sweet money: cultural and economic value in Trollope's Autobiography

Trollope wrote his Autobiography at a time when the value of his literary stock was at a low point. Not surprisingly, the question of value\u2014the tension between literary value and economic value\u2014is a recurrent concern in this text. In the mid 1870s he was also a member of the Royal Commission on International Copyright. The debate on international copyright pivoted on the issue of control. English authors feared that, in an open, global marketplace, they had little power to control the dissemination of their works. It is with reference to this controversial scenario that I reconsider the model of control Trollope meticulously elaborates (and even promotes) in An Autobiography. As I argue in this essay, Trollope\u2019s appeal to the language of trade serves the ideological function of repositioning the author who writes for the market as a free agent who is not subservient to the market. The figure of the literary tradesman depicted in this text is not one-sided, nor is this tradesman always perfectly at ease in the marketplace. His sense of comfort is constructed retrospectively by mobilizing the entrepreneurial rhetoric and, more conspicuously, by flaunting grand totals. These sums, however, are not simple, unproblematic quantifications. The narrator of the Autobiography constantly worries about the tension between aesthetic and economic value, between cultural and market price. To describe himself as a good negotiator and an efficient price maker is not enough. The price he demands has to be justified as a fair one in the dual market he supplies: the market where commodities are bought and sold and the market where creative ideas circulate. Trollope\u2019s theory of realism, I contend, functions as an ad hoc construction that allows Trollope to justify his profits and his addictive productivity by invoking a different regime of value in which the author as creator, rather than the author as producer, becomes prominent

Cross-Dressing in the City: Olive Malvery's the Speculator

Despite a growing body of scholarship on finance and fiction, Malvery's The Speculator has not yet received the critical attention it deserves. In this article, I undertake the first detailed analysis of Malvery's fictional foray into the world of finance, centred on the story of a female stockbroker operating in disguise in the City of London. The first section of the article focuses on late nineteenth-century and early Edwardian novels of finance, chiefly concerned with deploring the cunning ruses of company promoters, and provides a brief overview of their representations of the 'popular investor'. I then analyse how the cross-dressing masquerade is orchestrated and tested in The Speculator, culminating in a scene of violence that takes place at the Stock Exchange and exposes the threat of physical force underpinning discriminatory regulation. The final section argues that the swerve towards the spy thriller, a popular genre in Edwardian England, allows Malvery to contain and disperse the fear of violence, the crude underside of the cross-dressing act, and to go on envisioning for her intrepid heroine ever more incredible adventures with geopolitical implications. By attending closely to the novel's hybrid formal structure, my reading suggests that a good deal of fictionalizing was necessary to imagine the protagonism of women in the money market, at a time when their role as investors was no longer exceptional, but their inclusion into the circle of active financial players was still a matter of dispute

Comparison of reductive dehalogenation by microbial populations on adsorptive versus non-adsorptive bioreactor support materials

The overall performance of two bioreactors was studied. The reactor with a wood-based activated carbon as a biosupport completely dehalogenated a higher feed concentration of trichlorophenol than that with Manville beads. The carbon reactor was further characterized by the development of adsorption isotherms for most of the class of chlorophenols. Competitive adsorption wag investigated using an anaerobic medium, and a lignite-based carbon was studied for comparison. The order of adsorption strength on both carbons is trichloropenols\u3e dichlorophenols\u3e monochlorophenols, with the wood-based carbon having higher overall adsorption than the lignite-based carbon. The presence of the anaerobic medium decreased the extent of chlorophenol adsorption at lower liquid concentrations. The investigation of the effect of a biofilm on the adsorption characteristics of the activated carbon showed that the biofilm decreased the rate at which adsorption equilibrium of 4-CP was obtained. However, the equilibrium itself was not effected. It was also determined that the organisms serve as adsorptive material

Model Systems for Characterizing the Intrinsic Properties of Polymer Semiconductors: Oligomers and Single Crystals

