bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Influence of Weather Variation on Cropping Pattern of Leh District of Ladakh Region
Authors: Meena H. M , Tewari J. C , Pandey C. B
Published: August 2015

Leh district is situated between 32-36° N latitude and 75-80° E longitude with an altitude ranging from 2500 to 6000 m above mean sea level. Leh is the largest district in the country with an area of 45,100 Km2. Agriculture is the main occupation of the rural people of the district. Initial analysis of the data revealed that the acreage of wheat crop increased from 2003 onward. Notably, a simultaneous decrease in acreage of barley crop was observed. It is noticeable that wheat crop replaced the barley crop from 2003 onwards. Such change in cropping pattern was found related with change in weather condition. It was observed that from 2003 onward monthly mean of daily minimum temperature during May increased from 4 °C to 8 °C up to 2007. Similarly, monthly mean of daily maximum temperature was observed higher (>20 °C) before 2003 but decreased during 2003 to 2009 (range 15 to 20 °C). Snowfall was a common phenomenon during month of May before 2003, but was not observed during 2003 to 2009. Therefore, it is hypothesized that increase in both minimum and maximum temperature during May had enabled the farmers to grow wheat in place of barley. Moreover, during the month of April, snowfall events were significantly reduced in 2003-2009 and in month of May snowfall events was not recorded at all. This may perhaps another reason which enabled farmers to sow the wheat crop during last week of April to mid of May. Interestingly during last two years, the cropping pattern is again reversed. The acreage under wheat crop was decreased and the acreage under barley increased. Such reversal may be due to re-occurrence of snowfall events during first two weeks of May, which was absent during 2003-2009. Therefore, it is quite apparent that weather condition influenced the cropping pattern and crop acreage. However, many other factors like timely availability of seed, quality of seeds as per need of local farmers as they prefer some straw producing varieties, crop rotation pattern, etc., also plays some role in shifting of cropping pattern. Long term data base on crop-weather relationship among with the other factors may help in developing crop weather modeling.
Growth Versus Storage in Quercus leucotrichophora and Pinus roxburghii Seedlings in Response to Changes in Nutrient and Water Availability
Authors: Bargali Kiran , Bargali S. S
Published: August 2015

In this paper, growth and storage of carbon and nitrogen in seedlings of banj oak (Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus) and chir pine (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.) have been compared across different levels of nutrient and water availabilities. Four nutrient (144, 264, 384 and 504 mg of NPK fertilizer per kg soil) and three watering (21 days,14 days and 7 days interval) treatments were applied to seedlings. At low watering levels, seedling dry mass of both the species decreased towards higher nutrient level. However, at high watering level, dry mass increased with increasing water availability. When water availability was increased in a constant nutrient environment, dry mass of seedling increased with increase in water availability. Both the species showed a similar pattern of storing nitrogen instead of increasing biomass particularly at low watering levels. However, at each nutrient level, growth and storage increased with increasing moisture availability. As compared to Q. leucotrichophora, seedlings of P. roxburghii favoured growth over storage (according to its more competitive strategy), although this species accumulated more carbon and nitrogen towards the higher nutrient level.
Leaf Litter Decomposition of Two Central Himalayan Oaks
Authors: Padalia Kirtika , Parihaar Rajendra , Bhakuni Nidhi , Kapkoti Bhawana
Published: August 2015

The study was conducted in two natural oak forest of Nainital (Uttarakhand) India, during 2012-2013 to determine the weight loss pattern in leaf litter of two Central Himalayan Oaks (i.e., Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus. and Quercus floribunda Lindl.) with the help of litter bag technique. The present study concluded that weight loss proceeded throughout the study period and relatively higher within 60 days after the placement of litter bags into the soil. Among these two species, higher weight loss observed in Q. floribunda as compared to Q. leucotrichophora across both the sites. Within 365 days, average weight loss observed about 60% in Q. leucotrichophora and 62% in Q. floribunda. Decay rate coefficient rate ranged from 0.0596- 0.0014 for Q. leucotrichophora while it varies from 0.0558 to 0.0013 for Q. floribunda. The monthly relative decomposition rate (RDR) ranged between 0.0598-0.0014 g/g/day and 0.0208-0.0050 g/g/day for Q. leucotrichophora and Q. floribunda, respectively. Climatic factors (rainfall, temperature and relative humidity) also influenced the rate of decomposition.
A Study to take Account of Scientific Management of Waste Generated during Patient Care by General Practitioners in Mumbai City, India
Authors: Basarkar Shishir
Published: August 2015

