bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparative Analysis of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory Based Item Parameter Estimates of Senior School Certificate Mathematics Examination
Authors: O. A. Awopeju, , E. R. I. Afolabi,
Published: November 2016

The study compared Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT)-estimated item difficulty and item discrimination indices in relation to the ability of examinees in Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in Mathematics with a view to providing empirical basis for informed decisions on the appropriateness of statistical and psychometric tests. The study adopted ex-post-facto design. A sample of 6,000 students was selected from the population of 35,262 students who sat for the NECO SSCE Mathematics Paper 1 in 2008 in Osun State, Nigeria. An instrument consisting of 60-multiple-choice items, May/June 2008 NECO SSCE Mathematics Paper 1 was used. Three sampling plans: random, gender and ability sampling plans were employed to study the behaviours of the examinees scores under the CTT and IRT measurement frameworks. BILOG-MG 3 was used to estimate the indices of item parameters and SPSS 20 was used to compare CTT- and IRT-based item parameters. The results showed that CTT-based item difficulty estimates and oneparameter IRT item difficulty estimates were comparable (the correlations were generally in the -0.702 to -0.988 range in large sample and -0.622 to - 0.989 range in small sample). Results also indicated that CTT-based and two-parameter IRT-based item discrimination estimates were comparable (the correlations were in the 0.430 to 0.880 ranges in large sample and 0.531 to 0.950 range in small sample). The study concluded that CTT and IRT were comparable in estimating item characteristics of statistical and psychometric tests and thus could be used as complementary procedures in the development of national examinations
Modern Labour Economics: The Neoclassical Paradigm with Institutional Theories
Authors: Brozova Dagmar
Published: November 2016

The growing role of institutions and their influence on the labour market outcomes, i.e. wage rates and labour allocation, has been among the most significant characteristic features of labour markets in recent decades. Labour market economics built its paradigm on the principles of marginalism, which brought suitable instruments for analysis of market agents´ individual decisions capable of achieving effective solutions. Smith´s “invisible hand” has gradually been limited by institutional interventions – by governments, corporations and trade unions with government legislation, corporate personnel policies and collective bargaining. The expanding regulatory interventions into the labour market and the effort to explain the reality leads inevitably to the fact that modern labour market economics incorporates more and more institutional theories. The contribution outlines the gradual invasion of neoinstitutional topics and theories into the neoclassical labour market paradigm and it analyses the differences in the neoclassical and neoinstitutional interpretation of labour markets’ functioning. The recent discussion on the consequences for labour market economics theory is presented. A conclusion about the gradual direction towards a changed paradigm of labour market economics is presented.
Violence and Bullying Incidents Reported by School Counselors: The Efficacy of Counselors and Preventive and Interventional Approaches
Authors: Yondem Zeynep Deniz
Published: November 2016

This study aims to determine the frequency of violence and bullying reported by Turkish school counselors and examines their perceived efficacy and preventive and interventional approaches using a qualitative/quantitative mixed method. Counselors reported the high frequency of different violent incidents (occurring between students, inflicted by families and inflicted by teachers) as recorded or in particular non-recorded. The frequency of family violence is higher in middle schools than high schools. All bullying frequency sub-types were high, physical bullying especially so. The frequency of physical, verbal and sexual bullying was significantly higher in middle schools. Trained and untrained counselors do not perceive efficacy as sufficient; they applied limited preventive and interventional studies, focusing on students rather than families or school personnel.
Linguagem e educação social: a relação sujeito, indivíduo e pessoa
Authors: Orlandi Eni Puccinelli
Published: November 2016

Distinguindo as noções de sujeito, indivíduo e pessoa, procuramos mostrar como a relação estabelecida pela escola, na busca do que se tem chamado ensino e transmissão do conhecimento, afeta o sujeito no imaginário social em que ele ocupa uma posição. O que resulta desse processo de sua formação como pessoa, em uma sociedade marcada pela divisão, pela diversidade: a repetição ou outras posições que vão materializar outros lugares na formação social? Assim interrogamos o que pode ser considerado como acessibilidade na conjuntura social, em que vivemos, se considerarmos a educação social, pensando também a resistência.
Transmural Cellular Heterogeneity in Myocardial Electromechanics
Authors: Khokhlova Anastasia , Vikulova Nathalie , Katsnelson Leonid , Iribe Gentaro , Solovyova Olga
Published: November 2016

