Cross-Gender Casting as Feminist Interventions in the Staging of Early Modern Plays

This essay explores cross-gender casting of Renaissance canonical texts in modern British theatrical institutions as an act of feminist activism. Reversing early modern all-male theatrical practices, female-male re-gendering can not only interrogate the misogyny immanent in the works themselves, but also expose the ideological structures that continue to collude with these values on the contemporary stage and in society more generally. Through a comparative analysis of all-female productions such as Julius Caesar (dir. by Phyllida Lloyd, Donmar Warehouse, 2012-13) and selective cross-gendering, as exemplified in Edward II, (dir. by Joe Hill-Gibbins, The National Theatre, 2013), I argue that cross-gender casting within these most masculine of history plays constitutes a bold feminist activism that audiences, academics and critics alike have found difficult to ignore. By refusing to be bound by a cultural responsibility to reinforce the ideologies of texts born of and endorsing a patriarchal society, this essay demonstrates how women have found a way of articulating their own Foucauldian “reverse discourse” from within the power structure itself. This approach to canonical Renaissance texts constitutes a feminist activism that attacks from three different angles: it questions the “authority” of the originating (male) author; it challenges the hegemony of male-dominated theatrical institutions; and it disrupts culturally embedded ideas of gender hierarchies

Impacts of agricultural land management on soil carbon stabilisation

Soil is the largest terrestrial carbon (C) store, containing an estimated ~1500 Gt C in the upper 1 m of soil. The long term storage of soil organic C (SOC) requires that it is somehow protected from microbial decomposition – or ‘stabilised’ – in the soil matrix. Three mechanisms are commonly identified as factors controlling the stability of SOM: chemical recalcitrance, physical protection in aggregates and adsorption to soil mineral surfaces. The stability of SOC in the soil matrix can be influenced by management practices and changes in soil structure can lead to loss of SOC and increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is, therefore, important to understand the impact that management practices have on SOC stability and to manage soils in such a way as to optimise the volume of SOC which is locked away for climatically significant periods of time. Two methods are generally used to estimate SOC stability: indirectly by measuring CO2 fluxes as a proxy for SOC microbial decomposition, or directly through physical fractionation of soil in to pools with different levels of physical and chemical protection. Both methods were employed in this thesis. Arable and grassland soils which represent the range of soil textures and climatic conditions of the main agricultural areas in the UK were incubated at two different moisture contents and with or without inorganic fertiliser application and GHG fluxes from them were monitored. Soil texture, mineral N concentration and soil C concentration were found to be the most important measured variables controlling GHG fluxes of the UK agricultural soils in this study. The results were generally in support of those found in the literature for a wide range of soils, conditions and locations; however, N2O emissions from the two Scottish soils appeared to be more sensitive to inorganic N fertilisation at the higher moisture content than the other soils, with the N2O emissions being exceptionally high in comparison. Although incubations of whole soils are useful in measuring the impacts of soil management practices on GHG emissions under controlled conditions they do not identify the mechanisms controlling the stability of SOC. Dividing SOM into functional pools may identify different C stabilising mechanisms and improves soil C models. A large number of operationally defined separation methods have been used to fractionate SOM into biologically meaningful pools of different stability. Direct comparisons of different fractionation methods using radiocarbon (14C) dating and spectroscopic analyses has not previously been undertaken. Average 14C ages and chemical composition of SOM fractions isolated from a grassland soil using three published and frequently applied fractionation methods were compared. (1) a density separation technique isolating three fractions (2) a combined physical and chemical separation isolating five fractions (3) a hot-water extraction method isolating two fractions. The fractions from Method 1 had the most distinct average 14C ages, the fractions from Method 2 fell into two age groups, and both Method 3 fractions were dominated by modern C. The average 14C ages of the labile fractions from Method 1 and 2 were higher than the mineral bound fractions, although they made up a relatively small proportion of the total SOC. This was a surprising result, and spectroscopic analysis confirmed that these fractions had greater relative contents of aliphatic and aromatic characteristics than the mineral bound fractions. The presence of black C in a whole soil sample and one of the labile fractions from Method 2 was confirmed by hydrogen pyrolysis. The availability of archived soils from an abandoned long term tillage treatment experiment and the ability to relocate the plots provided a unique opportunity to assess the resilience of SOC stocks to land management practices several years after the conversion from arable to grassland. SOC stability was assessed by soil fractionation of archived (1975) and freshly collected (2014) soil samples. The mass corrected SOC stocks from the four different treatments (deep plough, shallow plough, chisel plough and direct drill) were higher in 2014 than 1975 across the whole profile (0 – 36 cm). Reductions were observed at some depths for some treatments but the overall effect was an evening out of SOC stocks across all plots. The fractionations (using Method 2), revealed that there was a relative increase in the mass of the sand and aggregate fraction but a decrease in the relative proportion of SOC stored in this fraction (physically protected). There was also a significant increase in the C:N ratio of the silt and clay fraction (chemical adsorption). This suggests that reduced disturbance of agricultural soils leads to preferential physical stabilisation of fresh SOM but also increased adsorption of older material to mineral surfaces. The labile fractions were sensitive to land-use change in all tillage treatment plots, but were more sensitive in the low impact tillage plots (chisel plough and direct drill) than the inversion tillage plots (deep plough and shallow plough). It is well established that tillage disrupts aggregation. However, a direct measurement of the level of SOM physical protection in the soil matrix due to aggregation has not previously been undertaken. The soil was fractionated using Method 1 (fractions with distinctly different 14C ages) and isolated soil fractions were incubated separately, recombined and mixed in to whole soil at three different temperatures. The C respiration rate of the isolated intra-aggregate fraction was generally consistently as high as the whole soil. This supports the theory that there is a labile component of soil which is protected from decomposition by physical protection within aggregates. Therefore, the lack of any priming effect with the addition of labile fractions to the whole soil, and indeed the suppression of emissions relative to the whole soil, was unusual. Fractions and whole soils incubated at 25 and 35 °C had a wider range of Q10 (temperature sensitivity) values than those incubated at 15 and 25 °C, however, median values were surprisingly similar (range from 0.7 to 1.9). Overall, the results from this thesis highlight the importance of the soil structure in stabilising C. Disrupting aggregates leaves a proportion of otherwise stable C susceptible to loss through microbial decomposition, particularly when the entire soil matrix is disrupted. It also provided some unexpected results which warrant future investigation; in particular, further direct measurement of physical stabilisation of SOM in soils of different type, from different climates and different land uses would be useful

