bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Fieldwork of the Canadian Institute in Greece, 2006
Authors: Rupp David W.
Published: July 2012

Une inscription datée de 193 ap. J-C. (CIL VI, 1585b) indique qu’Adrastus, procurateur de la colonne de Marc Aurèle, a reçu l’autorisation impériale de construire une grande maison derrière la colonne. Selon ce texte, Adrastus devait recevoir deux charretées de bois d’œuvre ‘cum pontem necesse fuit compigni’. D’après les commentaires des éditeurs, le mot pons signifierait un genre de pont, de passerelle, de trottoir ou de passage pour piéton. Nous pensons au contraire que ce pons n’a rien à voir avec la colonne : ce serait plutôt l’échafaudage de bois nécessaire à la construction de la maison d’Adrastus.
The Meaning of Pons in the Inscription of Adrastus ( CIL 6.1585)
Authors: Beckmann Martin
Published: July 2012

Une inscription de 193 ap. J-C. (CIL VI, 1585b) rapporte une permission impériale donnée à Adrastus, procurateur de la colonne de Marc Aurèle, de construire une grande maison derrière la colonne. Le texte mentionne que deux charretées de bois d’œuvre doivent être données à Adrastus cum pontem necesse fuit compigni . Les commentaires des éditeurs proposaient de comprendre ce pons comme un genre de passerelle, de trottoir ou de passage pour piéton. Nous pensons au contraire que ce pons n’a rien à voir avec la colonne : ce serait plutôt l’échafaudage de bois nécessaire à la construction de la maison d’Adrastus.
Black and White and Dead All Over: Color Imagery in Nabokov's Prose
Authors: Connolly Julian W
Published: July 2012

Vladimir Nabokov possessed an acute sensitivity to gradations of color, and he rebuffed attempts to attach broad symbolic meanings to specific colors in his work. Yet although Nabokov's work displays an impressive range of color images, one color combination perhaps carried a special resonance in his fiction. In several works the combination of black and white appears conspicuously associated with the theme of death. The essay focuses on the use of black and white in Laughter in the Dark and Lolita in an attempt to explore and explain the thematic association.
Lolita in Lolita, or the Garden, the Gate and the Critics
Authors: De la Durantaye Leland
Published: July 2012

A surprising number of Lolita's critics have described Lolita in the most derogatory tones, citing what they see as her vulgarity, banality, plebian lack of cultivation and predatory sensuality. Still other critics have seen in her a "symbol" of such things as America and artistic creation. In many of these cases these tendencies are accompanied by a relative disinterest for the fate that befalls her in the book—a tendency Nabokov's wife Véra tried to correct as early as 1959 by pointing out: "She cries every night and the critics are deaf to her sobs." The essay seeks to follow what elements in the novel give rise to this reaction and to elucidate what the phenomenon reflects about the conflicting demands placed on the novel's readers.
The Tale of Enchanted Hunters: Lolita in Victorian Context
Authors: Voronina Olga
Published: July 2012

Enigmatic murals on the walls of the Enchanted Hunters Hotel create an ambiguous setting for Lolita's "seduction" of Humbert. Images of hunters entranced by a young nymph imply Lolita's putting a spell on her lover and seem to support Humbert's idea of the innate viciousness of his nymphet. Why did Nabokov need such a paradoxical inversion of his presentation of Lolita as a "courageous victim"? This article attempts to solve the puzzle by analyzing the novel's references to John Ruskin and Lewis Carroll as notorious admirers of young girls. It also points out such Victorian contexts as the Oxford Union Murals created by Pre-Raphaelites in 1857 under Ruskin's guidance and The Idylls of the King by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, on which the frescos were based. The accumulation of textual and intertextual clues leads to the interpretation of Lolita as Nabokov's critical commentary to the Victorian discourse on art, beauty, and child sexuality.
The Anarchic Commune as World's Fair in Émile Zola's Travail
Authors: Febles Eduardo A.
Published: July 2012

"The Anarchic Commune as World's Fair in Émile Zola's Travail " Though Émile Zola's æsthetic shift from naturalism to utopianism began well before the writing of Travail in 1900, Moissan's electric ovens displayed during the Parisian World's Fair of the same year served as a technological solution to the entropic conundrum that had informed his earlier novels. Electricity thus reconfigured allowed the functioning of Beauclair, Travail 's anarchic commune, as a utopia. The utopian mode, however, is undermined by a passive subjective relationship to the real inherent in visitors' experiences during the Exposition Universelle and by capitalist fantasies of mass consumption underlying the World's Fair and the anarchic commune of Travail .(EAF)
The History of the History of the Salon
Authors: Chesney Duncan McColl
Published: July 2012

