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The need to improve both the cost of food production and lower the environmental impact of food production is key to being able to sustainably feed the projected growth of the human population. To attempt to understand how to improve yields under lower nitrogen (N) inputs, a diverse set of UK winter wheats encompassing ~80% of the genetic diversity in current winter wheats in the UK were grown under a range of N levels and their performance measured under various levels of N. This population has parents which encompass all four end-use categories to understand how breeding for differences in NUE may change across different end-use types of wheat. The growth of the eight parents of a MAGIC population showed significant differences in biomass per plant, ear number, yield and protein content of the grain when grown with differing levels of N. No consistent response to N was seen for the lines tested for all of the traits measured. However, the underlying difference in response to N was not due to N uptake or N translocation, as short-term 15N uptake and translocation showed no significant differences in the lines tested. RNASeq was then performed on two different bread-making varieties grown under low-N conditions to identify putative genes controlling the underlying differences seen in biomass production when grown on low N. This led to the identification of the genes involved in growth and C/N signaling and metabolism, which may explain the differences in growth and biomass production seen between the parents of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the complex development of identity and lifestyle among the nomadic river gypsies, known as the Bede, in Bangladesh. Methodologically, a comprehensive strategy combining primary and secondary data sources was employed to examine the sociodemographic profile of nomadic fishers. Traditionally, these fishermen depend on water-based enterprises such as fishing, magic shows, and serpent charms, displaying distinctive socio-cultural behaviors and engaging in various economic activities. However, the demands of the contemporary neoliberal economy increasingly conflict with their ancient practices. Their temporal and spatial lives are also undergoing rapid changes due to environmental shifts, institutional neglect, and social stigma associated with being perceived as unclean or as outsiders. This uncertain transition significantly influences their decisions regarding migration. The paper delves into the factors affecting migration decisions among marginalized communities, focusing on the cultural dynamics and adaptability of nomadic fishermen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to compare Active and Passive Investment Strategies on the Indonesian Stock Exchange for the 2013-2024 Using the Magic Formula Method introduced by Joel Greenblatt (2010), which is then optimized again using the Single Index Model. Magic formula is a simple stock selection strategy by sorting stocks based on Return on Capital (ROC) and Earning Yield (EY). The shares to be selected are included in the Kompas100 Index. The selected shares have also been listed on the stock exchange for a minimum of 18 months. Shares included in financial shares will be eliminated. The next step is to select 20 shares to be formed into a Portfolio based on the top ranking of the ROC and EY scores, these 20 shares will be optimized using the Single Index Model method. For active strategies, rebalancing will be carried out every year, while for passive strategies, buy and hold will be carried out. The results of this active strategy will be compared with passive strategies and IHSG. Portfolio measurement will be carried out in 4 ways, namely: return, Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio and Jensen Alpha. The return from the optimized Magic Formula shows a value of 217.04%, higher than the original Magic Formula return of 43.43% and the passive strategy of 35.04% and the IHSG return of 47%, but the final research results of the portfolio show measurements based on return, ratio Sharpe, and Treynor ratios were not significantly different, being significantly different only from Jensen Alpha measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The London Mechanics' Institution, founded in 1823, sought to foster scientific knowledge among operatives. This article demonstrates how it was part of a new educational and technological landscape whereby there were increasing attempts to 'illustrate' knowledge in order to make it accessible and memorable. New scientific and optical devices were used to produce, disseminate, and democratize knowledge. The operatives attending lectures and classes had to be engaged and their attention fostered. It was believed that the march of knowledge did not succeed if it was dryasdust, and there were many forms of illustrated lectures, from diagrams and transparencies to magic lantern shows to live experiments. This article links the London Mechanics' Institution to the advent of other metropolitan institutions like the Diorama and reflects on broader ideas of progressive education and the nature of learning engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in humanoid robotics have opened up many new directions for humanoid robotics research. Multimedia and arts are applications with significant growth opportunities. In this paper, we introduce magic shows as a benchmark and research problem for humanoid robots and discuss our flexible and versatile system architecture. The goal is to have a humanoid robot perform as a magician in front of an audience. Note that we focus on magic performances that require complex manipulation and interaction of the robot instead of tricks where the robot