Chauffeur braking

An experienced driver will `feather' the brakes so as to unwind the suspension compliance and stop the vehicle with only just enough torque in the brakes to hold the vehicle stationary on any gradient, or against the residual torque from an automatic transmission’s torque converter. An optimal stopping problem that minimises the total jerk was formulated and solved. This model was extended by including a linear relationship between the brake pressure and the acceleration of the car where the coefficients are estimated by linear regression. Finally, a Kalman filter estimates the state of the car using the tone wheel

An HI absorption distance to the black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1535-571

With the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) we monitored the black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1535--571 over seven epochs from 21 September to 2 October 2017. Using ASKAP observations, we studied the HI absorption spectrum from gas clouds along the line-of-sight and thereby constrained the distance to the source. The maximum negative radial velocities measured from the HI absorption spectra for MAXI J1535--571 and an extragalactic source in the same field of view are $-69\pm4$ km s$^{-1}$ and $-89\pm4$ km s$^{-1}$, respectively. This rules out the far kinematic distance ($9.3^{+0.5}_{-0.6}$ kpc), giving a most likely distance of $4.1^{+0.6}_{-0.5}$ kpc, with a strong upper limit of the tangent point at $6.7^{+0.1}_{-0.2}$ kpc. At our preferred distance, the peak unabsorbed luminosity of MAXI J1535--571 was $>78$ per cent of the Eddington luminosity, and shows that the soft-to-hard spectral state transition occurred at the very low luminosity of 1.2 -- 3.4 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ times the Eddington luminosity. Finally, this study highlights the capabilities of new wide-field radio telescopes to probe Galactic transient outbursts, by allowing us to observe both a target source and a background comparison source in a single telescope pointing.Comment: Revised after favorable referee report from MNRAS Letter

Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and parental vocalisation behaviours in infancy: findings from UK-based birth cohort