The article traces the development of an historical and ideological understanding of the French salon in the nineteenth century, especially during the July Monarchy and the Second Empire. The salon, while continuing to be an important social space, becomes a lieu de mémoire for writers and scholars intent upon reconciling the inherited aristocratic and revolutionary traditions. Balzac and others are briefly discussed before attention is focused on Sainte-Beuve as the key to this historical, revisionist work. His study of salonnières and the conversational tradition is also, relatedly, a major exception in the development of nineteenth-century academic literary criticism.
Tough Love, Hard Bargains: Rape and Coercion in Balzac
Authors: Counter Andrew
Published: July 2012

This article explores representations of rape in the fiction of Honoré de Balzac, in an attempt to understand how both the event and the threat of rape acquire a peculiar and distinct significance in Balzac's writing. A distinction is made between the simplistic depictions of rape in Balzac's earlier "Romantic" novels, and its complex signifying potential in the more developed Realist period. There, rape appears first as a form of homosocial communication; then as a performance which might be used to (re)assert masculine identity; and finally, in the face of the failure of that assertion, as a desperate, pathological repetition of the violence which is inseparable from masculine subjectivation and from patriarchal ideology. These questions are understood through the various works of Luce Irigaray, Eve Sedgwick, and Slavoj Žižek.
Anthropology and Play: The Contours of Playful Experience
Authors: Malaby Thomas M.
Published: July 2012

This essay traces twentieth-century work on play in anthropology, and shows that while the ingredients of a more useful conception of play as a disposition were always present, the field as a whole stressed only two viable possibilities: play as nonwork, and play as representation. The essay offers a better model for thinking about play, one that draws ultimately on the pragmatist philosophers' portrayal of the world as irreducibly contingent. On this view, playful experience becomes an attitude characterized by a readiness to improvise in the face of an ever-changing world, one that admits of no transcendently ordered account.
Variational Causal Claims in Epidemiology
Authors: Russo Federica
Published: July 2012

This article examines definitions of cause in the epidemiological literature. Those definitions describe causes as factors that make a difference to the distribution of disease or to individual health status. In philosophical terms, they are "difference-makers." I argue that those definitions are underpinned by an epistemology and a methodology that hinge upon the notion of variation, contra the dominant Humean paradigm according to which we infer causality from regularity. Furthermore, despite the fact that causes are defined in terms of difference-making, this doesn't fix the causal metaphysics but rather reflects the "variational" epistemology and methodology of epidemiology. I suggest that causality in epidemiology ought to be interpreted according to Williamson's epistemic theory. In this approach, causal attribution depends on the available evidence and on the methods used. In turn, evidence to establish causal claims requires both difference-making and mechanistic considerations.
Digital Image Processing for Medical Applications
Authors: Okada David R. , Blankstein Ron
Published: July 2012

The history of medical imaging technology is embedded within the history of visual perception itself. Visual perception exists at the multiple interstices of science, ethics, art, and law. As the panorama of how and what humans can see is continually transformed by technical innovation, creative application, and cultural permission, there are concomitant transformations in conceptions of disease, privacy, beauty, and legal evidence. Digital Image Processing for Medical Applications succeeds in mapping out a small but essential region of this ever-shifting landscape, namely the core competencies and practical skills that are required by end-users of digital imaging technology in the health-care fields.
Richard Bradley: A Unified, Living Agent Theory of the Cause of Infectious Diseases of Plants, Animals, and Humans in the First Decades of the 18th Century
Authors: Santer Melvin
Published: July 2012

During the years 1714 to 1721, Richard Bradley, who was later to become the first Professor of Botany at Cambridge University, proposed a unified, unique, living agent theory of the cause of infectious diseases of plants and animals and the plague of humans. Bradley's agents included microscopic organisms, revealed by the studies of Robert Hooke and Antony van Leeuwenhoek. His theory derived from his experimental studies of plants and their diseases and from microscopic observation of animalcules in different naturally occurring and artificial environments. He concluded that there was a microscopic world of "insects" that lived and reproduced under the appropriate conditions, and that infectious diseases of plants were caused by such "insects." Since there are structural and functional similarities between plants and animals, Bradley concluded that microscopic organisms caused human and animal infectious diseases as well. However, his living agent cause of infectious diseases was not accepted by the contemporary scientific society.
Compassionate Solidarity: Suffering, Poetry, and Medicine
Authors: Coulehan Jack
Published: July 2012

