237 research outputs found
The theatre as an examination of power: Combining political theory and theatre history
Theatre and politics are intrinsically connected. The art of politics is extremely theatrical and the art of theatre has always been infused with political relationships. This congruity stems from the fact that both fields of practice originate from the same fundamental source: power. Both arts are different expressions of the same concept. This can be seen in the shared theatrical/political focus on argument; both theatre and politics have the same goal - convincing people by leading them to certain conclusions. Both politics and theatre necessitate getting others to believe what one is saying. The performer requires his audience to believe in his character and the world he creates; the political actor requires his peers to trust in his decisions and delegate authority to him. In this way politics and theatre are both principally tools of persuasion, a function of the power one person has in relation to others. As I will define, power is inherent in all relationships between people, working in concert to create new things. While this is obvious in terms of government and authority, I will not be using the classical definitions of power pertaining to rule of one person over another, but rather what results when people cooperate. As an expression of power – theatre allows for experimentation in human relationships and an examination of society and the power relationships contained within it – the theatre can be a tool for illuminating what power structures exist now or arguing for which structures should exist.
With this in mind, how could one harness the power of the theatre as a political instrument? Further, what politics are implied by different theories of performance and different theatrical techniques? That is the focus of this thesis. By revisiting theatre history with a view informed in political theory, I attempt to outline the changing power relationships implied by different theatrical movements throughout the development of Western theatre, from Ancient Egypt until today. By tracing these changes in theatrical practice, I identify the inherent examinations of power in these techniques, analyze them and develop a collection of working terms and conditions to apply to a new form of political theatre. After surveying the power relationships shown by previous theatrical genres, I suggest a movement of my own that embraces the theatre/politics connection and seeks to use theatre politically. The goal: a theatre technique that focuses on examining power with the purpose of educating/training citizens, safe political experimentation and increasing inter-societal dialogue. With these goals in mind, this method of theatre will seek to function as a place for power experimentation which should benefit the political processes of debate, dialogue and persuasion that are necessary for a democracy.
I especially apply Hannah Arendt’s definition of power, Plato’s city/soul connection and Michel Foucault’s concepts of “governmentality,” the “technologies of the self” and Stoic “melete,” in order to lay the groundwork for examining the power inherent in these theatrical relationships. In the broadest sense I outline a theatre which will operate under a regime of democratic governmentality – examining and experimenting with power with the intent of political action.
In my extensive research into theatrical techniques, I came upon many that would be useful in such a theatre, which I outline in my first chapter. These include Aristotelian catharsis, the Horatian concept of theatre that “delights and instructs,” the political calls to action of Bertolt Brecht and Augusto Boal and many others. My principal conclusion is that theatre is useful to examine the power relationships that exist in society between people and decide whether or not they should remain that way. Furthermore, the art of theatre itself is especially useful for exploring political problems because it creates a series of imagined circumstances, wherein the performers, creators and spectators of the piece can experiment with power arrangements and learn through them. One act of theatre can have a multitude of potential messages and discoveries as to the nature of power and society that are worth pursuing. Additionally, theatre can serve as an act of Stoic “melete” (which Foucault describes as meditation) which is a kind of thought-experiment where one experiments hypothetical situations with the goal of learning something about oneself and the validity of one’s beliefs. Theatre can fulfill this function by allowing participants to live through whatever power struggle can be imagined and learn something about power (and themselves) through the experience. The spectators of theatre also live vicariously through the performers and gain some knowledge as well. The primary conclusion I come to in my exploration of the potential of these theatrical techniques and methods is that a political theatre should fulfill a didactic and enlightening role – identifying political realities and essentially judging them, while simultaneously offering alternatives to current