Novels in the Internet Age: “House of Leaves” and New Media’s Influence in Contemporary Fictional Literature

The now-ubiquitous nature of the Internet has changed the way we see the world, and these changes must be reflected in how we experience other media forms. Postmodern works such as Harry Mathew\u27s The Journalist have challenged the way we read and electronic literature like Steve Tomasula\u27s Toc have stretched the use of the digital to produce stories; but contemporary literature combines the medium and techniques of postmodern literature with the character of the digital. This project explores the influences of the characteristics and attitudes of the Internet medium as they are partially realized in Jonathan Safran Foer\u27s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and as they are fully realized in Mark Z. Danielewski\u27s House of Leaves. It reveals through these examples the focus on multimedia, connectivity, and interactivity imbued in the literary medium through consideration of the Internet-savvy reader. By examining the form and content of these texts, this study shows how literature can come to grips with a medium that may consider neither form nor content but instead motion, comparison, and experience

The Cameron-Martin Theorem for (p-)Slepian processes

We show a Cameron-Martin theorem for Slepian processes $W_t:=\frac{1}{\sqrt{p}}(B_t-B_{t-p}), t\in [p,1]$, where $p\geq \frac{1}{2}$ and $B_s$ is Brownian motion. More exactly, we determine the class of functions $F$ for which a density of $F(t)+W_t$ with respect to $W_t$ exists. Moreover, we prove an explicit formula for this density. p-Slepian processes are closely related to Slepian processes. p-Slepian processes play a prominent role among others in scan statistics and in testing for parameter constancy when data are taken from a moving window

Boundary crossing probabilities for (q,d)(q,d)-Slepian-processes

For $0<q< d$ fixed let $W^{[q,d]}=(W^{[q,d]}_t)_{t\in {[q,d]}}$ be a $(q,d)$-Slepian-process defined as centered, stationary Gaussian process with continuous sample paths and covariance \begin{align*} C_{W^{[q,d]}}(s,s+t) = (1-\frac{t}{q})^+, \quad q\leq s\leq s+t\leq d. \end{align*} Note that \begin{align*} \frac{1}{\sqrt{q}}(B_t-B_{t-q})_{t\in [q,d]}, \end{align*} where $B_t$ is standard Brownian motion, is a $(q,d)$-Slepian-process. In this paper we prove an analytical formula for the boundary crossing probability $\mathbb{P}\left(W^{[q,d]}_t > g(t) \; \text{for some } t\in[q,d]\right)$, $q< d\leq 2q$, in the case $g$ is a piecewise affine function. This formula can be used as approximation for the boundary crossing probability of an arbitrary boundary by approximating the boundary function by piecewise affine functions

The market development of avaition biofuel: drivers and constraints

Aviation biofuel is technically viable and nearing the commercial stage. In the last ten years, biofuels have moved from relative obscurity to a point where certain types of fuel have become fully certified for commercial use in up to 50% blends with standard jet fuel and commercial partnerships between airlines and biofuel producers are being established. Yet despite numerous successful test flights, aviation biofuels have yet to become widely commercialised. Drawing on the findings of in-depth interviews with leading global aviation biofuel stakeholders undertaken between October and December 2011, this paper identifies and examines the perceived factors that are affecting the market development of biofuels for aviation. The paper illustrates that market development is being driven by the combined effects of rising jet fuel prices, the potential future impact of emissions legislation and concerns about fuel (in)security. However, commercialisation is being constrained by high production costs, limited availability of suitable feedstocks, uncertainty surrounding the definition of the sustainability criteria, and a perceived lack of both national and international political and policy support for aviation biofuel. The implications of these findings for commercial aviation and the future development of global market for aviation biofuel market are discussed

The Mexican Voter Transformed: MORENA Success in the Wake of Party System Failure

