A Tonnetz Model for pentachords

This article deals with the construction of surfaces that are suitable for representing pentachords or 5-pitch segments that are in the same $T/I$ class. It is a generalization of the well known \"Ottingen-Riemann torus for triads of neo-Riemannian theories. Two pentachords are near if they differ by a particular set of contextual inversions and the whole contextual group of inversions produces a Tiling (Tessellation) by pentagons on the surfaces. A description of the surfaces as coverings of a particular Tiling is given in the twelve-tone enharmonic scale case.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figure

Bullets over ballots: Islamist groups, the state and electoral violence in Egypt and Morocco

This article is concerned with state-sponsored electoral violence in liberalized autocracies. The first section of the paper identifies a number of variables that can help explain the decision calculus of authoritarian incumbents to deploy force against strong electoral challengers. The second section then examines these propositions with reference to Egypt and Morocco. Drawing on recent parliamentary elections in both countries the article questions why, despite facing the challenge of political Islam, the two regimes differed so markedly in their willingness to manipulate the polls by recourse to violence. Whilst the Egyptian authorities decided to abrogate all pretence of peaceful elections in favour of violent repression against the Muslim Brotherhood candidates and sympathizers, no such tactics were deployed by the ruling elite in Morocco. We suggest that three principal factors influenced the regimes' response to this electoral challenge: (1) the centrality of the elected institution to authoritarian survival; (2) the availability of alternative electioneering tools; and (3) the anticipated response of the international community. The article concludes by suggesting that in order to understand better when and how states deploy violence in elections, we need to focus on a more complex set of factors rather than simply on the electoral potency of key opposition challengers or the authoritarian nature of the state

Computational Modelling of Patella Femoral Kinematics During Gait Cycle and Experimental Validation

The effect of loading and boundary conditions on patellar mechanics is significant due to the complications arising in patella femoral joints during total knee replacements. To understand the patellar mechanics with respect to loading and motion, a computational model representing the patella femoral joint was developed and validated against experimental results. The computational model was created in IDEAS NX and simulated in MSC ADAMS/VIEW software. The results obtained in the form of internal external rotations and anterior posterior displacements for a new and experimentally simulated specimen for patella femoral joint under standard gait condition were compared with experimental measurements performed on the Leeds ProSim knee simulator. A good overall agreement between the computational prediction and the experimental data was obtained for patella femoral kinematics. Good agreement between the model and the past studies was observed when the ligament load was removed and the medial lateral displacement was constrained. The model is sensitive to ±5 % change in kinematics, frictional, force and stiffness coefficients and insensitive to time step

The ascent from the maelstrom: Art Students Observed and its descriptive resonance 40 years on

Between 1967 and 1973 Barbara Weinberger and Charles Madge undertook a longitudinal study of art students at Coventry and Birmingham Colleges of Art, incorporating pre-diploma to final year students and their teachers, with a focus on fine art students. This article revisits the study in light of accounts from participants, archival documents and reviews. It also looks at the study's value both as an accurate description of art school socialisation and its effectiveness as a piece of sociology. It then looks at some of the main issues raised by the study and how they have influenced writing since and their value today. The article aims to clarify some of the obscurities of the study and offer a critical context within which it can be read as a now unique historical document

Egyptian Satirical Graphics on Social Media after the Arab Spring

This paper investigates Egyptian digital forms of satirical graphics mostly published on Social Media by cartoonists and amateurs after the Arab Spring. These include: webcomics memes, and Graphic Interchange Format (GIF). The paper will focus on two Facebook pages as a case study: Asa7be Sarcasm Society and Islam Gawish's Elwarka/The Paper. With this aim in mind, I will show how these forms of political satire incorporate, cinema, theatre, religion, western elements and pan-Arabism to express a political view in a creative manner to appeal to a more diverse and broad audience. The first part of the paper provides a brief discussion of Arabic/Egyptian satire with specific reference to political cartoons and Egyptian youth activism on social media (specifically Facebook). It will also introduce the concept of satirical graphics and some of its concrete applications. The second part describes the methodology and provides an analysis of the case study

The qualitative transparency deliberations: insights and implications

In recent years, a variety of efforts have been made in political science to enable, encourage, or require scholars to be more open and explicit about the bases of their empirical claims and, in turn, make those claims more readily evaluable by others. While qualitative scholars have long taken an interest in making their research open, reflexive, and systematic, the recent push for overarching transparency norms and requirements has provoked serious concern within qualitative research communities and raised fundamental questions about the meaning, value, costs, and intellectual relevance of transparency for qualitative inquiry. In this Perspectives Reflection, we crystallize the central findings of a three-year deliberative process—the Qualitative Transparency Deliberations (QTD)—involving hundreds of political scientists in a broad discussion of these issues. Following an overview of the process and the key insights that emerged, we present summaries of the QTD Working Groups’ final reports. Drawing on a series of public, online conversations that unfolded at www.qualtd.net, the reports unpack transparency’s promise, practicalities, risks, and limitations in relation to different qualitative methodologies, forms of evidence, and research contexts. Taken as a whole, these reports—the full versions of which can be found in the Supplementary Materials—offer practical guidance to scholars designing and implementing qualitative research, and to editors, reviewers, and funders seeking to develop criteria of evaluation that are appropriate—as understood by relevant research communities—to the forms of inquiry being assessed. We dedicate this Reflection to the memory of our coauthor and QTD working group leader Kendra Koivu

Is vulnerability to climate change gendered? And how? Insights from Egypt

Most climate change literature tends to downplay the gendered nature of vulnerability. At best, gender is discussed in terms of the male-female binary, seen as opposing forces rather than in varying relations of interdependency. Such construction can result in the adoption of maladaptive culturally unfit gender-blind policy and interventions. In Egypt, which is highly vulnerable to climate change, gender analysis of vulnerability is almost non-existent. This paper addresses this important research gap by asking and drawing on a rural Egyptian context ‘How do the gendered relational aspects of men’s and women’s livelihoods in the household and community influence vulnerability to climate change?’. To answer this question, I draw on gender analysis of social relations, framed within an understanding of sustainable livelihoods. During 16 months of fieldwork, I used multiple ethnographic methods to collect data from two culturally and ethnically diverse low-income villages in Egypt. My main argument is that experiences of climate change are closely intertwined with gender and wider social relations in the household and community. These are shaped by local gendered ideologies and cultures that are embedded in conjugal relations, kinship and relationship to the environment, as compared across the two villages. In this paper, I strongly argue that vulnerability to climate change is highly gendered and therefore gender analysis should be at the heart of climate change discourses, policy and interventions