Myocardial heterogeneity is an attribute of the normal heart. We have developed integrative models of cardiomyocytes from the subendocardial (ENDO) and subepicardial (EPI) ventricular regions that take into account experimental data on specific features of intracellular electromechanical coupling in the guinea pig heart. The models adequately simulate experimental data on the action potential and contraction of the ENDO and EPI cells. The modeling results predict that heterogeneity in the parameters of calcium handling and myofilament mechanics in isolated ENDO and EPI cardiomyocytes via cooperative mechanisms of mechano-calcium-electric feedback are essential to produce the differences in Ca2+ transients and contraction profiles and may further enhance transmural differences in the electrical properties between the cells. Simulation results predict that ENDO cells have greater sensitivity to changes in afterload than EPI cells. These data are important for understanding the behavior of cardiomyocytes in the intact heart.
Characteristics of Spatter in Micro-Drilling of Metal Sheet by Pulsed Nd:YAG Laser
Authors: Okamoto Yasuhiro ,   Okayama University, Yamamoto Hibiki , Okada Akira ,   ,
Published: November 2016

In laser cutting and drilling process, molten material was scattered as spatter, which deteriorates the surface integrity of a workpiece because of the thermal damage. It is expected that the control of assist gas flow can reduce the adhesion of spatter. In order to investigate the improvement method of thermal damage due to the adhesion of spatter, it is required to clarify characteristics of spatter. Therefore, a method was developed to collect and analyze spatter based on the use of high-speed video cameras in the laser micro-drilling process, and the characteristics of spatter movement were numerically investigated by CFD analysis. The scattering velocity and angle of the spatter were investigated by recognizing and tracking spatter with the high-speed video observation. The movement of spatter was observed by using two high-speed video cameras, and analyzed by using a two-direction tracking method, in which the 3D tracking lines of spatter particles were reconstructed in the forward and backward frames, and the actual trajectory of individual spatter particle was obtained by averaging those tracking lines. These measurements revealed that the initial velocity of spatter was mainly distributed from 52 m/s to 200 m/s with an average velocity of 129 m/s. The initial angle of spatter was mainly distributed between 0 and 30 degrees from the workpiece surface in the upward direction. There was little correlation between the initial velocity and angle of spatter. The diameter of spatter was mainly distributed from 1μm to 4μm with an average diameter of 3.7μm. It is important to use the processing conditions achieving the smaller spatter diameter in order to reduce the thermal damage caused by spatter. Although coaxial assist gas flow has an influence on the spatter behavior, that time period is very short. Therefore, it is important to control the spatter behavior outside of the coaxial assist gas flow by using an additional gas flow to prevent the thermal damage to the workpiece surface.
Deposition Conditions for Laser Formation Processes with Filler Wire
Authors: Seto Naoki ,   National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Sato Hiroshi ,   ,
Published: November 2016

Recently, studies on three-dimensional (3D) formation technology, which is capable of forming components directly, have become increasingly popular as a part of additive manufacturing technologies. However, a very limited amount of information has been published about its processing conditions or settings. In this study, we have prototyped a wire-feeding type 3D laser deposition equipment to publish information about adjusting the deposition conditions and examining the deposition characteristics, which can be used as a reference by engineers who carry out 3D formations. We hope that this study can contribute significantly to the progress in additive manufacturing technologies.

Using the proposed equipment, we determined the deposition conditions under which the melting of a specimen can be limited to a shallow depth, while making depositions of sufficient height on the specimen. These deposition conditions are a laser power of 2.0 kW, a laser traveling speed of 1.5 m/min, and a wire-feeding speed of 7.7 m/min. Further, we confirmed that slight tuning of these deposition conditions even allows for 10-layer depositions and depositions containing curved lines.
An Optimization of Energy-Efficiency in Machining Manufacturing Systems Based on a Framework of Multi-Mode RCPSP
Authors: Samukawa Tetsuo ,   Setsunan University, Suwa Haruhiko ,   ,
Published: November 2016

It has become important to consider energy-efficient optimization not only in a process design but also in the operations of manufacturing systems to promote sustainable and green manufacturing. This paper extends authors’ previous work to a more practical situation to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework of energy-efficient manufacturing operations based on a resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP). Both have varying resource requirements and multi processing modes, which can produce a suitable energy-load profiles for complete manufacturing systems. This study proposes a mathematical model for producing optimal energy-load profiles, and based on these profiles, each given operation is allocated to a machine tool with a specific processing mode. A processing mode refers to machining conditions for the corresponding operation, conditions that provide a predictive processing time and estimated electrical energy consumption. Through some cutting experiments on aluminum alloy performed on a three-axis machining center, we provide several possible processing modes for workpieces (operations), and we generate energy-load profiles by applying multi start local searches. We then discuss the applicability and capability of the energy-load profiles as an energy-aware production control.
Neural network approach to reduce dynamic measurement errors
Authors: Volosnikov Andrei Sergeevich , Shestakov Aleksandr L.
Published: November 2016

The neural network inverse model of a sensor with filtration of the sequentially recovered signal is considered. This model effectively reduces the dynamic measurement errors due to deep mathematical processing of measurement data. The result of the experimental data processing of a dynamic temperature measurement validates the efficiency of the proposed neural network approach to reduce dynamic measurement errors.
Three-cycle university studies in metrology - An innovative development approach
Authors: Cundeva-Blajer Marija
Published: November 2016

