Eomer Gets Poetic: Tolkien\u27s Alliterative Versecraft

Throughout Tolkien\u27s professional career he dealt with a great number of texts that had varying views on the heroic, the romantic, the everyday world, and the role of Faerie. One consistent tendency among them, though, is to treat the past, and particularly Anglo-Saxon heritage, with a great deal of respect while trying to find ways to incorporate themes or ideas from that time into his own imaginative subcreations. Tolkien\u27s use of alliterative verse serves to re-contextualize an ancient heroic ethos in a way that shows how heroism has changed, and must change, for the modern world. This paper examines Tolkien’s use of alliterative poetry in the climactic “Battle of Pelennor Fields” in Book V of The Lord of the Rings. It provides two important insights into Tolkien’s poetry: the fidelity that Tolkien has to traditional alliterative verse form and the impact that inclusion of this medieval poetry has on a modern audience

The vicious cycle: fundraising and perceived visibility in US presidential primaries

Scholars of presidential primaries have long posited a dynamic positive feedback loop between fundraising and electoral success. Yet existing work on both directions of this feedback remains inconclusive and is often explicitly cross-sectional, ignoring the dynamic aspect of the hypothesis. Pairing high-frequency FEC data on contributions and expenditures with Iowa Electronic Markets data on perceived probability of victory, we examine the bidirectional feedback between contributions and viability. We find robust, significant positive feedback in both directions. This might suggest multiple equilibria: a candidate initially anointed as the front-runner able to sustain such status solely by the fundraising advantage conferred despite possessing no advantage in quality. However, simulations suggest the feedback loop cannot, by itself, sustain advantage. Given the observed durability of front-runners, it would thus seem there is either some other feedback at work and/or the process by which the initial front-runner is identified is informative of candidate quality

A space-time neural network

Introduced here is a novel technique which adds the dimension of time to the well known back propagation neural network algorithm. Cited here are several reasons why the inclusion of automated spatial and temporal associations are crucial to effective systems modeling. An overview of other works which also model spatiotemporal dynamics is furnished. A detailed description is given of the processes necessary to implement the space-time network algorithm. Several demonstrations that illustrate the capabilities and performance of this new architecture are given

Eomer Gets Poetic: Tolkien\u27s Alliterative Versecraft

Throughout Tolkien\u27s professional career he dealt with a great number of texts that had varying views on the heroic, the romantic, the everyday world, and the role of Faerie. One consistent tendency among them, though, is to treat the past, and particularly Anglo-Saxon heritage, with a great deal of respect while trying to find ways to incorporate themes or ideas from that time into his own imaginative subcreations. Tolkien\u27s use of alliterative verse serves to re-contextualize an ancient heroic ethos in a way that shows how heroism has changed, and must change, for the modern world. This paper examines Tolkien’s use of alliterative poetry in the climactic “Battle of Pelennor Fields” in Book V of The Lord of the Rings. It provides two important insights into Tolkien’s poetry: the fidelity that Tolkien has to traditional alliterative verse form and the impact that inclusion of this medieval poetry has on a modern audience

Filled with the Holy Spirit : a redactional motif in Luke's gospel

Especially during the last hundred years, the church has become more aware of the work of the Holy Spirit. This interest has not only occurred in the holiness, pentecostal and charismatic movements, but in the church at large as well. Some have described this rediscovery as a "second great outpouring of the Holy Spirit" while others have spurned it as soulish emotionalism and ecstasy. Still others declare that the church has discovered nothing new and in a sense no new Pentecost has occurred; for to speak of the church at all one must speak of "two thousand years of Pentecost". This renewed interest in the Holy Spirit has various exponents with even still more assessments of its value, meaning and direction. All engaged in discussing the Holy Spirit today from various theological stances use biblical language concerning the Holy Spirit. Often this usage does not adequately consider the varied contextual and redactional significance of these expressions. This thesis analyzes one such phrase, "filled with/full of the Holy Spirit", in Luke-Acts and points out the significance and limitations for the phrase in a Lucan context. When other redactional and traditional points are encountered in Luke-Acts they are analyzed as well. It is apparent that Luke uses fulness of the Spirit as part of his overall programme of presenting the mission of Jesus and its expansion in the witness of the church in terms of the Holy Spirit. It is hoped that a clearer understanding of Luke's use of the concept will clarify the church's use of the phrase and reduce misunderstanding and division in the church over her greatest asset and very ground of being, the Holy Spirit

The effect of gamification and narrative on learner engagement and academic achievement in primary schools: a South African case study

As the major aims of primary school education are to foster both learning and enjoyment of learning, the main goal of this research project is to identify whether the use of storytelling can improve gamification of learning through a Learning Management System (LMS). Gamification is a known method for enhancing the enjoyment of learning as well asthe reinforcement of learning, in tasks that are typically seen as routine or mundane. The study used a sample of grade 7 learners from a South African private school, using the national curriculum policy document as a content guideline. The study used comparative groups of two gamified learning management systems, with one system using the storyline of “Mission to Mars”, where learners embarked on a fictional journey to Marsin search of habitable land. The other group used a similar learning management system, using generic images and discourse without using a narrative. Using game mechanics, which are common features used to structure games, the content was presented as a progression-based game to achieve the end goal of colonising Mars. Progression was based on learner participation in core activities that were required by the core curriculum and which were formally assessed, in temporal activities that occurred at different stages in time and in discretionary activities that were optional and were known not to be formally assessed. We found that the gamified systems were successful in reinforcing learning and were enjoyed by both experimental groups. It was anticipated that the use of a narrative, in conjunction with the gamified learning management system, would yield higher academic results and be more enjoyable, which was in line with research on the use of storytelling in education. Contradictory data was found, which suggests that the use of narrative should be carefully implemented, as storytelling may only be effective if presented to learners in a meaningful and relevant way. The system was developed using a free web page designer, provided by Google, which would have limited the possibilities for developing interactive or customised teaching resources for the facilitator to use. This was found to be the main limitation for the study and should influence further research in this field

Madness in Lucretius' De rerum natura

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.In the following thesis I examine the experience and etiology of madness in Epicurean philosophy and focus on Lucretius’ accounts of epistemology, disease and emotion in De rerum natura. I situate my general argument within Lucretius’ accounts of the physical and cognitive aspects of emotional disorder

Markets for ecosystem services: Applying the concepts

In recent times, use of market-based instruments to facilitate enhanced protection or production of ecosystem services has achieved a high public profile. However, much work remains to apply these tools in practice. Particular issues include definition and measurement of ecosystem services, development of institutions and mechanisms to facilitate trade and integration of these instruments into the broader natural resource management agenda and toolbox. In this paper these issues are explored with respect to pilot markets for ecosystem services in three case study catchments. Emphasis is placed on pilot selection rationale and identification of key facilitative mechanisms and institutions.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,