It has been mentioned that scientific management of waste generated during patient care is essential as well as a legal liability of the generator. Unfortunately, complacency and inadequate knowledge followed by practice for waste disposal leads to various kinds of community and individual health and environment issues which are detrimental to the human life. The present study is aimed to take an account of scientific knowledge and it’s practical applicability of BMW among the general practitioners of Mumbai city in India. In the present study general practitioners in Mumbai city were visited and interviewed personally and also administered questionnaire in order to analyse biomedical waste management by general practitioners. 37 (30.8%) belongs to age group 14-50 years followed by 30-40 years (30%). The percentage of male (64.1%) is more than female (35.8%) practitioners. The qualification ranged from BHMS, BAMS, MBBS to MD of which majority ware medical graduates (40.8%). 66.6% practitioners had average while only 23.3% has good knowledge about proper waste management. Maximum concern was shown towards the safety where it scored 80% followed by waste generation (62%), definition (51%), transportation (46%), Colour coding (34%). The study brought out the facts that the deficiency of knowledge and practices of waste management were the main reason for non scientific management of waste generated by general practitioners thus exposing self as well as community at large to health and environment hazards.
Ambient Air Quality Assessment with Particular Reference to Particulates in Western part of Jharia Coalfield, India
Authors: Singh Gurdeep , Singh Amarjeet
Published: August 2015

India is in the list of fastest growing countries of the world. India's energy needs are also increasing due to population and industrial growth for improving quality of living style. In India, coal is major input infrastructure industries for example Power plants, Steel plants and Cement industries. India’s 52% of primary energy is coal dependent1. 66% of India's power generation depends upon coal production1.
Jharia Coalfield (JCF) is falling in the Lower Gondwana Coalfields of India. The area of the JCF is about 450 km2. It is important for the major supply of precious coking coal required for steel plants in India. It is located in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand state of India, The latitude is 23° 39' to 23° 48' N and longitude is 86° 11' to 86° 27' E for the Jharia coalfield. Based on environmental parameters, all the 103 mines of BCCL have been grouped under 17 Clusters. A cluster consists of a group of mines with mine lease boundary lying in close vicinity and includes-Operating mines, Abandoned/ closed mines and proposed projects.The focused study area is in the western part of the Jharia coalfield is named as Cluster XV group of mines of BCCL consists of four mines, Kharkharee Colliery (UG), Dharmaband Colliery (UG), Madhuband Colliery (UG) and Phularitand Colliery (UG) .The present study was carried out with the objective to measure the ambient air quality of the study area with reference to particulate matter (SPM, PM10 & PM2.5).
Ambient air monitoring results have shown that the observe air quality were found within the limit prescribed by MoEF / CPCB. It may due to Underground mines as there are pollution causing lesser activities involved in the UG mining process compared to opencast mining. Implementation of Master plan for Jharia coalfields for environmental management has also improve the air quality in the area10,11.
Comparative Study of Daily Rainfall Forecasting Models Using Adaptive-Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS)
Authors: Sojitra M. A , Pandya P. A
Published: August 2015

The study was carried out to develop rainfall forecasting Models. Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) was used for developing Models rainfall of Udaipur city. Two data sets were prepared using 35 year of weather parameters i.e. wet bulb temperature, mean temperature, relative humidity and evaporation of previous day and previous moving average week were used to prepare case I and case II respectively. Gaussian and Generalized Bell membership functions were used to prepare models. Statistical and hydrologic performance indices of ANFIS (Gaussian, 5) gave better performance among developed four models. The study showed that sensitivity analysis revealed wet bulb temperature is most sensible parameter followed by mean temperature, relative humidity and evaporation.
Modeling Spatial Pattern of Salinity using MIKE21 and Principal Component Analysis Technique in Urmia Lake
Authors: Safavi Salman , Shamsai Abolfazl , Saghafian Bahram , Bateni Sayed
Published: August 2015

Urmia Lake in the northwestern of Iran is a hypersaline water body and has become an environmentally important issue especially due to the presence of an infrequent aquatic species, Artemia Urmiana. During the last three decades, several considerable man-made changes including river damming and construction of a causeway across the lake affected the lake salinity. This article aims to propose a new approach of salinity modeling using a reduced-order model based on MIKE21 simulation model, in conjunction with principal component analysis (PCA) technique. At first, spatial variation of salinity in the lake was simulated by MIKE21 to prepare the input information for the PCA. Then, the dominant modes of salinity were determined by PCA technique while MIKE21 simulated results were compared with the output of developed reduced order model. Findings indicated that MIKE21's results closely matched the experimental data collected by field study. Also, the first 10 PCs among 974 modes computed by the reduced order model conserved approximately over 93% of the system variance. Therefore, the reduced order model was sufficient to capture the variation of salinity in the lake using a few first PCs. In other words, it was generally found that improvements in the simulated salinity in the lake provided by reduced order model were comparable to MIKE21 simulations.
Quality Assessment of Drinking Water from Dimapur District of Nagaland and Karbi-Anglong District of Assam for Possible Related Health Hazards
Authors: Puzari Amrit , Khan Pralay , Thakur Dheeraj , Kumar Manish , Shanu Kumar
Published: August 2015