Polymer semiconductors hold great promise for the realization of inexpensive, flexible electronic devices. One of the greatest strengths of these materials, their low-cost processability from solution, results in a wide range of solid-state structures. The crystallinity and morphology of these materials strongly impacts their performance as charge carriers. Furthermore, the nature of polymerization inherently leads to the production of materials which are disperse in their molecular character, with regard to both coupling and molecular weight. Thus, it is difficult to deconvolute the intrinsic properties of polymer semiconductors from their synthetic and processing conditions. Polythiophenes are particularly susceptible to performance variations due to their dependence on crystallinity for effective charge transport. Moreover, it is difficult to characterize charge transport within their crystallites, which are often tens of nanometers in size. The approaches reported here are intended to provide well-defined model systems, oligomers and single crystals, for characterizing the crystallization and semiconductor physics of conjugated polymers. In Chapter 2, the characterization of monodisperse oligothiophenes is reported. In evaluating the evolution of crystalline, morphological, and optoelectronic properties with increasing chain length, the transition from monomer to polymer is described. The pentamer of poly[bis(3-dodecyl-2-thienyl)-2,2\u27-dithiophene -5,5\u27-diyl] (PQT-12) is identified as a potential model system for probing the intrinsic properties of the polymer. In Chapter 3, the interactions between a model oligomer, the trimer of poly[2,5-bis(3-dodecylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene] (PBTTT), and high molecular weight polymer are characterized. The effects of enhanced crystallinity and connectivity, from the oligomer and polymer, respectively, are reported. In particular, the morphology, crystallinity, and charge transport properties of films of blended oligomer-polymer systems were studied. Although oligomers are often considered impurities in the synthesis of semiconducting polymers for device applications, it was demonstrated that films consisting of up to 83% oligomer exhibited high charge transport mobilities equal to that of pure high molecular weight polymer. In Chapter 4, a novel technique for the fractionation and recrystallization of oligothiophenes in supercritical fluid is reported. Furthermore, the crystal habit, structure, and molecular coupling of the resulting crystals are described. This crystallization method leverages the solubilizing and transport properties of supercritical fluids to create a system that combines the advantages of crystallizations from vapor and solution and could be broadly applied to the crystallization of other polymeric systems

Surface detonation in type Ia supernova explosions?

We explore the evolution of thermonuclear supernova explosions when the progenitor white dwarf star ignites asymmetrically off-center. Several numerical simulations are carried out in two and three dimensions to test the consequences of different initial flame configurations such as spherical bubbles displaced from the center, more complex deformed configurations, and teardrop-shaped ignitions. The burning bubbles float towards the surface while releasing energy due to the nuclear reactions. If the energy release is too small to gravitationally unbind the star, the ash sweeps around it, once the burning bubble approaches the surface. Collisions in the fuel on the opposite side increase its temperature and density and may -- in some cases -- initiate a detonation wave which will then propagate inward burning the core of the star and leading to a strong explosion. However, for initial setups in two dimensions that seem realistic from pre-ignition evolution, as well as for all three-dimensional simulations the collimation of the surface material is found to be too weak to trigger a detonation.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, in: Proceedings of the SciDAC 2006 Meeting, Denver June 25-26 2006, also available at http://herald.iop.org/jpcs46/m51/gbr//link/40

A Space-time Smooth Artificial Viscosity Method For Nonlinear Conservation Laws

We introduce a new methodology for adding localized, space-time smooth, artificial viscosity to nonlinear systems of conservation laws which propagate shock waves, rarefactions, and contact discontinuities, which we call the $C$-method. We shall focus our attention on the compressible Euler equations in one space dimension. The novel feature of our approach involves the coupling of a linear scalar reaction-diffusion equation to our system of conservation laws, whose solution $C(x,t)$ is the coefficient to an additional (and artificial) term added to the flux, which determines the location, localization, and strength of the artificial viscosity. Near shock discontinuities, $C(x,t)$ is large and localized, and transitions smoothly in space-time to zero away from discontinuities. Our approach is a provably convergent, spacetime-regularized variant of the original idea of Richtmeyer and Von Neumann, and is provided at the level of the PDE, thus allowing a host of numerical discretization schemes to be employed. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the $C$-method with three different numerical implementations and apply these to a collection of classical problems: the Sod shock-tube, the Osher-Shu shock-tube, the Woodward-Colella blast wave and the Leblanc shock-tube. First, we use a classical continuous finite-element implementation using second-order discretization in both space and time, FEM-C. Second, we use a simplified WENO scheme within our $C$-method framework, WENO-C. Third, we use WENO with the Lax-Friedrichs flux together with the $C$-equation, and call this WENO-LF-C. All three schemes yield higher-order discretization strategies, which provide sharp shock resolution with minimal overshoot and noise, and compare well with higher-order WENO schemes that employ approximate Riemann solvers, outperforming them for the difficult Leblanc shock tube experiment.Comment: 34 pages, 27 figure

Multidimensional HLLE Riemann solver; Application to Euler and Magnetohydrodynamic Flows

