In the 1980s and 1990s, many scientifically cognizant young novelists turned away from the physics-based tropes of entropy and chaos and chose biological concepts of order, complexity, and self-organization as their dominant metaphors. This dissertation focuses on three novels published between 1991 and 1996 that replace the notion of the encyclopedia as a closed system and model new narrative ecologies grounded in the tenets of the emergent science of complex systems. Thus, Richard Powers's The Gold-Bug Variations (1991) explores the marriage of bottom-up self-organizing systems and top-down natural selection through a narrative lens and cautions us against any worldview which does not grasp life as a complex system; Bob Shacochis's Swimming in the Volcano (1993) illustrates how richly complex global behavior emerges from the local interaction of a large number of independent agents; and, David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest (1996) enacts a collaborative narrative of distributed causality to investigate reciprocal relationships between the individual and the multiple systems in which he is embedded. Unlike many other contemporary authors, the new encyclopedists do not shun the abundance of information in postmodern culture. Instead, as I demonstrate here, the intricate webs of their complex ecologies emerge as narrative circulates through diverse informational networks. Ecologies of Knowledge argues that these texts inaugurate a new naturalism, demanding a reconciliation between humans and the natural world and advocating an increased understanding of life's interdependent patterns and particularities. Grounded in such an awareness of ecological complexity, these large and demanding books are our survival guides for the twenty-first century. / Department of English

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Sociology, June 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Xiphopenaeus kroyeri (Heller, 1862) has a wide marine distribution, occurring from North Carolina (EUA) to Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), being the only Penaeidae found in the Western Atlantic. The species inhabits sandy or muddy ground in shallow waters. It s an important fishery resource to communities that live on the coast. The population structure analysis of sea-bob shrimp from São Francisco River mouth, Alagoas-Brazil, was the main objective of this study, and specifically the growth rate of the species. Along the research 4267 specimens of Xiphopenaeus kroyeri were collected, from which 47.93% males and 52.07% females, proportion differing from expected (1:1). The total length for males varied from 28.27 to 108.44mm (77.16 ± 0.27) with width of 80.17mm. The female reached higher length, varying from 11.20 to 125.51mm (82.03 ± 0.33) with width of 114.31mm. The average being significantly different (p> 0.0001). The weigh/length rate has showed exponential tendency, with allometric growth pattern. Moreover, the growth curves plotted in this study show that, after 24 months, the individuals from São Francisco River mouth had not reached the total length expected to the species yet, registering inferior values compared to other regions. Recruitment peaks differ from the ones established to the region, being the main peak in August/10 and the secondary in January/10, therefore the legal protection period to the species requires a review. Data evaluated in this study suggest the importance of further research, more specifically to evaluate the sustainability of the Xiphopenaeus kroyeri population, as well as to verify the efficiency of the laws applied to juvenile protection purposes. / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O camarão Xiphopenaeus kroyeri (Heller, 1862) apresenta distribuição geográfica extensa, ocorrendo da Carolina do Norte (EUA) ao estado do Rio Grande do Sul e é a única espécie do gênero do Atlântico Ocidental. Habita águas costeiras rasas com fundo de areia e lama e é um recurso pesqueiro extremamente importante para as populações em sua área de ocorrência. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a estrutura populacional do camarão sete-barbas na região da foz do rio São Francisco Alagoas, assim como o crescimento dos indivíduos da espécie em questão. Foram coletados 4.267 exemplares, dos quais 47,93 % eram machos e 52,07 % fêmeas, diferindo do esperado para a população (1:1). O comprimento total dos machos variou de 28,27 a 108,44 mm (77,16 ± 0,27) com amplitude de 80,17 mm. As fêmeas atingiram comprimentos maiores variando de 11,20 a 125,51 mm (82,03 ± 0,33) com amplitude de 114,31 mm. As médias foram significativamente diferentes (p> 0,0001). A relação peso/comprimento para Xiphopenaeus kroyeri apresentou tendência exponencial, com padrão de crescimento alométrico. No entanto, as curvas de crescimento plotadas neste estudo mostram que, ao fim de 24 meses, exemplares da espécie na região da foz do Rio São Francisco ainda não alcançaram o comprimento máximo teórico esperado, registrando valores inferiores aos de outras regiões. Com relação ao recrutamento, os períodos diferem daqueles que norteiam a época de defeso da espécie no Estado, sendo o pico principal registrado em agosto/10 e o secundário em janeiro/10. Os dados registrados sugerem a importância de estudos mais específicos para avaliar os níveis de sustentabilidade da população de Xiphopenaeus kroyeri assim como a necessidade de verificar a eficiência do defeso na proteção dos juvenis.