Suffering is the experience of distress or disharmony caused by the loss, or threatened loss, of what we most cherish. Such losses may strip away the beliefs by which we construct a meaningful narrative of human life in general and our own in particular. The vocation of physicians and other health professionals is to relieve suffering caused by illness, trauma, and bodily degeneration. However, since suffering is an existential state that does not necessarily parallel physical or emotional states, physicians cannot rely solely on knowledge and skills that address physiological dysfunction. Rather, they must learn to engage the patient at an existential level. Unfortunately, however, medical pedagogy encourages "detached concern," which devalues subjectivity, emotion, relationship, and solidarity. The term "compassionate solidarity" summarizes an alternative model, which begins with empathic listening and responding, requires reflectivity and self-understanding, and is in itself a healing act. Poetry, along with other imaginative writing, may help physicians and other health professionals grow in self-awareness and gain deeper understanding of suffering, empathy, compassion, and symbolic healing.
Declining Cotton Cultivation in Maricopa County, Arizona: An Examination of Macro-and Micro-Scale Driving Forces
Authors: Judkins Gabe
Published: July 2012

Once the dominant location of cotton cultivation within the state of Arizona, Maricopa County has undergone significant changes during recent years, resulting in substantial shifts within the regional agricultural economy. The dramatic decline in cotton over the past nine years has prompted the question, “What have been the major driving forces resulting in the pattern of decline experienced by Maricopa County’s agricultural economy?” As singular explanations of agricultural change are often insufficient, this research employs a methodology that combines macro-scale analysis of underlying (distal) driving forces, with interviews with cotton farmers to reveal how these forces have influenced their decisions through the mediation of other significant micro-scale factors. Pressure from the expansion of Phoenix’s metropolitan region is identified as an important underlying driver of this land use change; however, fluctuations in the international price of cotton and favorable government subsidies are identified as additional key macro-scale influences on the extent of cotton cultivated. Interviews with growers highlight the importance of several micro-scale factors affecting the land use decisions of farmers, including personal perspectives, family situations, and the impact of negative externalities from sprawl on active cultivation. The recent decline in cotton cultivation in Maricopa County is determined to have resulted from a combination of factors, operating at multiple scales, resulting in the conversion of large tracts of farmland to urban developments.
The Columbia Basin Project: Seventy-Five Years Later
Authors: Bloodworth Gina , White James
Published: July 2012

The Columbia Basin Project (CBP) is the largest comprehensive reclamation project in the United States. An intertwined system of water diversion, capture, storage, movement, and use for hydroelectric production and irrigation, made famous by the capstone of Grand Coulee Dam, the CBP completely transformed the arid environment of central Washington and the economy of the Pacific Northwest (PNW). As this project stretches now into 75 years of plans, actions, reactions, and potential future actions, there is a surprisingly small amount of literature examining this project and its far-reaching implications. Originally planned as a reclamation project, the CBP morphed over time as values and priorities changed; never achieving completion, approximately two-thirds of the original planned project acreage is currently irrigated, but with escalating ecologic and economic implications. The most obvious ecologic implication has fixated debates about development in the Pacific Northwest, and that is the near annihilation of historic salmon runs due to dam construction. As this question (salmon versus dams) consumes most scholarly literature related to the CBP, we chose instead to examine everything except ecologic implications. This article reviews the existing literature on the CBP from several fields, noting that many economic, social, legal, policy, and agricultural questions remain unanswered after 75 years. Those unanswered questions become particularly important in light of recent discussions within Washington State concerning completing the CBP, thus potentially increasing the size of irrigated lands by one-third in the Columbia Basin Project.
Hearts in Agreement: Zhuangzi On Dao Adept Friendship
Authors: Blakeley Donald N.
Published: July 2012

This essay examines two stories in Zhuangzi chapter 6 that provide detailsabout the formal, substantive, and applied features of friendship between dao adepts. Using a template of seven characteristics, dao adept friendship is thencompared with ren adept friendship, described in the Analects and the Mencius . It is argued that dao living contains features of friendship that arecomparably robust. As unconventional as dao adept living may be, friendshipis not lacking but integral to such a life.
The Way of Poetic Influence: Revisioning the "Syncretist Chapters" of the Zhuangzi
Authors: Lee Jung H.
Published: July 2012