In this work we present a general strategy for constructing multidimensional Riemann solvers with a single intermediate state, with particular attention paid to detailing the two-dimensional Riemann solver. This is accomplished by introducing a constant resolved state between the states being considered, which introduces sufficient dissipation for systems of conservation laws. Closed form expressions for the resolved fluxes are also provided to facilitate numerical implementation. The Riemann solver is proved to be positively conservative for the density variable; the positivity of the pressure variable has been demonstrated for Euler flows when the divergence in the fluid velocities is suitably restricted so as to prevent the formation of cavitation in the flow. We also focus on the construction of multidimensionally upwinded electric fields for divergence-free magnetohydrodynamical flows. A robust and efficient second order accurate numerical scheme for two and three dimensional Euler and magnetohydrodynamic flows is presented. The scheme is built on the current multidimensional Riemann solver. The number of zones updated per second by this scheme on a modern processor is shown to be cost competitive with schemes that are based on a one-dimensional Riemann solver. However, the present scheme permits larger timesteps

A Two-dimensional HLLC Riemann Solver for Conservation Laws : Application to Euler and MHD Flows

In this paper we present a genuinely two-dimensional HLLC Riemann solver. On logically rectangular meshes, it accepts four input states that come together at an edge and outputs the multi-dimensionally upwinded fluxes in both directions. This work builds on, and improves, our prior work on two-dimensional HLL Riemann solvers. The HLL Riemann solver presented here achieves its stabilization by introducing a constant state in the region of strong interaction, where four one-dimensional Riemann problems interact vigorously with one another. A robust version of the HLL Riemann solver is presented here along with a strategy for introducing sub-structure in the strongly-interacting state. Introducing sub-structure turns the two-dimensional HLL Riemann solver into a two-dimensional HLLC Riemann solver. The sub-structure that we introduce represents a contact discontinuity which can be oriented in any direction relative to the mesh. The Riemann solver presented here is general and can work with any system of conservation laws. We also present a second order accurate Godunov scheme that works in three dimensions and is entirely based on the present multidimensional HLLC Riemann solver technology. The methods presented are cost-competitive with traditional higher order Godunov schemes

Predictive methods of electricity price: An application to the Italian electricity market

Price forecasting is a crucial element for the members of the electricity markets and business decision making to maximize their profits. The electricity prices have an impact on the behavior of market participants, and thus, predicting prices for generation companies, and consumers is essential for both the short-term profits in the Day-Ahead, Intra-Day and Ancillary markets, and the long-term benefits in the future planning, investment, and risk management. Therefore, participants in the electricity market need to accurately and effectively predict the price signal to manage market risk. In this paper, different forecasting models have been compared, and the most promising ones have been employed to forecast the short term Italian electricity market clearing price for achieving forecasting accuracy. In particular, simulations are performed for four principal regression methods, including Support Vector Machine, Gaussian Processes Regression, Regression Trees, and Multi-Layer Perceptron. The performance of predicted models is compared through several performance metrics, including MAE, RMSE, R, and the total number of percentage error anomalies. The results indicate the SVM is the best choice for forecasting the electricity market price on the Italian case study

Upgrading wineries to biorefineries within a Circular Economy perspective: An Italian case study

In the challenge of transforming waste into useful products that can be re-used in a circular perspective, Italian wine industry can represent a suitable model for the application of the bioeconomy principles, including the valorisation of the agricultural and food waste. In the present study, a comprehensive environmental assessment of the traditional production of wine was performed and the potentiality of a biorefinery system, based on winery waste and aimed at recovering useful bio-based products, such as grapeseed oil and calcium tartrate, was examined through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The wine company "I Borboni", producing Asprinio wine in the Campania Region (Italy), was proposed as a case study. The hotspots of the linear production system were identified and the bottling phase, in particular the production of packaging glass, resulted to contribute to the generation of impacts at 63%, on average, versus 14.3% of the agricultural phase and 22.7% of the vinification phase. The LCA results indicated human carcinogenic toxicity, freshwater eutrophication and fossil resource scarcity impact categories as the most affected ones, with normalized impacts amounting to 9.22E-03, 3.89E-04 and 2.64E-04, respectively. Two side production chains (grapeseed oil and tartrate production) were included and circular patterns were designed and introduced in the traditional production chain with the aim of valorising the winery residues and improving the overall environmental performance. By implementing the circular approach, environmental impacts in the global warming, freshwater eutrophication and mineral resource scarcity impact categories, in particular, resulted three times lower than in the linear system. The results achieved demonstrated that closing the loops in the wine industry, through the reuse of bio-based residues alternatively to fossil-based inputs within the production process, and integrating the traditional production system with new side production chains led to an upgrade of the wineries to biorefineries, towards more sustainable production patterns. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved