Lesbi in the metropolis: fatal attraction in an Indonesian movie from the early 1990s

Indonesian cinema of the early 1990s has often been noted for its lowbrow and erotic content. One film from this era, Gadis metropolis, which earned something of a reputation for its exploitation of the female body, is also notable for its lesbi, and to a lesser extent, gay storylines. This representation of alternative sexualities constitutes the particular concern of this article. The film’s producer argued that in making Gadis metropolis he sought to ‘explain the lives of lesbi’ in Indonesia. Its dominant message, however, was actually a depressing reaffirmation of popular media notions of homosexuality and of societal concerns regarding women’s sexuality generally. Analysis of contemporary press reports and reviews show that while reactions to the film initially focused on its lesbi content, by the following year it had become more of a reference for concerns about the deterioration of the quality of domestic film production. Engaging with academic studies on Western representations of female homosexuality, this article draws on the trope of the murderous, deviant lesbian while at the same time contextualising the emergence of this image in Indonesia as a continuation of popular images of the sexually licentious woman as a threat to the moral (heterosexual) order. By comparing the film’s representations of male and female homosexuality, it is shown that there was far greater concern with the policing of female sexuality than with the gay subject position. Despite the fact that female homosexuality in Gadis metropolis is principally situated within the ideological framework of the heterosexual viewer, however, this article contends that the film may simultaneously offer, at least for some lesbi and gay viewers, momentary spaces for communal identification

Enhancing preparation for higher education

Evidence from national and international studies points to the lack of preparation for Higher Education (HE) as a major factor for student non-completion of courses. This paper reports the findings of a study designed to enhance potential students’ understandings of the expectations of independent learning and assessment. It seeks to provide evidence of the ways in which students and their families can be supported in their understanding of the values and practices of a HE institution. Data are drawn from questionnaires distributed to potential pre-entry students and their parents/carers/friends. The findings illustrate that in allowing for opportunities for pre-entry students to develop a transparent understanding of the expectations of HE study, that they can be supported in the transition to HE by parents/carers/friends. It is hoped that the outcomes of this research will contribute to a more informed transition to HE

Between the Information Economy and Student Recruitment: Present Conjuncture and Future Prospects

In university programs and curricula, in general we react to the need to meet market needs. We respond to market stimulus, or at least try to do so. Consider now an inverted view. Consider our data and perspectives in university programs as reflecting and indeed presaging economic trends. In this article I pursue this line of thinking. I show how various past events fit very well into this new view. I provide explanation for why some technology trends happened as they did, and why some current developments are important now.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Origins of Modern Data Analysis Linked to the Beginnings and Early Development of Computer Science and Information Engineering

The history of data analysis that is addressed here is underpinned by two themes, -- those of tabular data analysis, and the analysis of collected heterogeneous data. "Exploratory data analysis" is taken as the heuristic approach that begins with data and information and seeks underlying explanation for what is observed or measured. I also cover some of the evolving context of research and applications, including scholarly publishing, technology transfer and the economic relationship of the university to society.Comment: 26 page

Development of a patient-reported palliative care-specific health classification system: the POS-E

BackgroundGeneric preference-based measures are commonly used to estimate quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) to inform resource-allocation decisions. However, concerns have been raised that generic measures may be inappropriate in palliative care.ObjectiveOur objective was to derive a health-state classification system that is amenable to valuation from the ten-item Palliative Care Outcome Scale (POS), a widely used patient-reported outcome measure in palliative care.MethodsThe dimensional structure of the original POS was assessed using factor analysis. Item performance was assessed, using Rasch analysis and psychometric criteria, to enable the selection of items that represent the dimensions covered by the POS. Data from six studies of patients receiving palliative care were combined (N = 1011) and randomly split into two halves for development and validation. Analysis was undertaken on the development data, and results were validated by repeating the analysis with the validation dataset.ResultsFollowing Rasch and factor analyses, a classification system of seven items was derived. Each item had two to three levels. Rasch threshold map helped identify a set of 14 plausible health states that can be used for the valuation of the instrument to derive a preference-based index.ConclusionCombining factor analysis and Rasch analysis with psychometric criteria provides a valid method of constructing a classification system for a palliative care-specific preference-based measure. The next stage is to obtain preference weights so the measure can be used in economic evaluations in palliative care

Pattern recognition in narrative: Tracking emotional expression in context

Using geometric data analysis, our objective is the analysis of narrative, with narrative of emotion being the focus in this work. The following two principles for analysis of emotion inform our work. Firstly, emotion is revealed not as a quality in its own right but rather through interaction. We study the 2-way relationship of Ilsa and Rick in the movie Casablanca, and the 3-way relationship of Emma, Charles and Rodolphe in the novel {\em Madame Bovary}. Secondly, emotion, that is expression of states of mind of subjects, is formed and evolves within the narrative that expresses external events and (personal, social, physical) context. In addition to the analysis methodology with key aspects that are innovative, the input data used is crucial. We use, firstly, dialogue, and secondly, broad and general description that incorporates dialogue. In a follow-on study, we apply our unsupervised narrative mapping to data streams with very low emotional expression. We map the narrative of Twitter streams. Thus we demonstrate map analysis of general narratives