is passive and used mainly as a prop. So in our tricks, the magic is critically dependent on the skills of the humanoid robot. Furthermore, a successful magic show requires that the robot interacts meaningfully and goal directed with the audience. We describe the technical details of a pen and drawing magic trick, the human-robot collaboration, hardware architecture, and software architecture of our system. One interesting aspect of our system is the inclusion of various personalities for the robot magician. Overall, the robot performed the magic tricks well in the competition and won third place at the IEEE IROS Humanoid Application Challenge(HAC) 2019 in Macau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Artery of Percheron (AOP) as main feeder artery of arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is extremely rare. Two cases of thalamic AVM fed by AOP have been reported to date and only one AVM been removed by microsurgery when attempt of intervention embolization failed. Midbrain AVM fed by AOP has not been reported yet. Case presentation: Here, we presented the first successful embolized case of midbrain AVM supplied by the AOP in a 10-year-old boy, who suffered dual oculomotor nerve palsy and secondary hemorrhage before embolization. During endovascular embolization, selective angiography by 1.2 Fr. Magic microcatheter showed an intranidal aneurysm located on the distal AOP. Two injections of a 1:4 ratio mixture of NBCA-MS completely occlude the nidus and intranidal aneurysm with no complications occurred. The child recovered well and the oculomotor deficits improved. Conclusion: This case highlighted that AOP is a clinically significant branch associated with AVM in midbrain and thalamus. Moreover, intervention embolization of midbrain AVM fed by AOP is a considerable therapeutic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert Heller, a virtually unknown figure in music-historical accounts, trained in the 1840s at the Royal Academy of Music in London and gavethe American premieres of Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos with the Germania Musical Society. But he also pursued a parallel career in theatrical magic, using his musical virtuosity to elevate his social and artistic stature as a conjurer. Between 1852 and 1878, his magic act was seen by millions in Europe, East Asia, and the United States, including states and territories in the American West never visited by contemporary piano virtuosos like Thalberg and De Meyer. While magicians routinely incorporated music in their acts, Heller’s virtuosity set him apart from his conjuring peers, including those who were themselves musicians. Using his musical expertise, he blended the magic show with other popular forms of spectacle, including minstrelsy, burlesque, and the piano recital, framing the latter as an extraordinary attraction. Advertisements and accounts of his performances reveal the marketing strategies Heller employed to negotiate the crowded landscape of consumer culture and American popular entertainment, especially during the tumultuous years of the Civil War. These strategies included co-branding, altering the titles and descriptions of musical compositions (particularly “Dixie”), and joining forces with “Blind Tom” (Thomas Greene) Wiggins, the Black, enslaved musical prodigy whom Heller had briefly tutored; they performed together in Louisville during one of the magician’s last appearances in the South. Throughout the 1860s, Heller was influenced by gendered musical practices and regional attitudes toward race and politics, leading him to market his act specifically toward middle-class women, music lovers, Unionists, and those seeking postwar reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthocyanin is a kind of natural pigments widely found in plants. It is colorful and has many physiologic functions. In this science popularization experiment, we have extracted anthocyanin from red cabbage both at home and in the lab. By mixing the extracted anthocyanin with aqueous solutions of different pH and iodophor, we have designed three schemes including “The Change of Four Seasons”, “Belt and Road” and “Write with Anthocyanin” respectively, to introduce the structure of anthocyanin, the colour changes of anthocyanin at different pH, and the principle of oxidation resistance. We have also designed a drawing activity called “Freestyle”, in which the audience at different levels can take part in person. From the above mentioned, not only are the beauty and magic of chemistry shown, but also ideological education is concluded. In addition, we have created lovely purple cabbage images and animation to show the functions and applications of anthocyanin in a vivid and interesting way. We have also indicated some common misunderstandings about anthocyanin in daily life and tried to help people use anthocyanin in the proper way. In a word, this science popularization experiment combines science and art, knowledge and education ingeniously. It is also easy and safe enough to be performed at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, we propose and fabricate a waveguide Magic Tee with waveguide filter for Ka-band system. The proposed Magic Tee has a reduced z -axis arm, which must typically be long for impedance matching at the input port. A bridge iris is inserted at port 4 for signal application. The z -axis arm at port 4 is significantly shortened by the impedance matching tuning through the iris that is normally uses to connect the adaptor. Thus, the dimension of the proposed Magic Tee is reduced to 7.12 × 10 × 3.6 m m 3 , and the insertion loss shows good performance of 0.9 dB by applying the impedance matching tuning. The proposed Magic Tee also contains a 7th waveguide filter, which is