An innovative creation process of three-cycle university education in the metrology area is presented. The case study of development of the higher education model in the field of metrology at the Ss. Cyril &Methodius University is analyzed. The realized three-cycle university studies in metrology are fully harmonized with the Bologna principles. The structures of BSc, MSc and the joint international PhD study program initiated by a group of 12 European universities are shown. An international consortium of universities participated in the creation of the three level university studies in metrology. The specifics, goals, quantitative and qualitative achievements as well as the impact and contributions at the national, regional and international level of the new and innovated three-cycle metrology study programs are given and discussed.
Model parameter identification from measurement data for dynamic torque calibration – Measurement results and validation
Authors: Klaus Leonard
Published: November 2016

The dynamic calibration of torque transducers requires the modelling of the measuring device and of the transducer under test. The transducer's dynamic properties are described by means of model parameters, which are going to be identified from measurement data. To be able to do so, two transfer functions are calculated. In this paper, the transfer functions and the procedure for the model parameter identification are presented. Results of a parameter identification of a torque transducer are also given, and the validity of the identified parameters is analysed by comparing the results with independent measurements. The successful parameter identification is a prerequisite for a model-based dynamic calibration of torque transducers.
Chondrocyte Viability 3.5 Years Following a Vascularized Medial Femoral Trochlea Osteocartilaginous Free Flap
Authors: Zimmerman Ryan M. , Allen Elizabeth A. , Higgins James P.
Published: November 2016

Case:

A 30-year-old woman underwent arthroscopy for wrist pain 3.5 years following a medial femoral trochlea (MFT) osteocartilaginous free flap for Kienböck disease, which provided the opportunity to examine the transferred cartilage in vivo. Arthroscopy revealed no evidence of chondrolysis, and histologic examination revealed uniformly viable chondrocytes within a matrix consistent with fibrocartilage.

Conclusion:

To the best of our knowledge, the long-term viability of chondrocytes following an MFT free flap has not been previously documented. This case provides early evidence that free tissue transfer based on the descending genicular artery can provide a durable solution for osteocartilaginous defects.
Management of a Combined Femoral Head and Neck Fracture
Authors: Snoap Tyler , Freyder Jeffrey , Roberts Jason
Published: November 2016

Case:

A 19-year-old woman sustained a traumatic hip injury with dislocation and fractures of the femoral head and neck. A modified Gibson approach with trochanteric flip osteotomy was performed. We describe the management technique used to reduce and stabilize the femoral head and neck fractures during surgical hip dislocation. The stabilization of the femoral head to the femoral neck was performed primarily in a retrograde manner.

Conclusion:

Retrograde fixation of combined femoral head and neck fractures can be safely performed during surgical hip dislocation with satisfactory results.
Improving Shale Production Through Flowback Analysis
Authors: Jacobs Trent
Published: November 2016

Once a horizontal well is hydraulically fractured, the next step is to clean up the well by flowing it back to remove water and loosen proppant from the wellbore.

Most shale producers in North America have given little thought to this flowback stage and see it merely as a prelude to the cash-flow generating production stage. However, a few companies have come to realize it represents a valuable opportunity to learn more about their wells in a week or two than their competitors are learning after several months of production.

Essentially, flowback data is a bridge between what happened during a completion and what will happen as hydrocarbons are produced. An important driver shared by all the interested producers is that for the most part, they are already required to record the flowback stage per US and Canadian regulations.

“So arguably, the cost of collecting this data is nil,” said James Crafton, president of consultancy firm Performance Sciences, who has been working with service companies and shale producers on different flowback issues for more than 15 years.

Crafton and others involved in this area have long been trying to convince the shale business that how a well is flowed back is often as important as the completion itself and that by ignoring this maxim, they are leaving money on the table. “It is that simple,” he said. “The frustration for me is that the data is there. We have the data, but nobody has the time or perceives the value to interpret the data.”

But there are a few outliers crunching the numbers. Companies including Devon Energy are using the early production and flowing pressure data of flowback fluids to establish their production benchmarks. Nexen Energy is among those also using flowback data to quickly screen the effective size of fracture designs, determine key reservoir properties, and to predict long-term production. Ongoing flowback research is looking at the chemical makeup of flowback fluids to see what else can be learned about shale reservoir behavior.

Salty Flowback Research May Explain Fluid Movement in Shale

Letting It Soak In: Delaying Flowback Delivers Unique Results

Following Flowback With Chemical Tracers
The Role of Family Variables in the Length of Stay of Psychiatric In-patients
Authors: Yoneyama Satoko , Makita Yudo , Miyazu Keiko , Katsukawa Kazuhiko , Yoneyama Eiichi , Masuda Shinji , Nakajima Yukiko , Kawasaki Yasuhiro , Miyazu Kenji
Published: November 2016

Background:

In Japan, the number of beds and average length of stay in a psychiatric ward are greater than in other developed countries.

