The purpose of this work is to provide a methodological tool for literature searching in geography, tourism and environmental conservation. Knowledge of bibliographic and documentary resources and learning research strategies form an essential part of training for students and researchers. Literature searching is also a critical element of communication and scientific output. This work aims to analyze the characteristics, and critical issues in geography literature searching in order to provide a critical mass of useful information to correctly prepare a search. Having addressed the issue of information literacy for the study of geography and related disciplines, including a comparison of various approaches, this work describes the physical locations of the research: libraries and archives. It outlines the issues related to the cataloging and digitization of cartographic materials. The particular characteristics of scientific communication and its primary means of dissemination, the scientific journal, are then outlined. This is followed by a description of information sources and types of documents used within the realm of geography. Tools, strategies and resources are then illustrated for conducting an effective literature search both on the web and in the library.

The city is a collection of built structures and infrastructure embedded in socio-cultural processes: any investigation into a city’s transformations involves considerations on the degree to which its composite elements respond to socio-economical changes. The main purpose of this research is to investigate how transformations in the functional requirements of New York’s society have spurred, since the 1970s, changes in both the city’s urban structure and physical form. The present work examines the rise of Amenity Zones in New York, and investigates the transformations that have occurred in New York’s built environment since the 1970s. By applying qualitative measures and analyzing the relationship between urban amenities and the creative class, the present work has investigated changes in the urban structure and detected a hierarchical series of amenity zones classes, namely, Super Amenity Zones (SAZs), Nodal Amenity Zones (NAZs) and Peripheral Amenity Zones (PAZs). This series allows for a more comprehensive reading of the urban structure in a complex city like New York, bringing advancements to the amenity zone’s methodology. In order to examine the manner in which the other component of the city, the physical form, has changed or adapted to the new socio-economic condition, the present research has applied Conzenian analysis to a select study area, Atlantic Avenue. The results of this analysis reveal that, contrary to the urban structure, which changes rapidly, the physical form of New York is hard to modify completely, due to the resilience of the town plan and its elements, and to preservation laws; the city rather adapts to socio-economical changes through process of adaptive reuses or conversion. Concluding, this research has examined the dialectic between the ever-changing needs of society and the complexity of the built environment and urban structure, showing the different degrees to which the urban landscape modifies, reacts and sometimes adapts to the population’s functional requirements.

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Che rapporto intercorre tra un’opera letteraria e una sua interpretazione? Che cosa fa sì che la prima supporti la seconda? Come possiamo discernere un’interpretazione valida da una che non lo è ? Come può una stessa opera avere interpretazioni differenti e a volte incompatibili tra loro? Assumendo come punto di partenza la proposta di Nelson Goodman di qualificare l’opera letteraria come allografica e, quindi, di definire l’identità dell’opera sulla base della sua compitazione, cercare un risposta alle domande proposte implica un riflessione tanto sul linguaggio, quale strumento simbolico, quanto sulle modalità di riferimento proprie delle opere letterarie. In particolare, di fronte al dissolversi del mondo nella molteplicità delle versioni che il linguaggio può offrire di esso, una peculiare concezione della metafora, intesa come proiezione di un regno del linguaggio su un altro regno dello stesso, si qualifica come un buon modello per la comprensione del rapporto che lega opere letterarie e loro interpretazioni. In tal modo l’opera stessa non solo diviene significativa, ma, attraverso tale significazione, riesce anche a farsi produttiva, modificando, ampliando, ristrutturando la versione dal mondo dalla quale l’interprete-lettore prende le mosse. Ciascuna lettura di un’opera letteraria può infatti essere concepita come una via attraverso la quale ciò che nell’opera è detto viene proiettato sulla visione del mondo propria dell’interprete e di quanti possono condividerne il punto di vista. In tal modo le interpretazioni pongono le opere cui si riferiscono nelle condizioni di fornire un apporto significativo tanto alla comprensione quanto alla costituzione della nostra versione del mondo. E se ciò può avvenire in diversi modi, mutando le interpretazioni a seconda di chi le produce e delle circostanze in cui sorgono, l’opera evita la dissoluzione in virtù della compitazione che la identifica. / What is the relationship between a literary work and its interpretation? What makes the first support the second one? How can we discern a valid interpretation from one that is not? How can the same work have different interpretations, sometimes incompatible with each other? Taking as starting point the Nelson Goodman’s proposal to qualify literary works as allografic, and, therefore, to define the works identity based on their spelling, look for a response to posed questions implies a reflection both on language, as symbolic tool, and on the ways of reference of literary works. In particular, after the world dissolution in the multiplicity of versions that the language can offer of it, a peculiar conception of metaphor, understood as the projection of a realm to another of language, qualifies as a good model for the understanding of the relationship between literary works and their interpretations. In this way, the work itself not only becomes significant, but, by meaning, is also successful to get productive, changing, expanding, renovating the world version from which the reader-interpreter starts. Each reading of a literary work can in fact be seen as a way in which what is said in the work is projected onto the interpreter's own world vision and those whose can share his point of view. In this way, the interpretations put the works to which they refer in a position to make a significant contribution both to the understanding and to the constitution of our version of the world. And if this can be done in several ways, changing interpretations depending on who produces them and on the circumstances in which they arise, the work avoids the dissolution by virtue of spelling that identifies it.