used to verify the signal division performance. The results of excitation at each port of the Magic Tee show insertion loss less than 4.5 dB and return loss of over 18 dB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years Polish literature and popular culture have been increasingly populated by witches. Many authors use the historical, folk image of an ambivalent pagan witch as basis for creating their characters. Other notable sources are fairy tales, feminism (after all the myth of the witch was popularized by second-wave feminism) and neo-paganism (women as priestesses of nature). As a result of these various inspirations depictions of the witch are quite diverse, while the plot patterns presented in terms of stages of initiation are characterized by high constancy. A young girl, entering adulthood, not knowing who she is — such is the protagonist of many a novel. Her fictional biography begins with ‘borderline events’: an important birthday, a graduation, inheriting a farmhouse (usually from her grandmother). After crossing this narrative threshold, the protagonist is imbued with the powers of a witch, which she initially rejects. An elderly woman — her guide — persuades her to accept them. She teaches her the how to notice the manifestations of femininity that have been suppressed in our culture, and were represented as witches, fortune-tellers and madwomen. The use of magic is shown as a rediscovery of these rejected abilities, wrongly labeled as insane. It seems that the most important values related to the witch’s initiation motive are: restoring the relationship with the creative female element (intuition, nature, imagination), repairing generational ties between women (an older kinswoman as the master of initiation) and putting emphasis on female spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-examination is detrimental to the consistency and accuracy of children's reports and a re-direct interview may rehabilitate accuracy. We compared the effects of cross-examination on reports provided by single-event and repeated-event children. Children participated in one or five magic shows. One week later they were interviewed in a supportive manner (Interview 1). Next, a different interviewer cross-examined half the children or asked the other children all questions again (Interview 2). Finally, the initial interviewer re-directed the children by re-asking questions in a supportive manner (Interview 3). When defined narrowly (the instance children were asked to describe), cross-examination was more detrimental to single-event children and the re-direct interview rehabilitated correct responses for all children. When defined broadly (experienced details), cross-examination was more detrimental to repeated-event children and the re-direct did not rehabilitate correct responses for repeated-event children. Therefore when performance was off the floor, cross-examination was more detrimental to repeated-event children. The changes that repeated-event children make under cross-examination are explained by cognitive factors and social influences Ost et al., [2016]. Recall, verbatim memory and remembered narratives. In G. Oxburgh (Ed.), Communication in investigative and legal contexts: Integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement (pp. 39–54). Wiley Blackwell). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magic shows were one of many illusory spectacles popular in nineteenth-century Europe and North America, co-existing with melodrama, pantomime, and magic lantern displays. Yet there is little scholarship in any field documenting the function and significance of music in theatrical conjuring. This essay introduces a new field of research by surveying common practices in historical and modern magic shows. Historical evidence, drawn from broadsides, handbills, programmes, memoirs, reviews, and instructional guides to magic, supports three themes: (1) the relationship between conjuring, musical institutions, and related theatrical entertainments; (2) the phenomenon of magicians doubling as musical performers; and (3) the link between music, magic, and imperialist projects. Filmed performances of magic and empirical studies on illusion, cross-modal perception, and entrainment suggest a continuity of practice between nineteenth-century conjurers and modern magicians. A scene from the 2006 film The Illusionist links modern film-scoring techniques to musical conventions in nineteenth-century stage magic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Queen Victoria was enthusiastically taken up by the shows, exhibitions, and lectures that blossomed in the nineteenth century. This collaborative article demonstrates the way Victoria's life and reign was embraced by the moving-image and projected-image formats that proliferated during the period, particularly touring panoramas, magic lantern shows, and early film. Victoria and Albert were themselves intermittent visitors to these new pictorial shows in London, while, across both nation and empire, local communities were able to participate in key royal events thanks to their replaying and broadcasting by media such as the magic lantern and early film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study evaluated the efficacy of free-recall, cognitive instruction and closed-ended questions with students (N = 50; ages 6–18) with developmental disabilities. After watching a magic show wherein the magician made a major error, the students were asked by the magician to keep the transgression a secret. Next, students were interviewed using the Cognitive Interview (CI: free-recall, cognitive instruction and closed-ended questions) or a Standard Interview (SI: free-recall and closed-ended questions) by an unfamiliar researcher whereby