Objective:

The present study aimed to investigate the association between family variables and the length of stay of patients with mental and behavioural disorders in a private psychiatric hospital in Japan.

Methods:

The medical records of patients discharged during a one-year period (n=56: men 50.0% excepting 27 patients discharged due to death were re-examined regarding age, laundry type (self-washing of clothes, family washing or supplier washing), number of family visits per one month while hospitalised, and family structure prior to hospitalisation. A length of stay greater than six months was considered the cut-off point for a long hospital stay. Bivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors independently associated with the length of stay, adjusted for sex, age, and mental and/or behavioural disorders according to the criteria of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.

Results:

The bivariate-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) for in-patients hospitalised for more than six months was 0.08 (0.01, 0.48) for those who used family washing (p= 0.006) compared with those who used supplier washing. The number of visits per month and family structures before hospitalisation were not significantly associated.

Conclusion:

These results suggest that within a private psychiatric hospital in Japan, family washing is associated with shortened stays and frequency of family visits, while family structure is not associated with these factors.
Evaluation of 9 Rapid Agglutination Tests for the Diagnosis of Typhoid and Parathyphoid Fever in Côte D'ivoire
Authors: Inwoley André , Affi-Aboli Roseline , Kabran Matthieu , Adiko Aimé Césaire , Abiyou Nadège-Audrey , Amani Franck Stéphane , Seka Jean-Claude , Dembele Bamory
Published: November 2016

Introduction:

In Africa, the Widal test is done in the majority of laboratories by rapid tests whose performances are poorly documented. We evaluate the performance of 9 commercial rapid tests used in Côte d'Ivoire for the serodiagnosis of typhoid and paratyphoid fever.

Methods:

we used a panel of 170 samples collected from subjects suspected of typhoid or paratyphoid fever in Abidjan to determine the sensitivity, the specificity and operational characteristics of 9 plate agglutination tests (BIOREX®, BIOTEC®, CHRONOLAB®, CROMATEST®, FORTRESS®, PLASMATEC®, CYPRESS®, SPINREACT®and TYDAL®) compared to the reference technique SALMONELLA SEROLOGY®of BIORAD (tube agglutination).

Results:

Among the 9 evaluated tests, only BIOTEC®presented good performances (96% sensitivity and 97% specificity). Others gave sensitivities below 80%. Their characteristics were improved with the semi-quantitative plate agglutination test. All tests had good operational characteristics.

Conclusion:

In our context, the majority of tests evaluated should not be used to carry out the Widal test.
Exploring the Neurocircuitry Underpinning Predictability of Threat in Soldiers with PTSD Compared to Deployment Exposed Controls
Authors: Dretsch Michael N. , Wood Kimberly H. , Daniel Thomas A. , Katz Jeffrey S. , Deshpande Gopikrishna , Goodman Adam M. , Wheelock Muriah D. , Wood Kayli B. , Denney Jr. Thomas S. , Traynham Stephanie , Knight David C.
Published: November 2016

Background:

Prior work examining emotional dysregulation observed in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has primarily been limited to fear-learning processes specific to anticipation, habituation, and extinction of threat. In contrast, the response to threat itself has not been systematically evaluated.

Objective:

To explore potential disruption in fear conditioning neurocircuitry in service members with PTSD, specifically in response to predictableversusunpredictable threats.

Method:

In the current study, active-duty U.S. Army soldiers with (PTSD group;n= 38) and without PTSD (deployment-exposed controls; DEC;n= 40), participated in a fear-conditioning study in which threat predictability was manipulated by presenting an aversive unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that was either preceded by a conditioned stimulus (i.e., predictable) or UCS alone (i.e., unpredictable). Threat expectation, skin conductance response (SCR), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal to predictable and unpredictable threats (i.e., UCS) were assessed.

Results:

Both groups showed greater threat expectancy and diminished threat-elicited SCRs to predictable compared to unpredictable threat. Significant group differences were observed within the amygdala, hippocampus, insula, and superior and middle temporal gyri. Contrary to our predictions, the PTSD group showed a diminished threat-related response within each of these brain regions during predictable compared to unpredictable threat, whereas the DEC group showed increased activation.

