The Venture Capital Solution to the Problem of Close Corporation Shareholder Fiduciary Duties

In this report we study estimation of time-delays in linear dynamical systems with additive noise. Estimating time-delays is a common engineering problem, e.g. in automatic control, system identification and signal processing. The purpose with this work is to test and evaluate a certain class of methods for time-delay estimation, especially with automatic control applications in mind. The principle of the methods in the class is to estimate several discrete-time models of a certain model structure with different explicit time-delays. The estimated time-delay is the time-delay whose model has the lowest mean square difference between the true and estimated output signal. The methods are evaluated experimentally with the aid of simulations and plots of RMS error and confidence intervals for different cases.The results are: The output error (OE) model structure has the lowest RMS error but is very slow. Low model orders give the best result. The ARX model structure has a higher RMS error but is very fast. High model orders give the best result. An ARX model structure with prefiltered input and output signals was also tested. It has an RMS error that is nearly as good as for the OE model structure and is fast but not as fast as the unfiltered ARX. The best model orders are high for the denominator polynomial and low for the numerator polynomial

Changing Fecundity and Reproductive Output in Females of a Chesapeake Bay Population of Blue Crab, \u3ci\u3eCallinectes sapidus\u3c/i\u3e

The Chesapeake Bay blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, is an important species both ecologically and as a fishery. Fishery dependent and independent data indicate that the population declined abruptly in the mid-1990s and has remained low. Previous work prior to the decline in population abundance found a significant relationship between size and fecundity for mature females. As with many heavily fished populations, this population has experienced a reduction in the size at maturity. The objectives of this study were to reassess the fecundity of the population, determine the lipid and protein energy allocated for reproduction, and to examine the concentrations of lipid fractions in eggs. This study indicated that the size-fecundity relationship is absent or very weak. Fecundity estimates indicate that individual female fecundity has decreased by an order of magnitude from previously reported values. Egg production varied both inter- and intra-annually with a greater number of smaller eggs produced later in each season. This all suggests that allometric regulation is no longer the primary factor determining egg production in this population. Negative changes in the allocation or availability of energetic resources may be having a significant impact on this population. Lipid and protein concentrations measured from the hepatopancreas, ovaries and eggs of mature female blue crabs demonstrated that first brood production is derived from stored resources in the hepatopancreas. Later brood production is likely allocated for directly from ingested food. Egg lipid and protein concentrations showed considerable inter- and intra-annual variation, suggesting that there were trade offs between lipid and protein allocation. Concentrations of lipid fractions (triglyceride, phospholipid, and cholesterol) also showed variation within and between spawning seasons suggesting significant differences in egg quality. Decreases in population fecundity in conjunction with observed variation in the biochemical content of eggs can have far reaching impacts on the population including larval survivability and recruitment. My results suggest that there are significant shifts in maternal effort, and potentially reproductive success, both inter-annually and seasonally. Fluctuations in energy available to an embryo, as well as the production of fewer embryos have significantly lowered the reproductive output of this population

What is English now? The construction of subject English in contemporary textbooks for Australian secondary schools

Australian educators are currently engaged in widening debates about the performance of the nation’s schools, teachers and students. Perceived literacy deficits among secondary students have fuelled the debate, and this has precipitated reforms to English curricula at both National and State levels. The newly revised curricula attempt to improve student achievement through more systematic teaching about the English language and language skills. In response to the changes, major education publishers in Australia have released revised textbooks for English that purport to engage with the new curriculum. This research study considered whether such new resources offer genuinely fresh and effective approaches to English, or whether they reproduce established conceptions and methods in new packaging. Guided by Michel Foucault’s concepts of social technology and discursive practice, and Ian Hunter’s detailed historical-theoretical analysis of English, this inquiry used a combination of content analysis and theorisation to identify the models of English embodied in textbooks. Five recent publications were studied to expose both the content and the underlying ideas and pedagogical assumptions about English contained within. Hunter’s historical matrix was applied to categorise the content and quantify the overall proportions of rhetorical, ethical and aesthetical instruction evident in the resources. The findings were interpreted according to Hunter’s genealogy of English and its prevailing discourses, in an effort to offer some clarification about the assumptions that shape school English, and its direction now and in the future. The findings suggest that despite attempts to reconstruct English around the teaching of language skills, established conceptions of English have resurfaced, pulling the subject back toward the ethical domain and distorting the overall balance of content. While the data appears to reflect an apparent prominence of rhetorical skilling, analysis of the content demonstrates how this initiative is obscured by a superficial and mechanical treatment of language and a subsequent preoccupation with the ethical. The oscillation between rhetoric and ethics further reveals a visible circumvention of aesthetics, which is unvaryingly the most neglected category. The thesis concludes that change in English is likely being impeded by teaching materials, conceptual frameworks and assumptions that continue to frame English as a primarily ethical activity, in which linguistic skilling is subordinated to self-formation