their statement quality (statement consistency, veracity and disclosure forthcomingness) and quantity (number of words, transgression details and events recalled) were evaluated. The CI group disclosed significantly more total words and events than the SI group, without compromising testimony consistency; while not significant, descriptive differences in transgression details were found between interview groups. Nevertheless, there were no significant interview group differences in disclosure honesty or forthcomingness. Truth-tellers provided the most forthcoming and detailed statements on the free-recall question, irrespective of interview type. Conversely, lie-tellers rarely discussed the alleged transgression, and primarily lied on the final direct closed-ended question. These results suggest that the CI can be effective with students with developmental disabilities for increasing eyewitness memory recall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

She opened me to my river's edge Pushed me in instructed me to swim I drowned in all that I was She gave me permission to access my extra in plain sight Extra dramatic Extra artistic Extra powerful She was the orisha who acknowledged my magic Showed me how to control my aries fire How to burn low and strong and not burn out How to walk into a room and not burn it down or blind the masses with the white hot lights of pure honesty She gave me permission to be the greatest testimonies even in my brokenness How my back should bend but not fold How to hold the grit in my craw When to release it She showed me prayers in honest belief manifesting powers and shifts She performed the rituals in my face She set the intentions Lit the candles Read the scriptures Cast the spells from her lips Reversed curses to bind the wicked Made me take the old medicines and made me pay attention to the flows of the spirit I grew from the house of her womb one generation away but she apprenticed me Grooming the baby into a priesthood of Godliness the likes of no woman should carry I lay now at the roots of her tree Planted in my spine While she whispers to me On days like this remarkable is everything she said without saying anything. [Extracted from the article]

The figure of the superstitious old woman is common in mid-nineteenth-century literary and graphic representations of magic and optical spectatorship. Through her literal belief in images, the superstitious woman acts as a comic foil against which modern, disenchanted practices of spectatorship can be asserted. This essay examines the representation of female magic spectatorship in Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford by placing it in the context of Victorian magic practice and discourse. The novel centers on a magic show performed by an itinerant conjurer for a group of women spectators who fear they are witnessing a demonstration of the occult. Cranford portrays magic panic not as a symptom of undisciplined female minds, however, but rather as a manifestation of literary and cultural anxieties about the unstable status of the real. Through a combination of literary close reading and media archaeology, this essay argues for a female-coded counter-discourse to magic's pedagogy of disenchantment. At the same time, it demonstrates that Cranford 's depiction of stage magic is reflexive and allows the novel to conceptualize how representations construct reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present note is to draw attention to the potential role of a recently discovered visual illusion in creating traffic accidents. The illusion consists in a compelling and immediate experience that the space behind an occluding object in the foreground is empty. Although the illusion refers to a region of space, which is invisible due to occlusion (a blind spot), there is evidence to suggest that it is nevertheless driven by visual mechanisms and that it can be just as deceptive and powerful as ordinary visual illusions. We suggest that this novel illusion can make situations involving blind spots in a road user's field of view even more dangerous than one would expect based on the lack of visibility by itself. This could be because it erroneously makes the road user feel that (s)he has actually seen everything there is to see, and thus has verified that the blind spot is empty. This hypothesis requires further testing before definitive conclusions can be drawn, but we wish to make researchers and authorities involved in the analysis of traffic accidents and on-the-spot crash investigations aware of its potential role in order to encourage registration of relevant data and facilitate further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Historical & Cultural Studies an Academic Magazine is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, the design, characterization, and manufacture of a circuit for a ${W}$ -band, ultracompact continuous wave sheet beam klystron are described. This klystron, aiming to produce more than 1.5-kW output power, operates at a comparatively low voltage benefiting the device size and extending its application space. However, a lower operation voltage adversely affects the beam-gap interaction efficiency. Two multigap output cavities have been employed to achieve a higher beam interaction efficiency without introducing additional competing modes or shrinking the interval between the operation mode and competing mode. Inspired by the resynchronization technology, the second output cavity can be optimized for the spent beam from the first output cavity. Comprising a single cavity output structure, the circuit efficiency of this double output cavity circuit is increased from 2.37% to 4.96%. In this circuit, electromagnetic modeling and design have been optimized to