This essay examines the intra-poetic relationship between the "Inner Chapters" and the "Syncretist Chapters" of the Zhuangzi , exploring the affinities and tensions between the two competing works by analyzing not only how the Syncretist authors deliberately displace and recast the precursor poem by engaging in an act of creative revisionism, but also how the "Syncretist Chapters" unconsciously reveal a hidden debt to the "Inner Chapters," especially in regard to the practices of inner cultivation and a cosmology of the Dao. As will be argued, the sociopolitical dimensions of syncretic Daoist thought, most pointedly in regard to the art of rulership, seem to be premised on the kind of inner cultivation that we find in the "Inner Chapters." Indeed, for the Syncretist it is precisely the sovereign's ability to be "inwardly a sage, outwardly a king" ( nei shang wai wang ), to coordinate the cosmological and the political, that permits her to "adjust and attune the empire and be in harmony with men." The "Syncretist Chapters" can thus be viewed as a corrective movement within the history of early Daoism that, in an act of creative revisionism, completes and reconstitutes the "tradition of the Way."
Learning Outcomes, Portfolios, and Rubrics, Oh My! Authentic Assessment of an Information Literacy Program
Authors: Diller Karen R , Phelps Sue F
Published: July 2012

Librarians at Washington State University Vancouver helped the campus develop a method of assessing its General Education Program, a program based on university learning goals, one of which is information literacy. The assessment method, which relies on an electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) along with rubrics to evaluate work in the ePortfolio, enables the librarians to evaluate their information literacy program based on ACRL best practices guidelines, authentic assessment techniques, and the tenets of phenomenography. This paper will describe the library's use of this assessment method, while looking at the advantages and disadvantages of this process for assessment.
Introduction: Storyteller
Authors: Hoffman Alice
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
Prelude, Delay, and Epitaph
Authors: McClatchy J. D.
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
Everywhere I Went That Spring, I Was Alone
Authors: Bohince Paula
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
The Gospel of Blackbird
Authors: Lee Thomas
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
Lorca’s Duende
Authors: Le Guin Ursula K.
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
Run
Authors: Howes Joshua
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
Diamond Haiku, and: Orchard House, and: Self-Portrait
Authors: Standing Sue
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
Hold the Dark
Authors: Giraldi William
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
In White, and: That Night, I
Authors: Collins Martha
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
Here, There Are Blueberries
Authors: Szybist Mary
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
Hitting and Getting Hit
Authors: Schultz Philip
Published: July 2012

This 40th anniversary issue edited by best-selling novelist Alice Hoffman
(The Dovekeepers, Practical Magic) features new work from Ursula K. Le
Guin, Marge Piercy, Jennifer Haigh, Ann Hood, and Wally Lamb; an interview
with Elizabeth Bishop from the archives; and a story from Ploughshares '
first Emerging Fiction Writer's Award winner Thomas Lee.
The Desire Called Mao: Badiou and the Legacy of Libidinal Economy
Authors: Kaufman Eleanor
Published: July 2012

Although Alain Badiou's early work is deeply critical of French theories of libidinal economy that sought to synthesize Marx and Freud in the wake of May 1968, this essay seeks to summarize the central tenets of libidinal economy theory--the emphasis on the desire structure proper to use value; the boundaries of the human explored through the death drive; a thought of radical inertia--and argues that there is more overlap than might be thought, especially concerning inertia. Badiou's interest in Mao is considered in its connection to problems of periodization, of counting a century, and the thought of the party, and these link back to theories of libidinal economy through a shared fascination with the intemporal, if not the unconscious. -- ek
Exploring a Typology for Classifying Inquirers and Inquiry into Paradigms
Authors: Toma J. Douglas
Published: July 2012

The typology of inquiry paradigms by which Yvonna Lincoln and
Egon Guba divide social sciences scholars can be adapted to other
types of disciplines, including law. Even though scholarship in law
is typically more normative and less empirical than in the social
sciences, qualitative data drawn from law faculty suggests that both
sets of scholars work in parallel inquiry paradigms. These parallels
indicate that the constructs at the basis of the typology are sound
and make possible cross-disciplinary comparisons based upon
inquiry paradigms.
The Press and State Policy Making for Higher Education
Authors: Peterson Marvin W , McLendon Michael K. (Michael Kevin)
Published: July 2012