Jonathan Bignell’s conference: “Adventures between TV and film, and between Britain and America”

Jonathan Bignell’s keynote address broached the central topic of the relationship between film and television by focusing on the link between Ian Fleming’s iconic character James Bond and the adventure series of the 1960s. As his talk made perfectly clear, the topic is a very rich one, as it reveals largely unknown affiliations both between television and film and between British and American productions. To a large extent, the overlap was due to practical circumstances. Though Ian Fleming’s..

Short and sweet? Structuring Humor and Morality in American Sitcoms

Seinfeld (NBC, 1989-1998), perhaps the most popular sitcom of recent years, famously insisted it was a show about nothing, about the pettiest details of everyday life. Though Seinfeld remains most outspoken about its obsession with trivia, the series in fact simply exaggerated one of the founding principles of the situation comedy: its humor is rooted in the mundane nature of the everyday. This focus on minutiae extends to the very nature of its humor; from The Honeymooners (CBS, 1955-1978) to Modern Family (ABC, 2009-present), show writers have relied on quick repartee and clever one-liners to keep the audience laughing. Interestingly, the rapid-fire nature of this fundamentally domestic comedy is in marked contrast to the very serious aspects of the sitcom, the morally motivated soliloquies that intend to teach characters a lesson. The disparity of bursts of humor and extended principled soliloquies constitute the crux of this paradoxical art form, whose unity stems from its relatability (whether it be in terms of inside jokes about the American Zeitgeist or the familiarity of its characters and setting). I would like to examine this structural dichotomy, both as it was established by classic sitcoms, and as it has been redefined and subverted by more contemporary versions.Seinfeld (NBC, 1989-1998), dont le sitcom éponyme est sans doute l’un des plus populaires de ces dernières décennies, avait l’habitude de dire que c’était une émission sur rien, sur les détails insignifiants de la vie quotidienne. Senfield se manifeste avant tout par cette obsession pour ce qui est futile, mais en réalité, cette série ne fait qu’exacerber l’un des principes fondateurs du comique de situation, et son humour est ancré dans la banalité du quotidien. On retrouve ces aspects dans l’humour de ces émissions, et depuis The Honeymooners (CBS, 1955-1978) jusqu’à Modern Family (ABC, 2009-présent), les scénaristes se sont appuyés sur le sens de la répartie pour faire rire les spectateurs. De fait, il existe un écart entre les répliques comiques débitées à toute allure et les aspects plus sérieux du sitcom, à savoir les soliloques à teneur morale qui ont pour objet de donner une leçon aux personnages. La disparité entre l’humour et les principes moraux des longs soliloques constitue le cœur de cette forme artistique paradoxale, dont l’unité provient de sa « relatabilité » (qu’il s’agisse de blagues de connivence sur le Zeitgeist américain ou de la connaissance des personnages et du contexte). Cet article analyse cette dichotomie structurelle, s’intéressant à la fois à la manière dont les sitcoms classiques l’ont établie et à la manière dont elle a été redéfinie et subvertie par ses avatars contemporains

Jonathan Bignell’s conference: “Adventures between TV and film, and between Britain and America”

Jonathan Bignell’s keynote address broached the central topic of the relationship between film and television by focusing on the link between Ian Fleming’s iconic character James Bond and the adventure series of the 1960s. As his talk made perfectly clear, the topic is a very rich one, as it reveals largely unknown affiliations both between television and film and between British and American productions. To a large extent, the overlap was due to practical circumstances. Though Ian Fleming’s..

La subversion du descriptif dans les romans d’Elizabeth Bowen

Philippe Hamon, dans l’introduction de son ouvrage sur le descriptif, rappelle le peu de considération généralement accordé à la description. En effet, elle est souvent perçue comme superflue, comme un temps d’arrêt que marque l’auteur avant de revenir à l’essentiel, à savoir « l’action » du roman. Toutefois, malgré son caractère en apparence interstitiel, la description peut aussi être le lieu d’enjeux bien plus importants pour le roman que l’on pourrait le croire de prime abord. Ainsi, dans..