Jim Wayne Miller’s poetry examines how human history and topography join to create place. His work often incorporates images of land and ecology; it deliberately questions the delineation between place and self. This thesis explores how Miller presents images of water to describe the relationship between inhabitants and their location, both with the positive image of the spring and the negative image of the flood. Additionally, this thesis examines how the Brier, Miller’s most prominent persona character, grieves his separation from home and ultimately finds healing and reunification of the self through his return to the hills. In his poetry, Miller argues that an essential piece of people’s identity is linked with the land, and, through recognition of the importance of topography on the development of the self, individuals can foster a deeper sense of community through appreciation of their place.

In 1840, apostle missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compiled, printed, and began distributing a hymnbook that eventually would become the basis for all subsequent LDS hymnbooks published in English in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This thesis, as a contribution to the literature of communication, book history, and hymnology, as well as the intellectual and cultural history of the early years of the LDS Church, focuses on analyzing the poetry of the 1840 Mormon Manchester hymnbook. Using qualitative root-metaphor analysis, the author identified and analyzed expressions, supporting an emergent journey root-metaphor. He then divided the expressions into eight categories, each describing important and distinct aspects of the Journey. These categories include the following: 1) the travelers, 2) the activities on the journey, 3) the way, 4) the destination, 5) the guide, 6) the invitation to come, 7) the motivations, and 8) the lost wanderers. This thesis is based on the assumption that cultures and religions can be understood through the stories they tell. The story of the journey as told through the poetry of the 1840 Manchester hymnbook illuminates one aspect of the religious experience of early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Taken together, the eight aspects of the journey root-metaphor identified in this thesis tell a story about LDS members as travelers on a journey home, who walk on a straight and narrow path, away from a dark and fallen world, through snares, darkness, and other dangers, toward a glorious destination where rest, joy, and other rewards await them. Ultimately the travelers must rise above this world and follow Christ to a place where they may live with God to serve and praise him ever more.

The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come takes as its backdrop the American Civil War, as the author, John Fox, Jr., champions Kentucky's social development during the Progressive Era. Although often criticized for capitalizing on his propagation of regional stereotypes, I argue that the structure of The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come is much more problematic than that. Recognizing the Bildungsroman as a vehicle for cultural and social critique in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century writing, this project offers an in-depth literary analysis of John Fox, Jr.'s novel, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, in which I contend the story itself is, in fact, an impassioned account of human progress that juxtaposes civilized Bluegrass society and the degraded culture of the southern mountaineer. Indicative of the Progressive Era scientific attitude toward social and cultural evolution, Fox creates a narrative that advances his theory of southern evolution in which southern mountaineers are directed away from their own culturally inferior notions of development and towards a sense of duty to adapt to the civility of Bluegrass culture. This study focuses briefly on defining the Bildungsroman as a genre, from its eighteenth-century German origins to its influence on the American literary tradition. Beginning with Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, the Bildungsroman, in its most traditional form, narrates the development of the protagonist's mind and character from childhood to adulthood. Focus will be placed on how the Bildungsroman engages with literature's ability to facilitate the relationship between an individual and social development, as well as how easily the Bildungsroman lends itself to being appropriated and reconfigured. This study will then demonstrate how The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, Fox's local-color narrative, in its focus on the growth of the protagonist, Chad, as an allegory of the development of an Appalachian identity during the Progressive Era, might usefully be understood as an Appalachian Bildungsroman. While Chad, ultimately acquires the polished savoir faire of a skilled Bluegrass gentleman, the tensions between the southern mountaineers and the Bluegrass bourgeois makes his socialization into any one culture impossible, a situation illustrative of the disparity between Appalachia and the rest of America during the Progressive Era. By adapting the Bildungsroman to represent this historical situation, Fox's novel demonstrates the kind of conflict that furthered Appalachian difference as point of contention for the problematic ideals of social and cultural evolution, thus, indicating the need for reconciling Appalachia's marginal position.