avoid complicated structures which are constrained by current mechanical design and manufacturing techniques. The MAGIC simulation shows that, driven by a 1-W RF signal, this circuit can extract more than 1.7-kW output power from a 35-kV, 1-A beam. A prototype single output cavity circuit has been designed and manufactured to determine the required machining tolerances for the final double output cavity circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tibetan Buddhism is a doctrine that is based on the Vajrāyana of Buddhism, whose foundation was laid in Tibetan geography but eventually reached countries such as China and India. Tibetan Buddhism, which emerged as a result of the synthesis of Bon religion and Shamanist elements in response to Buddhism, attaches importance to tantras composed of speeches whose origin is attributed to Buddha. Tibetan Buddhism, also known as Tantric Buddhism, Esoteric Buddhism, or Secret Buddhism, has an understanding that attaches importance to ceremonies, symbols and prayers. Tibetan Buddhism introduced the formulas of magic to Buddhism. The species that enrich Buddhism in terms of magic are mantras and dhāranīs. These texts, known as the magic formula, take place in Buddhist sūtra and make their believes comfortable by promising long life, rebirth, peace and health. Tantric Turk Buddhism, on the other hand, corresponds to the Tantric Buddhist understanding that the Uyghurs put forward based on Tibetan Buddhism during the Yuan dynasty. One of the most important concepts of Tibetan Buddhism, the Tantra understanding, Uyghurs who turn to formulas, 13-14. century, mainly contributed to this field with religious works translated from Tibetan. Among the texts of this field, the most well-known texts are Unnīna Vijayā Dhāranī Sūtra and Sitātapatrādhāranī which are the source of our study. In this study, the views of the concepts of mantra and dhāranī, which are concrete evidence to show the magic direction of Buddhism through these texts, have been tried to determine the religious value of these terms in line with the promised life style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of robots in performance arts is increasing. But, it is hard for robots to cope with unexpected circumstances during a performance, and it is almost impossible for robots to act fully autonomously in such situations. IROS-HAC is a new challenge in robotics research and a new opportunity for cross-disciplinary collaborative research. In this paper, we describe a practical method for generating different personalities of a robot entertainer. The personalities are created by selecting speech or gestures from a set of options. The selection uses roulette wheel selection to select answers that are more closely aligned with the desired personality. In particular, we focus on a robot magician, as a good magic show includes good interaction with the audience and it may also include other robots and performers. The magician with a variety of personalities increased the audience immersion and appreciation and maintained the audience's interest. The magic show was awarded first prize in the competition for a comprehensive evaluation of technology, story, and performance. This paper contains both the research methodology and a critical evaluation of our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a systematic description of the exotic features in the ground states of light nuclei from the stable valley to the drip lines. A study with the even and odd isotopes of Ne, Mg, Si, S and Ar has been performed using theoretical formalisms (i) Relativistic mean-field plus state-dependent BCS approach and (ii) Macroscopic–Microscopic (MM) approach using the triaxially deformed Nilsson–Strutinsky Method. The computed binding energies and one- and two-neutron separation energies using both the theories show magic character of N = 1 4 , 2 0 , 2 8 and 40. The neutron and proton radii and the neutron densities show a well-developed neutron skin in the neutron-rich isotopes. The exotic phenomena such as weakly bound structures and the central density depletion characterized as bubble effect are explored. Our calculations for the single particle levels, density profiles and the charge form factors indicate bubble-like structures. Few new candidates of bubble nuclei are identified. Most of the nuclei in this region are found deformed with mostly prolate shape and few triaxial shapes while many nuclei exhibit the phenomenon of shape coexistence. Our results display a reasonable agreement between both the theories and the available experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores trends across Lucerna, an online web resource for magic lantern materials, by combining two digital approaches: topic modelling and geospatial mapping. Topic modelling identifies words that occur most frequently together in a large corpus of texts through a form of statistical analysis. Using this method, I studied 2,000 descriptions of magic lantern shows given between 1874 and 1903. While there were records from Canada, India, and New Zealand in this data set, most of these lantern shows occurred in England. The groupings of words, or 'topics', reflected the prevalence of the Church Army, Band of Hope, and Sunday Schools in Lucerna's textual record. Mapping these patterns revealed that descriptions of magic lantern shows were relatively uniform across the UK, suggesting that magic lantern shows in urban and rural spaces were represented similarly in periodical literature. Since the topics did not vary by region, I studied how the most prevalent topics differed by host organization and how they changed over time. The article finds that descriptions of lantern shows given by evangelistic organizations shared vocabulary with those