Interview by Simon Cushing

Simon Cushing conducted the following interview with Elizabeth Anderson on 18 June 2014

Politics, Responsibility and Risk: Editorial Introduction

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Hybrid Pathwise Sensitivity Methods for Discrete Stochastic Models of Chemical Reaction Systems

Stochastic models are often used to help understand the behavior of intracellular biochemical processes. The most common such models are continuous time Markov chains (CTMCs). Parametric sensitivities, which are derivatives of expectations of model output quantities with respect to model parameters, are useful in this setting for a variety of applications. In this paper, we introduce a class of hybrid pathwise differentiation methods for the numerical estimation of parametric sensitivities. The new hybrid methods combine elements from the three main classes of procedures for sensitivity estimation, and have a number of desirable qualities. First, the new methods are unbiased for a broad class of problems. Second, the methods are applicable to nearly any physically relevant biochemical CTMC model. Third, and as we demonstrate on several numerical examples, the new methods are quite efficient, particularly if one wishes to estimate the full gradient of parametric sensitivities. The methods are rather intuitive and utilize the multilevel Monte Carlo philosophy of splitting an expectation into separate parts and handling each in an efficient manner.Comment: 30 pages. The numerical example section has been extensively rewritte

Categories, Concepts and Units : Representing energy demand in and through time

Preprin

Materials, meaning and metaphor: Unveiling spatio-temporal pertinences in acousmatic music

This dissertation addresses two topics. The first is a preliminary investigation into the listening strategies for electroacoustic music by François Delalande. A listening experiment was undertaken to test Delalande’s strategies and to learn from listeners’ responses in order to apply them to compositional practice. This process prompted the conception of a new, integrated reception behaviour framework for electroacoustic music that comprises four listening strategies: sonic properties, structural attributes, self-orientation, and imaginary realms. The second topic is the poietico-esthesic analysis of the folio of acousmatic compositions from the perspective of the reception behaviours framework. The intention of the reception behaviours framework is to illuminate those sounds and structures in electroacoustic music that could be perceived as carriers of meaning. The analysis of the acousmatic compositions in the portfolio, from the perspective of the reception behaviours framework, aims to illustrate how the acousmatic composer can attempt to create meaning in an acousmatic work. While space is observed as the common denominator in the reception behaviours framework from an esthesic perspective, space and time are proposed as common denominators that carry all poietic intention. Hence, space and time can be seen as universal carriers through which meaning can subsequently be conveyed and perceived

The Consolation of Things: domestic objects in H.D.’s writing from the Second World War

This paper analyses the spiritual consolation of domestic objects - Christmas decorations, food, flowers - in the writing of the American writer H.D. The paper asks how H.D.'s engagement with crafting material things formed a spiritual response to the time of crisis in which she wrote her mature poetry and prose. The paper analyses the prose texts The Gift and "Writing on the Wall" as well as the poem "Christmas 1944" whilst also drawing upon archival research into H.D.'s letters of the period as intertexts for the autobiographical writing. The French theorist Hélène Cixous's writing on the gift forms a framework for considering gift exchange amongst H.D.'s friends as a process of crafting community in the face of trauma. In H.D.'s work ordinary things become extraordinary and create pathways towards healing and consolation

Religious Experience and the Modernist Novel

Output Type: Book Revie

Outlaws

In this article, I argue that mass incarceration belongs to a category of social status interventions by which the modern state either withholds the ordinary protections and benefits of the law from outlawed groups or subjects them to private punishment based on their mere membership in those groups. In the US these groups include immigrants and resident Latinos, the homeless, the poor and poor blacks, sex workers, and ex-convicts. Outlawry is a fundamentally anti-democratic practice that cannot be justified in terms of deterrence and is incompatible with public safety

Teachers’ Perceptions of Elementary Music Education in Ontario

It could be argued that one of the most significant constraints within which music leaders in school work is that of curriculum. In the past 18 years, the Ontario Ministry of Education has released three Arts curricula for the elementary grades. In 1995, the New Democrat Party under the leadership of Bob Rae produced The Common Curriculum: Policies and Outcomes, Grades 1-9, followed closely by a new document in 1998 under the Harris “Common Sense Revolution” government. The expectations for music in this curriculum were considered by music education advocacy groups in Ontario to be too difficult to be taught by non-music specialists. Most recently in 2009, the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training under yet another new leadership of the Liberal government and Dalton McGinty, released the latest elementary music curriculum. This study will investigate the perceived challenges and opportunities that music teachers, both specialists and generalists, have met when teaching the 2009 Ontario elementary music curriculum. Contributing to this research will be a curriculum writer/consultant, a representative from a music education advocacy group in Ontario, and two music educators to preservice teachers. Data will be collected through interviews and voluntarily contributed documents and artifacts