Questo lavoro pone i problema di una presentazione filosofica della Meditazione milanese, nel suo rapporto con l'opera letteraria di Gadda e, contemporaneamente, instaura un confronto tra il complesso della produzione gaddiana (saggistica e narrativa) e l'ipotesi, messa in rilevo da Merleau-Ponty, di trovare al di fuori del vocabolario filosofico le possibilità di esprimere e raccontare la realtà che ci circonda. Nel costante riferimento alle posizioni teoretiche espresse nella Meditazione milanese, non solo viene inscritta la figura di Gadda entro un panorama filosofico, ma risulta problematizzato lo statuto stesso della filosofia. . / Questo lavoro pone i problema di una presentazione filosofica della Meditazione milanese, nel suo rapporto con l'opera letteraria di Gadda e, contemporaneamente, instaura un confronto tra il complesso della produzione gaddiana (saggistica e narrativa) e l'ipotesi, messa in rilevo da Merleau-Ponty, di trovare al di fuori del vocabolario filosofico le possibilità di esprimere e raccontare la realtà che ci circonda. Nel costante riferimento alle posizioni teoretiche espresse nella Meditazione milanese, non solo viene inscritta la figura di Gadda entro un panorama filosofico, ma risulta problematizzato lo statuto stesso della filosofia. .

Volume I - History: The 4-course mandoline was developed in Naples in the 1740's, principally by the Vinaccia family. It is differentiated from the earlier 4, 5, or 6-course mandolino by its deeper body, moveable bridge, violin tuning, higher string tension with partial use of metal stringing, and the universal application of quill technique. This thesis traces the great popularity which the mandoline enjoyed throughout Europe, especially in France, between 1760 and 1785. Italian virtuosos, such as Leoné, Cifolelli, and Nonnini, performed at the Concert Spirituel in Paris, and won enthusiastic reviews from musical journals. Many mandolinists published tuition books there, as well as approximately 85 volumes of music for their instrument. The mandoline was also popular in Lyon, where Fouchetti and Verdone were leading players, teachers, and composers. This thesis also examines the history of the instrument in Britain, Germany, Russia, North America, and the Habsburg Empire, where there was a resurgence of interest in all types of mandolin in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, especially in Prague and Vienna. Much new music was produced, including repertoire items by Mozart, Beethoven, and Hummel. The evolution of mandoline construction, stringing, playing technique, and style is discussed, with reference to surviving treatises of the period. Instruments closely related to the mandoline are also described. Volume II - Thematic Index: This catalogues all known eighteenth and early nineteenth century published and manuscript music for mandoline, listed alphabetically by composer. It was compiled after a systematic search of lists of published music in eighteenth century music journals, and after extensive research in major music libraries worldwide, using a name list of several hundred known composers for mandoline and mandolino. Each entry consists of composer's name, dates, full title, location of any surviving copy or copies, date of publication (where applicable), number of pages, and thematic incipit of each movement. In some cases, only partial information has been obtainable. For completeness, music for other types of mandolin composed prior to 1820 is included, though without thematic incipit. Volume III - Eighteenth Century Music For Mandoline: The final volume consists of a selection of some of the finest pieces from the mandoline repertoire; each with a short introductory note. They range from solo variations to concertos and chamber works. Full scores have been prepared where appropriate.

