Incentive Effects in Asymmetric Tournaments Empirical Evidence from the German Hockey League

Following tournament theory, incentives will be rather low if the contestants of a tournament are heterogeneous. We empirically test this prediction using a large dataset from the German Hockey League. Our results show that indeed the intensity of a game is lower if the teams are more heterogeneous. This effect can be observed for the game as a whole as well as for the ?rst and last third. When dividing the teams in the dataset into favorites and underdogs, we only observe a reduction of effort provision from favorite teams. As the number of games per team changes between different seasons, we can also investigate the effect of a changing spread between winner and loser prize. In line with theory, teams reduce effort if the spread declines. Interestingly, effort is also sensitive to the total number of teams in the league even if the price spread remains unchanged

The Concepts of Time, Memory and Identity in Beckett’s Essay on Proust

Beckett’s essay on Proust, in which he examines the philosophical concepts of time, memory and identity, has exerted enormous influence on modernist and post-modernist writers, who have consciously adapted and re- synthesized the ideas he developed not only in the essay but also in his plays in general. Although he was not the creator of the “memory play”, Beckett has helped to establish the new genre by reflecting upon philosophical problems and adapting psychological phenomena for dramatic theory, besides extending the limits of the dramatic. His theatrical experiments have been considered as examples of the strictest form of the “memory play”.Beckett’s essay on Proust, in which he examines the philosophical concepts of time, memory and identity, has exerted enormous influence on modernist and post-modernist writers, who have consciously adapted and re- synthesized the ideas he developed not only in the essay but also in his plays in general. Although he was not the creator of the “memory play”, Beckett has helped to establish the new genre by reflecting upon philosophical problems and adapting psychological phenomena for dramatic theory, besides extending the limits of the dramatic. His theatrical experiments have been considered as examples of the strictest form of the “memory play”

VIOLENCE AND DEATH: THEIR INTERPRETATION BY K. A. PORTER AND EUDORA WELTY

This study aims to elucidate the reasons for the prevalenceof violence in Southern fiction. While K. A. Porter focuses violence as being a characteristic trait of the Southerntemper, which can be traced back to the frontier days, Eudora Welty presents variations on the theme of spiritual isolation in her short-stories, which is connected with the conflicting world views of the forties: the confusion of values generated by the discrepancy existing between the ideal Southern society and the real world of the South results in violence. Similar tensions to those of the American South are evoked by K. A. Porter in her Mexican stories. The different connotations of death, both symbolic and real, are also analysed in this study, showing that the recurrence of the death motif has to do with the Southerner's metaphysical preoccupations

RITUAL AS INDICATIVE OF A CODE OF VALUES IN HEMINGWAY'S IN OUR TIME

This article discusses the concepts of ritual and code which Hemingway develops in his book In Oar Time, which comprises a series of short-stories, intimately connected to one another, which tell us in chronological order about the childhood and adolescence of Nick Adams, known as the "Hemingway hero". In this book, which can be considered as an initiation ritual, we can observe the process of apprenticeship of Nick Adams, who tries to elaborate a code of ethics, that will permit him to live adequately in a world of violence, disorder and misery.In order to achieve his aims, he tries to acquire certain principles of honour, courage and endurance, which willallow him to conduct himself well despite the adversities he may encounter in life. In the last story of the book, entitled Big Two-Hearted River, we can observe a series of rituals symbolic of code: the ritualistic codified actions provide adequate metaphors for the 'inner code' of the protagonist

VERBALIZING THE VISUAL IN SHAKESPEARE’S NARRATIVE POEM VENUS AND ADONIS

A apropriação de motivos, códigos e convenções das artes visuais para fins estruturais, temáticos e estéticos em discursos verbais foi primordial durante o Renascimento e continua sendo uma prática recorrente na contemporaneidade. O presente ensaio tem como objetivo examinar a transposição criativa de imagens da pintura para a poesia no poema narrativo Vênus and Adônis (1593), de Shakespeare, e discutir o uso do poeta de temas e motivos míticos para questionar as relações de gênero e sexualidade vigentes em seu tempo. Os diálogos intermidiáticos entre o visível e o legível serão abordados à luz de perspectivas teóricas de Claus Clüver, Liliane Louvel, Erwin Panofsky, Farah-Karim Cooper e Laura Mulvey.The appropriation of motifs, codes and conventions from the visual arts for structural, thematic and aesthetic purposes in verbal discourses was paramount during the Renaissance and is a recurrent practice today. The present essay aims to examine Shakespeare’s creative transposition of images from painting to poetry in his narrative poem Venus and Adonis (1593), and discuss his use of mythical themes and motifs to question gender and sexual roles current in his time. The intermedial dialogues between the visible and the legible will be addressed in the light of theoretical perspectives by Claus Clüver, Liliane Louvel, Erwin Panofsky, Farah-Karim Cooper and Laura Mulvey

Caspase-8 binding to cardiolipin in giant unilamellar vesicles provides a functional docking platform for bid

Caspase-8 is involved in death receptor-mediated apoptosis in type II cells, the proapoptotic programme of which is triggered by truncated Bid. Indeed, caspase-8 and Bid are the known intermediates of this signalling pathway. Cardiolipin has been shown to provide an anchor and an essential activating platform for caspase-8 at the mitochondrial membrane surface. Destabilisation of this platform alters receptor-mediated apoptosis in diseases such as Barth Syndrome, which is characterised by the presence of immature cardiolipin which does not allow caspase-8 binding. We used a simplified in vitro system that mimics contact sites and/or cardiolipin-enriched microdomains at the outer mitochondrial surface in which the platform consisting of caspase-8, Bid and cardiolipin was reconstituted in giant unilamellar vesicles. We analysed these vesicles by flow cytometry and confirm previous results that demonstrate the requirement for intact mature cardiolipin for caspase-8 activation and Bid binding and cleavage. We also used confocal microscopy to visualise the rupture of the vesicles and their revesiculation at smaller sizes due to alteration of the curvature following caspase-8 and Bid binding. Biophysical approaches, including Laurdan fluorescence and rupture/tension measurements, were used to determine the ability of these three components (cardiolipin, caspase-8 and Bid) to fulfil the minimal requirements for the formation and function of the platform at the mitochondrial membrane. Our results shed light on the active functional role of cardiolipin, bridging the gap between death receptors and mitochondria

TOM STOPPARD'S POSITION WITHIN THE TRADITION OF CONTEMPORARY COMIC DRAMA

TOM STOPPARD'S POSITION WITHIN THE TRADITIONOF CONTEMPORARY COMIC DRAM