The story of Oh: the aesthetics and rhetoric of a common vowel sound

Studies in Musical Theatre is the only peer-reviewed journal dedicated to musical theatre. It was launched in 2007 and is now in its seventh volume. It has an extensive international readership and is edited by Dominic Symonds and George Burrows. This article investigates the use of the ‘word’ ‘Oh’ in a variety of different performance idioms. Despite its lack of ‘meaning’, the sound is used in both conversation and poetic discourse, and I discuss how it operates communicatively and expressively through contextual resonances, aesthetic manipulation and rhetorical signification. The article first considers the aesthetically modernist work of Cathy Berberian in Bussotti’s La Passion Selon Sade; then it considers the rhetorically inflected use of ‘Oh’ to construct social resonance in popular song;finally, it discusses two important uses of the sound ‘Oh’ which bookend the Broadway musical Oklahoma!, serving to consolidate the allegorical and musico-dramatic narrative of the show

Chromospheric explosions

Three issues relative to chromospheric explosions were debated. (1) Resolved: The blue-shifted components of x-ray spectral lines are signatures of chromospheric evaporation. It was concluded that the plasma rising with the corona is indeed the primary source of thermal plasma observed in the corona during flares. (2) Resolved: The excess line broading of UV and X-ray lines is accounted for by a convective velocity distribution in evaporation. It is concluded that the hypothesis that convective evaporation produces the observed X-ray line widths in flares is no more than a hypothesis. It is not supported by any self-consistent physical theory. (3) Resolved: Most chromospheric heating is driven by electron beams. Although it is possible to cast doubt on many lines of evidence for electron beams in the chromosphere, a balanced view that debaters on both sides of the question might agree to is that electron beams probably heat the low corona and upper chromosphere, but their direct impact on evaporating the chromosphere is energetically unimportant when compared to conduction. This represents a major departure from the thick-target flare models that were popular before the Workshop

ESTIMATING UNCERTAINTIES FROM INACCURATE MEASUREMENT DATA USING MAXIMUM ENTROPY DISTRIBUTIONS

Modern engineering design often considers uncertainties in geometrical and material parameters and in the loading conditions. Based on initial assumptions on the stochastic properties as mean values, standard deviations and the distribution functions of these uncertain parameters a probabilistic analysis is carried out. In many application fields probabilities of the exceedance of failure criteria are computed. The out-coming failure probability is strongly dependent on the initial assumptions on the random variable properties. Measurements are always more or less inaccurate data due to varying environmental conditions during the measurement procedure. Furthermore the estimation of stochastic properties from a limited number of realisation also causes uncertainties in these quantities. Thus the assumption of exactly known stochastic properties by neglecting these uncertainties may not lead to very useful probabilistic measures in a design process. In this paper we assume the stochastic properties of a random variable as uncertain quantities caused by so-called epistemic uncertainties. Instead of predefined distribution types we use the maximum entropy distribution which enables the description of a wide range of distribution functions based on the first four stochastic moments. These moments are taken again as random variables to model the epistemic scatter in the stochastic assumptions. The main point of this paper is the discussion on the estimation of these uncertain stochastic properties based on inaccurate measurements. We investigate the bootstrap algorithm for its applicability to quantify the uncertainties in the stochastic properties considering imprecise measurement data. Based on the obtained estimates we apply standard stochastic analysis on a simple example to demonstrate the difference and the necessity of the proposed approach

Circadian rhythm deterioration in early Alzheimer Disease and the preventive effects of light

Someren, E.J.W. van [Promotor]Scheltens, P. [Promotor

Print or Perish? Authors’ Attitudes Toward Electronic-Only Publication of Law Journals

An increasing number of U.S. law journals post at least current issues in freely accessible PDF and (in some cases) HTML formats on their web sites. Yet, perhaps without exception, the journals that make their articles freely available on their websites also continue to publish print issues in the face of declining subscription numbers, and law libraries\u27 growing disinterest in collecting and preserving journals in print. As universities reduce staff, freeze open positions, eliminate salary increases, and cut library budgets, why have law schools continued to subsidize print publication of journals that are accessible in electronic formats? Among the reasons suggested for this is the possible impact on a journals reputation and ability to attract authors if it moved to electronic-only publication. This paper reports on the results of a survey of law journal authors\u27 attitudes toward electronic-only law journals

Activity Patterns and Spatial Resource Selection of the Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)

Snake species usually exhibit seasonal variations in activity patterns, home-range size and the use of respective habitat. Using mark-recapture protocols I marked 96 individual Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis specimens in Lake Forest, IL to determine the independent variables that best explained habitat selection in a population of Eastern Garter Snakes (T. s. sirtalis). Specifically, I focused on the relationship between seasonal movement and home range size of male and female garter snakes. I analyzed the habitat preferences and spatial ecology of Eastern Garter Snakes during the 2011 sampling season and modeled the relationship between preferred or avoided habitat, in conjunction with gender and season. During spring, males averaged 16.42 ± 36.86 m (S.D.), while females averaged 11.74 ± 33.29 m (S.D.) (W=1258, p=0.3367, no significant difference). Summer movement was lower for males and higher for females, males averaged 1.16 ± 5.20 m (S.D.) and females averaged 18.67 ± 37.71 m (S.D.) (W=414.5, p=0.0087). For 2011, males\u27 home range averaged 60.48 ± 62.73 m2 (S.D.), while females averaged 549.2 ± 125.16 m2 (S.D.) (W=0, p=0.095, no significant difference). T. s. sirtalis\u27 presence for 2011 was best predicted by spatial factors, which was location of nearest crayfish burrows (R2= 94 - 98%). These findings, and those of previous investigations on the activity patterns of snake species, suggest that there is a difference between gender movement and activity patterns specific to season