The scholars who have taken up the task of writing about Bob Kaufman have most often done so in response to a perceived demand: the lack of Kaufman scholarship, readership, anthology, publicity, canonization. The basis of this need is clear: Kaufman is almost never included as even a third-string Beat, a fringe Surrealist, or an underappreciated Jazz performer. To the committed readers of Kaufman – and almost all of his readers seem to be committed ones – it’s unforgivable. These various canons, major (mid-century American poets, Beat poets) and minor (Jazz poets, American Surrealists), are clearly missing one of their most important members. The task is to reintegrate Kaufman into the company it seems he has been omitted from, the company he deserves. The problem is that once the critic has overcome all the resistance – the capitalist publishing industry, the prison system, the white-dominated west coast poetry setting, the public demands of aesthetic production – she is resisted by the poetry itself, and by Kaufman the poet. Along the lines of Claude Pelieu’s back jacket blurb of Golden Sardine – “in spite of his continuing exclusion from American anthologies, both Hip & Academic” – Kaufman has excluded the anthology, the academy. I will read death through various critical lenses – some with nearly universal critical currency among readers of Kaufman, some with little – as Kaufman’s “FOUNT OF THE CREATIVE ACT.” But this thematic circumscription is also a reading of endurance, even of life. Kaufman writes: “[THE POET’S] DEATH IS A SAVING GRACE.” This becomes the vital relation at the center of my project: how does Kaufman, like Lorca, survive in his poem? How does Kaufman’s political poetry relate with poetic death and redemption? How does jazz involve these things? Does death exist? I want to know . . .

The diploma thesis The depiction of the Watergate scandal in the movies: Comparison of feature films and documentaries focuses on portrayal of journalists and the Watergate scandal on film. It illustrates this on examples of specific feature films and documentaries, which have been made about this topic. These particular movies are All the President's Men (1976), Frost/Nixon (2008), Watergate (2018), Our Nixon (2013) a Nixon by Nixon: In His Own Words (2014). In the first part of the thesis summarises the general history of the portrayal of journalists and media on film. It also contains the introduction of the key players in the Watergate scandal, which are Richard Nixon, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Furthermore, this part also describes the history of the newspaper The Washington Post and the Watergate scandal itself. The next part focuses on defining the basic terms used in the thesis, such as for example feature film, documentary, investigative journalist etc. The third and the last part, then concentrates on comparing and analysing the six aforementioned chosen films with the help of comparative method, which should lead to the final results. The primary question, in which this thesis focuses, is how (and if) the portrayal of the Watergate scandal differentiates in feature films and...

Interlacing is the process of frame scanning and frame displaying being based on the even and uneven lines‘ interchanging. This framework originated along with the PAL and NTSC television standards‘ formation in the course of 1930s. The process mentioned above stopped frames displayed on older TV sets from flashing. Nevertheless, there is a disadvantage of the frame processed after this manner, consisting in its attribute to be displayed in a clean-cut way just on classical TV sets. However, plasma and LCD television appliances, projectors and computer monitors always display the entire frame all at once, therefore composing it of the both fields, yet not being acquired concurrently, differing in moving objects‘ positions, moreover their contours are doubled, frayed and unfocussed. This master´s thesis deals with fundamentals of the interlaced video signal‘s formation, problems coming about at featuring the interlaced video like this, followed by operating methods of deinterlacing itself. In conclusion, there are my own softwares presented, having been developed in MATLAB computer environment and software command language C, and implementing some of the operating methods designed for deinterlacing in uncompressed digital video sequences.

