Agency and domination in communicative performance

Communicative approaches to musical composition and performance promote symbolic dialogue between performers and audiences, and seek to expand agency for all participants. Such approaches include the altering of performance rituals, the destabilizing of the performance space, and the use of interactive compositional structures. This paper explores the relationship of communicative performance practices to the social context in which they are conceived and experienced. How can communicative practices address the issue of domination while remaining truly dialogical? Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptions of the habitus and the field of cultural production emphasize the strategic action of agents: agents act in order to maximize real or symbolic capital. Jürgen Habermas readily acknowledges the prevalence of strategic action in social relations and in private speech acts, yet he argues in favor of communicative action as essential to the rehabilitation of the lifeworld in a democratic society. However, since Habermas pays little attention to the social status of speakers, his theory is vulnerable to the charge of being universalist and transcendental. The author argues that communicative performance practices create a dynamic space for the experience of communicative action, conducted through verbal and non-verbal means. Drawing on recent work of New Music New College, the author explains how issues of domination can be made thematic in experimental composition and performance, thus leading to reflexive awareness. In the context of the field of cultural production, such practices take on a strategic function, taking a position in the institutional debates about artistic and social value

Optical orbital angular momentum

We present a brief introduction to the orbital angular momentum of light, the subject of our theme issue and, in particular, to the developments in the 13 years following the founding paper by Allen et al. (Allen et al. 1992 Phys. Rev. A 45, 8185 (doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.45.8185)). The papers by our invited authors serve to bring the field up to date and suggest where developments may take us next

On the dragging of light by a rotating medium

When light is passing through a rotating medium the optical polarization is rotated. Recently, it has been reasoned that this rotation applies also to the transmitted image. We examine these two phenomena by extending an analysis of Player (Player 1976 Proc. R. Soc. A 349, 441-445) to general electromagnetic fields. We find that in this more general case, the wave equation inside the rotating medium has to be amended by a term which is connected to the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the light. We show that optical spin and OAM account for the rotation of the polarization and the rotation of the transmitted image, respectively

Exploring Unexplored Frontiers: The Private Right of Action Under the Louisiana Securities Law

The article offers information on the history, development and significant interpretation of provisions of the private right of action by Courts in the wake of global financial crisis and recession under the securities law of Louisiana. It analyzes the significance of the federal securities anti-fraud laws formed under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. It discusses the judicial decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the cvase of Gustafson v. Alloyd Co. Inc.

Prisms and Polyphony: The lived experiences of high school band students and their director as the prepare for an adjudicated performance.

This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is called by the question: What are the lived experiences of high school band students and their director as they prepare for an adjudicated performance? While there are many lenses through which the phenomenon of music preparation and music making has been explored, a relatively untapped aspect of this phenomenon is the experience as lived by the students themselves. The experiences and behaviors of the band director are so inexorably intertwined with the student experience that this essential contextual element is also explored as a means to understand the phenomenon more fully. Two metaphorical constructs - one visual, one musical - provide a framework upon which this exploration is built. As a prism refracts a single color of light into a wide spectrum of hues, views from within illumine a variety of unique perspectives and uncover both divergent and convergent aspects of this experience. Polyphony (multiple contrasting voices working independently, yet harmoniously, toward a unified musical product) enables understandings of the multiplicity of experiences inherent in ensemble performance. Conversations with student participants and their director, notes from my observations, and journal offerings provide the text for phenomenological reflection and interpretation. The methodology underpinning this human science inquiry is identified by Max van Manen (2003) as one that "involves description, interpretation, and self-reflective or critical analysis" (p. 4). I have reflected on the counterpoint of the student experience, and both purposefully and inadvertently, viewed this counterpoint through the various windows O'Donohue (2004) suggests await our gaze in the inner tower of the mind (p. 127). The student experience showed itself through the ensemble culture, the repertoire studied, the rehearsal process, and the adjudicated performance itself. Student conversations and reflections indicate that they experienced both discovery and transformation as they interacted with the music, each other, and their director throughout this process. The fresh prismatic and polyphonic understandings that emerged may offer the possibility for others to consider more deeply the context of how students experience who they are within an ensemble and how that experience shapes their musical understandings and personal growth

Interferometric data for a shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction

An experimental study of the axisymmetric shock-wave / boundary-layer strong interaction flow generated in the vicinity of a cylinder-cone intersection was conducted. The study data are useful in the documentation and understanding of compressible turbulent strong interaction flows, and are part of a more general effort to improve turbulence modeling for compressible two- and three-dimensional strong viscous/inviscid interactions. The nominal free stream Mach number was 2.85. Tunnel total pressures of 1.7 and 3.4 atm provided Reynolds number values of 18 x 10(6) and 36 x 10(6) based on model length. Three cone angles were studied giving negligible, incipient, and large scale flow separation. The initial cylinder boundary layer upstream of the interaction had a thickness of 1.0 cm. The subsonic layer of the cylinder boundary layer was quite thin, and in all cases, the shock wave penetrated a significant portion of the boundary layer. Owing to the thickness of the cylinder boundary layer, considerable structural detail was resolved for the three shock-wave / boundary-layer interaction cases considered. The primary emphasis was on the application of the holographic interferometry technique. The density field was deduced from an interferometric analysis based on the Able transform. Supporting data were obtained using a 2-D laser velocimeter, as well as mean wall pressure and oil flow measurements. The attached flow case was observed to be steady, while the separated cases exhibited shock unsteadiness. Comparisons with Navier-Stokes computations using a two-equation turbulence model are presented

Fourier relationship between angular position and optical orbital angular momentum

We demonstrate the Fourier relationship between angular position and angular momentum for a light mode. In particular we measure the distribution of orbital angular momentum states of light that has passed through an aperture and verify that the orbital angular momentum distribution is given by the complex Fourier-transform of the aperture function. We use spatial light modulators, configured as diffractive optical components, to define the initial orbital angular momentum state of the beam, set the defining aperture, and measure the angular momentum spread of the resulting beam. These measurements clearly confirm the Fourier relationship between angular momentum and angular position, even at light intensities corresponding to the single photon level.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Developing a viable electric bus service: the Milton Keynes demonstration project

Diesel, and even hybrid, buses can be a serious source of city centre air pollution. Electric buses deliver zero emissions, but because of the need to recharge, in operation they require about double the number of vehicles, so making mainstream electric bus operations prohibitively expensive. This autumn will see the implementation in Milton Keynes of an electric bus service designed to overcome this problem. An entire bus route will be converted to electric operation with inductive charging at bus layover points. This will permit the use of smaller and less expensive battery pack and for the electric buses to operate continuously all day. Consequently this design does not require the purchase of a significantly larger fleet. This study not only provides an example of how technically resolve the electric bus problem, but raises strategic issues about the organisational structures to deliver sustainable transport, using a different business concept to that for conventional bus developments. This raises important points for regulatory and innovation policy. There is government support for sustainable transport technologies, but these innovations require new institutional structures and business models as well. The Milton Keynes project has sought to develop such a structure