Notes on Conceptual Art

Conceptual Art is not incompatible with painting

Finite Element Analysis and Program for Stokes Fluid Flow

The theory and computer program for finite element analysis of Stokes (creeping) fluid flow is presented. The element is an eight node, two dimensional isoparametric quadrillateral. The element is formulated directly from the Stokes equations of motion, a special case of the Navier-Stokes equations where inertia terms are dropped, using the method of weighted residuals with Galerkin\u27s criterion applied. Velocities in two directions are solved for at all eight nodes while pressure is solved simultaneously at the four corner nodes only. Several test cases have been run with the program. Very good accuracy was achieved in modeling velocity profiles for Couette and Poiseulle flow and for pressure distribution of two lubrication models. In these four cases error was less than 2.5%. Limitations have been pointed out for the types of flow which may be successfully modeled. Flow between two concentric cylinders had an error of 31% between the finite element and exact solutions. Cascades of cylinders and turbine blades are modeled by modeling only one cylinder or blade. The cascade of turbine blades serves to illustrate the potential uses of this technique

The fascination of evil: mental malpractice in Shakespearean tragedy

The first part of this thesis offers a study of the phenomenon of fascination as it was understood in early modern England—specifically in its relation to magic, demonology and witchcraft. It examines fascination’s place within cultural traditions, and its operation within perception theory and the psychophysiology of the early modern medical understanding. It also examines some ways in which fascination operates within a theatrical context, and encounters the discourse of early modern “anti-theatricalists.” The second part of the thesis is an analysis of the Shakespearean tragic hero’s encounter with elements of fascinating bewitchment, and the problems of discerning reality through the mesmeric pull of misperception. The specific subjects of the dramatic analysis are Othello and Macbeth

El debilitamiento de las oclusivas coronales en francés y en español: pruebas electopalatográficas

Lenition of voiced and, to a lesser extent, voiceless stops is widely attested in Western Romance languages. In Spanish, utterance-initial voiced stops as well as those following nasals alternate with approximants in intervocalic position. Acoustic and articulatory studies have revealed factors that condition phonetic weakening. In contrast, very little is known about stop weakening in French. In this paper, using electropalatography, we provide articulatory evidence for the lenition of /t d/ in both Spanish and French. Data obtained from seven Spanish-speaking and four French-speaking participants reveal that, in both languages, /d/ is produced with less linguopalatal contact than /t/, and these differences are strongly conditioned by the position within the utterance or word. The languages differ, however, in the degree of /d/ lenition as well as in some of the contextual conditioning factors. Overall, our results, which should be interpreted with some caution given the number of speakers and the balance of the stimuli set, show that French resembles other Romance languages in its phonetic patterns of lenition, differing mainly in the degree of weakening.El debilitamiento de las oclusivas sonoras, y, en menor medida, el de las sordas, es un proceso frecuente en las lenguas románicas. En español, las oclusivas sonoras en posición inicial absoluta y después de nasal alternan con aproximantes en posición intervocálica. Aunque se han realizado estudios articulatorios y acústicos acerca del debilitamiento en español, poco se sabe acerca de los patrones de debilitamiento en francés. En este trabajo, se presenta evidencia sobre el debilitamiento de /t d/ en ambas lenguas, por medio de datos obtenidos de cuatro hablantes de francés y siete de español usando electropalatografía (EPG). Los resultados muestran que en ambas lenguas /d/ se articula con menos contacto linguo-palatal que /t/ y que las diferencias en los patrones de contacto están condicionadas por la posición en la palabra y en la frase. Ambas lenguas difieren en el grado de debilitamiento de /d/ y en algunos de los factores contextuales que lo afectan. En resumen, los resultados provenientes de esta pequeña muestra de hablantes revelan que el francés se asemeja a otras lenguas románicas en los patrones fonéticos de debilitamiento, aunque difiere en el grado de debilitamiento

The Public Resource Management Game

Use of public resources for private economic gain is a longstanding, contested political issue. Public resources generate benefits beyond commodity uses, including recreation, environmental and ecological conservation and preservation, and existence and aesthetic values. We analyze this problem using a dynamic resource use game. Low use fees let commodity users capture more of the marginal benefit from private use. This increases the incentive to comply with government regulations. Optimal contracts therefore include public use fees that are lower than private rates. The optimal policy also includes random monitoring to prevent strategic learning and cheating on the use agreements and to avoid wasteful efforts to disguise noncompliant behavior. An optimal policy also includes a penalty for cheating beyond terminating the use contract. This penalty must be large enough that the commodity user who would gain the most from noncompliance experiences a negative expected net return.Renewable resources, public resources policy, optimal contracts

Wind Symphony

Wesley United Methodist Church Thursday Evening April 25, 1996 8:00 p.m