United Artists was an independent film distribution company that Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford jointly formed in 1919 to maintain creative autonomy over their work. Without the benefit of block booking practices through studio-owned theater houses, each founding artist established specific economic and aesthetic practices within their respective oeuvres in order to maintain company solvency. The resulting films produced during the company’s formative years (1919-1931) saw increased emphasis and innovation in regard to stardom, spectacle, show, and salability, features which ultimately innovated the model for the contemporary Hollywood blockbuster. Attributing the formation of the blockbuster to United Artists not only complicates the notion of the Hollywood blockbuster as a post-World War II phenomenon, but also broadens our comprehension of blockbuster filmmaking by formulating a model in which one can refine blockbuster criteria. This reframes the blockbuster as the cornerstone of the Hollywood film industry for over a century and presents it as a more persistent phenomenon.

En adoptant un principe de moindre énergie, une énergie de surface de type Dugdale-Barenblatt et une condition d'irréversibilité, on construit un modèle de propagation de fissure opérant aussi bien sous chargement monotone que sous chargement cyclique. Plus précisément, à travers l'exemple du décollement d'un film mince, on montre tout d'abord qu'en utilisant une énergie de surface de Griffith, il est impossible de rendre compte du phénomène de fatigue. Par contre, avec une énergie de surface de type Barenblatt, on prouve que la solution du problème incrémental correspond au décollement progressif du film, cycle après cycle. Le nombre de cycles jusqu'à décollement total du film dépend des paramètres du problème. On étudie ensuite le décollement en fatigue lorsque la longueur caractéristique du modèle de Barenblatt est petite devant celle du film. On obtient alors une loi de fatigue limite qui contient à la fois la loi de propagation de Griffith sous chargement monotone et une loi de fatigue de type Paris sous chargement cyclique. Cette loi déduite de la minimisation d'énergie dépend à la fois de la structure, du matériau et du chargement. Lorsque l'on modifie la condition d'irréversibilité, l'énergie potentielle ou le type de chargement, on obtient d'autres lois de fatigue limites même si elles sont toujours du même type. Il s'agit enfin de mettre en évidence les propriétés de telles lois et de les étendre à des problèmes plus généraux.

The study of widescreen cinema historically has been under analyzed with regard to aesthetics. This project examines the visual poetics of the wide frame from the silent films of Griffith and Gance to the CinemaScope grandeur of Preminger and Tashlin. Additionally, the roles of auteur and genre are explored as well as the new media possibilities such as letterboxing online content. If cinema’s history can be compared to painting, then prior to 1953, cinema existed as a portrait-only operation with a premium placed on vertical compositions. This is not to say that landscape shots were not possible or that lateral mise-en-scene did not exist. Cinematic texts, with very few exceptions, were composed in only one shape: the almost square Academy Ratio. Before 1953, cinema’s shape is that of portraiture; after 1953 cinema’s shape is landscape. Widescreen filmmaking is not simply an alternative to previous visual representation in cinema because no equivalent exists. Widescreen is quite simply a break from previous stylistic norms because the shape of the frame itself has been drastically reconfigured. With the proliferation of HDTV and widescreen computer monitors, certain aspect ratios that were once regarded as specifically “cinematic” are now commonplace both in the home and in the workplace. This project outlines a project that traces the innovations and aesthetic developments of widescreen aspect ratios from the silent era of D.W Griffith, Buster Keaton and Abel Gance all the way through to current widescreen digital manifestations of web-based media and digital “blanks” such as those created by Pixar. Other chapters include close textual analyses of “experimental” widescreen films of 1930, the development of “norms” for widescreen filmmaking in the early CinemaScope era of the 1950s and examinations of the experimental multi-screen mosaics of 1968 and beyond.