hosted by Sunday Schools and temperance societies. It also shows that evangelistic shows tended to avoid the language of entertainment, echoing earlier discourse about the magic lantern on the mission field, and that the decline in topics related to Sunday Schools over time corresponds with the rise of educational lantern lectures, particularly those given by secular institutions like the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. Overall, the article suggests that topic modelling can be used to excavate the performance history of lantern shows by foregrounding latent linguistic similarities in published descriptions of these events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a photograph from the 1906 Australian tour of William Holman Hunt's painting The Light of the World as my starting point, I explore the special relationship colonial audiences had with magic lantern shows and related entertainments. I examine the sense of 'transport' that audiences felt at collectively witnessing images that had been 'transmitted' to them from Britain. I argue that their reactions were more complex than those felt in the metropole, and in many ways anticipate our own contemporary experience of globalized media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the introduction to his Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, Ambassador, Author, and Conjurer (1858), the French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin reinscribes his stage performance as text: 'Could I not, each evening when the clock strikes eight, continue my performances under another form? My public shall be the reader, and my stage a book.' The high time of stage magic coincided with the explosion of publishing and print media in the nineteenth century; the magicians formed by this emergent media culture represented themselves readers and writers as well as a performers. A half century later, Robert-Houdin's most famous reader, escapist Harry Houdini, turned on the namesake he had only known through the medium of that memoir. Houdini's The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin (1908), is an unflattering 'expose" of his idol's claims to invention and originality that leans heavily on Houdini's large library of magical texts and print ephemera. Pitting narrative and archival historicism against one another, Houdini's efforts to re-write his namesake's legacy mark a cultural desire to transform and escape expressed not only through the performed manipulation of his body, but his manipulation of the book and the archive as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I examine the complex role of magic in Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Clitophon and argue that Achilles discredits magic as supernaturally powerful by depicting magical practices as ineffectual, resulting in unintended consequences, or as the basis for dramatic, narrative, or rhetorical manipulation and deception. I further suggest that by doing so Achilles transfers the world-changing powers of magic to persuasive language, thus opening the door for a metaliterary reading in which the author asserts that the most potent "magic" is sophistic rhetoric and he himself the foremost "magician." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Many people enjoy watching magicians perform magic acts and seemingly do the impossible. In many of these acts, magicians use sleight of hand, trickery, and special tools. There are, however, other occasions in which audience perceptions are used to make them see things differently. This exploits people's tendencies to see things based on their expectations and prior experience. One of these is perceptual readiness, the tendency for people to see what they expect or want to see. This article describes an exercise that illustrates that perceptions can be misleading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A magic trick based on a mathematical principle and popularized by Martin Gardner leads us to an interesting identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay considers the reimagining of feminist performance art, bodily exposure, and female identity in two recent theatrical works, Annie Dorsen and Anne Juren's 2010 Magical, and Young Jean Lee's 2012 Untitled Feminist Show. In Magical, Juren reenacts a series of iconic feminist performance works, such as Carolee Schneeman's Interior Scroll and Martha Rosler's Semiotics of the Kitchen, while combining them with the illusionist tricks of a commercial magic show. In Untitled Feminist Show, an ensemble of six nude female performers stage a series of scenes and movement sequences that draw on feminist histories to offer visions of what Lee has called a "feminist utopia" in which identity is fluid and elective. These recent performances are read alongside their predecessors from the 1960s and '70s and histories of feminist criticism, arguing that Magical and Untitled Feminist Show chart new forms of feminist identity in the theatre, forms built on evasion and nonidentification, anonymity and abstraction. Finally, the essay links these performances to the wider significance of gendered anonymity in the digital age, taking note of new modes of thinking that make their interventions current and pressing today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the competition between stage magicians and spirit mediums to attain a dominant position in the world of entertainment since the late 19th century. Topics discussed include the differences between magicians and mediums, excerpts of the news account describing the efforts of stage magician John Maskelyne to dispute the performances of spirit mediums William and Ira Davenport, and the author's assessment of the stage performances of modern magicians.