Quality of drinking water always remains a sensitive issue since contaminants like Arsenic, Fluoride in excess amount cause serious health hazards. Arsenic in drinking water causes harm to physical and mental health of a person and this may even cause cancer and damage to blood vessels and heart. This may also cause reproductive problems and birth defects.Several states of India are known to be effected arsenic contaminated water which leads to serious illness. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhnad, West Bengal, Assam, etc. are examples of such states. Arsenic related illness has also been reported in Manipur. Similarly presence of excess fluoride in drinking water causes mild dental fluorisis to skeletal fluorisis. It is also equally important to maintain prescribed standard of the other drinking water ingredients. Quality assessment of drinking water from Dimapur district of Nagaland and Karbi Anglong district of Assam has been presented in this paper. Quality assessment has been accomplished by measuring various quality parameters in drinking water collected from different random locations of the two districts. Quality parameters like ‘Alkalinity’, ‘Hardness’, ‘pH’, ‘Arsenic’ and ‘Fluoride’ concentration etc. are determined during the course of the study. Based on the values of the quality parameters, a rational analysis has been made about the quality of drinking water.
Rizipisciculture: An Improved Possibility for Sustainable Development
Authors: Pankaj Pranay
Published: August 2015

Broad studies and researches on fish farming in rice field have enumerated various biological and ecological advantages; the most important being effective biological weed and pest control, reduction in pollution, and environmental sustainability. Other advantages include the increased ion contents of soil, expansion in leaf area and root network activity in rice plants, and help overcome protein deficiency in the diet of the rural poor. The other spin offs are fish excreta as manure and conversion of unproductive swamps into productive system through proper land revitalizing.
Analysis of Physio-Chemical Characteristic of the Roadside Polluted water of National Highway at Berhampur City, Odisha
Authors: Adhikary S. P
Published: August 2015

Physiochemical analysis of polluted water samples collected from vicinity of National Highway was carried out. Different parameters like pH, TDS, BOD, COD, DO and different heavy metals were determined by standard analytical methods. The result observed that the waste water pollution load is decreased when the distance increased from NH. Polluted water besides NH indicates high pollutant load. Polluted water with more pollutants not treated properly is act as source for other pollution like soil, air and water through leaching, percolation, weathering and downstream flow. Hence, proper management and amendment of polluted water bodies caused by vehicular emission on the both side and around National Highway is essential for human health and environmental protection.
Relative Performance of Plant Cultivars under Respective Water Deficit Adaptation Strategies: A Case Study
Authors: Das Ranjan , Bhagawati K , Boro A , Medhi T , Medhi B , Bhanisana R. K
Published: August 2015

All the plants exhibit tolerance to stress due to external environmental factors, but with inter-species variation in intensity. The objective of the study was to comparatively evaluate morphological and anatomical modification in different plant cultivars under similar water stress condition and their possible impact on physiological processes affecting their growth performance. The investigation was done in terms of morphological modifications, change in leaf anatomy, water status and productivity. The experiment was done under rainfed condition in northeastern India in three selected cultivars of Gladiolus. All parameters were measured using standard procedures. Stomatal density was found to decrease with water stress with lowest value in cultivar Aarti (122.2 mm-2) while stomatal size (length=7.3µm and breadth=7.00µm) and pore size (3.66µm2) was found to be highest in cultivar Aarti that account for its better photosynthesis rate and growth. The thickness and number of epidermal cells were found to be highest in Aarti that help them to comparatively better amelioration of moisture stress effect. The cultivar Aarti also had higher numbers and size of xylem and phloem that indicate greater unloading of carbohydrate to sink region following increase of sink size. The highest water saturation deficit was found in cultivar Apollo (36.02%) that account for its decline in stomatal conductance, reduction of stomatal size, transpiration and saturation deficit. Comparatively higher leaf area duration (116 days) and net assimilation rate (1.62 g cm-2day-1x10-3) of cultivar Aarti attributed to its higher biomass production with larger spike size with good numbers of flowers. The highest marketable spikes (71111.11 per ha) was found in cultivar Aarti which might be due to its comparatively less deviation, during stress condition, from normal morphological and anatomical characteristics. The tolerant cultivars are those that can adapt to the change without much change in their normal growth. And the responses of those species are commercially acceptable that promote adaptation without compromising much with the plant growth and crop production.
Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management and Mulching on Growth and Yield of Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] in Clay Loam Soil
Authors: Jain R.C
Published: August 2015

The present experiment was laid out in a randomized block design consisted of 6 treatments. Taking the JS 95-60 as test variety in clay loam soil. Analysis of soil and plant samples was done as per standard methods.The present experiment was laid out in the field No.52 at Research Farm of R. A. K. College of Agriculture, Sehore (M.P.) during Kharif season, 2013 & 2014 The experimental site having fairly uniform topography with normal fertility status.