Conclusion:

Although, the PTSD group showed greater threat-related diminution, hypersensitivity to unpredictable threat cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, pre-trauma, trait-like factors may have contributed to group differences in activation of the neurocircuitry underpinning fear conditioning.
The Value of a "Coyne": The Diefenbaker Government and the 1961 Coyne Affair.
Authors: Macfarlane Daniel
Published: November 2016

This study explores the political aspects of the 1961 Coyne Affair, which saw the Governor of the Bank of Canada, James Coyne, promote restrictionist economic policies that were at odds with the expansionist monetary approach of the Diefenbaker government. The situation was complicated by unclear governmental responsibilities regarding the Bank and a contentious pension issue, leading to the Progressive Conservative cabinet’s request for the governor’s resignation, a demand he refused. The Affair became a public controversy involving opposition parties and the Canadian media, and personal animosities clouded the judgment of both the Tory government, led by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Minister of Finance Donald Fleming, and Coyne. However, the Progressive Conservative’s attempt to force Coyne’s resignation was ultimately justified due to his contrary economic policies and the extent to which he overstepped his position as governor and engaged in political machinations. The Coyne Affair led to the restructuring of the relationship between the Bank and the federal government and contributed to the fall of the Diefenbaker government, Senate reform, and economic nationalism.
Mnemonics for War: Trench Art and the Reconciliation of Public and Private Memory
Authors: Whittingham Clare
Published: November 2016

The study of British First World War memorials has generated a considerable body of literature since its emergence as a scholarly field in the 1990s. Less attention has been devoted, however, to commemorative objects of a smaller and more personal character that were collected during and after 1914-1918 for display in homes and museums. This paper finds ‘trench art’, battlefield souvenirs and commercially produced war kitsch negotiating the gap between civilian and military experiences of war and its translation into memory. Particular consideration is given to the Imperial War Museum as representative of institutional attitudes towards this unique and still-contested category of unconventionally commemorative material.
The Disposal of Human Waste: A Comparison Between Ancient Rome and Medieval London
Authors: Taylor Craig
Published: November 2016

The disposal of sewage is a luxury many societies generally take for granted. It is an aspect of ancient life often ignored and it is the purpose of this paper to recognize and understand how sewage was collected and disposed of in particular cases. This essay examines the waste disposal options used in Ancient Rome and Medieval London, two cities that dealt with sewage in different ways. By recognizing and understanding how these societies treated their human waste, a fair assessment can be made about whether or not the methods applied could be deemed suitable to meet a high or acceptable standard of health for its citizens. This paper argues that Ancient Rome and Medieval London were more concerned with alleviating the filthy sight and obnoxious odor caused by human waste than with addressing public health issues.
"Indian's Bygone Past:" The Banff Indian Days, 1902-1945
Authors: Meijer Drees Laurie
Published: November 2016

Between 1902 and 1945, the Banff Indian Days and annual Indian Exhibition promoted by local Banff entrepreneur Norman Luxton, were a success both locally and internationally. Tourists came from around the world to attend the week-long festivities. The Banff Indian Days could be considered the Canadian equivalent of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. These Banff Indian Days form not only an undescribed part of Canada's popular culture history, but are also an important source of information on the nature of Indian-White relations in the province of Alberta between 1902 and 1945 - a period and region relatively little investigated by historians interested in Native history. In this paper the structure and function of the Banff Indian Days are investigated using traditional historical methods as well as theoretical concepts borrowed from the discipline of Anthropology. The article concludes that the Banff Indian Days constituted a form of public ritual through which participating Indians were able to invent, assert, and have sanctioned, their separate and unique identities.
Progressive Paternalism: Civic Indentity Construction in Red Vienna
Authors: Eisler Matthew
Published: November 2016

Much of the extant literature assessing the Austrian Socialist Party's (SDAP) social welfare programs in post-First World War Vienna tends to interpret these as the product of a paternalistic and conservative 'Germanophile' party. Many scholars claim the Socialists suppressed spontaneous working-class political activism, dulling the consciousness of soldiers and workers to the imminent danger to the Republic posed by Austrian fascists. This essay instead proposes that there was a more complex relationship between the SDAP elite and its rank and file than has previously been thought. In attempting to engineer a new socialist society, the party combined progressive and traditional aspects in its welfare programs in an effort to both control and strengthen proletarian political consciousness. The ambiguous results of this program belie claims that the Viennese working class was supine either in the face of the SDAP's 'cultural offensive' or the right-wing reaction.
Roman Baths: An Alternate Mode of Viewing the Evidence
Authors: Henderson Tanya
Published: November 2016

Roman baths are an important component in furthering our knowledge of Roman social life. They functioned as more than just a locus for cleansing the body. Currently, the literary sources provide the most details about the various social activities that occurred in the baths. However, where these activities took place within the complexes remains unclear. Archaeological reports do not adequately address how the rooms functioned. The argument presented here outlines some of the problems with the current methodology for examining room function in room baths. Then, using the site of Hammat Gader in Israel, introduces a different mode of viewing the evidence.
Taiwan's 228 Incident and the Politics of Placing Blame
Authors: Smith Craig A
Published: November 2016

