Plusieurs films américains des années 2000 (Mulholland Drive et INLAND EMPIRE de David Lynch, The Virgin Suicides de Sofia Coppola, Memento de Christopher Nolan, The Pledge de Sean Penn, Broken Flowers de Jim Jarmusch et Zodiac de David Fincher) opèrent une remise en question de la fonction, du fonctionnement et de la représentation des indices sur lesquels s’appuient tant la littérature que le cinéma policiers. Ces films, qui reprennent certains codes du genre sans être tous à proprement parler des « films policiers », ont pour point commun de mettre en scène une enquête qui n’aboutit pas et qui se retourne contre l’enquêteur jusqu’à ébranler son identité. Ils font ainsi écho aux récits de détection dits métaphysiques (The Crying of Lot 49 de Thomas Pynchon, City of Glass de Paul Auster...) : l’indice, loin de permettre la clôture du récit, devient le moyen de son ouverture. À sa juste interprétation succède le foisonnement des lectures et des histoires possibles. Autrefois transparent, il se fait opaque ; de fluide, sa circulation devient accidentée – ce à quoi correspondent de nouvelles manières de le filmer. Les codes du genre policier visant à marquer l’indice tout en favorisant sa lisibilité et l’identification avec l’enquêteur (insert en gros plan, raccord-regard, faible profondeur de champ…) sont détournés selon diverses stratégies : inversion, exagération, etc. Celles-ci ont pour effet de déjouer les attentes des spectateurs et de les rendre inquiets en rétablissant l’incertitude fondamentale de la littérature policière, que le cinéma policier tend à minorer, tout en la mettant au service de projets esthétiques par ailleurs très différents les uns des autres. / A few American films released between 2000 and 2007 (David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and INLAND EMPIRE, Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, Christopher Nolan’s Memento, Sean Penn’s The Pledge, Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers and David Fincher’s Zodiac) question the function, inner workings and representation of the clues on which detective fiction and film rely. These movies, which take up certain tropes of the genre without necessarily being detective films per se, all revolve around an investigation which is left incomplete and eventually turns against the investigator, to the point of shattering his or her sense of identity. They thus follow in the footsteps of metaphysical detective fiction (novels such as Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 and Paul Auster’s City of Glass), in that the clue, instead of bringing about the closure of the narrative, becomes the instrument of its open-endedness. Its one correct interpretation is replaced by a proliferation of possible readings and stories. Once transparent, it turns opaque; once fluid, its circulation becomes problematic – which leads to new ways of filming it. The codes that detective films use to point out the clue, increase its legibility and foster identification with the investigator (close-up insert, eyeline match, shallow focus…) are subverted through a number of strategies such as inversion and exaggeration. These aim to deceive the spectator’s expectations and to unsettle him or her by reinstating the fundamental uncertainty of detective fiction, which detective films normally tend to repress, and which is here incorporated into aesthetic projects that otherwise differ widely.

<p>Oro är ett allmänmänskligt fenomen som kan vara både till nytta och skada för oss. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det finns någon skillnad mellan högoroare respektive lågoroare vad gäller vilken funktion oron fyller (Worry Automatic Thought Questionnaire) och orosinnehåll (Student Worry Scale), undersöka eventuella könsskillnader samt jämföra ett mått på frekvens och intensitet i den allmänna oron (Penn State Worry Questionnaire) med ett allmänt ångestmått (Beck Anxiety Inventory). Undersökningsdeltagarna utgjordes av 40 psykologistudenter och 70 polisstudenter och könsfördelningen var jämn. Signifikant samband mellan totalpoäng på PSWQ och totalpoäng på BAI erhölls. Högoroare oroade sig signifikant mer av vidskepliga skäl, för att undvika eller förhindra något ont från att hända, i förberedande syfte, för att få motivation samt som distraktion från mer emotionella saker, jämfört med lågoroare. De oroade sig signifikant mer än lågoroare över akademiska krav, arbetet, personliga relationer och vad andra tycker om dem. Högoroande kvinnor oroade sig signifikant mer än högoroande män över hälsoaspekter och vad andra tycker om dem. Lågoroande kvinnor oroade sig signifikant mer än lågoroande män över akademiska krav. Avsaknaden av flera signifikanta könsskillnader tros delvis bero på för få undersökningsdeltagare.</p>