The effect of integrated nutrient management and mulching on plant height was noticed non significant. However , branches per plant, Root length/ plant (cm), Dry weight/ plant (g), Pods/plant(no), Seed index(g), and Grain yield(kg/ha) were found to increase significantly due to the application of 50% RDF + ZnSO4@25 kg/ha+ V.C. 1.5t/ha + B.F.+ A.M. + Mulching(T6) followed by treatment T4 and T5 ( Table 3) over other treatments. The such increase in soybean growth and yield was attributed to the increase in availability of nutrients with application of inorganic fertilizer.
What are your rights in a redundancy situation?
Authors: Russell Kate
Published: August 2015

The law on redundancy is principally contained in the Employment Rights Act 1996. This article explains what rights you have if you are facing redundancy
Patient experience of non-malignant ascites and its treatment: a qualitative study
Authors: Day Rebecca , Hollywood Coral , Durrant Deborah , Perkins Paul
Published: August 2015

Background

Ascites is an accumulation of serous fluid in the abdominal cavity. It can be caused by both malignant and non-malignant conditions and produces distressing symptoms. There have been no qualitative studies looking at the experiences of patients with non-malignant ascites.

Aims

To explore the experiences of patients living with non-malignant ascites and its management. Also, to explore the views of these patients about services available to them.

Method

Phenomenological qualitative research study using digitally recorded semi-structured interviews. Setting and participants: Six adult patients with non-malignant ascites who were receiving paracentesis to manage their symptoms in an acute hospital day unit.

Results

Participants experienced a wide variety of physical symptoms. They discussed how the ascites impacted on their social lives. They had views on diuretics, low sodium diet and paracentesis as methods of symptom management. Participants' confidence in staff performing paracentesis was a common finding, particularly as ultrasound was rarely used. While only some were suitable for liver transplant, all discussed their future care needs.

Conclusion

Participants' experiences of non-malignant ascites are that it has a considerable effect on their quality of life. Patients like the system of day case admission for drainage, but question whether this is sustainable. Advanced practitioners can successfully provide a paracentesis service for these patients in hospitals and potentially this is transferable to hospices. Patients seemed happy to consider the option of semi-permanent drains and pumps as methods of managing ascites.
The effect of a care bundle on nursing staff when caring for the dying
Authors: Clark Katherine , Curry Therese , Byfieldt Naomi
Published: August 2015

Background

Most Australians die in acute hospital settings. Despite this, hospitals remain ill-equipped to care for dying patients with hospital deaths not uncommonly perceived as distressing by both patients and their families. As a quality improvement project, a care bundle for the dying was developed and piloted on two medical wards. The aim of this study was to examine whether or not the quality initiative had any effect on the ward nurse's attitudes and self-assessed competency to care for dying patients.

Methods

A pre- and post-survey using self-administered questionnaires were given to nursing staff who voluntarily completed these before and after implementation of the caring for the dying bundle.

Results

Over the 6 months the bundle was piloted, 74.5% of people who died did so with the bundle in place. While this was seen as clinically useful by nearly half the nurses who responded, there was not a significant change in the staff's attitudes or self-assessed competency to care for dying patients. There was a minor change in the Thanatophobia Scale (pre 18.2: SD±9.0 versus post 16.8: SD 7.8; P=0.53), the Self-efficacy in Palliative Care Scale for communication (pre 47.4: SD ±17.4 versus post 54.7:SD±17.9; P=0.11) and patient management respectively (pre 54.3: SD ±12.9 versus 59.1: SD ±12.6; P=0.15).

Discussion

This work highlighted that at least in the short term, that a quality initiative had only a modest impact on nursing attitudes to caring for dying patients. However, as a collection of clinical tools grouped as a care bundle, a proportion of nursing staff acknowledged this initiative as useful.

Conclusion

Further research is required to understand if such an initiative approach may, in the long term, positively impacts attitude. This is highly relevant given the increasing numbers of people likely to die in acute care.
Being borderless bodies: On the use of Beckett in a multicultural Italian public school
Authors: Borelli Maia Giacobbe
Published: August 2015

Scenes from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot were employed to teach Italian to migrant children in a public primary school. The drama workshop helped to develop a collaborative group of students by encouraging friendship and cooperative learning. Drama education in multilingual schools can offer solutions to many educational challenges, improving communicative and relational competences. Drama is a tool for building functional vocabulary and creating the imaginary, but quite real, common space needed to establish a solid mutual understanding among students from many different cultures, where they are free to share their cultural similarities and differences. Drama can become the place for peacefully enacting the internal conflicts that arise in the building of a new, multicultural identity. From my students, I learned that a new common language could become a way of weaving intelligent relations between different cultures.

Vladimir: How’s the carrot?

Estragon: It’s a carrot.

Vladimir: So much the better, so much the better.