Virtualisation is one of the underlying technologies that led to the success of cloud computing platforms (CCPs). The technology, along with other features such as multitenancy allows delivering of computing resources in the form of service through efficient sharing of physical resources. As these resources are provided through virtualisation, a robust agreement is outlined for both the quantity and quality-of-service (QoS) in a service level agreement (SLA) documents. QoS is one of the essential components of SLA, where performance is one of its primary aspects. As the technology is progressively maturing and receiving massive acceptance, researchers from industry and academia continue to carry out novel theoretical and practical studies of various essential aspects of CCPs with significant levels of success. This thesis starts with the assessment of the current level of knowledge in the literature of cloud computing in general and CCPs in particular. In this context, a substantive literature review was carried out focusing on performance modelling, testing, analysis and evaluation of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), methodologies. To this end, a systematic mapping study (SMSs) of the literature was conducted. SMS guided the choice and direction of this research. The SMS was followed by the development of a novel open queueing network model (QNM) at equilibrium for the performance modelling and analysis of an OpenStack IaaS CCP. Moreover, it was assumed that an external arrival pattern is Poisson while the queueing stations provided exponentially distributed service times. Based on Jackson’s theorem, the model was exactly decomposed into individual M/M/c (c ≥ 1) stations. Each of these queueing stations was analysed in isolation, and closed-form expressions for key performance metrics, such as mean response time, throughput, server (resource) utilisation as well as bottleneck device were determined. Moreover, the research was extended with a proposed open QNM with a bursty external arrival pattern represented by a Compound Poisson Process (CPP) with geometrically distributed batches, or equivalently, variable Generalised Exponential (GE) interarrival and service times. Each queueing station had c (c ≥ 1) GE-type servers. Based on a generic maximum entropy (ME) product form approximation, the proposed open GE-type QNM was decomposed into individual GE/GE/c queueing stations with GE-type interarrival and service times. The evaluation of the performance metrics and bottleneck analysis of the QNM were determined, which provided vital insights for the capacity planning of existing CCP architectures as well as the design and development of new ones. The results also revealed, due to a significant impact on the burstiness of interarrival and service time processes, resulted in worst-case performance bounds scenarios, as appropriate. Finally, an investigation was carried out into modelling and analysis of performance and security trade-offs for a CCP architecture, based on a proposed generalised stochastic Petri net (GSPN) model with security-detection control model (SDCM). In this context, ‘optimal’ combined performance and security metrics were defined with both M-type or GE-type arrival and service times and the impact of security incidents on performance was assessed. Typical numerical experiments on the GSPN model were conducted and implemented using the Möbius package, and an ‘optimal’ trade-offs were determined between performance and security, which are crucial in the SLA of the cloud computing services. / Petroleum technology development fund (PTDF) of the government of Nigeria Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto

No description available.

O presente estudo tem por escopo analisar o papel desempenhado por Augusto Teixeira de Freitas na preservação da tradição jurídica luso-brasileira, em um ambiente conturbado pela ascensão de novos modelos jurídicos de fundo liberal. Tendo por objeto principal a abordagem da Introdução à Consolidação das Leis Civis, o trabalho tem seu desenvolvimento fundado em uma prévia contextualização histórica por meio da qual se busca demonstrar a inspiração jusracionalista das idéias sistematizadoras do autor. Como resultado das principais modificações implementadas pelas reformas pombalinas da aplicação e do ensino do direito - viabilizadas pela Lei da Boa Razão e pelos Novos Estatutos da Universidade de Coimbra (1772) - a mentalidade jurídica de Augusto Teixeira de Freitas evidencia aspectos de vanguarda quanto à estrutura dogmática empregada; em contrapartida, os estreitos limites oferecidos pelo sistema do direito subsidiário (aos quais se deve acrescentar a influência de Friedrich Karl von Savigny) representavam um fator de refreamento quanto às alterações relativas ao fundo do sistema jurídico privado. Neste panorama dois aspectos metodológicos justificaram a escolha do tema abordado em nosso estudo: em primeiro lugar os limites ao poder de criação de Augusto Teixeira de Freitas, ao ensejo da redação da Consolidação das Leis Civis - lembremo-nos que ao elaborar o Esboço de Código Civil o autor contava com maior liberdade para manusear materiais à vontade; em segundo lugar, o diferente emprego do usus modernus pandectarum em Portugal e no Brasil (no que concerne à eficácia do contrato de compra e venda) a partir do segundo quartel do século XIX. Neste passo procura-se analisar de que modo a convergência das feições conservadora (quanto às leis que mandam) e inovadora (quanto às leis que ensinam) de Augusto Teixeira de Freitas vai explicar a proposta (de promulgação paralela) de um Código Geral e de um Código Civil articulada na Carta dirigida ao Ministro Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada em 20 de setembro de 1867 - ao mesmo tempo em que parece justificar a \"genialidade\" que lhe é freqüentemente atribuída. / Il presente studio ha lo scopo di analizzare il ruolo svolto da Augusto Teixeira de Freitas nella preservazione della tradizione giuridica luso-brasiliana, in un ambiente turbato dall\'ascensione di nuovi modelli giuridici di fondo liberale. Avendo come oggetto principale l\'approccio alla \"Introdução à Consolidação das Leis Civis?\" (Introduzione alla Consolidazione delle Legge Civili), questo saggio ha il suo svolgimento basato in una previa contestualizzazione storica per mezzo della quale s\'intende dimostrare l\'inspirazione giusrazionalista delle idee di sistematizzazione dell\'autore. Come risultato delle principali modifiche implementate dalle riforme di Pombal nell\'applicazione e insegnamento del diritto - propiziate dalla \"Lei da Boa Razão\" (Legge della Buona Ragione) e dai \"Novos Estatutos da Universidade de Coimbra\" (Nuovi Statuti dell\'Università di Coimbra) (1772) - il pensiero giuridico di Augusto Teixeira de Freitas evidenzia aspetti di avanguardia rispetto alla struttura dogmatica impiegata; d\'altra parte, gli stretti limiti presentati dal sistema del diritto sussidiario (ai quali si deve aggiungere l\'influenza di Friedrich Karl von Savigny) rappresentavano un fattore frenatore rispetto alle alterazioni relative al fondo del sistema giuridico privato. In questo panorama due aspetti metodologici giustificano la scelta del tema trattato nel nostro studio: anzitutto, i limiti al potere di creazione di Augusto Teixeira de Freitas, all\'ispirazione della redazione della Consolidação das Leis Civis (Consolidazione delle Legge Civili), - ricordiamoci che nell\'elaborazione del \"Esboço de Código Civil\" (Progetto di Codice Civile) l\'autore aveva più liberta per manipolare materiali liberamente; in secondo posto, il diverso impiego del usus modernus pandectarum in Portogallo ed in Brasile (rispetto all\'efficacia del contratto di compra vendita) a partire dal secondo quarto del secolo XIX. In questi termini si tratta di analizzare in che modo la convergenza degli aspetti conservatore (rispetto alle leggi che ordinano) e innovatore (rispetto alle leggi che insegnano) di Augusto Teixeira de Freitas spiegherà la proposta (di promulgazione parallela) di un Código Geral (Codice Generale) e di un Código Civil (Codice Civile) articolata nella lettera inviata al Ministro Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada il 20 settembre 1867 - allo stesso tempo che sembra giustificare il \"genio\" che gli è spesso attribuito.

