title: King Lear Beyond Genres: paper for: Shakespeare Beyond All Limits: Australia and New Zealand Shakespeare Association Conference

authors: Houlahan, Mark

subjects: Shakespeare

abstract: King Lear beyond Genre: or, what does Lear really, really want? Famously the two main texts of King Lear, Q1 (1608) and F1 (1623), locate two distinct genres: a “historie” (1608), and then a “tragedie” in 1623. The bulk of the play in either text conforms to genre signals Renaissance audiences would readily understand, and which Shakespeare deploys frequently in plays tragical or historical that draw on Chronicle sources of Roman, British or Danish history. There’s a battle for succession, and rulership, at the end of the final scene, is passed to a new regime. The moral scale of the action is indicated by the frequent use of “high, astounding”, ethico-philosophical terms. When Lear triggers the division of the kingdoms in the first scene of the play, he initiates this kind of tragical history. For the duration of the play, the rest of the characters play lethally inside these genre boundaries. But what makes King Lear so compelling, so baffling and so difficult is that, when he goes into the storm, on the heath, Lear is, in effect, trying to leave that convention-bound play and enter a new realm of discourse altogether. This requires a new kind of dramaturgy, a third kind of genre for which, even now, we don’t really have a name. In the end, Lear enters back into the historical/tragical terrain where the play begins. It’s the friction between these kinds of playmaking, I will suggest, that are at the heart of the text’s “power to claw”.

text: King Lear Beyond Genres: paper for: Shakespeare Beyond All Limits: Australia and New Zealand Shakespeare Association Conference King Lear beyond Genre: or, what does Lear really, really want? Famously the two main texts of King Lear, Q1 (1608) and F1 (1623), locate two distinct genres: a “historie” (1608), and then a “tragedie” in 1623. The bulk of the play in either text conforms to genre signals Renaissance audiences would readily understand, and which Shakespeare deploys frequently in plays tragical or historical that draw on Chronicle sources of Roman, British or Danish history. There’s a battle for succession, and rulership, at the end of the final scene, is passed to a new regime. The moral scale of the action is indicated by the frequent use of “high, astounding”, ethico-philosophical terms. When Lear triggers the division of the kingdoms in the first scene of the play, he initiates this kind of tragical history. For the duration of the play, the rest of the characters play lethally inside these genre boundaries. But what makes King Lear so compelling, so baffling and so difficult is that, when he goes into the storm, on the heath, Lear is, in effect, trying to leave that convention-bound play and enter a new realm of discourse altogether. This requires a new kind of dramaturgy, a third kind of genre for which, even now, we don’t really have a name. In the end, Lear enters back into the historical/tragical terrain where the play begins. It’s the friction between these kinds of playmaking, I will suggest, that are at the heart of the text’s “power to claw”.

year: 2023-12-07

title: Effect of video based road commentary training on the hazard perception skills of teenage novice drivers

authors: Williamson, Amy Rose

subjects: Young novice drivers

abstract: Recent evidence in the road safety research literature indicates that skills in hazard perception, visual search and attention may be developing executive functions in young novice drivers before the age of 25 years, contributing to their unintentional risk taking behaviour and subsequent high crash rates. The present research aimed to investigate these skills, whether they are predictive of each other, and whether hazard perception can be improved through road commentary training. Twenty-two young novice drivers and eight experienced drivers were recruited as participants in this study. The experienced drivers performed significantly better than the novice drivers on the hazard detection task that was specifically designed for the study. Their visual search skills were also examined and compared using the Visual Search and Attention Test, with the experienced drivers performing significantly better than the novice drivers. Interestingly, a significant positive correlation was found between the scores of the participants on the hazard detection task and the Visual Search and Attention Test which may indicate that the hazard detection skills can be predicted. The novice driver group who received 12 trials of video based road commentary training significantly improved in their hazard detection skills, suggesting that video based road commentary could be an effective road safety intervention for young novice drivers and if developed into a more comprehensive programme, holds promise for future implementation into the New Zealand Graduated Driver Licensing System. The results also hold promise for future investigation into the use of the Visual Search and Attention Test as a predictor of hazard perception skills in novice drivers.