The mass media's role in shaping public policy remains the focus of
intensive research among political science and communication
scholars. Yet virtually nothing is known about media coverage of
state higher education policy making. Using mass communication
theory, this study analyzes press coverage of an appropriations
conflict between two nationally prominent universities. Its purpose
was to determine whether newspapers give preferential treatment to
their local universities, ultimately producing bias in their coverage of
higher education.
Improving Campus Racial Dynamics: A Balancing Act Among Competing Interests
Authors: Chang Mitchell J
Published: July 2012

While virtually all colleges and universities are attentive to improved racial dynamics, they often fail to examine how their racial endeavors are affected by or affect other institutional assumptions, values, ideals, expectations, or practices despite ve
ry frequent competition with other presumably opposing institutional interests. Although such conflicts are neither natural or stable, they have very real consequences that can potentially obstruct racial progress by neutralizing even the most promising
efforts toward diversity.
Remedial Education in Colleges and Universities: What's Really Going On?
Authors: Merisotis Jamie P , Phipps Ronald A
Published: July 2012

This article offers an overview of what is known and not known about college remediation, a topic that is attracting increasing scrutiny. It includes analyses of the purposes of remediation, types of remediation, who participates, how well it serves them, finances, the economic and social consequences of not providing remedial education, and proposed strategies for reducing the need for remediation in higher education while enhancing its effectiveness.
The Role of College Counseling in Shaping College Opportunity: Variations across High Schools
Authors: Perna Laura W , Rowan-Kenyon Heather T , Thomas Scott Loring , Bell Angela , Anderson Robert , Li Chunyan
Published: July 2012

This study draws on data from descriptive case studies of 15 high schools, three in each of five states. The findings highlight constraints in the availability of college counseling, differences in the availability of college counseling across schools, and the influence of schools, districts, higher education institutions, and states on the availability and nature of college counseling. The study suggests that, in the context of limited fiscal and other resources, changes in federal and state financial aid policies, district policies pertaining to counseling, and relationships with higher education institutions will help ensure that all students receive sufficient college counseling.
Institutional Climate and Student Departure: A Multinomial Multilevel Modeling Approach
Authors: Yi Pyŏng-sik
Published: July 2012

This study applied a multinomial HGLM technique to examine the extent to which the institutional climate for diversity influences the different types of college student withdrawal, such as stop out, drop out, and transfer. Based on a reformulation of Tinto's model along with the conceptualization of institutional climate for diversity by Hurtado et al. (1999), this study found that institutional climate for diversity had significant but differential effects on the different types of student withdrawal. This study reminds educators to take institutional climate for diversity more seriously and suggests a more sophisticated method for conducting research on college student withdrawal.
Spirituality and Pedagogy: Faculty's Spirituality and Use of Student-Centered Approaches to Undergraduate Teaching
Authors: Lindholm Jennifer A , Astin Helen S.
Published: July 2012

Using data from a national survey of college faculty, this study examines faculty members' preferred teaching practices as one aspect of their professional behavior that may reflect the spiritual dimension of their own lives. Findings show that faculty who are highly spiritual are more likely than their less spiritual colleagues to use student-centered pedagogy. The results have implications both for enhancing understanding of pedagogical practice and addressing faculty personal and professional development issues.
Extending Notions of Campus Climate and Diversity to Students' Transition to College
Authors: Locks Angela M , Hurtado Sylvia , Bowman Nicholas A , Oseguera Leticia
Published: July 2012

This study builds upon previous research on the effect of diversity on college students by examining and modeling the effects of diversity experiences for students of color and White students' transition to college. Specifically, structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to examine the direct and indirect effects of interactions with diverse peers and their sense of belonging in the second year at public universities. Positive interactions with diverse peers result in a greater sense of belonging to the campus community for all students, extending the link between the campus climate for diversity and transition to college.
"The Confusion Provoked by Instantaneous Discussion": The New International Communications Network and the Chilean Crisis of 1891–1892 in the United States
Authors: Britton John A
Published: July 2012

