This thesis examines the use of elements of myth and ritual in the work of Peter Brook, focusing primarily on The Mahabharata ( 1986 ). The argument proposes that Brook uses myth and ritual as an integral part of his search for the culture of links .. This thesis examines the precise functioning of myth and ritual in Brook's theatre, and places his work in relation to the concepts of interculturalism and postmodernism. In so doing, The Mahabharata is seen as a valid and important step in Brook's search for the culture of links. Chapter One formulates broad-based concepts of myth and ritual, and examines their function in society and culture, as well as their role in theatre. Chapter Two offers a brief discussion of the use of elements of myth and ritual in Brook's productions, beginning with King Lear (1962), and ending with 0rghast (1971). The discussion illustrates the multiple functions which myth and ritual serve in Brook's work. Chapter Three examines the trend of interculturalism, placing Brook's work within this franlework. Attention is given to the moral and political issues implicit in interculturalism. The chapter highlights the need for intercultural theatre to be evaluated in terms of artistic criteria, rather than on anthropological or political grounds. Finally, there is a discussion of the work of other intercultural theatre practitioners. Chapter Four examines Brook's Mahabharata. A detailed discussion of the authenticity and visual presentation of Brook's interpretation shows how Brook mediates between the Indian epic and a Western audience An examination of the critical response offers insights into the dangers of insensitive cross-cultural contact.. Chapter Five offers a critical summary of the argument. Brook's search for the culture of links has led him to use elements of myths and rituals of non-Western cultures. In so doing, Brook seeks to bring their living quality to his work, and to forge links between the peoples and cultures of the world.

Although Dickens' familiarity with Victorian theatre has been explored with reference to his own playwrighting, amateur theatricals, style, and characterization, little work has been done on his actual involvement with the adaptation of his works for the stage. For example, even though A Christmas Carol remains his most staged and filmed work, few critics have explored the degree of Dickens' involvement in the 'officially-sanctioned' adaptation by one of the Victorian theatre's most prolific adaptors, Edward Stirling. Dickens' letters shed some light on his involvement in the staging of the various Christmas Books, but they do not indicate much about the adaptations themselves. Furthermore, neither Malcolm Morley in his series of articles in the Dickensian nor F. Dubrez Fawcett in Dickens the Dramatist (1952) has considered the relationship between the final printed text of each novella, that of the corresponding official adaptation, and the original manuscript of the play that was submitted to the office of the Lord Chamberlain for licensing. While the intention of the following dissertation is to reveal the methods employed by Dickens' stage adaptors, it occasionally reveals passages that, rejected for the final text of the novella, were retained in the drama, based as it was on early proof sheets. The most notable instance of such a phenomenon occurs in the Mark Lemon/Gilbert A'Beckett adaptation of the second of the Christmas Books, The Chimes (1844), in which Dickens seems to have modified the plot in the final stages in order to make it less controversial. Although Dickens was not much involved in the staging of The Chimes, he appears to have worked closely with the company at the Royal Lyceum (his friends the Keeleys being both the comedic stars and managers of that theatre) and the adaptor, Albert Smith. In the 1846 production of The Battle of Life Dickens made innovative suggestions about the staging, including the transformation scene and the use of a miniature coach advancing through the background, climaxed by the appearance of a real carriage on stage. Dickens' letters attest to his being the originator of these innovations; reviews in the contemporary press attest to their effectiveness. Finally, despite their tremendous popularity in their own day, the dramatic adaptations of the Christmas Books seem to be accorded a place neither in studies of the early Victorian theatre nor in discussions of that most formative period in the literary career of Charles Dickens, the 1840s. The Christmas Books and their theatrical progeny occupied a good deal of Dickens' time between Martin Chuzzle-wit and David Copperf ield, but only recently have the importance of the Christmas Books and the scope of Dickens' works on stage been fully recognized. Another intention of this study is to reveal the extent of Dickens' role in the dramatisation of the Christmas Books through an examination of the texts of the sanctioned adaptations and the Christmas Books themselves. The dissertation has a two-fold structure in that it consists of a critical study of the plays and their contexts, as well as a (non-critical) edition of Stirling's Christmas Carol and Lemon's Haunted Man, which exist only in manuscript. No previous writer on the subject of Dickens and the drama has attempted to bring together information on the adaptors, actors and actresses, theatres, play manuscripts and published texts. This dissertation provides an exhaustive study of what is known about these subjects while endeavouring to establish the extent of Dickens' involvement in the writing and staging of the officially-sanctioned plays based on the Christmas Books. Would that Christmas lasted the whole year through, and that the prejudices and passions which deform our better nature, were never called into action among those to whom they should ever be strangers! (Charles Dickens, Sketches By Boz, p. 210) / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Background: Globalization and localization are constantly clashing, collapsing, and transforming one another, and many studies have investigated how various global companies deal with the balance in between these two opposite strategies. However, little does research reveal about how music festivals adapt and operate using globalization or localization in the global market. Further, studies have shown that the globalness of a brand adds value for customers, but this effect has not been investigated in the global music festival industry. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to deep understand a global music festival’s adaptiveness and how its adaptations are perceived by its attendees from different countries. Further, this study also aims to analyze how the globalness of a music festival affects and influences its attendees.   Method: A case study focusing on the music festival Lollapalooza and its editions in Brazil and Sweden. The study follows a deductive approach using a mixed-method by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. An online survey, interviews, and an email questionnaire are the main primary sources of data collection. Conclusion:   The results show that adaptations are important for attendees as well as for the festival itself. Many adaptations were noticed by attendees, but it is still unsure what other ‘’invisible adaptations’’ were done in order to meet the market demands. The globalness of the festival makes customers assign additional positive attributes to the festival brand, while also local adaptations such as food, beverages, and artists were appreciated by the attendees. Thus, it appears that some aspects of a music festival should be globalized, while others should be localized, or that even glocalization should be utilized in global music festivals. To conclude, festival’s managers can use the findings to better understand that global cues can be used to raise the brand value of a festival, but more importantly, that globalization and localization should be applied in different aspects of a festival.

