importance of hydrodynamic motions in the convective boundary and radiative regions of stars to transport of energy, momentum, and composition. The impact of these processes increases with stellar mass. Stellar models which approximate this physics have been tested on several classes of observational problems. In this paper we examine the implications of the improved treatment on supernova progenitors. The improved models predict substantially different interior structures. We present pre-supernova conditions and simple explosion calculations from stellar models with and without the improved mixing treatment at 23 solar masses. The results differ substantially.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Code dependencies of pre-supernova evolution and nucleosynthesis in massive stars: Evolution to the end of core helium burning

Massive stars are key sources of radiative, kinetic and chemical feedback in the Universe. Grids of massive star models computed by different groups each using their own codes, input physics choices and numerical approximations, however, lead to inconsistent results for the same stars. We use three of these 1D codes – genec, kepler and mesa – to compute non-rotating stellar models of 15, 20 and 25 M⊙ and compare their nucleosynthesis. We follow the evolution from the main sequence until the end of core helium burning. The genec and kepler models hold physics assumptions used in large grids of published models. The mesa code was set up to use convective core overshooting such that the CO core masses are consistent with those obtained by genec. For all models, full nucleosynthesis is computed using the NuGrid post-processing tool mppnp. We find that the surface abundances predicted by the models are in reasonable agreement. In the helium core, the standard deviation of the elemental overproduction factors for Fe to Mo is less than 30 per cent – smaller than the impact of the present nuclear physics uncertainties. For our three initial masses, the three stellar evolution codes yield consistent results. Differences in key properties of the models, e.g. helium and CO core masses and the time spent as a red supergiant, are traced back to the treatment of convection and, to a lesser extent, mass loss. The mixing processes in stars remain the key uncertainty in stellar modelling. Better constrained prescriptions are thus necessary to improve the predictive power of stellar evolution models

Gravitational-wave astronomy: the high-frequency window

This contribution is divided in two parts. The first part provides a text-book level introduction to gravitational radiation. The key concepts required for a discussion of gravitational-wave physics are introduced. In particular, the quadrupole formula is applied to the anticipated ``bread-and-butter'' source for detectors like LIGO, GEO600, EGO and TAMA300: inspiralling compact binaries. The second part provides a brief review of high frequency gravitational waves. In the frequency range above (say) 100Hz, gravitational collapse, rotational instabilities and oscillations of the remnant compact objects are potentially important sources of gravitational waves. Significant and unique information concerning the various stages of collapse, the evolution of protoneutron stars and the details of the supranuclear equation of state of such objects can be drawn from careful study of the gravitational-wave signal. As the amount of exciting physics one may be able to study via the detections of gravitational waves from these sources is truly inspiring, there is strong motivation for the development of future generations of ground based detectors sensitive in the range from hundreds of Hz to several kHz.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, Lectures presented at the 2nd Aegean Summer School on the Early Universe, Syros, Greece, September 200