situations and experimenting in new arrangements of power. Rather than serve as mere entertainment, the theatre could be used as a political platform to take some of the uncertainty out of political science (which stems from the lack of a “laboratory” for the science) and bring the democratic citizen into a thoughtful engagement with their political life. As the purpose of art is to share ideas and initiate dialogue – the artist should have something to say to the audience, and I believe theatre is the most effective way to have that discussion. And as an art form solely focused upon the interactions of individuals – the theatre is well-equipped to deal with questions of politics, the most personal of subjects. Over the course of my research, I came to believe in the power of the theatre to shed light on society’s problems and participate in the attempt to solve them
Neuro-GPT: Developing A Foundation Model for EEG
To handle the scarcity and heterogeneity of electroencephalography (EEG) data
for Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) tasks, and to harness the power of large
publicly available data sets, we propose Neuro-GPT, a foundation model
consisting of an EEG encoder and a GPT model. The foundation model is
pre-trained on a large-scale data set using a self-supervised task that learns
how to reconstruct masked EEG segments. We then fine-tune the model on a Motor
Imagery Classification task to validate its performance in a low-data regime (9
subjects). Our experiments demonstrate that applying a foundation model can
significantly improve classification performance compared to a model trained
from scratch, which provides evidence for the generalizability of the
foundation model and its ability to address challenges of data scarcity and
heterogeneity in EEG
The Orbit of the Eclipsing X-ray Pulsar EXO 1722-363
With recent and archival Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) X-ray
measurements of the heavily obscured X-ray pulsar EXO 1722-363 (IGR
J17252-3616), we carried out a pulse timing analysis to determine the orbital
solution for the first time. The binary system is characterized by a_x sin(i) =
101 +/- 3 lt-s and P_orb = 9.7403 +/- 0.0004 days (90% confidence), with the
precision of the orbital period being obtained by connecting datasets separated
by more than 7 years (272 orbital cycles). The orbit is consistent with
circular, and e < 0.19 at the 90% confidence level. The mass function is 11.7
+/- 1.2 M_sun and confirms that this source is a High Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB)
system. The orbital period, along with the previously known ~414 s pulse
period, places this system in the part of the Corbet diagram populated by
supergiant wind accretors. Using previous eclipse time measurements by Corbet
et al. and our orbital solution, combined with the assumption that the primary
underfills its Roche lobe, we find i > 61 degrees at the 99% confidence level,
the radius of the primary is between 21 R_sun and 37 R_sun, and its mass is
less than about 22 M_sun. The acceptable range of radius and mass shows that
the primary is probably a supergiant of spectral type B0I-B5I. Photometric
measurements of its likely counterpart are consistent with the spectral type
and luminosity if the distance to the system is between 5.3 kpc and 8.7 kpc.
Spectral analysis of the pulsar as a function of orbital phase reveals an
evolution of the hydrogen column density suggestive of dense filaments of gas
in the downstream wake of the pulsar, with higher levels of absorption seen at
orbital phases 0.5-1.0, as well as a variable Fe K_alpha line.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 11 pages, 11 figure
The C-Band All-Sky Survey: Instrument design, status, and first-look data
The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS) aims to produce sensitive, all-sky maps of
diffuse Galactic emission at 5 GHz in total intensity and linear polarization.
These maps will be used (with other surveys) to separate the several
astrophysical components contributing to microwave emission, and in particular
will allow an accurate map of synchrotron emission to be produced for the
subtraction of foregrounds from measurements of the polarized Cosmic Microwave
Background. We describe the design of the analog instrument, the optics of our
6.1 m dish at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, the status of observations,
and first-look data.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, published in Proceedings of SPIE MIllimeter,
Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V
(2010), Vol. 7741, 77411I-1 - 77411I-1
The X-ray Reflectors in the Nucleus of the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 1068
(abridged) Based on observations of the Seyfert nucleus in NGC1068 with ASCA,
RXTE and BeppoSAX, we report the discovery of a flare (increase in flux by a
factor of ~1.6) in the 6.7 keV Fe K line component between observations
obtained 4 months apart, with no significant change in the other (6.21, 6.4,
and 6.97 keV) Fe K_alpha line components. During this time, the continuum flux
decreased by ~20%. The RXTE spectrum requires an Fe K absorption edge near 8.6