Background: People with chronic shoulder pain have been shown to present with motor adaptations during arm movements. These adaptations may create abnormal physical stress on shoulder tendons and muscles. However, how and why these adaptations develop from the acute stage of pain is still not well-understood. Objective: To investigate motor adaptations following acute experimental shoulder pain during upper limb reaching. Methods: Forty participants were assigned to the Control or Pain group. They completed a task consisting of reaching targets in a virtual reality environment at three time points: (1) baseline (both groups pain-free), (2) experimental phase (Pain group experiencing acute shoulder pain induced by injecting hypertonic saline into subacromial space), and (3) Post experimental phase (both groups pain-free). Electromyographic (EMG) activity, kinematics, and performance data were collected. Results: The Pain group showed altered movement planning and execution as shown by a significant increased delay to reach muscles EMG peak and a loss of accuracy, compared to controls that have decreased their mean delay to reach muscles peak and improved their movement speed through the phases. The Pain group also showed protective kinematic adaptations using less shoulder elevation and elbow flexion, which persisted when they no longer felt the experimental pain. Conclusion: Acute experimental pain altered movement planning and execution, which affected task performance. Kinematic data also suggest that such adaptations may persist over time, which could explain those observed in chronic pain populations.

The Linnean Society of London Milnesium, with its relatively short and wide buccal tube, is considered carnivorous. Species in this genus exhibit differences in buccal tube length, standard buccal tube width, and the buccal tube length/width ratio. To determine whether buccal tube size is correlated with the type of prey, ˜4000 specimens of various Milnesium species were examined. Among those with identifiable gut contents, ˜97% contained tardigrades, rotifers, or both, whereas only ˜3% contained nematodes or amoebas. In total, 189 females with guts containing only tardigrades, only rotifers, or both were analysed with general linear model multivariate analysis. Milnesium specimens containing only tardigrade remnants were larger and had longer and wider buccal tubes than those containing only rotifers. Those with only tardigrades in the gut also had a significantly lower buccal tube length to width ratio than those with only rotifers in the gut. Specimens with a mixed diet (rotifers and tardigrades) had intermediate values of buccal tube width and length, and these differed significantly from individuals containing rotifers or tardigrades only. Variation in buccal tube dimensions was linked with interspecific and age (size)-related factors, and differences in buccal tube dimensions associated with gut content remained significant, even when the analysis was controlled for the interspecific variation. No evidence of cannibalism was observed.

The effects of low carbohydrate (CHO), high fat (LCHF) diets on adaptations to high-intensity exercise have recently gained interest. Consuming a LCHF may potentially decrease the ability to use CHO during exercise and impair high-intensity exercise adaptations. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the importance of CHO timing while consuming a LCHF diet and completing a high-intensity exercise program. Eighteen resistance trained males were randomized into two treatment groups. Both groups completed 6 weeks of a high-intensity exercise training program with the first 2 weeks serving as familiarization to resistance training (RT) 3 days per week and completing one high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session. During the final 4 weeks, participants trained 5 days per weeks, three days of RT and two days of HIIT (repeated 30 s all out sprints). All participants consumed a LCHF diet (~25%, ~25%, and ~50% of daily kilocalorie intake coming from CHO, protein, and fat). The supplemented (SUPP) group (n=9) consumed 30 g of CHO during exercise and 40 g of CHO immediately after each exercise session. The remainder of the SUPP groups daily CHO intake came outside of training. The non-supplemented (NONSUPP) group (n=9) consumed an artificially flavored placebo during exercise. The NONSUPP group had the same daily CHO intake as the SUPP group, with the only difference being CHO timing. Dependent variables measured pre-and post-training included back squat and bench press one-repetition maximums, peak oxygen consumption (V̇O2 peak), power output (Wingate test), body composition, fasted glucose, insulin, and testosterone, and gastrointestinal distress (GID) during exercise. Both groups significantly improved back squat and bench press strength, biceps thickness, absolute and relative V̇O2 peak, and power output. Respiratory exchange ratio was significantly lower and time to exhaustion significantly increased during the post V̇O2 peak test. However, there were no changes in resting glucose, insulin, and testosterone or body fat. RT and HIIT caused significant increases in GID, independent of beverage content, with no differences between training. Our results suggest that CHO timing has no impact on adaptations to exercise training, but favorable training adaptations can be made while consuming a LCHF diet.

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The primary purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of male infertility treatment methods. The secondary purpose is to analyze the psychological consequences of failed male infertility treatments. A literature review will be performed regarding male infertility and the relationship to factors that decrease spermatic production, testicular disease, and testicular dysfunction. The focus will relate to decreasing fertility in men and treatments aimed at the improvement of sperm production and maintenance. Preliminary results show artificial reproductive techniques yield higher rates of success compared to alternative methods such as lifestyle changes in the preservation of spermatic function in men. Furthermore, the results are expected to show an increase in anxiety and depression following failed male infertility treatment methods. The increase in global male infertility rates is concerning and can lead to decreasing population stagnation and decreased birth rates. The research can be of value through synthesis of treatment methods to combat male infertility.

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