Curved and skewed I-girder bridges exhibit torsional displacements of the individual girders and of the overall bridge cross-section under dead loads. As a result, the girder webs can be plumb in only one configuration. If the structure is built such that the webs are plumb in the ideal no-load position, they generally cannot be plumb under the action of the structure's steel or total dead load; hence, twisting of the girders is unavoidable under dead loads. The deflected geometry resulting from these torsional displacements can impact the fit-up of the members, the erection requirements (crane positions and capacities, the number of temporary supports, tie down requirements, etc.), the bearing cost and type, and the overall strength of the structure. Furthermore, significant layover may be visually objectionable, particularly at piers and abutments. If the torsional deflections are large enough, then the cross-frames are typically detailed to compensate for them, either partially or fully. As specified in Article C6.7.2 of the AASHTO LRFD Specifications, different types of cross-frame detailing methods are used to achieve theoretically plumb webs under the no-load, steel dead load, or total dead load conditions. Each of the cross-frame detailing methods has ramifications on the behavior and constructability of a bridge. Currently, there is much confusion and divergence of opinion in the bridge industry regarding the stage at which steel I girder webs should be ideally plumb and the consequences of out-of-plumbness at other stages. Furthermore, concerns are often raised about potential fit-up problems during steel erection as well as the control of the final deck geometry (e.g., cross-slopes and joint alignment). These influences and ramifications of cross-frame detailing need to be investigated and explained so that resulting field problems leading to needless construction delays and legal claims can be avoided. This dissertation addresses the influence of cross-frame detailing on curved and/or skewed steel I girder bridges during steel erection and concrete deck placement by conducting comprehensive analytical studies. Procedures to determine the lack-of-fit forces due to dead load fit (DLF) detailing are developed to assess the impact of different types of cross-frame detailing. The studies include benchmarking of refined analytical models against selected full scale experimental tests and field measurements. These analytical models are then utilized to study a variety of practical combinations and permutations of bridge parameters pertaining to horizontal curvature and skew effects. This research develops and clarifies procedures and provides new knowledge with respect to the impact of cross-frame detailing methods on: 1) constructed bridge geometries, 2) cross-frame forces, 3) girder stresses, 4) system strengths, 5) potential uplift at bearings, and 6) fit-up during erection. These developments provide the basis for the development of refined guidelines for: 1) practices to alleviate fit-up difficulties during erection, 2) selection of cross-frame detailing methods as a function of I-girder bridge geometry characteristics, and 3) procedures to calculate the locked-in forces due to DLF cross-frame detailing.

