1,041 research outputs found
Politics and contemporary poetry
The paper is a Meditation (variant on the manner of Aurelius and
Descartes) concerning the immediate situation, in the United States, of
poetry as a discourse of political engagement. As such, the paper is
a highly personal one. It means to offer an account of the peculiar
limits within which contemporary poetry in the United States is forced
to get carried on, as well as an explanation of the context in which
those limits were defined. It also suggests possible ways to exploit
the special resources of contemporary poetry (formally and socially
conceived) for political discourse and social critique. The paper is
most centrally concerned to illuminate the special kinds of critical
reflection which contemporary poetry, by virtue of its marginal
position, makes available. The paper's two main sections involve
the author's own reflexive analysis of his encounters with certain
texts by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Theodor Adorno, and Carolyn Forche
Interpreting the Roman Squatting Tradition
This thesis addresses the rich tradition of urban occupations, also known as squatting , in Rome, Italy. I argue that Roman squatting had its origins mainly in the Social Center Movement of the late 1970s and a preceding wave of occupations aimed at garnering affordable housing. In order to provide a context for these social movements, I first briefly describe the urban development history of the city since the late 1800s. The Roman pattern of urban development favored private interests and land speculation in a manner that resulted in overconsumption and the marginalization of a large sect of the population. In recent times, new organizations have begun to practice variations of traditional Roman squatting in the face of increased international immigration and a lingering economic crisis
Nonaxisymmetric, multi-region relaxed magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium solutions
We describe a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) constrained energy functional for
equilibrium calculations that combines the topological constraints of ideal MHD
with elements of Taylor relaxation.
Extremizing states allow for partially chaotic magnetic fields and
non-trivial pressure profiles supported by a discrete set of ideal interfaces
with irrational rotational transforms.
Numerical solutions are computed using the Stepped Pressure Equilibrium Code,
SPEC, and benchmarks and convergence calculations are presented.Comment: Submitted to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion for publication
with a cluster of papers associated with workshop: Stability and Nonlinear
Dynamics of Plasmas, October 31, 2009 Atlanta, GA on occasion of 65th
birthday of R.L. Dewar. V2 is revised for referee
A discernable and manageable standard for partisan gerrymandering
The case of Veith v. Jubelirer (2004) challenges us to find a standard for partisan gerrymandering that is judicially discernable and manageable. Without such a standard even the most egregious partisan gerrymanders cannot be effectively challenged. However, we argue that the way to find a suitable standard is not to embark on a quest for a “new” standard. Rather it is to take the existing valid measures that science gives us, and show that these can be grounded in constitutionally protected rights. Using recent results in social choice theory, we show that the existing partisan symmetry standard can be derived from an individual right to equal protection. We also show that the existing technology for measuring partisan symmetry can provide a judicially manageable test for partisan bias
A study into the ageing and dating of blue ball tip inks on paper using in situ visible spectroscopy with chemometrics
This paper presents a study into the potential of visible spectroscopy with chemometrics as an approach to dating blue ball tip inks on paper documents. Analysis of six inks left under various conditions found that the majority of those kept in the dark could still be matched to the source pen after 32 months of ageing. Conversely, the majority of those exposed to light exhibited rapid spectral changes that continued throughout the 32 month period. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to generate dating models for inks aged with exposure to light. Evaluation using an external test set found absolute dating to be challenging for these ink deposits within the first 2-6 months of ageing. However, predictive accuracy was found to improve for long-term ageing, with two-year old samples yielding age estimates with a maximum error of 6 months. This rapid, non-destructive methodology could assist document examiners in the relative ageing or approximate age determination of questioned documents, as well as the identification of document alterations
Why the Republicans will retain the House in 2016...and 2018...and 2020
At this stage of the 2016 election cycle, which party will control the White House and the US Senate come January 2017 seems to be very much up in the air. The US House of Representatives on the other hand, is almost certain to remain in the hands of the Republican Party, a situation which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Anthony J. McGann , Charles Anthony Smith , Michael Latner and Alex Keena argue that the GOP’s continued control of the House is down to the gerrymandering of Congressional districts by Republican-controlled state legislatures. They write that in certain states like Pennsylvania, this gerrymandering leads to an asymmetry between the number of seats the Democrats gain and their vote share, reducing their share of US House seats
The US Supreme Court has decided partisan gerrymandering is outside its remit. A democratic restoration now depends on the people alone.
The United States Supreme Court has determined that reviewing partisan gerrymandering cases was outside the remit of federal courts. Alex Keena, Michael Latner, Anthony J. McGann and Charles Anthony Smith argue that in failing to recognise the vote dilution caused by the redrawing of a state’s electoral district boundaries to the party in power’s advantage, as well as connecting the majority rule standard to the 14th Amendment, the decision removes Americans’ fundamental right to participate equally in the political process
Gerrymandering the Presidency: Why Trump could lose the popular vote in 2020 by 6 percent and still win a second term.
Donald Trump was the clear Electoral College winner in the 2016 election, despite losing the popular vote by a wide margin to Hillary Clinton. Anthony J. McGann, Charles Anthony Smith, Michael Latner and Alex Keena write that, unless the Supreme Court stops congressional gerrymandering, President Trump can guarantee re-election in 2020 – even if he loses by 6 percent
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