Over the last two decades Mexican politics have been in constant change and instability after the fall of the PRI. In 2014, MORENA was founded and began to make its presence known with the legislative elections in 2015, winning 35 seats in the legislature. Despite only winning less than 10% of seats in their first national election, MORENA built off these victories to win the national general election and the presidency with former PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). While easy to attribute this historic victory to the global rise of populism, this project argues that the Mexican case is unique in that this victory goes beyond the populist tendencies of the candidate, but rather the success of a new political party. Through running regression tests on data from survey responses conducted by the Latin American Public Opinion Project and close analysis of the Mexico case, I find that there is support that voters’ lack of confidence in political parties paired with dropping partisanship were significant factors in AMLO’s presidential victory

The Impact of Middle School Scheduling Practices on Adolescent Math Achievement in Louisiana Public Schools

Research on middle-level schools and student achievement revealed a drop in academic performance when students transitioned from elementary school to a traditional middle school. In the United States, the middle school years have historically seen a decline in student achievement following a transition from elementary school. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the performance of United States eighth-grade students in mathematics continued to lag behind globally based on the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (U.S. Department of Education, 2017). Specifically, United States eighth graders were ranked 12th in mathematics, which was three notches down from eight years prior. Similarly, the Louisiana Department of Education (2018), found Louisiana students struggled in mathematics compared to other tested subjects. In addition, middle school student achievement in Louisiana revealed consistently lower performance in mathematics compared to the other content areas. The purpose of this study was to determine if a particular scheduling practice had a significant effect on overall student math performance in Louisiana public middle schools. The sample population for the study included 179 schools containing grades six, seven, and eight. An independent t-test was conducted with the data for each of six hypotheses to determine if there was a difference in the group mean proficiency and mastery scores on the mathematics portion of the 2018 state assessment in Louisiana public middle schools that implemented either a traditional or block schedule. Based on the results of the independent t-test of the sample population, sixth graders in block scheduled schools demonstrated significantly higher proficiency and mastery scores on the math portion of the Louisiana assessment in the spring of 2018. In addition, seventh graders in block scheduled schools demonstrated significantly higher mastery scores on the math portion of the Louisiana assessment in the spring of 2018. While not significant in all cases, the mean proficiency and mastery scores for sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade math on the Louisiana assessment in 2018 were higher in the sample schools utilizing block scheduling. Recommendations from the study include using the schedule as only one factor for a school improvement effort

The Mid-Pleistocene landscape history of the Lower Aare Valley with emphasis on subglacial overdeepening

Throughout the most recent part of geological history, glaciers repeatedly built up in the Alps and advanced into the mountain foreland, episodically covering the majority of Switzerland and neighbouring regions with ice. This had severe geomorphic impacts that include the subglacial erosion of overdeepenings. These closed basins are not only a potential source of geohazards, but also contain valuable resources and archives of past environments, and therefore deserve our closer attention. However, our knowledge of i) the erosional mechanisms and the subglacial conditions that lead to the formation of overdeepenings, and ii) of the number, the timing, and the extent of Alpine glaciations, is still very limited. The present thesis is centred around four scientific boreholes in the Lower Aare Valley in northern Switzerland and addresses the above-mentioned uncertainties. The study area hosts the overdeepened Gebenstorf-Stilli Trough, whose subsurface morphology is the first major focus. It is constrained by borehole and geophysical data that together reveal a complex trough shape controlled by the particular local bedrock architecture comprising rocks of varying subglacial erodibility. The results further highlight the important role of basal water in overdeepening erosion, which is further corroborated in a second case study. There, surficial brecciation of the walls of a paleokarst network in limestone underlying the overdeepening is presented. Following detailed macro- and microscopic analysis, it is interpreted as the result of subglacial hydrofracturing, and thus illustrates the extreme water pressures below the glacier ice. Finally, the focus is shifted towards the sedimentary archives of the Gebenstorf-Stilli Trough and its surrounding. Based on a multi-method sedimentological approach, the diverse Quaternary deposits are characterised and their depositional history is reconstructed. Several phases of glacial and glaciofluvial reactivation of the major drainage pathways as well as contributions from confluent glaciers are identified. An integration of luminescence data indicates that overdeepening erosion in the Lower Aare Valley dates back to MIS 10 or earlier, and that the local sedimentary record spans large parts of the Middle and Late Pleistocene