This thesis project examines the work of three female Nigerian authors: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta and Chika Unigwe. They are part of a growing number of young African writers who are receiving international acclaim and challenging narratives that have long defined the continent in pejorative terms. They question what it means to be female and African in a transcultural, global world but counter discourses that are both restrictive and prescriptive. Their female characters are not imaged in binary terms as either victims or villains. For all three writers, the African story has to be told in its entirety incorporating what some may argue are negative stereotypes but doing so in a manner that examines and undermines those same stereotypes. For the purposes of the thesis, I focus on their first novels: Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, Atta’s Everything Good Will Come and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street. Chapter One examines Purple Hibiscus and argues that the novel is much more than a coming of age story or, as some critics have posited, an allegory of the postcolonial state. Chapter Two highlights Atta’s use of fairly familiar feminist theories but grounds them in the lived realities of the African city. All three authors are concerned with issues of violence and death. Unigwe’s novel, which forms the focus of Chapter Three, offers a critical perspective on how both of those themes intersect with the increasing commercialisation of global culture. Her characters are female sex workers whose lives are irrevocably altered by the murder of one of their colleagues. I conclude by arguing that the three novels offer a nuanced if not necessarily new understanding of the various social, economic and political forces that continue to shape the lives of women on the continent.

Firm real time system with Poisson arrival process, iid exponential service times and iid deadlines till the end of service of a job, operated under the First Come First Served (FCFS) scheduling policy is well studied. In this thesis, we present an exact theoretical analysis of a similar (M/M/1 + G queue) system with exact admission control (EAC). We provide an explicit expression for the steady state workload distribution. We use this solution to derive explicit expressions for the loss ratio and the sojourn time distribution. An exact theoretical analysis of the performance of an M/M/1 + G queue with preemptive deadlines till the end of service, operating under the Earliest Deadline First (EDF) scheduling policy, appears to be difficult, and only approximate formulas for the loss ratio are available in the literature. We present in this thesis similar approximate formulas for the loss ratio in the present of an exit control mechanism, which discards a job at the epoch of its getting the server if there is no chance of completing it. We refer to this exit control mechanism as the Early job Discarding Technique (EDT). Monte Carlo simulations of performance indicate that the maximum approximation error is reasonably small for a wide range of arrival rates and mean deadlines. Finally, we compare the loss ratios of the First Come First Served and the Earliest Deadline First scheduling policies with or without admission or exit control mechanism, as well as their counterparts with deterministic deadlines. The results include some formal equalities, inequalities and some counter-examples to establish non-existence of an order. A few relations involving loss ratios are posed as conjectures, and simulation results in support of these are reported. These results lead to a complete picture of dominance and non-dominance relations between pairs of scheduling policies, in terms of loss ratios.

Der Beitrag versucht, die italienischen Handschriften im Bestand der SLUB Dresden in die Hofkulturforschung einzubinden. Angesichts der Stellung des Italienischen im Kontext der frühneuzeitlichen Höfe erscheint die Erstellung einer eigenen Kategorisierung ‚Italienisch‘ für die Bewertung einer Handschriftensammlung nicht als zielführend. Italienisch beschreibt somit nur die Sprache, in der die ansonsten sehr disparaten Texte verfasst sind, und kann keine ontologische Kategorie begründen. Im Kontext des Aufbaus humanistischer Bibliotheken jedoch sollte vermehrt auf den Bestand italienischer Manuskripte auch außerhalb Italiens geachtet werden, was speziell für den Dresdner Hof die Frage aufwirft, ob diese italienischen Manuskripte eher zufällig, weil die Sprache also gerade Italienisch war, oder absichtlich, gerade weil sie in Italienisch verfasst waren, angekauft wurden. Die vielbeschworene italianità des Dresdner Hofes kann so genauer bestimmt und erklärt werden und muss vielleicht diesbezüglich auch relativiert werden. Damit verbunden ist dann auch die Frage nach dem Repräsentations- und Sammlungscharakter selbst, was den bloßen Besitz einzelner Manuskripte als Teil einer epistemologischen Weltsicht in eine komplexe Gemengelage aus Konventionen und Eigeninteressen einbettet, die Dresden als Resultat unterschiedlicher kultureller Einflüsse und spezifischer Interessen und Eigentraditionen ausweisen.