bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Computer-Mediated Communication and Remote Management
Authors: Morgan Stephanie J. , Symon Gillian
Published: April 2009

The use of intranets and e-mails to communicate with remote staff is increasing rapidly within organizations. Formany companies this is viewed as a speedy and cost-effective way of keeping in contact with staff and ensuring their continuing commitment to company goals. This article highlights the problems experienced by staff when managers use intranets and e-mails in an inappropriate fashion for these purposes. Issues of remoteness and isolation will be discussed, along with the reports of frustration and disidentification experienced. However, it will be shown that when used appropriately, communication using these technologies can facilitate shared understanding and help remote staff to view their company as alive and exciting. Theoretical aspects will be highlighted and the implications of these findings will be discussed.
The U.S. Census, Redistricting, and Technology
Authors: Turner Marshall L. , Lamacchia Robert A.
Published: April 2009

Since 1790, apportionment of political power among states has been the constitutional purpose for the national census. Since 1970, the Census Bureau has played an additional role and has provided the population data for the intrastate redistricting process. Evolving case law and advancing technology changed the landscape of players and methods, but the census information has remained the common denominator in redistricting. The “one-person/one-vote” decisions pushed state legislators to achieve population balance across districts. In turn, state legislative officials pushed the Census Bureau to recognize their voting precincts as tabulation areas. The bureau not only fulfilled this request but also created a computerized map of the nation—called Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system (TIGER)—and broadened access to the decennial census redistricting data by making it available on CD-ROM with built-in access software. For Census 2000, legislatures will have the Internet as a new option for accessing these data.
The Effects of Spatial Population Distributions and Political Districting on Minority Representation
Authors: Rogerson Peter A. , Yang Zongxiang
Published: April 2009

In this article, the authors explore the relationships between the geographical distribution of population, potential political redistricting schemes, and the resulting level of minority representation. The maximal fraction of districts that are minority districts is twice the fraction of minorities in the total population. The authors show how this maximum declines with increasing residential segregation. Finally, they provide some simulation results for both hypothetical cities and Buffalo council wards showing the degree of minority representation under random districting plans. This gives a baseline indicator of how population distribution is expected to influence representation and can then be compared with actual plans.
Introduction
Authors: Shields Mark A.
Published: April 2009

The second part of a two-part symposium in Social Science Computer Review devoted to equality and inequality in information societies, the three contributions to this issue focus on the growing importance of information technology (IT) in less developed countries and the gnawing disparities in IT access and impact with more developed countries, the focus of the symposium’s first part (see Social Science Computer Review, Winter 1998).
Africa’s Right to Information
Authors: Pfister Roger
Published: April 2009

Talking about Africa’s right to information means talking about communication in Africa and the Third World. In Africa, the channels of communication were underdeveloped or inappropriate because of the continent’s colonial past. The resulting lack of information was, among other reasons, an impediment to national development in African states after their independence. Until the 1980s, the principal means of communication were newspapers, books, telephones, radio, and television. However, with the development of modern technology, the proliferation of satellites, the advance in the computer industry, and the advent of the Internet, new forms of communication were added. This article outlines the initiatives and discussions from the 1960s to the 1980s on the relationship between economic development and access to information in the Third World generally and in Africa particularly. The second part deals with new communication technologies, the areas of application in Africa, and their possible impact on Africa’s development.
Changing Roles in Information Dissemination and Education
Authors: Kroeker Brian
Published: April 2009

The World Wide Web is changing the face of today’s academic libraries, that is, the way in which we use them and how we give value to them. In this article, the author explains what the Web means to the academic library and why it has become worthy of consideration. He shows that the Web will have a great impact on the library, whether the library wants it to or not, and that this impact will in large part be dictated to the library by forces both technologically and socially based and, therefore, beyond the library’s overall control. Some consequences that the author sees of attempting to ignore Web technology or providing inadequate resources to it are discussed as well. Finally, he presents some of his observations on how the Web is changing the balance between the library as provider of information and teaching faculty as providers of education.
Geography: Information Visualization in the Social Sciences
Authors: Orford Scott , Harris Richard , Dorling Daniel
Published: April 2009

This review of scientific visualization in the social sciences contains an extensive review of recent literature and Internet sources on visualization and discusses the extent to which four key visualization technologies—the World Wide Web, multimedia, virtual reality, and computer graphics—are prevalent in the different social sciences. The review includes examples taken from political science, psychology, social statistics, economics, and geography. It concludes that visualization research in the social sciences is, at present, relatively uncoordinated with no central core. It tends to be dominated by those subjects with the closest links to the natural sciences, with a clear pattern of diffusion from scientific to social scientific research.
Political Science: Coalitions, Motives, and Payoffs
Authors: Boyer Mark A.
Published: April 2009