The tradition of protest songs in the United States is a continuum, which began in colonial times with the British Broadside Ballads, was nurtured in the 19th century through the Negro spirituals, and throughout the 20th century by performers such as Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan. Out of necessity, blacks developed strategies of veiled protests to a fine art during the 19th century. The perennial cause of the black protest was the status forced on them by white supremacists. The spirituals encouraged them to persevere in their efforts to free themselves from the shackles of slavery. Many of the spirituals were modified in the 1950s to accommodate the needs of the Civil Rights Movement. This appropriation of the Southern rural folk music tradition was the genesis of a phenomenon which has become known as the American folk music revival. The foremost figure of the movement was Woody Guthrie, the author of "This land is Your Land." Guthrie is cited as major influence on his disciple Bob Dylan, who was pronounced the folk messiah of the folk circles. This paper seeks to determine whether Dylan was, in contrast to his assertions, a topical songwriter writing about particular events or whether he was in fact an apolitical artist, whose personal insight and feelings simply happened to fit the...

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Anyone familiar with the Rastafari movement and its connection with the Bible is struck by the prevalence of I-locution found in them both. Because the phenomenon is important in the canonical Testaments, more so the New, this study seeks to investigate its significance in certain epistolary pieces (Romans 7 :14-25 ; 15 :14-33), the bio-Narratives and the Apocalypse, in their historical and cultural milieu. The next stage of the investigation then compares the findings of the aforementioned New Testament books with corresponding statements of the Rasta community to determine their relevance for the ongoing Anglophone theological discussion. In this connection, the following questions are addressed: (1) what are the inter-textual link(s) and function(s) of the `I' statements in Romans? (2) How do they relate to similar dominical sayings? And (3) can any parallel be established between the language of Rastafari and these? In sum, the study seeks to bring into critical dialogue the permutative `I' of the NT with the self-understanding of Rastafari. / NEW TESTAMENT / DTH (NEW TESTAMENT)

När Svenska Akademien år 2016 tilldelade Bob Dylan nobelpriset i litteratur väcktes en enorm debatt i svenska tidningar rörande frågan ifall priset kan tilldelas en musiker och ifall låttexten går att betrakta som litteratur. I denna uppsats undersöks vilka argumenten i debatten var för och emot låttexten som litteratur. Utöver detta analyseras även vilka litteraturideal debattörerna baserade sina argument på. Materialet för studien är artiklar ur svenska tidningar publicerade år 2016-2018 och debatten analyseras med hjälp av den franske sociologen Pierre Bourdieus fältteori för att påvisa hur det litterära fältets aktörer reagerade på Akademiens val av Dylan och en textform utanför det konventionella litteraturbegreppet. Studiens resultat visar att det i debatten förekom åtta argument för eller emot att Bob Dylans låttexter är litteratur. De till priset negativt inställda kritikerna menade att hindren för låttexten att vara litteratur är dess beroende av sin ljudande form, dess stora popularitet och publikframgång, den separata marknaden och de säregna marknadsförutsättningarna för låttexter gentemot den konventionella litteraturen. De positiva kritikerna menade istället att låttexten är litteratur på grund av likheten med antikens och romantikens lyrik och poesi, intertextualiteten och likheten med modernismen, dess estetiska kvalitéer och rim, samt dess emancipatoriska innehåll. Utöver detta påvisar undersökningen att Svenska Akademiens val av Bob Dylan tolkades av tidningarnas kulturskribenter som att institutionen försökte bredda litteraturbegreppet till att även innefatta låttexter.  För att försvara det litterära fältets autonomi användes strategier av de positiva kritikerna som att försöka förknippa Dylan med litterärt kapital och låttexterna med konsekrerade verk ur den västerländska kanon. De negativa kritikerna anklagade Svenska Akademiens val för att vara för kommersiellt samt hänvisade till värnandet om det skrivna ordet och den smala kulturen. Avslutningsvis ges låttexter och det litteratursamhälle som omgärdar dem som förslag på forskningsobjekt för framtida litteratursociologisk forskning.