A Note on Coincidence Isometries of Modules in Euclidean Space

It is shown that the coincidence isometries of certain modules in Euclidean $n$-space can be decomposed into a product of at most $n$ coincidence reflections defined by their non-zero elements. This generalizes previous results obtained for lattices to situations that are relevant in quasicrystallography.Comment: 8 page

Discrete Tomography of Icosahedral Model Sets

The discrete tomography of B-type and F-type icosahedral model sets is investigated, with an emphasis on reconstruction and uniqueness problems. These are motivated by the request of materials science for the unique reconstruction of quasicrystalline structures from a small number of images produced by quantitative high resolution transmission electron microscopy.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures; revised version, figures adde

Solution of a uniqueness problem in the discrete tomography of algebraic Delone sets

We consider algebraic Delone sets $\varLambda$ in the Euclidean plane and address the problem of distinguishing convex subsets of $\varLambda$ by X-rays in prescribed $\varLambda$-directions, i.e., directions parallel to nonzero interpoint vectors of $\varLambda$. Here, an X-ray in direction $u$ of a finite set gives the number of points in the set on each line parallel to $u$. It is shown that for any algebraic Delone set $\varLambda$ there are four prescribed $\varLambda$-directions such that any two convex subsets of $\varLambda$ can be distinguished by the corresponding X-rays. We further prove the existence of a natural number $c_{\varLambda}$ such that any two convex subsets of $\varLambda$ can be distinguished by their X-rays in any set of $c_{\varLambda}$ prescribed $\varLambda$-directions. In particular, this extends a well-known result of Gardner and Gritzmann on the corresponding problem for planar lattices to nonperiodic cases that are relevant in quasicrystallography.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur

Discrete tomography: Magic numbers for NN-fold symmetry

We consider the problem of distinguishing convex subsets of $n$-cyclotomic model sets $\varLambda$ by (discrete parallel) X-rays in prescribed $\varLambda$-directions. In this context, a `magic number' $m_{\varLambda}$ has the property that any two convex subsets of $\varLambda$ can be distinguished by their X-rays in any set of $m_{\varLambda}$ prescribed $\varLambda$-directions. Recent calculations suggest that (with one exception in the case $n=4$) the least possible magic number for $n$-cyclotomic model sets might just be $N+1$, where $N=\operatorname{lcm}(n,2)$.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; new computer calculations based on the results of arXiv:1101.4149 and arXiv:1211.6318; presented at ICQ 12 (Cracow, Poland

Fashioning Society: Introduction

For many, fashion still has a bad name: it is fickle and superficial, ephemeral and transient, feminine and flashy. This, it seems, denotes everything that good literature, works of art and culture in general should not be. In an example of such reasoning, a review of the poetry of contemporary Irish writer Eavan Boland criticises her writing for paying too much attention to fashion: "In all the beauty of Boland's pictures it is the substantiality of [the] truth beneath that I begin to miss. She is superb at presenting us with the wrappings, the bandages, the face-paint of her women [...]. But what of substance, of 'truth' lies beneath her obsessive fabrics?" (Byron 1987/88: 50) One of the poems the critic might have had in mind when forging her critique is Boland's poem "Making up" - a poem about cosmetics, a rare topic for poetry

The Public Sphere, Mass Media, Fashion and the Identity of the Individual

It should have become clear by now that the following discussion will be theoretical in perspective. Historical studies, like any other form of science, cannot be conducted without a theoretical framework. Sometimes, we are unaware of the distinctions we draw before we search for material, select and interpret it; some even think that we should just let the sources speak for themselves. Nevertheless, no material can speak for itself: it can only answer to questions we ask. And these questions we ask are dependent on our present preconceptions of bygone societies and their historical development; as every hermeneutic endeavour, historical studies begins with a Vorurteil (prejudice). Many studies of the eighteenth-century public sphere have started out from those conceptions outlined by Habermas; as mentioned above, most of these studies found fault in Habermas's description of the eighteenth century and revealed his preconception as a prejudice. However, by exposing Habermas's approach as ideological, it seemed easy to claim a common-sense, bias-free position for oneself. I do not think such a position is possible: the hermeneutic Vorurteil can never be overcome entirely; it can only be adequately reflected and adjusted. Rather than claiming to work without all preconceptions, one should, I think, try to explicate one's theoretical framework as precisely as possible. If there really are too many findings that cannot be integrated into Habermas's model, one should look for a new model that might be better suited to give meaning to new historical evidence. It is such a new theoretical framework that I want to propose here. In order to do so, a meticulously detailed examination of Habermas's framework is necessary to find out which theoretical decisions led to the shortcomings of his approach. Following this re-examination, I will try to construct a new framework that avoids Habermas's shortcomings. Of course, this new theoretical framework will only be as good as the extent to which it is able to integrate historical evidence and extricate meaningful answers from these sources. Unfortunately, however, there is not enough space here to put the new framework to the test - that will have to be done elsewhere

Edgar Wallace and the Criminal Spaces of London

Most of Wallace's crime novels were written during the interwar period and gained great popularity. Several scholars have suggested that in "1928, an astounding one-fourth of all the books manufactured in the UK (except for The Bible and school text books, obviously) were new Edgar Wallace stories or reprints by the prolific author" (Paul). In Germany, the success was of similar proportions; contemporary advertisements for translations of Wallace's novels boast about circulations of more than 1.5 million. The question that interests me here is what kind of Britain is being presented in these novels that found (and still find) such a wide distribution among the German public. First of all, Britain, here, consists of Country Houses and London only; apart from a few investigative trips into the Home Countries, nothing else seems to matter. In the following, I will leave aside the locked rooms of remote mansions, although a space highly significant and functional for crime novels, but rather concentrate on those texts that feature real-life settings, specifically London. - The analysis is based on detailed readings of eight novels that are all firmly situated within London

British Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies is dead! Its spiritual home, the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) in Birmingham, had to close its doors in 2002, not quite forty years after its inauguration in 1964. In the USA, where British Cultural Studies found a new home (cf. entry III.3), loud demands for "Stopping Cultural Studies" can be heard (Warner and Siskin), and plans for a life at "The University After Cultural Studies" are already being made. (Such was the title of a plenary panel at the seventh annual meeting of the Cultural Studies Association in Kansas City in 2009.) What would it mean, however, to stop doing cultural studies? Would it mean that we stop analysing the texts, films, plays, images, and songs that contribute to our cultures? Does it mean that we no longer examine the artefacts and symbols that form (British) ways of living? It does not

Rockumentaries: Documenting Music on Film

There is something awkward about the idea of documenting music on film, of translating a predominantly aural phenomenon into a predominantly visual representation. Can you actually see pop and rock music? Is there anything to see? It seems no coincidence that the term 'rockumentary' was coined in This Is Spinal Tap (1984) - a mockumentary, that is, a fake documentary about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. The film is seen by many as the most successful attempt to produce what looks like a classical documentary of a rock band - it reveals all the drama that (apparently) goes on behind the scenes of a touring band. Alas, it documents nothing (real)

Misreading Shelley, Misreading Theory: Deconstruction, Media, and Materiality

In 1986, J. Hillis Miller was asked to give the Presidential Address at the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association (MLA). Here, Miller first proclaimed the "Triumph of Theory" that has preoccupied English studies ever since — despite the fact that Stanley Fish, Walter Benn Michaels, and other had only recently declared theory to be dead on the pages of the Critical Inquiry