Photographs of the human face and broken projective symmetry

The exact projective symmetry manifested in photographs is broken if the object is not flat. It has been found that front view perspectives of the human face, photographed with limited variations in camera angle (within 30 degrees) show a breaking projective symmetry sufficiently small to be considered for accurate comparison. As a practical implementation of this new approach, a computer-controlled video camera superimposition technique has been developed and demonstrated in the identification of a disguised human face.     

Capital structure and performance: Evidence from a transition economy on an aspect of corporate governance

This paper examines the relationship between the levels of debt in the capital structure and performance for a sample of Indian firms. Existing theory posits a positive relationship; however, analysis of the data reveals the relationship for Indian firms to be significantly negative. The structure of capital markets in India, where both short-term and long-term lending institutions are government-owned, is hypothesized to account for the finding of this relationship, and it asserted that corporate governance mechanisms which work in the West will not work in the Indian context unless the supply of loan capital is privatized.     

Scalability versus flexibility: firm size and R&;D in Indian industry

This article has examined the impact of firm size on R&D spending for a panel of several thousand Indian firms, for a period of seven years from 1999–2000 to 2005–2006. The average levels of R&D spending are low but for firms that do undertake R&D the average levels of R&D spending are much higher. The results of the analysis for all the manufacturing sector firms have shown that larger firm size is associated with a higher probability of R&D spending. In non-linear estimation the squared term is negative denoting that after a particular threshold firm size has no effect on R&D spending. When only the R&D spending firms are evaluated then size has a mild impact on R&D spending and in a non-linear framework the effect of size disappears signifying that both the relatively smaller and larger firm alike seem to be motivated in building capabilities in the post-liberalization period of the Indian economy.     

Technology transfer by foreign firms and the utilization of competencies within Indian industry

This article evaluates whether the changing presence of foreign firms in India has had an impact on the performance of India’s industrial sector by impacting on the utilization of intangible capabilities within firms. Foreign firms bring in technological skills and capabilities and these are transferred by a spillover process to all of Indian industry. The results show a strong relationship between the growing presence of foreign firms in India and measures capturing the utilization of varieties of competencies in Indian industry. Thus, the notion that foreign firms’ capabilities can spillover to other sectors of industry finds support in the data.

The Potency of the State: Logics of Informality and Subalternity

Abstract

This article serves as an epilogue to the special issue curated by Claire Bénit-Gbaffou and Sarah Charlton with a focus on state power and the concept of informality. In my reflection, I examine the specificity of statecraft in the context of postcolonial government. In particular, I analyse political potency as a relationship between the state and subaltern subjects. Also at stake in this paper is the question of comparative and transnational analysis. In what ways can concepts generated through the study of processes of urban informality in India speak to the production of illegality and the reproduction of rule in South Africa?     

Dancing death by fire: In search of Roop Kanwar

The Distances: The Diary of Alina Reyes, adapted and directed by Ralph Denier, performed by Margo Lee Sherman, based on a story by Julio Cortazar, translated by Paul Blackburn at the Spanish Institute, New York City, April 1984.

Whoopie Goldberg, at Dance Theatre Workshop, New York City, February 1984.

Mud, written and directed by Maria Irene Fames, at Theatre for the New City, Fall 1983.

Sarita, witten and directed by Maria Irene Fames, at Intar, New York City, February 1984.

A ... My Name is Alice, conceived and directed by Joan Micklin Silver and Julianne Boyd. New York City, Spring 1984.

Delicate Feelings, book and lyrics by Rosalyn Drexler, music by Steve and Franne Rosenthal, directed by George Ferencz, at Theatre for the New City, New York City, May 1984.

Las Gringos, conceived by Martha Boesing, created by the company of At the Foot of the Mountain, directed by Martha Boesing/Jan Magrane, at the People's Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 1984.

The Owl was a Baker's Daughter, by Alice Eve Cohen, at the Douglas Fairbanks Studio as part of the International OFF Festival, sponsored by Fools Company, Inc., Theatre Row, May, 1984.

Dance

Skydance/Skytime, choreography by Elaine Summers, Guggenheim Museum, June 7–10,1984.

Café Müller, by Pina Bausch, performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music, June 1984.

Bluebeard, or Listening to a Tape Recording of Bela Bartok's Opera, Bluebeard's Castle by Pina Bausch, at Brooklyn Academy of Music, June 1984.

Pina Bausch, at Brooklyn Academy of Music, June 1984.

Interview with Molissa Fenley

Ripe and Dance the Sacred Cow, by Susan Rethorst, St. Marks Church, New York Cilty, March 15–18, 1984.

Books

The Soap Opera by Muriel G. Cantor and Suzanne Pingree. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1983. 154 pp. + bibliography, index. Cloth: $29.95; paper: $9.95.

Ladies of the Evening: Women Characters of Prime Time‐Television by Diana M. Meehan. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1983. 179 pp. + nous, index. Cloth: $16.00.

Women's Reflections: The Feminist Film Movement by Jan Rosenberg. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1983. 143 pp. + notes, bibliography, index. Cloth: $39.95.

Saints and Shrews: Women and Aging in American Popular Film by Karen M. Stoddard. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT: 1983,155 pp. + bibliography, index.

The Music of Pauline Oliveros by Heidi Von Gunden. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1983.195 pp. + notes, bibliography, catalog of compositions, discography, index. Cloth: $15.00

Listings     

Dancing Sita/reinventing a body disappeared: Notes from from Sita: Lament,fury, and a plea for peace

Richard Shannon's solo performance piece, The Lady of Burma, takes his audience inside Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's imprisonment as she tells her story, moving between memory and the present. This excerpt begins as Suu Kyi has returned to Burma to care for her ailing mother, just as students begin to take to the streets against the ruling junta. In this sequence, Suu Kyi re-enacts the early violence subjected to the democracy activists (scenes that are eerily reminiscent of the spectacle of violence documented in Iran over the past year). As the scene continues, Suu Kyi describes her gradual engagement with the democracy activists, building to her famed address at the sacred Shwedagon Pagoda, in which Suu Kyi mobilized many of the nation's population in their struggle for liberation. The excerpt ends as Suu Kyi continues her struggle to lead the Burmese people to freedom through peaceful revolution, at the same time that her mother's life is coming to a close.     

Capability Failure and Group Disparities : Some Evidence from India for the 1980s

This paper advances a particular measure of deprivation - called the Capability Failure Ratio (CFR) - on the dimensions of longevity, knowledge and income, and suggests how an (inequality-) 'adjusted' version of the CFR may be derived. These measurement concerns are explored in the context of relevant State-wise data for the Indian Union. The paper thus makes an attempt to enrich the analysis of human predicament by sensitising 'measures of central tendency' to distributional concerns.