Thesis (M.A. in English)--Vanderbilt University, Aug. 2005. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

A computer program has been written to perform production optimization in submersible pump lifted wells.Production optimization was achieved by the principles of Nodal Analysis Technique which was applied between the reservoir and the wellhead ignoring the surface choke and separator.computer program has been written according to two lifting environment,which are:pumping with only liquid,pumping with both liquid and gas.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-181). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

La thématique de l’esclavage aux États-Unis nous a toujours interpellés, interrogés et nous a toujours donné envie d’en savoir plus et de comprendre comment un tel système a pu perdurer pendant plus de deux cents ans, provoquer la division profonde d’une nation et une guerre civile pour finalement laisser des traces et des marques indélébiles sur les États-Unis. Cet intérêt nous a poussés à nous intéresser tout d’abord à la notion du traumatisme culturel de l’esclavage, puis, à sa représentation cinématographique dans le cinéma américain par trois cinéastes américains (D. W. Griffith, né en 1875 dans le Kentucky, Steven Spielberg, né en 1946 dans l’Ohio et Tate Taylor né en 1969 dans le Mississippi), qui traitent de trois périodes historiques différentes à des époques distinctes. Nous nous sommes alors posé la question du lien qu’il existe entre la réalité physique, vécue, d’un événement et sa représentation cinématographique qui est forcément distanciée, temporellement et/ou spatialement. Comment les réalisateurs peuvent-ils représenter fidèlement la réalité historique ? Comment évitent-ils (ou non) d’insérer des « filtres », qu’ils soient personnels ou sociologiques, et, comment ne pas transformer l’histoire, la modeler, en occultant par exemple les éléments qui n’abondent pas dans le sens du message que l’on souhaite véhiculer ? Dans l’hypothèse où le réalisateur est de parti-pris, comment le spectateur peut-il en avoir conscience au moment où il regarde le film ? Ce travail est donc né d’une réflexion sur l’importance culturelle et civilisationnelle de la notion de traumatisme culturel dans la représentation cinématographique de l’esclavage aux États-Unis. Les trois films que nous avons choisis pour notre corpus sont The Birth of a Nation de D.W. Griffith (1915), Amistad de Steven Spielberg (1997) et The Help, de Tate Taylor (2011). Ces films représentent trois époques distinctes de la vie et de la société américaine puisque The Birth of a Nation raconte le déroulement de la Guerre de Sécession en se plaçant dans la vie d’une famille sudiste. Amistad prend pour contexte les années 1839 à 1841 et The Help se déroule à Jackson, dans le Mississippi des années 60.En choisissant des films qui représentent des époques historiques distinctes mais qui ont également été réalisés à des périodes différentes les unes des autres, nous avons souhaité prendre en compte cette question de la réadaptation et de la réinterprétation de l’événement traumatique.Nous avons souhaité montrer, à travers notre travail, comment les cinéastes adaptent un fait réel ou un ouvrage littéraire, en supprimant certains éléments ou en rajoutant, en adaptant la réalité historique pour en faire une fiction qui cherche à montrer une représentation du réel. Nous avons aussi et surtout démontré comment la notion de « traumatisme culturel » influence le travail des cinéastes qui se sont penchés sur l'héritage culturel qu'est l'esclavage. Nous avons souhaité voir dans quelle mesure cette notion de traumatisme culturel influe sur la création artistique filmique, et dans quelle mesure ses caractéristiques pouvaient s’appliquer à notre corpus. Quels en sont les aspects les plus représentés et prégnants ? Nous avons fait l’analyse de notre corpus dans un ordre chronologique de création, en premier lieu nous nous sommes penchés sur The Birth of a Nation de D.W. Griffith, sorti en 1915, puis nous avons analysé Amistad de Spielberg, sorti en 1997, pour finir avec l’étude de The Help, réalisé par Tate Taylor et sorti en salle en 2011.Pour chacun de ces films, nous avons étudié le contexte historique et géopolitique inhérent à l’époque représentée, puis, le passage de la réalité historique à l’œuvre de fiction, le processus d’adaptation cinématographique, (éléments fidèles, ajouts, simplifications et suppressions) pour analyser la globalité de chacun en regard de cette notion de traumatisme culturel. / Slavery in the USA has always been an interesting thematic to us. We have always wanted to learn more about it thus understanding how such a system could have been implemented for more than 200 years, have caused the division and a fracture in a nation, have led to the Civil War and have left permanent scars ont the United States of America. This particular interest led us to look into the concept of cultural trauma, and into its representation by three American film directors (D. W. Griffith, born in Kentucky in 1915, Steven Spielberg, born in Ohio in 1946 and Tate Taylor born in Mississippi in 1969), who picture at various distinct periods three different historical eras. We have considered the link existing between the physical reality of an event and its cinematographic representation, which is spatially or temporally distanced from the event. How can film directors faithfully represent historical reality ? How do (or don’t) they avoid to insert in their work personal or sociological filters ? How don’t they transform history, or shape it by not mentionning the elements that do not concur to the message one wants to deliver ? What if the director’s views are biased? How can the viewer be conscious of it and keep it in mind as he or she watches the film?Our work initiated from a reflexion upon the cultural and socialogical importance of the notion of cultural trauma in the cinematographic representation of slavery in the United States. The three movies we have chosen to work on are : The Birth of a Nation, (D.W. Griffith, 1915), Amistad (Steven Spielberg, 1997) and The Help (Tate Taylor, 2011). These films represent three distinct periods in the life of the American society since The Birth of a Nation pictures the progress of the American Civil War inside a Confederate family, Amistad is set between the years 1839 and 1841, and The Help takes place in the sixties, in Jackson, Mississippi.In choosing films that represent various historical periods and that have been directed at different periods of time, we wanted to take into account both the notions of re-adapting and re-interpreting the traumatic event. We have wished to demonstrate, through our work, how film directors adapt a real fact or a book by deleting some elements or adding some others, by adapting historical reality to turn it into a fiction showing a representation of reality. We have also tried to show how « cultural trauma » acts upon the audiovisual work of film directors who choose to picture the cultural heritage of slavery. We have analyzed to what extent cultural trauma has an influence on filmic creation and how its characteristics can be applied to our corpus. What aspects of it are most represented ?We have decided to analyze our corpus in a chronological order. We have started with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915), we have then analyzed S. Spielberg’s Amistad, (1997), and ended with T. Taylor’s (2011). For each of these films, we have first studied the historic and geopolitic contexts of the historical periods represented, we’ve then dealt with the transition from historical reality to fiction and we’ve analyzed the entirety of each movie compared to to the notion of cultural trauma. How and to what extent can it be found into these artitic works ? As a mass media, cinema has an educational role and we have demonstrated its link with cultural trauma.