Although many sophisticated computer sound synthesis systems have recently been developed, their use remains significantly under-exploited by composers. This is due to a large extent to the cumbersome and detailed programming invariably necessary in order to produce even the simplest of sounds. So, for effective and efficient useof computer sound synthesis techniques in musical composition, certain generative methods of forming and controlling data structures can be a powerful aid. This thesis proposes and develops such methods. Techniques of pattern formation are described which have been developed and used in the original compositions of the author. These are based on stochastic generative schemes. The examples cited develop across the spectrum of complexity, ranging from the application of simple probability distributions through to intricate structures of interrelated stochastic constraints under the control of a general grammatical schema. In some cases the computer output has been designed so that it can be transcribed for performance by conventional musical forces. In other cases the output data has been used for direct control of digital sound synthesis programs and equipment. In addition to the limited practical resources existent at the City University, the author has been able to work with facilities made available on practical research visits to other institutions in Europe. The structuring techniques employed by the author are compared with other research taking place elsewhere, and are set in the context of recent advances in the development of certain formal grammars for the description of musical structures. Methods of general application of the techniques are suggested, and in particular, in the light of the development of alternative methods of non-standard synthesis, the use of stochastic web grammars is proposed not only for the macro-structuring of notes or sound objects, but also in the definition of sound complexes and timbres. The techniques explored have an explicit use as a practical tool for composers and may be incorporated into, of form the basis of, computer controlled compositional aids of wide ranging application.

Role-taking, the adoption of solo, accompanying or punctuating roles by a given part or parts may exist in any form of music. In Part 1, I have argued that the structure of free improvised pieces can be articulated in terms of player-functional or material-generative roles taken by ensemble members, and that these roles may, in turn, reflect the interpersonal dynamics of the group. The first four chapters uncover possible roles, and propose a methodology for mapping the structure of improvised pieces. Part 2 is a portfolio of backbone compositions - compositions written for one or two instruments with the intention of adding further parts in collaboration with other musicians. The compositions, including the process of their realisation, make use of the roles uncovered in Part 1, leading to musical structures suggestive of long-term or large-scale human interaction. The technique is expanded to encompass interaction with another art form - film. The final piece in the portfolio demonstrates how the two media interrelate by means of an awareness of role-taking within and between them.

For more than two hundred years it has been assumed by those engaged in the production of conservatoire-based music that a composition is best written by a single individual. It has been assumed that the most effective way to communicate a composition is through the exclusive means of the notated score. It has been assumed that the processes of performance and composition should be separate disciplines and that in general, the role of performers should be restricted merely to that of the interpretation of notated music. This thesis presents a challenge to these assumptions through the presentation of a folio of compositions that have each been written through processes based not only on notation, but also in improvisation and various other collaborative aural and oral means. This folio is accompanied by a written discussion of the reasons for wishing to compose music in such a way. In Part One of the written discussion I argue that the tradition of Western art music has reached a point of crisis. This is a crisis that is the result of a growing imbalance between literate and oral modes of thought and expression. I argue that the technology of notation is only partially useful as a tool for composition and communication. Conversely, I discuss what can and has been achieved by musicians when they allow non-notation based processes to form a significant part of the processes of the composition and performance of music. In Part Two I consider the nature of the skills of improvisation. I argue that the practice of improvisation holds part of the key to the regeneration of the conservatoire music tradition and that it is a skill that should serve to undergin an elements of a player's musicianship. In Part Three I discuss some of the more practical considerations of the techniques used in the composition of the music presented in Part Four of the thesis. I attempt to show that through effecting a balance within the composition process between notated elements scored by a single composer, and improvised/realised elements written within the context of an ensemble, a practice can be developed that has implications not only for traditional assumptions of composition, but which serves to question the whole way in which our culture traditionally organises and structures its institutions of education and performance. Part Four takes the form of a recorded folio of works that have been composed as the result of collaborations between the ensembles that perform them and myself as a director.