– Samuel Beckett
On the verge of change: New directions in secondary theatre education
Authors: Lazarus Joan
Published: August 2015

This article sheds light on changes in the nature and quality of secondary school theatre teachers’ embodied practices. Drawing from ten years of ethnographic research with over 200 secondary school theatre teachers, the article affords the reader an opportunity to eavesdrop on conversations and learn about holistic theatre education practices that place students at the centre of drama/theatre learning and teaching while considering the impact of diversity in language, ethnicity and culture, ability/disability, socio-economic status, spirituality, race and religion on these practices. Teachers’ authentic work in their classrooms and production spaces is rarely documented. Capturing teachers’ stories, insights, philosophies, practices and inspiration in their own voices and through observations in their classrooms and production spaces proved central to authentically identifying and representing teachers’ best practices. The teacher narratives and researcher notes included here reveal ways in which theatre education in the United States is transforming learning processes for the twenty-first century.
Between acting and hypocrisy: Students’ change regarding future perception and social acting
Authors: Pasareanu Eugen
Published: August 2015

This article is part of a larger study that consists of testing the relevance of drama for 202 Romanian teenagers. The study explores differences in the ways high school students would like to be perceived in the future, their opinion about the importance of drama, and the concept of social acting as an extension of theatricality. The research takes into account three samples: students who practise drama in a dedicated art high school; students from a regular high school with optional drama classes; and students who never engage in drama activities. The study considers theatricality as a concept that belongs at the same time to theatre (at a semantic level) and to everyday life, since human behaviour in different social settings resembles the stage and its instruments (Goffman 1959). The results show a higher level of daily awareness of theatricality for Romanian students who practise drama either in a dedicated acting class or in a regular high school with optional drama classes. Students who do not have any connection with drama activities report that those who behave differently according to their situation are hypocritical, and these students consider acting (as interpreting a role) to be an exclusive characteristic of theatre, not real life. Another key finding in the study was that the interest in engaging in future cultural activities was higher among the students from the regular high school than among those who study at the art high school, who labelled stardom and financial aspects as more important than engaging in arts-related activities for their cultural enrichment. The article offers possible explanations for the diverse responses provided by students.
Screening culture, tweeting politics1: Media citizenship and the politics of representation on SABC2
Authors: Milton Viola Candice
Published: August 2015

This article considers the concept of media and citizenship in relation to the politics of representation on the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s channel 2 (SABC2). It examines the ways in which a group of audience members negotiate and reflect upon issues of representation on SABC2’s flagship soap opera 7de Laan, which professes to be a multicultural soap opera, paying reverence to the diverse cultural, ethnic and linguistic make-up of South Africa. In previous work, I have argued that the soap opera presents a utopian view of community and citizenship in contemporary South Africa. Building on this observation, this article explores audience engagement with 7de Laan’s utopian construction of South African citizenship through a social networking site, Twitter. It examines the ways in which a group of audience members negotiate and reflect upon issues of representation on 7de Laan through the Twitter hashtag #7delaan, arguing that Twitter provides a platform for viewer fans engaged in a love/hate relationship with television to ‘bamboozle back’. My primary interest in the #7delaan community is therefore centred not only on what the community members tweet but more so on how their tweets frame the soap opera and their perceptions thereof, and to try to understand what these discourses might reveal about their perceptions of place, race and citizenship in contemporary South Africa.
Griots, satirical columns, and the micro-public sphere
Authors: Tomaselli Keyan , Sakarombe Phebbie
Published: August 2015

This reflexive study examines the idea of African storytelling. It sheds light on a specific university newspaper column, The UKZN Griot. A critique of neoliberal managerialism backgrounds the discussion of the satirical column that examines the local in relation to global issues of academic governance. The Habermasian theory of the public sphere frames the discussion. Responses to the column are analysed in terms of power relations, resistance and democracy.
A constructivist approach for opening minds to sound-based music
Authors: Holland David
Published: August 2015

Students often find sound-based music (sbm, an umbrella term created by Leigh Landy to describe music where sound is the basic unit rather than the musical note) difficult to understand when they first encounter it, and this article explores a practice-based method for increasing engagement through learning heightened listening skills. Accepting sound rather than notes as the basic unit of music can unlock access to a whole range of works and creative possibilities, but often this seems problematic for students. It therefore represents a ‘threshold concept’ in terms of the creative practice and appreciation of sbm. The approach outlined in this article utilizes a constructivist view of education, and it is suggested that overcoming ingrained preconceptions of what ‘music’ should be might be better achieved by allowing students to discover the potential of sbm through their own compositional work rather than through traditional methods of learning.
Critical listening assessment in undergraduate music technology programmes
Authors: Walzer Daniel A.
Published: August 2015

This article explores the general lack of specific course sequencing that measures critical listening skills designed for undergraduate students in music technology, commercial production and vocationally focused degree programmes. Although traditional music performance and education curricula prescribe a sequential examination of history, theory, keyboarding and aural skills, a comprehensive set of standardized listening competencies focused on preparing students for the realities of working in the commercial music, audio and media fields do not exist. This article envisions a balanced collaboration between industry expertise and peer institutional review to conceive a new rubric for evaluating critical listening in undergraduate music technology programmes that meets accreditation standards while preparing graduates for entry-level employment in media-centred fields. This article explores the potential collaboration of audio industry professionals and organizations with educational institutions to create a set of competencies that are workforce-specific, but suitable for academic purposes. This article explores such collaborations through cognitive apprenticeship and multisensory learning.
The idea(l) of research
Authors: Georgelou Konstantina
Published: August 2015