The study explores the music development, achievement and aspirations of adolescent students who participate in pre-tertiary specialised music programs. A theoretical model is developed for the study to investigate the role and influence of such training in the development of music skills, and explores relationships amongst music experience, music engagement, academic achievement, interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, personal learning styles, and affective response to music. The data source for the study was the Young Conservatorium program (YCP) at Griffith University. Three sub-studies formed the investigation, two focussing on music development, and one, the program. The first sub-study involved 117 enrolled students, the second, 44 teachers and 112 former students, and the third, 15 case studies. Quantitative and qualitative data were obtained using surveys, tasks, tests, interviews, discussions, reflective journals, and practice logs. A large body of literature has identified a continued need for research that traces the music development of young musicians in adolescence, research that utilises both large and small sampling (particularly case studies), and is conducted at the time of training. The present study was conducted over two years, utilised a larger population than many previous studies, involved case studies, and combined contemporaneous and retrospective approaches. Research findings contribute to knowledge regarding young musicians' music training and learning in pre-tertiary specialised music programs, and the nature of pre-tertiary specialised music programs themselves: their rationale, methods of instruction, and overall effectiveness. They highlight the types of music programs and music training provisions available to young Australian musicians, and, though showing students to frequently engage in multiple music learning environments, confirm the need for individuals demonstrating above-average music ability to access specialised music tuition and opportunities, develop in a supportive learning environment, and interact with students of similar interests and abilities. Although also suggesting there to be a number of factors associated with pre-tertiary specialised music training that can deter some students, such factors tend to be non-musical in nature. In all, the study does show a trend for the families of young, above-average musicians to choose to provide for their children access to pre-tertiary specialised training, and for participants to gain from this experience. The study seeks to enhance understanding of the conditions though which music development is nurtured; it confirms the importance of exposure and opportunity, the collective efforts of the family and community, and the need for hard work and perseverance to usually be exercised by young musicians themselves. Common trends associated with the music development of young, above-average musicians pertained to music training and influences, characteristics, goals, and achievement. Early music exposure, guidance, and positive music experiences were found to be conducive to music learning. The establishment of a practice routine, increasing engagement with music, the formation of broad music preferences, demonstration of high music aptitude, musical and academic achievement, and goal-setting all characterised the experiences and marked the qualities of students sustaining their music interests in adolescence. Interpersonal support and developing intrapersonal attributes, personal learning styles and increasing affective response to music, together with developing cognitive and metacognitive skills, were generally shown to typify the music development of young, above-average musicians in adolescence.