keV (Fe XXIII - XXV). The spectral data indicate that the 2-10 keV continuum
emission is dominated (~2/3 of the luminosity) by reflection from a previously
unidentified region of warm, ionized gas located <~ 0.2 pc from the AGN. The
remaining ~1/3 of the observed X-ray emission is reflected from optically
thick, neutral gas. The inferred properties of the warm reflector (WR) are:
size (diameter) ~ 10^{5.5} /cm3, ionization parameter
xi approx 10^{3.5} erg cm/s, and covering fraction 0.003 (L_0/10^{43.5}
erg/s)^{-1} < (Omega/4 pi) < 0.024 (L_0/10^{43.5})^{-1}, where L_0 is the
intrinsic 2-10 keV X-ray luminosity of the AGN. We suggest that the WR gas is
the source of the (variable) 6.7 keV Fe line emission, and the 6.97 keV Fe line
emission. The 6.7 keV line flare is assumed to be due to an increase in the
emissivity of the WR gas from a decrease (by 20-30%) in L_0. The properties of
the WR are most consistent with an intrinsically X-ray weak AGN with L_0 approx
10^{43.0} erg/s. The optical and UV emission that scatters from the WR into our
line of sight is required to suffer strong extinction, which can be reconciled
if the line-of-sight skims the outer surface of the torus. Thermal
bremsstrahlung radio emission from the WR may be detectable in VLBA radio maps
of the NGC 1068 nucleus.Comment: 39 pages (9 postscript figures) AASTEX, ApJ, accepte
Searching for non-Gaussianity in the VSA data
We have tested Very Small Array (VSA) observations of three regions of sky
for the presence of non-Gaussianity, using high-order cumulants, Minkowski
functionals, a wavelet-based test and a Bayesian joint power
spectrum/non-Gaussianity analysis. We find the data from two regions to be
consistent with Gaussianity. In the third region, we obtain a 96.7% detection
of non-Gaussianity using the wavelet test. We perform simulations to
characterise the tests, and conclude that this is consistent with expected
residual point source contamination. There is therefore no evidence that this
detection is of cosmological origin. Our simulations show that the tests would
be sensitive to any residual point sources above the data's source subtraction
level of 20 mJy. The tests are also sensitive to cosmic string networks at an
rms fluctuation level of (i.e. equivalent to the best-fit observed
value). They are not sensitive to string-induced fluctuations if an equal rms
of Gaussian CDM fluctuations is added, thereby reducing the fluctuations due to
the strings network to rms . We especially highlight the usefulness
of non-Gaussianity testing in eliminating systematic effects from our data.Comment: Minor corrections; accepted for publication to MNRA
Estimating the bispectrum of the Very Small Array data
We estimate the bispectrum of the Very Small Array data from the compact and
extended configuration observations released in December 2002, and compare our
results to those obtained from Gaussian simulations. There is a slight excess
of large bispectrum values for two individual fields, but this does not appear
when the fields are combined. Given our expected level of residual point
sources, we do not expect these to be the source of the discrepancy. Using the
compact configuration data, we put an upper limit of 5400 on the value of f_NL,
the non-linear coupling parameter, at 95 per cent confidence. We test our
bispectrum estimator using non-Gaussian simulations with a known bispectrum,
and recover the input values.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, replaced with version accepted by MNRAS.
Primordial bispectrum recalculated and figure 11 change
ASCA Observations of "Type 2" LINERs: Evidence for a Stellar Source of Ionization
We present ASCA observations of LINERs without broad H emission in
their optical spectra. The sample of "type 2" LINERs consists of NGC 404, 4111,
4192, 4457, and 4569. We have detected X-ray emission from all the objects
except for NGC 404; among the detected objects are two so-called transition
objects (NGC 4192 and NGC 4569), which have been postulated to be composite
nuclei having both an HII region and a LINER component. The images of NGC 4111
and NGC 4569 in the soft (0.5-2 keV) and hard (2-7 keV) X-ray bands are
extended on scales of several kpc. The X-ray spectra of NGC 4111, NGC 4457 and
NGC 4569 are well fitted by a two-component model that consists of soft thermal
emission with keV and a hard component represented by a power law
(photon index 2) or by thermal bremsstrahlung emission ( several
keV). The extended hard X-rays probably come from discrete sources, while the
soft emission most likely originates from hot gas produced by active star
formation in the host galaxy. We have found no clear evidence for the presence
of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the sample. If an AGN component is the
primary ionization source of the optical emission lines, then it must be
heavily obscured with a column density significantly larger than
cm. Alternatively, the optical emission could be ionized by a population
of exceptionally hot stars.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, emulateapj.sty, Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
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