On February 28, 1947, an uprising began and was followed by the massacre of thousands of ethnic Taiwanese. Although the memory of this massacre was suppressed by forty years of martial law, it has recently become an important socio-political symbol in modern Taiwan. The construction of the symbolic mythology of the 228 Incident has remade the massacre as an important historical event and a divisive tool in the political and ethnic turmoil of Taiwan. This paper examines the event of the 228 Incident and determines how the incident has been mythologized in modern political discourses due to its recently acquired symbolic status in Taiwan’s history. The paper pays particular attention to interpretations and reactions of Taiwan’s two major political parties.
Uncovering the Reality of State Violence in Western Zimbabwe, 1982-1987
Authors: Zhira Maxwell
Published: November 2016

The Zimbabwean slate waged a sustained terror campaign in the southern and western parts of the country from 1982 to 1987. An estimated twenty thousand men, women, and children died during the campaign. Most victims were murdered by state security forces, and others succumbed to conditions of disease and deprivation. The origins, nature, and impact of this conflict are the subject of considerable contention, particularly between analysts, human rights activists, and the government of President Robert Mugabe. Official inquiries into the conduct of the state and its agents have had difficulty gaining access to relevant records, and the government has repeatedly denounced the findings of independent investigations as slanderous. The terror operation waged in Matebeleland and the Midlands provinces can be used as evidence to argue that the government of President Mugabe from early on in its rule developed a tradition of using violence and intolerance as a tool for consolidating political power.
A multiperiodal management method at user level for storage systems using artificial neural network forecasts
Authors: Belli Grazia , Brusco Giovanni , Burgio Alessandro , Menniti Daniele , Pinnarelli Anna , Sorrentino Nicola , Vizza Pasquale
Published: November 2016

The increase of renewable non-programmable production and the necessity to locally self-consume the produced energy led to utilize ever more storage systems. To correctly utilize storage systems, an opportune management method has to be utilized. This paper implements a multi-period management method for storage systems, using different management strategies. The method aims to minimize the total absorbed and supplied energy or the peak power exchanged with the grid. The results show the effectiveness of the method in diminishing the energy exchanged with the grid and also the possibility to optimize the performance of the storage systems
Séries de animação, indústria criativa e consumo de bens culturais
Authors: Pereira Giovanni Tavares
Published: November 2016

Este artigo é um breve estudo do processo de produção de bens culturais nas Indústrias Criativas a partir da análise da produção de séries de animação e da identificação do público espectador com a série, a qual acaba sendo determinante para o consumo de produtos relacionados a esta, mostrando o quanto o público é decisor do sucesso de uma série e afastando os estudos no campo da indústria criativa da análise crítica e pessimista que fora proposta pela Escola de Frankfurt, mostrando assim, a importância da produção de bens culturais para o desenvolvimento social e econômico do país.Cartoon series, creative industry and consumption of cultural goodsAbstractThis article is a brief study of cultural goods production process in the Creative Industries from the analysis of the cartoon series production and identification of the viewing public with the series, which ends up being decisive for the consumer products related to this, showing how the audience is decision-maker of the success of series and away the studies in the field of Creative Industry from critical and pessimistic analysis that was proposed by the Frankfurt School, showing the importance of the production of cultural goods for social and economic development of Brazil.
Civil Society Organizations and Care of the Self: An Ethnographic Case Study on Emancipation and Participation in Drug Treatment
Authors: Perälä Riikka
Published: November 2016

Foucauldian analyses of civil society depart from classical approaches in that they don´t consider civil society to be a site of societal change or resistance as classical analyses do, but rather one of society’s multiple locations where so-called governmentality hits the ground. Although Foucauldian investigations have provided the prevailing discussion with a necessary departure from excessively idealistic images of civil society organizations as sites of resistance and societal transformation, what may have resulted in turn are overly pessimistic analyses that have overlooked the emancipatory aspects of civil society organizations as sites where Foucauldian “care of the self” becomes possible. This article provides the reader with an analysis of these kind of aspects in civil society organizations’ work and, more importantly, of the conditions of their existence. The study contributes to the prevailing discussion by offering examples of the possibilities that civil society organizations have to act as a counterbalance and addition to states institutions. The context is Finnish drug treatment policies that took a client-centered and user-friendly approach at the turn of 21st century. Since then new kinds of methods to work with drug users have been initiated, which have helped the users to recast their identities and find new ways of living as a drug user.
Foucault and the Madness of Classifying Our Madness
Authors: Ninnis Drew
Published: November 2016