In her essay in the most recent Re: Sources column, Sharon Marcus argues for the importance of theatrical scrapbooks as historical resources and notes that, to date, they have been largely neglected. I offer the current essay as a companion piece to Marcus's in that I would like to argue for the importance of another largely neglected resource for theatre researchers: trade catalogs. Specifically, I will focus on the mail-order trade catalogs of magic supply houses that were prevalent throughout the twentieth century until Web sites took over as the primary marketing tools for these establishments. I also draw upon Christopher B. Balme's idea that historiographic rewards can be earned by paying close attention to the information contained in theatrical playbills. Balme posits that one reason playbills have been neglected is because they are considered to be further removed from a theatrical performance than visual evidence such as photographs, designs, or videos:In comparison to theatre iconography—which in superficial readings would seem to offer the promise of access to the theatrical event, a performance on the stage (which of course it seldom does)—the playbill is foreplay but not the act itself. Like most foreplay, the playbill is clearly designed to excite, to stimulate; but for the scholar in search of the real thing, the transcendent experience and enchantment that is the “performance,” playbills represent a kind of archival ludus interruptus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The ABC television show Lost represents the imaginary, fantastic space of the desert island on which the castaways' plane crashed in tandem with the real, off-island locations of the characters' flashbacks. These spaces, and the narratives they contain, are first depicted as discrete entities, but visual tricks, mirroring, and mise en abyme gradually confuse and collapse the distinction between on-island and off-island spaces. Particular attention is given to the viewer's experience interpreting the spaces and narratives of Lost. The philosophical perspectives of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Gilles Deleuze concerning the archetypal desert island, and the cyclical passage of time experienced there, are addressed in relation to Lost's representation of temporality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1856, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, the great legitimizer of stage magic, was dispatched to Algeria in service of the French government to perform before tribal assemblies. It was hoped that exposure to French magic would undermine the influence of their own miracle workers, the Marabout. Robert-Houdin's widely disseminated memoirs describe him cowing the Arabs into terror with his illusions, all the better to educate them. This essay draws comparisons between the Algeria expedition and the myth of Grand Cafe, another narrative of 'terror in the aisles' with an emphasis on the dynamic of trained versus untrained spectatorship. Both narratives imagine a naive group of spectators erupting into panic on encountering a new form of illusion. Against them, the superior, trained spectator is constructed. The essay deals with the place of illusion in modern life, as a point of reconciliation between Robert-Houdin's art and the art so many of his successors found themselves in: cinema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines midnight ghost shows (alternately known as "spook shows," or "spookers") and seeks to reinsert them into theatre history and to posit them as a cultural barometer of the time in which they were popular. Ghost shows were magic shows presented on the stages of America's movie theatres throughout the first half of the twentieth century. A ghost show was usually part of a double-bill with a film, and each built to a special blackout sequence that would close the show. The earliest ghost shows used illusions borrowed from séances, such as table tipping and the production of apparitions, while later ones featured characters from popular horror films and bloody stage illusions such as decapitations and immolations. These productions represent how some enterprising magicians were able to create a trans-medial synergy between their staged magic shows and the emerging motion-picture industry, allowing them to not only survive, but to thrive in the changing entertainment milieu of early twentieth-century America. Ghost shows also stand as early examples of movie events that prefigured the phenomenon of midnight showings associated with cult films such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the presentation of physics through theatrical performances by magicians in 19th century France. Illusionist Henri Robin presented magic shows in his theater in Paris, France that utilized principles of physics to create illusions and established connections between magic and science in audiences. The author notes how experimental physics professor Jean-Antoine Nollet offered public demonstrations of principles of electricity. Magicians such as Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin utilized mechanical inventions in his magic show and emphasized scientific discoveries in his performances. The use of optics to present illusions by magicians such as Etienne-Gaspard Robertson is discussed.