This article discusses institutionalized research in the context of the Performing Arts and the Humanities today. It argues that the term “research” is used frequently for profiling institutions but is rarely reflected upon for providing an understanding of what it is, which contributes to homogenizing and canonizing what (artistic) research means and how it can function in the neoliberal context. As a result, the expression of force and desire of research to search and invent are compromised. Against this background, the article claims that the gap between research as an idea(l), a process and force, and research as an institutional undertaking or as product, should be persevered, in order for research to invent, interrogate and play a role within the political and public sphere it is part of.
Notes for a text, or from a (failed) practice of writing
Authors: Rapti Eleftheria
Published: August 2015

This article reflects on, revisits and re-composes the writing practice that I pursued as part of the project "Syros". Fragmented in form, it consists of three different layers of writing that also refer to three temporal stages of the practice: the time before the practice, the time of the practice, and the time after the practice. The practice itself, based on the idea of diary-keeping, was an attempt to explore the temporal aspect of writing, and to share writing as a practice. Other issues that emerge through the text are problems of frameworks and localization, and the question of the relationship of the artist and the work to its context.
Images of paradise
Authors: Stefanova Kalina
Published: August 2015

This article is an attempt at outlining a para-theatrical phenomenon taking place in Eastern Europe, where two of the leading directors and companies – Eimuntas Nekrošius (in Divine Comedy and Paradise at the Lithuanian Meno Fortas Theatre, turning his vintage style upside down) and Grzegorz Bral (in Songs of Lear at the Polish Song of the Goat Theatre) – dare to make theatre reside in a territory that could be called transcendental, or esoteric, or Divine, depending on the point of view.
Between the performative and the political
Authors: Brezavšček Pia
Published: August 2015

The article reviews the publication Performative Gestures Political Moves that was issued as a result of the symposium that took place in 2010 and organised by the City of Women. This contribution points to the difficulty of naming art “Western” or “Eastern” as well as to the broad meaning of the words “performative” and “political” used for the impetus giving rise to this edition. The author notes that the articles in the publication are very heterogeneous, ranging from presentations, re-historicisations, pieces addressing more obscure topics and analytical texts to artistic works. This polyphony in content, form and ways of presentation, and not only its content, is being read as a political and feminist gesture.
The public inwards, the private outwards
Authors: Hvala Tea
Published: August 2015

Tea Hvala reviews the latest e-publications by the London-based publishing house KT Press, whose publications include e-books on contemporary feminist art as well as the journal n.paradoxa. She considers Katy Deepwell’s editorial guidelines and discusses in detail the e-book House: From Display to Back to Front (2012) on the British artist Fran Cottell and the e-book Wall Works: Selected Writings and Performances (2013) on Cottell’s contemporary, Silvia Ziranek. After introducing both artists, the reviewer focuses on the content, scope and some formal shortcomings of both publications.
Waiting rooms (first day), Waiting rooms (second day), Waiting rooms (third day), Waiting rooms (fourth day)
Authors: Joe Kelleher
Published: August 2015

The article is made up of a series of letters addressed to the other members of the Syros project and composed during a week of co-operation in Greece. These letters, written in concentrated circumstances over a short period of time, aimed to reflect upon another scale of writing – and performing – where the performing is “for life”; where the action is the sort from which there is no turning back. Within this scope, the focus is on moments of decision, and the sorts of spaces and situations – “waiting rooms”, they are referred to here – where a decision is prepared for, or rehearsed. But also rooms that wait for something to happen, for something to “take” place. Writing, here, engages a range of functions: reflecting on and analysing what was done, what did happen, but also acting as a mode of linking, or attending, or waiting upon more contingent possibilities, of what might happen next.
Field, coherence and connectedness: Models, methodologies and actions for flowing moistmedia art
Authors: Nóbrega (Guto Nóbrega) Carlos Augusto Moreira da , Fragoso (MALU FRAGOSO) Maria Luiza P. Guimarães
Published: August 2015

This article introduces practical and theoretical investigations in fields of art and technology related to biotelematics, hybridization and transcultural experimentation based on research carried out over the last four years at the Nucleus of Art and New Organisms (NANO). We will approach this subject by considering three main points of view: field theory (Ascott 1980; Nóbrega 2009); the concept of coherence (Ho 1993; Ho & Popp 1989; Simondon 1980); and the state of connectedness (Ascott 2006). These will act as integrative models for the understanding of an emerging hybrid organic structure presented as an aesthetic organism (Nóbrega 2009). The concept of field theory is applied as a working model for the systemic role of information within the immaterial, invisible, dynamical flow that intercommunicates natural (i.e. humans and other living systems) and artificial (i.e. machine) organisms in the process of invention, as well as in the fruition of artwork. In terms of the concept of coherence, we propose the idea of artworks as transducers of energy; more specifically, as resonators of coherent fields that interconnect the artist and audience in an integrated, dynamical whole. Furthermore, we approach the state of connectedness as a fundamental notion for the dynamics involved in the invention, exhibition and absorption of contemporary artworks. NANO Lab’s involvement with artistic research is not only understood as a physical space for experimentation, but also as an environment in which our practice reflects concepts applied in artistic work. In this sense, we can highlight two theoretical references (other than Roy Ascott’s work) which guide this methodology: Humberto Maturana (2001; Varela & Maturana 1992) and the idea of a conserved ‘autopoiesis’, a systematic medium (space) in which all recursive dynamics of reciprocal interactions occur to sustain the survival of life, processes and systems, and where technology can be conceived as a powerful instrument/medium to expand our knowledge about structural and sensitive coherences within living and non-living systems; and, Jorge de Albuquerque Vieira’s (2006; 2009) approach to art as a type of knowledge related to any process that guarantees the permanence or survival of a system based on three major characteristics for the survival of an open system – sensitivity (to operate information flows), memory (to transfer and retain information), and capability (to elaborate or prepare information according to its needs).
Technoetic syncretic environments
Authors: Fraga Tania
Published: August 2015

