Representing creative labour and identity in Singaporean graphic novels: Sonny Liew and Troy Chin

ABSTRACT

This essay analyses two Singaporean graphic novels which represent the motivations and processes of creating and marketing cartoons, Sonny Liew's The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015), a retrospective of the life and work of a fictional artist, and Troy Chin's ongoing autobiographical series, The Resident Tourist (begun in 2007). The analysis focuses on how Liew and Chin represent creative work and its relationship to Singaporean identity, focusing on how each negotiates one of the central contradictions of the creative industries in Singapore, the problem of how creativity can be conceptualised and practised within a society in which, for decades, pragmatism has been systematically valued and imagination devalued. There are three main ways in which both Liew and Chin construct, in very different ways, new creative worker and Singaporean identities which resonate with readers around the post-industrial world. The first is through subtle challenges to the Western, individualised ‘genius’ model of the creative worker. The second is through the creation of modes of address that encompass both Singaporean and non-Singaporean readers, and make all readers complicit in the project of constructing Singaporean identity. Third, both Liew and Chin reimagine the relationship between Singaporean and creative worker identities through simultaneously using and subverting the idea of national allegory.     

Using genetic algorithms to evolve a population of topical queries

Systems for searching the Web based on thematic contexts can be built on top of a conventional search engine and benefit from the huge amount of content as well as from the functionality available through the search engine interface. The quality of the material collected by such systems is highly dependant on the vocabulary used to generate the search queries. In this scenario, selecting good query terms can be seen as an optimization problem where the objective function to be optimized is based on the effectiveness of a query to retrieve relevant material. Some characteristics of this optimization problem are: (1) the high-dimensionality of the search space, where candidate solutions are queries and each term corresponds to a different dimension, (2) the existence of acceptable suboptimal solutions, (3) the possibility of finding multiple solutions, and in many cases (4) the quest for novelty. This article describes optimization techniques based on Genetic Algorithms to evolve “good query terms” in the context of a given topic. The proposed techniques place emphasis on searching for novel material that is related to the search context. We discuss the use of a mutation pool to allow the generation of queries with new terms, study the effect of different mutation rates on the exploration of query-space, and discuss the use of a especially developed fitness function that favors the construction of queries containing novel but related terms.     

Influence of technique on upper body force and power production during medicine ball throws

ABSTRACT

This project examined the interrelationships between power production and upper body kinematics during a series of medicine ball push-press (MBP-P) throws. Twenty-five regular weight trainers (body mass = 86 ± 10 kg) performed a series of ballistic vertical MBP-P throws at loads representing 5% and 10% of their assessed 5RM bench press. Throws were performed lying supine on a force platform (1 kHz) with upper body kinematics assessed using standard infra-red motion capture techniques (0.5 kHz). Gross measures of performance and power production such as peak vertical ball velocity (Vel_peak), peak force (F_peak) and power (P_peak) were recorded during the propulsive phase of the movement. Comparative analyses indicated that despite significant reductions in Vel_peak from the 5% to 10% loads (P < 0.001), F_peak remained largely unchanged (P = 0.167). Analysis of inter-trial variability showed that the gross measures of performance and power were relatively stable (Coefficient of Variation [CV%] <13%), while most upper limb segmental kinematics varied considerably between trials (CV% up to 70%). This project highlights the complexity of the relationships between power production and upper body kinematics during light load ballistic MBP-P throwing. Additionally, it shows how trained athletes can achieve similar outcomes during ballistic movements using a variety of movement strategies.     

Simulation and experimental determination of the online separation of blood components with the help of microfluidic cascading spirals

Microfluidic spirals were used to successfully separate rare solid components from unpretreated human whole blood samples. The measured separation ratio of the spirals is the factor by which the concentration of the rare component is increased due to the Dean effect present in a flow profile in a curved duct. Different rates of dilution of the blood samples with a phosphate-buffered solution were investigated. The diameters of the spherical particles to separate ranged from 2 μm to 18 μm. It was found that diluting the blood to 20% is optimal leading to a separation ratio up to 1.97. Using two spirals continuously placed in a row led to an increase in separation efficacy in samples consisting of phosphate-buffered solution only from 1.86 to 3.79. Numerical investigations were carried out to display the flow profiles of Newtonian water samples and the shear-thinning blood samples in the cross-section of the experimentally handled channels. A macroscopic difference in velocity between the two rheologically different fluids could not be found. The macroscopic Dean flow is equally present and useful to help particles migrate to certain equilibrium positions in blood as well as lower viscous Newtonian fluids. The investigations highlight the potential for using highly concentrated, very heterogeneous, and non-Newtonian fluidic systems in known microsystems for screening applications.     

Zwischen Berufstreue und Berufswechsel

In einer retrospektiven Befragung von vier Kohorten (Patentierung 1963–65, 1973–75, 1983–85 und 1993–95) ehemaliger Absolventinnen und Absolventen der seminaristischen Primarlehrerausbildung im Kanton Bern (Schweiz) wurden Daten zur beruflichen Mobilit?t und aktuellen Berufst?tigkeit erhoben. Auf der Basis von Besch?ftigungsgrad und T?tigkeitschronologie konnten fünf Karrieretypen gebildet werden — Nicht-Einstieg, Verbleib, Reduktion, Ausstieg und Wiedereinstieg —, die bezüglich beruflicher Beanspruchung, motivationaler Haltung und Berufszufriedenheit beschrieben wurden. Mehr als die H?lfte der Befragten arbeitet aktuell nicht mehr als Primarlehrer, jedoch haben nur wenige das Berufsfeld Bildung und Schule verlassen. Die Ergebnisse zeichnen ein weit günstigeres Bild der beruflichen Karriere von Lehrkr?ften als die bisherige Forschung, die zumeist auf „überlebende“ im Lehrerberuf beschr?nkt ist. Auff?llig ist die starke Determination der Karriere von weiblichen Lehrkr?ften durch die traditionelle Geschlechtsrollenteilung, und zwar in allen untersuchten Kohorten.     

Leviathan dreams: State and broadcasting in South America

This article examines different forms of state intervention in the history of broadcasting in South America. In contrast to “media imperialism”; positions, it is argued that the analysis of the evolution of broadcasting systems cannot be restricted to the role of international capital. Nor can the development of broadcasting in the region be understood as completely dominated by market mechanisms. On different occasions and for different reasons, domestic actors coalesced around the state to champion government‐run models against private broadcasting. Statist solutions, however, were ineffectual in changing the fundamental dynamics of the systems in place. Moreover, as they were often implemented by authoritarian governments, state models aggravated the problems for the existence of democratic broadcasting. Amid the hegemony of the private model and the globalization of media economies in the region, the discrediting of statist experiences makes it necessary to rethink alternatives to market‐dominated broadcasting.     

Crowdfunding in higher education: evidence from UK Universities

Higher Education - In contemporary higher education systems, funding is increasingly associated with performativity, assessment, and competition, and universities are seeking different forms of...