Advances in catalysis for fuel cells

Imperial Users onl

The construction and form of modern cities: exploring identities and community

‘Urban historians’, we are told, are ‘obliged to be more eclectic’ than other scholars of the city. The volumes covered by this review certainly speak to the rich diversity of urban history making.* While the others can take a ‘well-defined disciplinary perspective’ – as sociologists, geographers, etc. – only we are expected to ‘study the interaction of the urban fabric on the social fabric’ in its ‘unique spatial setting’ across social, economic and political boundaries (and of course through time). This is a rhetoric – an ideal, perhaps – with which most of us, doubtless, are already familiar. But how does it translate into practice? In our everyday imperfect world of time constraints a nominal commitment to eclecticism can instead spawn specialization, and thus a lack of cross-disciplinary ‘cohesion’, so that the ‘umbrella’ of diversity instead becomes an agency for introversion. To be truly eclectic, therefore, presumably urban historians need to be not only better read (and/or brighter) than other academic colleagues, but also better resourced! Yet before we all rush to our respective departmental heads to make a claim, we need to ask, too, whether this declaration of eclecticism is little more than yet another ‘idealized’ story that we tell about ourselves: part of our identity, of how we would like to be seen, an affirmation of our self-view. Is it as ‘imagined’, for example, as other forms of identity – a construct to serve a purpose? Is it there to make us feel special, valued and privileged

'Increasing student engagement and retention using social technologies: Facebook, e-portolios and other social networking services' by Laura A. Wankel and Patrick Blessinger : review

Review of 'Increasing student engagement and retention using social technologies: Facebook, e-portolios and other social networking services' by Laura A. Wankel and Patrick Blessinger. Emerald Group Publishing, 2012

Psychoanalysis & the Films of Federico Fellini

This paper explores the connection between the study of psychoanalysis and the films of Italian filmamaker Federico Fellini. It looks at four of his works in detail: I Vitelloni, 8 1/2 [Eight and one half], Juliet of the Spirits and Amarcord and analyzes psychoanalytic themes and symbolism in each. Included is also a brief biography of the filmmaker and an outline of his experiences with psychoanalysis, chiefly the writings of Carl Jung

The Beauty and the Barrister: Gender Roles, Madness, and the Basis for Identity in Lady Audley\u27s Secret

This thesis examines the concept of identity in the novel Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. In the mid to late Victorian period, self-definition was strongly tied to gender roles. Men were expected to be mentally active, physical strong, and morally guiding leaders of society, and women were to be their passive, pious, domestically minded followers. These expectations for behavior were so strong that those breaking them were in danger of being considered insane. In Braddon’s novel, the behavior of most characters does not align with the expectations for their gender. The exception is Lady Audley, the apparently ideal woman whose beauty and charm mask a vicious and criminal nature. Her plea of insanity, while it may offer an excuse for her unfeminine behavior, does not pardon her crimes. However, hero Robert Audley’s behavior is absolutely effeminate, but he has a strong moral sense and total devotion to his loved ones. Their deviation from or adherence to gender-appropriate behaviors does not change their essential natures. In Lady Audley’s Secret, Braddon uses gender roles and the theme of insanity to critique the Victorian conception of identity