This article presents and reflects upon artistic artworks at the intersection of virtual and physical computer systems with wet (biological) systems, in reference to Roy Ascott’s ‘moist theory’. It is divided into two sections. The first section offers contextualization by pointing to Darcy Ribeiro’s considerations of differentiations among Brazilians, thus leading to an expectation of miscegenation that assimilates and incorporates races and beliefs in a syncretic way. To this background is added a theoretical framework based on semiotics entwined with mathematics and physics from a set of authors. Both aspects are intertwined with visceral sensations and feelings which emerged from immersible field researches. Glimpses of the 1997 Xingu expedition are introduced as an example of such immersible field research to unveil aspects related with moist theory.

The second section presents four case studies that illustrate all of the concepts previously mentioned. Here, syncretism is understood as a field for events that engender the artworks. These artworks are created as metaphorical journeys aimed at expressing potential shamantic experiences and configured as a set of symbiotic systems. Two of these artworks explore neural connections; their research involves computer devices that allow human interferences in the behaviours of autonomous agents in virtual reality simulations. The resultant systems are artificially alive organisms in flux with the rhythms of the autonomous programmed processes; these change each time they run within the computer, allowing the user to symbiotically interfere in the algorithmic nature of artificial ‘seeds’. These poetic realms are metaphors of the flow of life itself. Summing up, they are technoetic artworks that could only arise from the Brazilian melting pot of cultural, racial and theoretical mixtures.
The world in my body, the ‘other’ in my soul: Living at risk in a moistmedia art ecology
Authors: Almeida Cristina Miranda de
Published: August 2015

The main notion of this article is that the blurring of the limits between offline and online dimensions of knowledge and experience, in addition to the manipulation of genes, neurons, atoms and bits, is dissolving the distinction between subjectivism (i.e. idealism) and materialism (i.e. objectivism and realism). As a consequence, in the moistmedia (from Ascott) ecology in which we are increasingly immersed, a radical kind of experience of matter, time, space and self is emerging. In this form of experience, the blending of subjectivist and materialist approaches help in overcoming the classical Cartesian polarity: we feel part of an extended reality, and we feel this extended reality in ourselves by combining bodies, points of view and multiple senses with digital layers of everything.

The article proposes these research questions: Which are the main factors that shape the change toward a moistmedia ecology resulting from the impact of the manipulation of genes, neurons, bits and atoms? Which transformation is being shaped in relation to the previous model of experience? What are the features of the new forms of materiality, sensitivity and action? How artists are putting themselves at risk in the moistmedia ecology? The hypothesis is that a hybrid kind of interval is opening between different layers of reality: analogue versus digital; nature versus culture; here versus there; past versus future; I versus others; and human versus non-human. In this recombination process, a third dimension of reality – that I call ‘radical reality’ – emerges in the moistmedia ecology. This article will analyse the radical experience (Wilson) in moistmedia environments by crossing the five dimensions (matter, space, time, identity and action) with the practices of manipulation of genes, atoms and bits using examples from art and design. This crossing shows the basic dimensions and sub-dimensions of the ‘Model of Radical Experience’ to reveal the nature of this third dimension between subjectivism and materialism, which is explored by artists who put themselves at risk in the turbulent zone between the physical and the digital.
Divergent response of tree-ring width and maximum latewood density of Abies faxoniana to warming trends at the timberline of the western Qinling Mountains and northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China
Authors: Chen Feng , Yuan Yujiang , Wei Wenshou , Zhang Tongwen , Shang Huaming , Yu Shulong
Published: August 2015

Tree-ring width (TRW) and maximum latewood density (MXD) data of Faxon fir ( Rehd. et Wils.) were analyzed for five timberline sites in the western Qinling Mountains and northeastern Tibetan Plateau, to investigate their relationships to climate change, especially twentieth century warming. The cross-correlations among TRW chronologies at the low-frequency band were higher, while the higher correlations among MXD chronologies were found at the high-frequency band. Response analysis showed that the tree-ring formation of fir trees was significantly and positively affected by temperature variations, while it was also negatively affected by precipitation. The TRW series captured the warming trends and allowed detecting the recent warming in a long-term context, while the MXD series showed no upward trend. We also found the temperature sensitivity of the TRW series is unstable over space and time. The divergent response between TRW and MXD might be caused by the seasonal variations of warming trends.Abies faxoniana
Dekonstruktivismus in der Architektur?
Authors: Kraft Simone
Published: August 2015