text: Effect of video based road commentary training on the hazard perception skills of teenage novice drivers Recent evidence in the road safety research literature indicates that skills in hazard perception, visual search and attention may be developing executive functions in young novice drivers before the age of 25 years, contributing to their unintentional risk taking behaviour and subsequent high crash rates. The present research aimed to investigate these skills, whether they are predictive of each other, and whether hazard perception can be improved through road commentary training. Twenty-two young novice drivers and eight experienced drivers were recruited as participants in this study. The experienced drivers performed significantly better than the novice drivers on the hazard detection task that was specifically designed for the study. Their visual search skills were also examined and compared using the Visual Search and Attention Test, with the experienced drivers performing significantly better than the novice drivers. Interestingly, a significant positive correlation was found between the scores of the participants on the hazard detection task and the Visual Search and Attention Test which may indicate that the hazard detection skills can be predicted. The novice driver group who received 12 trials of video based road commentary training significantly improved in their hazard detection skills, suggesting that video based road commentary could be an effective road safety intervention for young novice drivers and if developed into a more comprehensive programme, holds promise for future implementation into the New Zealand Graduated Driver Licensing System. The results also hold promise for future investigation into the use of the Visual Search and Attention Test as a predictor of hazard perception skills in novice drivers.

year: 2008

title: Water Quality Modelling of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere

authors: Hamilton, David P.

abstract: As a component of work to contribute towards the management of water quality of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, the University of Waikato was subcontracted by University of Otago to apply a coupled hydrodynamic-water quality model to the lake. The primary funder for this work was Environment Canterbury (ECAN), Whakaora Te Waihora and the Central Government Freshwater Cleanup Fund. The main modelling tool used in the study to simulate the dynamics of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere was the one‐dimensional (1‐D) hydrodynamic-water quality model DYRESM-CAEDYM. The model was used to reproduce observed water column data for a mid-lake station over the period 2011 to 2015. Once a satisfactory level of reproduction of these data had been achieved, an assessment was carried out with the model to examine the impact of various management scenarios on lake water quality. These scenarios involved: (i) projected changes to external nutrient loads to the lake that could be associated with future land management in the catchment and (ii) different lake water level management regimes based around opening of the barrier separating the lake from the ocean. The scenarios are intended here to be a catalyst for further hui and consultations that may adapt and refine additional scenarios, some of which may involve testing of multiple management options. The quantitative output from the model provides a component of the input required to inform strategies for lake management, alongside historical and expert knowledge, as well as analysis of measured data.

text: Water Quality Modelling of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere As a component of work to contribute towards the management of water quality of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, the University of Waikato was subcontracted by University of Otago to apply a coupled hydrodynamic-water quality model to the lake. The primary funder for this work was Environment Canterbury (ECAN), Whakaora Te Waihora and the Central Government Freshwater Cleanup Fund. The main modelling tool used in the study to simulate the dynamics of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere was the one‐dimensional (1‐D) hydrodynamic-water quality model DYRESM-CAEDYM. The model was used to reproduce observed water column data for a mid-lake station over the period 2011 to 2015. Once a satisfactory level of reproduction of these data had been achieved, an assessment was carried out with the model to examine the impact of various management scenarios on lake water quality. These scenarios involved: (i) projected changes to external nutrient loads to the lake that could be associated with future land management in the catchment and (ii) different lake water level management regimes based around opening of the barrier separating the lake from the ocean. The scenarios are intended here to be a catalyst for further hui and consultations that may adapt and refine additional scenarios, some of which may involve testing of multiple management options. The quantitative output from the model provides a component of the input required to inform strategies for lake management, alongside historical and expert knowledge, as well as analysis of measured data.

year: 2017