The article recounts the magic performance of John Henry Anderson titled "Wizard of the North" to explain the association of the social elites and bourgeois conceptions of a technological modernity to the quasi-scientific magic shows and the role of stage shows in maintaining faith in genuine magical thought and concepts. It discusses Simon During's concept of secular magic or magical assemblage of stage entertainment and his view on Anderson's show. The conclusion shows that the increasingly democratized forms of magic and the contested magical mentalities have a shared cultural forms.

The article offers the author's personal experience on the trades of magic and magical manifestations. It tells the author's early experience of magic, entertainment, live arts and his theories about magic. He shares his experience of devising expositions of magic to inhabit spaces linked with the modern interdisciplinary arts practice which are unmediated in every sense. His experience of magic has evolved and became active and embarked on a tranche of interventions in the regalia.

Just as vision scientists study visual art and illusions to elucidate the workings of the visual system, so too can cognitive scientists study cognitive illusions to elucidate the underpinnings of cognition. Magic shows are a manifestation of accomplished magic performers' deep intuition for and understanding of human attention and awareness. By studying magicians and their techniques, neuroscientists can learn powerful methods to manipulate attention and awareness in the laboratory. Such methods could be exploited to directly study the behavioural and neural basis of consciousness itself, for instance through the use of brain imaging and other neural recording techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. This study explored the effectiveness of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale for Children, version 2 in predicting the tendency of older school-aged children (with and without intellectual disabilities) to generate errors in an independent suggestibility paradigm. Method. Sixty-nine children with an intellectual disability (aged 9-14 years) and 50 mainstream children matched for chronological age participated in a 30-minute magic show that was staged at their school. Three days later, the children participated in a separate biasing interview that provided seven true and seven false details about the magic show. The following day, the children participated in a second interview where they were required to recall the magic show in their own words and answer a series of cued-recall questions. Between 1 and 2 weeks later, the children were administered the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale-2 (GSS-2). Results. While there was no significant association between performance on the GSS-2 and the independent suggestibility paradigm for the children with an intellectual disability, the chronological age-matched children's yield scores predicted their reporting of both false-new details and false-interviewer suggestions for the independent event. Conclusion. When predicting children's recall of false details, the GSS-2 appears to be more useful with mainstream school-aged children compared with children who have an intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws upon a range of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century accounts of magic performance to argue that the success of an illusion was dependent upon the spectator's engagement with the trick as a conscious application of mechanical effects. The stated aims of the magicians' art, as evidenced by their published statements, but also by the nature of their applied techniques, was that audience response was not to be a simple form of stupefaction, but a lively interaction with the performance as both a meticulously composed spectacular sight and as a contribution to a broader fascination with technology and illusionism. Spectators were encouraged, directly or indirectly, to make comparative assessments of the illusions with which they were presented, based on their knowledge of earlier instances of the same tricks or on their awareness of published exposés of popular effects. This kind of collusive illusionism is carried into the filmic realm, as demonstrated significantly by the work of the French film-maker Georges Méliès. In adapting his popular stage illusions for incorporation into the new film medium, Méliès prompted comparisons between the different versions of the same tricks, thus highlighting the distinct and defining characteristics of each medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editor's Note: This article was originally published as part of a contribution to Frances Marshall's (compiler) Those Beautiful Dames (Chicago, IL: Magic Inc, 1984). The article has been revised, and incorporates new and important information to emphasise the late Victorian and early Edwardian period. It was the basis for a presentation at the Third Visual Delights Conference at the University of Sheffield in 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]