The United States and Chile experienced diplomatic tensions that were heightened by the rapid movement of messages through the recently built international telegraph network. Government officials in Washington and Santiago engaged in heated telegraphic exchanges while newspapers from New York to San Francisco emphasized this crisis and published telegraphed reports on military preparations and the possibility of war. Critics of the press pointed out the exaggerations and falsehoods in these reports and warned of the perils in making crucial decisions in the new era of unprecedented speed in communications. Officials in Washington debated the growing crisis. Congressman James Blount deplored “the confusion provoked by instantaneous discussion.” Taking advantage of the confusion, President Benjamin Harrison exploited the quick movement of cabled messages and abandoned standard diplomatic practice to impose a deadline in the negotiations with the Chilean government. Harrison’s aggressive use of international communications forced the Chilean government to make prompt concessions.
Scale and identity in post-apartheid Soweto
Authors: Wafer Alex
Published: July 2012

In this paper I argue that the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC) provides an illustration of the repertoires and strategies of scale that communities and individuals adopt in making sense of the places they inhabit. Like many post-apartheid social movement organisations, the SECC contains both the everyday lived experiences of its members as well as broader social and political agendas. The organisation is constituted at the scale of the local neighbourhood branch on the one hand, and at the scale of the activists and academics that make up much of its leadership on the other hand. The leadership maintains a strong national and international profile; many branch-members of the SECC join because of shared local experience. While these two scales of the organisation are not necessarily contradictory, I argue that they are separately articulated and offer very different networks and political resources in contesting state policy electricity provision. I conclude that these competing claims of scale are not simply tools in a political game, but may in fact indicate more complex social and personal identifications with place.
Are practices of local participation sidelining the institutional participatory channels?: Reflections from Johannesburg
Authors: Bénit-Gbaffou Claire
Published: July 2012

While public discourses emphasise the growing role of ward councillors in service delivery and urban policy implementation, as well as underline their role as mediators between local government and urban residents, local councillors are increasingly the target of mass urban protests. They are also relatively absent from the public scene as far as municipal decisions and debates are concerned. What can explain this discrepancy? This article argues that institutional channels (be it representative democracy, or various institutions and instruments set up by local government to enhance participation) are currently not working in the South African city, and the city of Johannesburg in particular. Whether in low-income or high-income areas, suburbs or townships, residents have to resort to other means, sidelining in particular their ward councillor, to be heard. The article analyses the structural and contextual constraints that may be responsible for this lack of bottom-up dialogue, and concludes that both the limited power of ward councillors in Council, and the lack of incentive for fostering their accountability to voters, lead to the development of patterns of clientelism at the local level. After examining the actual implementation of some urban projects in Johannesburg, the article argues that local government fragmentation (in different tiers, in several city agencies and utilities, and with the widespread use of contracts and consultants) is also an important factor in the failure of participatory processes.
Between the community hall and the city hall: five research questions on participation
Authors: Ballard Richard
Published: July 2012

Participation has become increasingly important in the rhetoric and practice of local government. As a method it can be used for two major kinds of political purposes. On one hand it can function as an information gathering exercise which better informs officials about the needs of citizens. On the other it allows people to engage government on the best ways of meeting social needs. This paper argues that democracy is advanced further by the second conception of participation. The purpose of the article is to develop five research questions that should be asked about participatory methods. Firstly, what benefits and pitfalls are linked to participation? A variety of benefits are said to arise from using participatory methodologies including better information about needs and the empowerment of the beneficiaries of development. The virtues expounded by those using participation should be located within these broader discourses about development and democracy. Secondly, does participation facilitate deliberation? Participation does not necessarily allow people to raise counter positions and often straitjackets discussion into consensus oriented outcomes. A more democratic kind of participation, it is argued, would not fear debate but rather encourage and facilitate it. Thirdly, how do scales of participation and scales of decision making intersect? With the advent of unicities in South Africa, decision making is not devolved to the most local scale. However, participation often happens at the local scale of the ward. The interaction between these scales is key to determining the degree to which people influence policy. Fourth, whose agendas are represented at ward meetings? It is argued that critical reflection on ward level participatory meetings is required in order to determine whether the most marginalised people are being accessed. Finally, are dissenting voices outside of participatory forums seen as valid? A danger of formal spaces of participation is that they effectively shut down other initiatives to engage the government critically. Together these questions are intended to allow for critical reflection on the democratic value of participation.
Black republican tradition, nativism and populist politics in South Africa
Authors: Ndlovu-Gatsheni Sabelo J
Published: July 2012