This thesis argues that the colonial ruling class developed its first White Australia policy in 1888, creating most of the precedents for the federal legislation of 1901. White Australia was central to the making of the Australian working class, to the shaping of Australian nationalism, and the development of federal political institutions. It has long been understood as a product of labour movement mobilising, but this thesis rejects that approach, arguing that the labour movement lacked the power to impose such a fundamental national policy, and that the key decisions which led to White Australia were demonstrably not products of labour movement action. ¶ It finds three great ruling class agendas behind the decisions to exclude Chinese immigrants, and severely limit the use of indentured “coloured labour”. Chinese people were seen as a strategic threat to Anglo-Australian control of the continent, and this fear was sharpened in the mid-1880s when China was seen as a rising military power, and a necessary ally for Britain in its global rivalry with Russia. The second ruling class agenda was the building of a modern industrial economy, which might be threatened by industries resting on indentured labour in the north. The third agenda was the desire to construct an homogenous people, which was seen as necessary for containing social discontent and allowing “free institutions”, such as parliamentary democracy. ¶ These agendas, and the ruling class interests behind them, challenged other major ruling class interests and ideologies. The result was a series of dilemmas and conflicts within the ruling class, and the resolution of these moved the colonial governments towards the White Australia policy of 1901. The thesis therefore describes the conflict over the use of Pacific Islanders by pastoralists in Queensland, the campaign for indentured Indian labour by sugar planters and the radical strategy of submerging this into a campaign for North Queensland separation, and the strike and anti-Chinese campaign in opposition to the use of Chinese workers by the Australasian Steam Navigation Company in 1878. The first White Australia policy of 1888 was the outcome of three separate struggles by the majority of the Anglo-Australian ruling class—to narrowly restrict the use of indentured labour in Queensland, to assert the right of the colonies to decide their collective immigration policies independently of Britain, and to force South Australia to accept the end of Chinese immigration into its Northern Territory. The dominant elements in the ruling class had already agreed that any serious move towards federation was to be conditional on the building of a white, predominantly British, population across the whole continent, and in 1888 they imposed that policy on their own societies and the British government.

Advisor: Mary E. Wood. xii, 181 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm. Print copy also available for check out and consultation in the University of Oregon's library under the call number: PS374.S714 H37 2004. / The nineteenth-century American sentimental novel has only in the last twenty years received consideration from the academy as a legitimate literary tradition. During that time feminist scholars have argued that sentimental novels performed important cultural work and represent an important literary tradition. This dissertation contributes to the scholarship by placing the sentimental novel within a larger context of intellectual history as a tradition that draws upon theoretical sources and is a source itself for later cultural developments. In examining a variety of sentimental novels, I establish the moral sense philosophy as the theoretical basis of the sentimental novel's pathetic appeals and its theories of sociability and justice. The dissertation also addresses the aesthetic features of the sentimental novel and demonstrates again the tradition's connection to moral sense philosophy but within the context of the American elocution revolution. I look at natural language theory to render more legible the moments of emotional spectacle that are the signature of sentimental aesthetics. The second half of the dissertation demonstrates a connection between the sentimental novel and silent film. Both mediums rely on a common aesthetic storehouse for signifying emotions. The last two chapters of the dissertation compare silent film performance with emotional displays in the sentimental novel and in elocution and acting manuals. I also demonstrate that the films of D. W. Griffith, especially The Birth of a Nation, draw upon on the larger conventions of the sentimental novel.