The Process of Bringing an Original Playscript to Production--Flamingo & Decatur

The aim of this dissertation is to present my play, Flamingo & Decatur, to the thesis committee, to illuminate the process of writing it, and to place it within the context of the entire body of dramatic writing I\u27ve done here at the University of Arkansas. The dissertation opens with a narrative essay that details the process of bringing Flamingo & Decatur to production. It describes the germination of the idea for the play and follows the process through the initial drafts--detailing the ways in which the script was reshaped through its various iterations. Special attention is given to the ways in which the script changed at specific stages in its development: multiple readings with actors, a summer workshop dedicated to improving it, and, of course, its actual production. Next comes the most important element, a copy of the script itself. This is the text of Flamingo & Decatur, exactly as it was performed at Nadine Baum Studio Theatre. An accompanying program from the play documents this production. And finally, the play is placed within the context of my course of studies here. To that end, I\u27ve included a list of all dramatic works completed here, a catalogue of productions I\u27ve received, and a playwriting resume which details, not just my writing output, but also my teaching responsibilities while at the university

Picturing the Catastrophic Space of Imagination: The Aesthetic of Algernon Charles Swinburne

In this study, I demonstrate how Swinburne develops an aesthetic that involves re-examining the contradictions and ambiguities arising in the tension between the celebration of the creative power of the imagination and the consideration of the material limitations that constrict the applications of the imagination’s power. He finds artistic integrity and productivity in the failure of the imagination to allow one to transcend the material world, because he determines that such failure allows one to discover many previously undetected possibilities for imaginative expression still inherent in the material world. Swinburne accomplishes this by privileging the fantasy component of art while recognizing fantasy as artifice, artifice in which failure is always already immanent. By emphasizing the artificiality, the fantastic quality, of art, he modifies conventional perceptions of art as well as conventional modes of conveying and interpreting “meaning” in art. In this way, Swinburne presages the explorations of the negative dialectic as well as the reconfigurations of material limitations that Theodor Adorno undertakes in the Aesthetic Theory. In my first three chapters, I establish how Swinburne’s creative reconsideration of the biography and works of William Blake allows him to explore the qualities of aesthetic particularity and individualized perspective made possible by the revaluation of artifice. Swinburne “misreads” or transforms Blake into an idealized artist who pioneers an aesthetic that depends on the very failures of actual, complete representation to occur within ideological conventions in order to modify radically, if not exceed, those conventions. In chapters four and five, I demonstrate how this aesthetic of failure is manifest in the process of serial identifications Swinburne uses in his depictions of the various “Ladies of Pain” in his Poems and Ballads, First Series. Swinburne applies this process of recasting failure as an aesthetically productive process of serial identifications to his explorations of Italian revolutionary politics and the carefully crafted images of Giuseppe Mazzini in Songs before Sunrise, as I demonstrate in chapter six. Finally, in chapter seven, I investigate Swinburne’s use of the polis as a trope exemplifying constructive struggle within failure through a comparison of his two major Greek tragedies, Atalanta in Calydon and Erechtheus

An investigation into the web defect known as \u27shot\u27 in the melt-blowing process used to create non-woven fabrics

An extensive experimental investigation was undertaken to study the influence of processing parameters, die configurations and resin type on the production of shot in the melt-blowing process. The addition of nucleating agents toa base resin and the effect these agents have on shot production was also investigated.The processing variables that were investigated included: die air pressure (related to air jet velocity), processing temperature (air and polymer temperature) and polymer mass throughput. The die configuration was varied between a single hole die and a thirty hole die for both conventional and metallocene resins. Data was collected inorder to establish the individual effect of varying a single processing parameter on the production of shot. This data was then used to create an empirical model to predict the amount of shot produced using a single hole die.The thirty hole per inch die produced more shot than the single hole die withall other processing conditions being equal. The metallocene resins also produce more shot than the conventional resins with all other processing conditions being equal. Die air pressure had a strong effect on the shot production; an increase in diy air pressure produced more shot in the web sample. Processing temperature produces a similar trend; an increase in process temperature produced more shot in the web sample. Polymer throughput was different in that an increase in polymer throughput might either increase or decrease the amount of shot in the web sample.IVA couple of empirical models were created using the experimental data collected during this research. These models utilized a dimensionless form of the processing parameters or more traditional fluid mechanics dimensionless variables to predict the amount of shot that would be present in the web sample. The processing parameter model and the traditional variable model both captured the shot production trends of the melt blowing process.Nucleating agents were added to a base resin to increase the base resin crystallization kinetics in an attempt to reduce shot production. The shot productions and the average fiber diameter of the nucleated resins were the same as that of the base resin. Laboratory tests indicated that these additives do provide the accelerated crystallization kinetics in a quiescent environment even though the influence of these additives was not realized in the highly turbulent air jet of the melt-blowing process

A comparative analysis of projected impacts of climate change on river runoff from global and catchment-scale hydrological models

We present a comparative analysis of projected impacts of climate change on river runoff from two types of distributed hydrological model, a global hydrological model (GHM) and catchment-scale hydrological models (CHM). Analyses are conducted for six catchments that are global in coverage and feature strong contrasts in spatial scale as well as climatic and development conditions. These include the Liard (Canada), Mekong (SE Asia), Okavango (SW Africa), Rio Grande (Brazil), Xiangu (China) and Harper's Brook (UK). A single GHM (Mac-PDM.09) is applied to all catchments whilst different CHMs are applied for each catchment. The CHMs typically simulate water resources impacts based on a more explicit representation of catchment water resources than that available from the GHM, and the CHMs include river routing. Simulations of average annual runoff, mean monthly runoff and high (Q5) and low (Q95) monthly runoff under baseline (1961-1990) and climate change scenarios are presented. We compare the simulated runoff response of each hydrological model to (1) prescribed increases in global mean temperature from the HadCM3 climate model and (2)a prescribed increase in global-mean temperature of 2oC for seven GCMs to explore response to climate model and structural uncertainty. We find that differences in projected changes of mean annual runoff between the two types of hydrological model can be substantial for a given GCM, and they are generally larger for indicators of high and low flow. However, they are relatively small in comparison to the range of projections across the seven GCMs. Hence, for the six catchments and seven GCMs we considered, climate model structural uncertainty is greater than the uncertainty associated with the type of hydrological model applied. Moreover, shifts in the seasonal cycle of runoff with climate change are presented similarly by both hydrological models, although for some catchments the monthly timing of high and low flows differs.This implies that for studies that seek to quantify and assess the role of climate model uncertainty on catchment-scale runoff, it may be equally as feasible to apply a GHM as it is to apply a CHM, especially when climate modelling uncertainty across the range of available GCMs is as large as it currently is. Whilst the GHM is able to represent the broad climate change signal that is represented by the CHMs, we find, however, that for some catchments there are differences between GHMs and CHMs in mean annual runoff due to differences in potential evaporation estimation methods, in the representation of the seasonality of runoff, and in the magnitude of changes in extreme monthly runoff, all of which have implications for future water management issues