The formation of the Native Club in 2006 provoked widespread debate across South African society as it was deemed to be heralding black reverse racism in a country that had only recently emerged from the violent and exclusivist system of apartheid. The Native Club was interpreted as a threat to the spirit of ‘rainbowism’ and to current efforts at forging common citizenship for whites and blacks. The main weakness of the current debates on the Native Club and the phenomenon of nativism is the relative absence of historicisation and contextualisation within broader issues – in particular antinomies in black liberation thought and historical populist imaginations of citizenship and the nation. This article seeks to historicise and contextualise the Native Club and the phenomenon of nativism within the broader politics of contested conceptualisations of the national question and contested definitions of the teleology of the liberation struggle, as well as differing imaginations of the nation and visions of citizenship and democracy. It is only through a grounded and nuanced historical approach that the logic and the dangers of nativism could be understood together with the resurgence of populist politics crystallising around Jacob Zuma and the broader succession debate currently enveloping South Africa.
Deserving individuals and groups: The post-apartheid state’s justification of the shape of South Africa’s system of social assistance
Authors: Seekings Jeremy
Published: July 2012

The constitution charges the government with the progressive realisation of the right of impoverished citizens to income security. In practice, this means that the government must have a reasonable defence of the current size and shape of its social assistance and social insurance programmes. Legal challenges have forced the state into providing such a defence of its social assistance programmes. In summary, the state justifies the current size and shape of this system primarily on the grounds that the state is targeting its scarce resources on the most ‘disadvantaged’ groups, where disadvantage is defined in terms of past opportunity not of current need. In this view, the social assistance system should help those groups of people who had fewest opportunities to provide for themselves. This argument entails a new version of the distinction between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor. The state’s application of this argument in recent court papers is flawed empirically, but in making the argument the state has provided a basis for constructive debate on the shape of the welfare state.
Subjectivities in South African child welfare discourse
Authors: Schmid Jeanette
Published: July 2012

Foucault identified the formation of subjectivities as one of a range of mechanisms of governmentality. In the Anglo-American child protection model, children are viewed as being innocent, vulnerable, and agency-less and parents (mothers) are constructed as being solely responsible for their children’s well-being. Such subjectivities blame parents if children are harmed, allowing social workers as experts to intervene. Structural contributors to parenting capacity are overlooked in this discourse, relieving the state of responsibility to address these problems. In South Africa, similar subjectivities prevail. The developmental discourse, which constructs parents as community members, emphasises participation, and casts social workers as facilitators and advocates rather than experts, has not succeeded in replacing the child protection subjectivities. Indeed, the construction of service users as ‘the poor’ and the adoption of an individualistic rights focus, has led to the strengthening of oppressive subjectivities, rather than facilitating a more empowering, participatory, inclusive and democratic approach.
Is there a rationale for conditional cash transfers for children in South Africa?
Authors: Lund Francie , Noble Michael , Barnes Helen , Wright Gemma
Published: July 2012

The South African state awards unconditional means-tested cash transfers to the caregivers of some eight million poor children. Amidst increasing demands on the state for social assistance, and given the positive performance of conditional cash transfer programmes in Latin America, a salient policy question is: should the Child Support Grant (CSG) be made conditional on education or health related behaviour to enhance its effectiveness? The term ‘conditionality’ is used inconsistently in South Africa, and the article suggests separating out five categories or requirements for access to and continued receipt of social grants. We summarise the generally positive performance of conditional cash transfers in diverse Latin American programmes, showing in particular their marked effects on school attendance. The history, current reach and early impact of the CSG are then described. Using the five categories of administrative action, we describe how in the implementation of the unconditional CSG, a range of measures has been imposed which impose costs on applicants, and act to exclude poorer children and caregivers. Further, access to health and education appears to be a supply-side problem, rather than a problem of individual motivation. To be in line with South Africa’s Constitution, better administration and provision is likely to be a more rational, just and efficient intervention than the imposition of conditionalities.
Industrial policy under democracy: apartheid's grown-up infant industries? Iscor and Sasol
Authors: Roberts Simon , Rustomjee Zavareh
Published: July 2012

The apartheid state's selective intervention to shape South Africa's industrial development around the minerals energy complex included the establishment and support of state-owned enterprises in chemicals and steel in the form of Sasol and Iscor. Both of these companies were privatised at the end of the 1980s and appear to be infant industries that have grown-up. Under democracy, we find the corporate strategies of the two companies to have been very important in the continued skewed resource and energy oriented industrial development path of South Africa. Our evaluation of industrial policy through the lens of its engagement with, and impact on, the decisions of these two companies reveals it has largely failed to come to terms with the interests and power of these companies and the implications for the economy.
Biodiesel-based Drilling Fluids
Authors: Wang Meishan , Sun Mingbo , Shang Hongyan , Fan Songlin , Liu Meiquan , Liu Fupeng
Published: July 2012