This paper notes the re-ignited controversy surrounding the publication of a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), suggesting that the early work of Michel Foucault can explain why the mere diagnosis of or criteria for mental illness remains a heated flashpoint. In particular, it argues that Foucault articulates a common issue within the philosophical foundations of psychiatry and psychology that the paper terms the ‘subjectivity problem.’ It observes, using Foucault’s work, that these disciplines treat not just simple objects but complex subjects that are capable of interacting with that labelling and who are shaped by it. Drawing on the related work of Ian Hacking on kind-making as world-making, the article fleshes out why the subjectivity problem remains persistent within psychiatry and psychology as forms of knowledge, preventing them from operating as many commentators might desire them to – as pure and objective sciences. Finally, the paper reflects on the relationship of psychiatry and psychology as forms of knowledge, the manner in which they constitute their objects, and how this might shape the biopolitical episteme in which we find ourselves today.
Welfare and Foreign Aid Practices in the Contemporary United States: a Governmental Study
Authors: Fournier Philippe
Published: November 2016

This article aims to expose the main governmental shifts in recent American history (1961-2000) by examining two programs: the Assistance to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the Agency for International development (US-AID). Through the exploration of primary and secondary sources, we analyse the production, organisation and circulation of governmental practices in the realms of both domestic and foreign policy. In the American context, practices of government typically revolve around freedom, efficiency models and individual responsibility. Throughout the analysis, we find that the general critiques which have guided reforms and experiments in both areas converge around the same elements. This testifies to the fact that the reflexions and technical models directed at the optimal management of populations are more far-reaching than they first appear. Moreover, the historical transformations in welfare and foreign aid practices bear out the increasingly disciplinary nature of the administration and objectification of the poor, both within the United States and internationally.
Remembering the Future: Entrepreneurship Guidebooks in the US, from Meditation to Method (1945-1975)
Authors: Giraudeau Martin
Published: November 2016

This paper discusses Foucault’s analyses of the rise of the entrepreneur in the second half of the 20th century. Whereas Foucault based his conclusions on readings of economic theory, we propose here to look at “practical texts,” i.e. entrepreneurship guidebooks, in the way Foucault himself did in his research on antiquity. We also mobilize Foucauldian concepts from his lectures on the “Care of the Self” and the “Hermeneutics of the Subject” to account for our empirical observations. By comparing two series of entrepreneurship guidebooks issued by the US government in the mid-1940s and the late 1950s-1975, we argue that a major shift occurred between these two periods. In the 1940s, the future was supposed to be meditated upon: entrepreneurs were incited to mentally consider the dangers of running a business, and they were given mental techniques, along with basic paper technologies (e.g. checklists), in order to do so. A bit more than a decade later and for the decades to follow, entrepreneurs were told to plan their new businesses thoroughly, and thus to devise their future; they were provided with more advanced paper technologies (accounting technologies and business plan templates). The future was no more an object of meditation: it had become a methodical project.
The Queer Thing about Neoliberal Pleasure: A Foucauldian Warning
Authors: Winnubst Shannon
Published: November 2016

Through a careful reading of Foucault’s 1979 lectures on neoliberalism alongside Volumes 1 and 2 of The History of Sexuality, I argue that scholarship on both neoliberalism and queer theory should heed Foucault’s framing of both neoliberalism and sexuality as central to biopolitics. I thus offer two correctives to these fields of scholarship: for scholarship on neoliberalism, I locate a way to address the ethical bankruptcy of neoliberalism in a manner that Marxist analyses fail to provide; for scholarship in queer theory, I warn that the longstanding embrace of non-conformity as a mode of resistance to normalization is suspiciously neoliberal. I conclude with the possibility of rehabilitating the concept of jouissance as a non-fungible limit to the enterprising rationality of neoliberalism that, if historicized and especially racialized, might offer a meaningful response to the increasing ethical collapse wrought by the neoliberalization of our lives.
Confession, Voice and the Sensualization of Power: The Significance of Michel Foucault’s 1962 Encounter with Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Authors: Siisiäinen Lauri
Published: November 2016

Michel Foucault is known for his critiques of the intertwinement of empirical knowledge, perception and experience, and power. Within this general framework, this article focuses on a fairly unnoticed text of Foucault’s: his 1962 Introduction to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Dialogues. The article shows that Foucault’s Introduction is central for more than one reason: Firstly, it is apparently the first piece, in which Foucault focuses in detail on confession as an individualizing mode of power and truth-utterance. Secondly, in this text, Foucault treats confession as an empirical, sensual and affective form of power. Thirdly, in this early text, Foucault presents what can be called his critique of phonocentrism, i.e., of the interrelated centrality of voice, hearing, authenticity and “presence.” We find out that Foucault elaborated this critique (from the starting point of his archaeology of knowledge), already before Jacques Derrida introduced the actual term “phonocentrism,” and made it generally known. Finally, we will see that Foucault’s seminal 1970s genealogies of confession, sexuality and pastoral power revisit as well as revise the earlier insights discovered in the Introduction.
On Historicity and Transcendentality Again. Foucault’s Trajectory from Existential Psychiatry to Historical Epistemology
Authors: Basso Elisabetta
Published: November 2016