Oro är ett allmänmänskligt fenomen som kan vara både till nytta och skada för oss. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det finns någon skillnad mellan högoroare respektive lågoroare vad gäller vilken funktion oron fyller (Worry Automatic Thought Questionnaire) och orosinnehåll (Student Worry Scale), undersöka eventuella könsskillnader samt jämföra ett mått på frekvens och intensitet i den allmänna oron (Penn State Worry Questionnaire) med ett allmänt ångestmått (Beck Anxiety Inventory). Undersökningsdeltagarna utgjordes av 40 psykologistudenter och 70 polisstudenter och könsfördelningen var jämn. Signifikant samband mellan totalpoäng på PSWQ och totalpoäng på BAI erhölls. Högoroare oroade sig signifikant mer av vidskepliga skäl, för att undvika eller förhindra något ont från att hända, i förberedande syfte, för att få motivation samt som distraktion från mer emotionella saker, jämfört med lågoroare. De oroade sig signifikant mer än lågoroare över akademiska krav, arbetet, personliga relationer och vad andra tycker om dem. Högoroande kvinnor oroade sig signifikant mer än högoroande män över hälsoaspekter och vad andra tycker om dem. Lågoroande kvinnor oroade sig signifikant mer än lågoroande män över akademiska krav. Avsaknaden av flera signifikanta könsskillnader tros delvis bero på för få undersökningsdeltagare.

ABSTRACT This thesis contains solution of issue Effect of season to condition Holstein cattle breed in period from December 2013 to December 2014 in BONAGRO, a. s. in Šlapanice city in herd about 80 dairy cows in the first stage of lactation. Experiments were made periodically on the first week of month, overall twelve times per a year. Whole thesis is based on subjective evaluation of body condition of cows. I statistically demonstrated effect of season to condition of cows. I also showed that season affected feed factions. I subdued these factions to special sieve analysis (Penn State Separator). Furthermore, I found statistically conclusive effect of season to residual amount of washed excrements, which I subdued to primary analysis. Feed and excrement analysis place together with evaluation of body condition. At the same time, I measured temperature inside the stable and compared it with temperature in surroundings of Šlapanice. In the end, I made an analysis of milk in university laboratory, which were compared with results of control of heredity, regularly made on the farm. All results are shown in this thesis and are complemented by graphs, tables, analysis and photos.

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M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012. / Humanity’s relationship with nature has, in recent years, undoubtedly been one of contention and turmoil, an issue whose drama is gaining popularity in popular culture and, especially, film. In this dissertation I examine how these challenging human-nature relationships play out in Terrence Malick’s The New World, Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, and the Jon Krakauer book, of the same title, upon which Penn’s film is based. As one’s views on nature (like all else) are mediated through language, using ecocritical principles slanted towards filmic, as opposed to written, texts, I provide a close examination of the ways in which these artists portray the relationship between language and nature, and the impact this has on our cultural and individual identities. I will also show how these primary texts make use of centuries-old Romantic aesthetics in order to humanise nature for moral ends. The primary texts agree that a large part of the problem in the poor relationship between humanity and nature is due to inadequate metaphors with which humanity views the earth. Thus, each artist promotes a certain kind of anthropomorphic understanding of nature which he believes is pivotal in encouraging better interconnections between humanity and nature. As a result, I provide a critique of the kinds of metaphors used by each respective artist, where some metaphors of nature may support or contradict a certain artist’s aims in his portrayal of human-nature relationships.

This study examines the differential effect of each of the ten largest bank failures on shareholders' wealth of non-failed banks over the period from 1973 through 1984. It examines how contagion and information effects of major bank failures have changed over time. FDIC policy for settling failures has important implications for system stability, and has changed over time. This study's purpose is to provide empirical evidence on the effects of FDIC policy. The FDIC's handling of the Penn Square failure signaled a policy shift and offers a unique opportunity to examine changes in market reactions to large bank failures. The literature on the capital market effects of major bank failures provides limited evidence on the impact of bank failures and related FDIC policy. Most fail to discriminate between contagion and information effects, and conduct analysis on one (or a few) bank failure(s) in the mid-1970s using traditional event study methodology. This study considers multivariate regression (MVRM) an appropriate methodology for bank failures which are likely to have simultaneous impact on non-failed banks. MVRM, which accounts for contemporaneous cross-sectional dependence of residuals, has three advantages over standard residual analysis: no "event clustering" problem, multiple hypotheses tests, and computational efficiency. This study uses daily stock-return data for fifty-one non-failed commercial banks. For each bank failure, the non-failed banksare grouped into three portfolios: "information-related," "large," and "small." The impact on each portfolio is tested for an average effect and joint hypotheses on excess return. This study offers evidence on no contagion effects and lack of information effects before Penn Square, strong information effects since Penn Square, contagion effects in post-Penn Square failures, and capital market discipline on large banks since Penn Square. There has been a change in the nature of the impact of bank failures since Penn Square.