Background: Both maternal and paternal postnatal depression (PND) are associated with increased risk of less optimal offspring developmental outcomes. Early exposure to differences in maternal and paternal vocalisation behaviours associated with maternal and paternal PND may be important in this relationship. However, little research has captured vocalisation patterns at home without researchers present. Objectives This study sought to examine the associations between maternal and paternal PND and various aspects of parental vocalisation behaviours. Methods: Mothers (n = 104) and fathers (n = 34) of six-months old infants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Generation-2 (ALSPAC-G2) provided video footage of mother- and father-infant interactions filmed at home using the head-worn video cameras (headcams) without the need for researchers to be present. Twenty-five mother-infant and father-infant interactions were coded on multiple aspects of parental and infant vocalisation behaviours using the micro-behavioural observational coding system. Parental (PND) was measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; total score). Results: Frequencies and duration of vocalisation behaviours were similar in mothers and fathers. However, there was an indication that fathers demonstrated higher frequency and duration of commands, exclamations and ironic/sarcastic tone, and criticisms compared to mothers, while mothers engaged in more teaching compared to fathers. Linear regression models indicated that maternal and paternal PND were not associated with the majority of vocalisation behaviours. However, there were some specific patterns observed, mostly related to the emotional tone of the vocalisations. Higher levels of maternal PND were associated with lower frequency of speech in a neutral tone, frequency and duration of use of humour, and increased duration of speech in a positive tone. Higher levels of paternal PND were associated with higher mean duration of speech, infant-directed speech, higher frequency and duration of laughing, and increased duration of speech using questions and encouragement. Conclusion: These findings extend existing research by investigating the associations between maternal and paternal PND and a wide range of vocalisation behaviours captured and coded using innovative methods and in a more ecologically valid way than previous studies

Machine learning algorithms for the prediction of EUROP classification grade and carcass weight, using 3-dimensional measurements of beef carcasses

Introduction: Mechanical grading can be used to objectively classify beef carcasses. Despite its many benefits, it is scarcely used within the beef industry, often due to infrastructure and equipment costs. As technology progresses, systems become more physically compact, and data storage and processing methods are becoming more advanced. Purpose-built imaging systems can calculate 3-dimensional measurements of beef carcasses, which can be used for objective grading.Methods: This study explored the use of machine learning techniques (random forests and artificial neural networks) and their ability to predict carcass conformation class, fat class and cold carcass weight, using both 3-dimensional measurements (widths, lengths, and volumes) of beef carcasses, extracted using imaging technology, and fixed effects (kill date, breed type and sex). Cold carcass weight was also included as a fixed effect for prediction of conformation and fat classes.Results: Including the dimensional measurements improved prediction accuracies across traits and techniques compared to that of results from models built excluding the 3D measurements. Model validation of random forests resulted in moderate-high accuracies for cold carcass weight (R2 = 0.72), conformation class (71% correctly classified), and fat class (55% correctly classified). Similar accuracies were seen for the validation of the artificial neural networks, which resulted in high accuracies for cold carcass weight (R2 = 0.68) and conformation class (71%), and moderate for fat class (57%).Discussion: This study demonstrates the potential for 3D imaging technology requiring limited infrastructure, along with machine learning techniques, to predict key carcass traits in the beef industry

Review of arrangements for disagreement resolution (SEND)

The Children and Families Act 2014 and the related Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0-25 years (SEND code of practice) (DfE, 2015) place a greater emphasis than before on the avoidance of disagreements through a person centred approach to decision-making and open communication between professionals and parents and young people (SEND code of practice, paragraph 11.1). Where disagreements and complaints arise, the legislation and the code make clear that parents and young people should be given information and, where they choose, support to enable participation in disagreement resolution and complaints processes. Local authorities (LAs) must therefore provide an information, advice and support service, an independent local disagreement resolution service and mediation service(s). The mediation service includes mediation advice (i.e. providing information about what mediation is and can offer) and full mediation. Local authorities must inform parents and young people about these services, as well as of complaints procedures, and procedures for appealing to the English First-tier Tribunal SEND. The reforms aim to reduce the incidence of disagreements and to achieve earlier resolution of those that do arise

A radio flare associated with the nuclear transient eRASSt J234403−352640: an outflow launched by a potential tidal disruption event

We present an extensive radio monitoring campaign of the nuclear transient eRASSt J234402.9−352640 with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, one of the most X-ray luminous TDE candidates discovered by the SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey. The observations reveal a radio flare lasting >1000 d, coincident with the X-ray, UV, optical, and infrared flare of this transient event. Through modelling of the 10 epochs of radio spectral observations obtained, we find that the radio emission is well-described by an expanding synchrotron emitting region, consisting of a single ejection of material launched coincident with the optical flare. We conclude that the radio flare properties of eRASSt J234402.9−352640 are consistent with the population of radio-emitting outflows launched by non-relativistic tidal disruption events, and that the flare is likely due to an outflow launched by a tidal disruption event (but could also be a due to a new AGN accretion event) in a previously turned-off AGN