Philip Johnson und Mark Wigley versammelten 1988 in ihrer ebenso erfolgreichen wie umstrittenen Ausstellung »Deconstructivist Architecture« Namen, die heute zur internationalen Elite der »Starchitects« gehören: Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelb(l)au und Bernard Tschumi. Simone Kraft legt nun, mehr als 25 Jahre später, erstmals eine Untersuchung zu den Widersprüchlichkeiten der Ausstellung vor. Sie macht sich intensive Archivrecherchen und Informationen von Zeitzeugen zunutze, um die ungewöhnlichen organisatorischen Hintergründe zu rekonstruieren und argumentative Schwachstellen des kuratorischen Konzepts zu beleuchten. So wird schließlich am Beispiel der sieben ausgestellten Architekten eine Annäherung an einen fundierte(re)n Begriff von der dekonstruktivistischen Architektur ermöglicht.
Anerkennung - Macht - Hierarchie
Authors: Fischer Gabriele
Published: August 2015

Spätestens seit Axel Honneths Buch »Kampf um Anerkennung« wird die Suche nach Anerkennung als relevant für die Überwindung sozialer Ungleichheit angesehen. Doch in welchem Verhältnis stehen »anerkennen«, »anerkannt werden«, »anerkannt werden als« und »sich anpassen«? Welche Macht geht von sozialer Anerkennung aus? Gabriele Fischer zeigt: Anerkennung kann Prestige und gesellschaftliche Teilhabe vermitteln, aber diese genauso gut entziehen. In ihrer Studie wird Anerkennung als soziale Praxis verstanden und mit der machtkritischen Perspektive von Butler und Foucault konzeptionell erweitert. Empirische Anwendung findet das Konzept in der Chirurgie und im Friseurhandwerk - zwei Bereiche, die hierarchisch zueinander stehen und geschlechtlich codiert sind.
Kooperationen zwischen Museen
Authors: Hilgers-Sekowsky Julia
Published: August 2015

Die aktive Ausrichtung auf kooperative, zwischenbetriebliche Beziehungen nimmt eine wichtige Rolle in der strategischen Arbeit von Kulturbetrieben, insbesondere von Museen, ein. Für eine erfolgreiche zwischenbetriebliche Zusammenarbeit unter Beachtung aktueller kulturpolitischer, demographischer und besucherbezogener Entwicklungen müssen jedoch häufig zunächst Barrieren zwischen den Partnern überwunden werden. Julia Hilgers-Sekowsky zeigt, wie die Identifikation von Kooperationshemmnissen gelingen und das gewonnene Wissen zur aktiven Gestaltung von horizontalen Kooperationen genutzt werden kann.
Armut und Engagement
Authors: Voigtländer Leiv Eirik
Published: August 2015

Warum ist es so schwierig, sich als Betroffene gegen Armut und Erwerbslosigkeit sozial zu engagieren? Ihr Einsatz ist zwar vielfältig - ob bei den Tafeln, in der Beratung oder im Protest gegen »Hartz IV«. Doch auch in der Zivilgesellschaft wirken Mechanismen der Diskriminierung, die dem Anspruch dieser Akteure auf Gleichheit als Bürger entgegenstehen. Leiv Eirik Voigtländer analysiert anhand von qualitativen Interviews typische förderliche und hemmende Handlungsbedingungen und trägt so dazu bei, die soziale Spaltung bürgerschaftlichen Engagements im Kontext erodierender sozialer Rechte zu verstehen. Dem vorherrschenden Fokus auf die bürgerschaftliche Apathie der Prekären werden so die Erfahrungen von sozial engagierten Bürgern in Armutslagen entgegengestellt.
Kindertheater als Möglichkeitsraum
Authors: Burk Karin
Published: August 2015

Walter Benjamins »Programm eines proletarischen Kindertheaters« (1929), das nicht nur durch die Kindertheaterarbeit von Asja Lacis und der russischen Theateravantgarde, sondern auch von Untersuchungen zum barocken Trauerspiel sowie zum Theater Bertolt Brechts inspiriert wurde, beschreibt einen von Autorität und Hierarchie befreiten Spiel- und Übungsraum, der gerade dem kindlichen Erleben und Verhalten entgegenkommt. Vor dem Hintergrund des bisher eher unentdeckten Motivs der Straße im Denken Walter Benjamins stellt Karin Burk die spielerische, dem Kind eigentümliche Idee seines Kindertheaters heraus: Auf prätheatralische Formen zurückgreifend steht es dem Karneval und der Performance nahe, was seine revolutionäre Invention unterstreicht.