‘Celebrity’ has become a growing field of critical inquiry and cultural interest in twenty-first century society. Celebrities embody a host of meanings and engender larger ideological and discursive practices, in which they articulate expressions of social, cultural and political power that attach meaning to public individuals. Beginning with the late-twentieth century, celebrities have come to occupy spaces that exist beyond popular culture platforms, most notably in politics and international diplomacy. In spite of its typical association with superficial discussions of gossip and cheap entertainment, celebrities have become the site of anxiety in a capitalist society. To come to terms with these growing anxieties concerning celebrity and its accoutrements, this thesis explores the embedded complexities and consequences of the celebrity system within the framework of what has dubiously been called ‘celebrity politics.’ Through a detailed examination of this phenomenon, this thesis explores the coalescing spheres of Hollywood and the White House, where ‘celebrity’ and ‘politician’ have become interchangeable monikers. In addition to examining the historical conditions that have given rise to the phenomenon, this study examines contemporary articulations of the ‘celebrity politician,’ focusing on Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn and President Barack Obama. Discussion of these figures is framed by critical theory and media studies to better understand their location within the contemporary Western landscape.

This dissertation engages a number of currents of environmental criticism and rhetoric in an analysis of the poetry, fiction, and non-fiction of the southeastern United States. I examine conceptions of genitive relationships with the environment as portrayed in the work of diverse writers, primarily William Faulkner, Robert Penn Warren, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neal Hurston, and Elizabeth Madox Roberts. Southern literature is rarely addressed in ecocritical studies, and to date no work offers an intensive and focused examination of the rhetoric employed in conceptions of environmental ownership. However, southern literature and culture provides fertile ground to trace the creation, development, and communication of environmental values because of its history of agrarianism, slavery, and a literary tradition committed to a sense of place. I argue that the concerns of the two main distinctive threads of environmental literary scholarship - ecopoetics and environmentalism of the poor - neatly overlap in the literature of the South. I employ rhetorical theory and phenomenology to argue that southern authors call into question traditional forms of writing about nature - such as pastoral, the sublime, and wilderness narratives - to reinvent and revitalize those forms in order to develop and communicate modes of reciprocal ownership of natural and cultural environments. These writers not only imagine models of personal and communal coexistence with the environment, but also provide new ways of thinking about environmental justice. The intersection of individual and social relationships with history and nature in Southern literature provides new models for thinking about environmental relationships and how they are communicated. I argue that expressions of environmental ownership and belonging suggest how individuals and groups can better understand their distance and proximity to their environments, which may result in new valuations of personal and social environmental relationships.

Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," as early as 1839, reveals an uneasiness about the space of the house. Most literary scholars accept that this anxiety exists and causes some tension, since it seems antithetical to another dominant motif, that of the power of place and the home as sanctuary. My critical persona, like Poe's narrator in "The House of Usher," looks into a dark, silent tarn and shudders to see in it not only the reflection of the House of Usher, but perhaps the whole of what is "Southern" in Southern Literature. Many characters who inhabit the worlds of Southern stories also inhabit houses that, like the House of Usher, are built on the faulty foundation of an ideological system that divides the world into inside(r)/outside(r) and along numerous other binary lines. The task of constructing the self in spaces that house such ideologies poses a challenge to the characters in the works under consideration in this study, and their success in doing so is dependant on their ability to speak authentically in the language of silence and to dwell instead of to just inhabit interior spaces. In my reading of Faulkner and Warren, this ideology of division is clearly to be at fault in the collapse of houses, just as it is seen to be in the House of Usher. This emphasis is especially conspicuous in several works, beginning with Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! and its (pre)text, "Evangeline." Warren carries the motif forward in his late novels, Flood and Meet Me in the Green Glen. I examine these works relative to spatial analysis and an aesthetic of absence, including an interpretation of silence as a mode of authentic saying. I then discuss these motifs as they are operating in Toni Morrison's Beloved, and finally take Song of Solomon as both an end and a beginning to these texts' concerns with collapsing structures of narrative and house.