The rheological properties of biodiese and white oil were compared at normal temperature and high temperature in this paper. The ability of biodiesel to inhibit shale expansion was investigated. The results showed that the rheological properties of biodiese were better than white oil. Biodiese also showed better resistance to high temperature and shale expansion. Organo- lignite and vegetable pitch were used to reduce the filtration in biodiesel-based drilling fluids system. The optimum formulation of biodiesel-based drilling fluids was determined by experiments. In order to simulate the contamination of calcium and dry soil, CaSO4·2H2O and sodium-based bentonite were added to the system, and the experimental results showed that the tolerance of biodiesel-based drilling fluids to the contamination of calcium and dry soil is desirable.
Applications of New Coiled Tubing Multi-staged Fracturing Technology
Authors: Xiude Lu , Dengsheng Ye , Juhui Zhu , Dan Song , Congbin Yin , Guan Bin , Wang Guigang
Published: July 2012

Multiple new technologies of stimulations have been successfully developed and used in domestic low permeability reservoirs over the last few years. A new staged fracturing technique with bottom annular packer on coiled tubing (CT) has been extensively used in the fields of Sichuan. This process employs a new bottomhole tool assembly (BHA) on the CT, which offers the opportunity to achieve hydro-jet perforating, annular packing and fracturing multiple pay zones with a single entry of the CT string. This technique has proven effective in stimulating thin interbedded reservoirs individually to open pay zones and improve gas production optimally. Following the final CT stimulating stage, the well is cleaned out and for subsequent production. This paper describes the unique features of the coiled tubing staged fracturing technology with bottom annular packer. Case studies of seven well are presented on this paper. The key procedure controls and surface process enhancements during the applications of the new CT stimulation technique will also be analyzed and summarized.
Study on Reaming Technology of Sidetrack Drilling Horizontal Well at Liaohe Oilfield
Authors: Ding Wenzheng , Peng Gang , Cao Sheng , Wu Sheng , Zhang Shijun , Luo Da , Li Zhuang
Published: July 2012

Liaohe oilfield has come to its late-mid exploitation period after 40 years’ exploration and development, tapping potentialities for more benefits and enhancing oil recovery have been emphasized in oilfield exploration. Sidetrack horizontal well technology has advantages of sidetrack well and horizontal well, and now it has become an important technique for oilfield to tap potentialities for more benefits. The development of sidetrack horizontal well technology has been restricted because of small annulus, complex well track, difficulties of tripping in casing pipe and bad cementing quality, in order to solve these problem, reaming technology has been used to enlarge open well diameter of sidetrack horizontal well by gWdC.

So far, GWDC has finished reaming process for about 800 wells, including 15 wells of sidetrack horizontal well. Open well diameter was enlarged after reaming, thus tail pipe can be tripped in smoothly without block, the strength of cement sheath and cement quality improved, oil well life prolonged and drilling cost saved obviously.

Reaming technology has facilitated sidetrack horizontal well technology to large-scale application, and provided forceful technical guarantee for dependable crop and synergy of oilfields.
Practicing and Learning of Shale Gas Staged Fracturing in Sichuan Basin – A Case for the W1 Horizontal Well
Authors: FU Yongqiang , XIAO Yongjun , CHEN Yuanlin , ZENG Lixin
Published: July 2012

Weiyuan&Changning marine shale reservoirs in Sichuan Basin have been included in the first national shale development industries demonstration area. This paper based on the premise of the pre-vertical well fracturing reconstruction of the demonstration area, learning the experience of the similar shale reservoir horizontal staged fracturing in the North American, and combining with the characteristic of shale formation in the demonstration area, we carried out the analysis of rock mechanics and developed the optimization and evaluation of the fracturing fluid system, and completed the staged fracturing design of the first shale horizontal W1 well, then successful carried into execution in situ. By the evaluation of staged fracturing technology and the analysis of the effect after fracturing, we summed up the adaptability of the North American shale staged fracturing technology used in the demonstration area, and some problems have been shown up in the horizontal staged fracturing in the Weiyuan shale reservoir of Sichuan Basin due to its own characteristics. This paper provides an overview of the completion and stimulation of the first shale horizontal well, describes the lessons learned along the way, and discusses the implications for the future Weiyuan shale gas horizontal well development.