In this paper I focus on the emergence of the concept of the “historical a priori” at the origin of Foucault’s archeology. I emphasize the methodological function of this concept within Foucault’s archaeology, and I maintain that despite the different thesis it entails as compared to its philosophical sources, it pertains to one of the main issues of phenomenology, that is, the problematization of the relation between reality as it appears in its historicity, and transcendentality. I start from the interest of the young Foucault in existential psychiatry, and I focus on the French philosophical context in which Foucault’s Introduction to Ludwig Binswanger’s “Dream and Existence” (1954) was conceived. My aim is to show that the first “phenomenological” phase of Foucault’s work is coherent, from a methodological point of view, with the development of archaeology intended as “historical epistemology.” I conclude by arguing that Foucault’s archaeology is methodologically linked to Canguilhem’s epistemology, in that the latter presents itself as an important attempt at linking together historicity and transcendentality.
Feminism, Foucault, and the Critique of Reason: Re-reading the History of Madness
Authors: Allen Amy
Published: November 2016

This paper situates Lynne Huffer’s recent queer-feminist Foucaultian critique of reason within the context of earlier feminist debates about reason and critically assesses Huffer’s work from the point of view of its faithfulness to Foucault’s work and its implications for feminism.  I argue that Huffer’s characterization of Enlightenment reason as despotic not only departs from Foucault’s account of the relationship between power and reason, it also leaves her stuck in the same double binds that plagued earlier feminist critiques of reason.  An appreciation of the profoundly ambivalent nature of Foucault’s critique of reason offers feminists some insights into how to navigate those double binds.  What feminists should learn from the early Foucault is precisely his commitment to engage in a rational critique of reason that highlights reason’s dangerous entanglements with power while resisting the temptation to reject or refuse reason altogether.
Force and Knowledge: Foucault’s Reading of Nietzsche
Authors: Fujita Kojiro
Published: November 2016

Building on Nietzsche’s view of power, Foucault developed an original analysis of power by making use of concepts like “disciplinary power,” “bio-power,” “governmentality,” etc.; however, existing studies have not sufficiently examined his reading of Nietzsche’s works on this topic.  Therefore, in order to clarify the connection between the two, this article examines Foucault’s reading of Nietzsche in detail.  Firstly, this article examines the notion of “force” which Foucault recognized is at the center of Nietzsche’s view of power, and will explicitly shows its conceptual determinations.  In doing so, this paper will also clarify related notions such as “event,” “body” and “history,” and thus bring to light the general principle of force.  In addition, Foucault focused on the point at which Nietzsche—using these principles—radically reinterpreted a central concept of human intellectual activity, namely knowledge.  Therefore, this article secondly examines how knowledge is formed under the principle of force, and explicitly shows the general mechanism of knowledge.  Finally, the article explains that Nietzsche’s view of power is understood by Foucault as the duality between force and knowledge; in other words, as an ontology of force.
Orientalism as a form of Confession
Authors: Teti Andrea
Published: November 2016

In addition to being characterised as a ‘regime of truth’, Orientalist discourses also display the general properties of confessional discourses outlined in Foucault’s Will to Knowledge.  The article argues that there is a similarity in the ‘effects of power’ made possible within these frameworks, particular regarding the legitimisation and application of discipline.  Finally, the paper draws out a few implications for the analysis of power and resistance in confessional economies of power.  The perspective this paper provides an insight into the internal structure of Orientalist discourse; connects this structure with Orientalism’s ‘effects of power’; affords purchase on both Orientalism’s organisational and ontogenetic properties; helps explain the persistence of Orientalism – both overt and covert – despite three decades of post-Orientalist scholarship.  In this sense, a confessional perspective on Orientalism affords a broad view of the contemporary politics of truth in which Orientalism plays such as an important part.  Finally, a confessional perspective affords purchase on the nature of power, the formation of subjectivities, and the possibilities of resistance within Orientalist discursive contexts, which Said’s own analysis is often said to lack.
Fixing Non-market Subjects: Governing Land and Population in the Global South
Authors: Li Tania Murray
Published: November 2016

Expert knowledge about society and human nature is essential to governing human conduct.  It figures in the formulation of the liberal and neoliberal rationalities of government that Foucault analyzed in his later work.  It also figures in particular assemblages in which a governmental rationality is brought to bear on the definition of problems and the formulation of solutions.  This article explores the use of expert knowledge in governmental assemblages directed towards optimizing relations between people and land in the global south.  Since colonial times liberal versions of these assemblages have highlighted cultural difference, and attempted to fix particular populations into non-market niches.  Elements from liberal assemblages have been grafted into neoliberal ones, producing the curious figure of homo economicus minus the market, the collectivized and arborealized subject of contemporary conservation initiatives.