The classroom simulation laid out in this article is designed to provide the social science instructor with an active learning method for teaching a variety of abstract concepts found in various social science fields. It also is a way for students to understand the concepts of mixed-motive negotiations without necessarily having to decipher the often heavily formal theoretical constructs found in much of the literature on negotiation and bargaining. The simulation is assisted by a spreadsheet model used to generate payoffs for the student negotiators. Many of the substantive applications discussed are taken from international relations because of the author’s disciplinary background, but others include issues regarding the stability of coalitions in legislative bargaining environments, the mix of conflictual and cooperative motives existing across parties in labor negotiations, and considerations of fairness and justice in negotiated settlements.
Sociology: Modeling Social Interaction With Autonomous Agents
Authors: Brent Edward , Thompson G. Alan
Published: April 2009

Intelligent agents offer a promising new means for modeling social interaction. This article reviews the literature on intelligent agents, focusing on the development of agents to model various forms of social interaction. It provides a framework for understanding the variety of work on agents and how that work applies to social interaction. This framework includes a breakdown of the ways in which agents can be applied to social interaction, the various aspects of social interaction that can be modeled, and some of the broader sociological implications of using agents to model social interaction. The article concludes with a brief assessment of the promise and potential of this approach for modeling social interaction.
Research Methodology: Taming the Cyber Frontier
Authors: Kaye Barbara K. , Johnson Thomas J.
Published: April 2009

The World Wide Web and other new electronic technologies might soon become prime survey vehicles due to convenient, verifiable, low-cost delivery and return systems as well as easy access and feedback mechanisms. However, along with the benefits of this new technology come new experiences and lessons to be learned and shared by researchers. The authors created and posted a survey on the Web to examine the uses of the Web for political information. The purpose of the article, however, is not to report on the political survey’s findings but rather to address issues concerning online research, discuss the implications of an online environment for traditional survey techniques, share Web survey experiences from an ex post facto perspective, and present recommendations for future online research, specifically in the areas of Web survey design, sampling, data collection and responses, and publicity.
Social Impacts
Authors: Ellison Nicole B.
Published: April 2009

This article examines the state of the art in telework research. The author reviews the most central scholarly literature examining the phenomenon of telework (also called home-based work or telecommuting) and develops a framework for organizing this body of work. She organizes previous research on telework into six major thematic concerns relating to the definition, measurement, and scope of telework; management of teleworkers; travel-related impacts of telework; organizational culture and employee isolation; boundaries between “home” and “work”; and the impact of telework on the individual and the family. Areas for future research are suggested.
International Network for Integrated Social Science
Authors: Bainbridge William Sims
Published: April 2009

Computer-related developments across the social sciences are converging on an entirely new type of infrastructure that integrates across methodologies, disciplines, and nations. This article examines the potential outlined by a number of conference reports, special grant competitions, and recent research awards supported by the National Science Foundation. Together, these sources describe an Internet-based network of collaboratories combining survey, experimental, and geographic methodologies to serve research and education in all of the social sciences.
It Ain't Natural
Authors: Brudney Jeffrey L. , Meijs Lucas C. P. M.
Published: April 2009

This article presents a new conceptualization of volunteerism as a natural resource. The authors propose that volunteer energy can be understood as a human-made, renewable resource that can be grown and recycled, and whose continuation and volume of flow can be influenced by human beings positively as well as negatively. Based on this conceptualization, we describe the major features of volunteer energy and suggest that a new regenerative approach is necessary for the field to fully embrace it. We develop the new approach and contrast it with the traditional instrumental approach to volunteer management.
German Critical Psychology
Authors: Painter Desmond , Marvakis Athanasios , Mos Leendert
Published: April 2009

In the political and scientific context of the 1960s, German Critical Psychology emerged as a theoretical and practical elaboration of Marxist thinking on the topic and discipline of psychology. Klaus Holzkamp played a central role in the establishment of Critical Psychology, and this special edition of Theory & Psychology honors his contributions even as it documents the development of his ideas. In this preface we briefly sketch the emergence of German Critical Psychology and introduce the contributors to this special issue.
Holzkamp's Critical Psychology as a Science from the Standpoint of the Human Subject
Authors: Tolman Charles W.
Published: April 2009

An introduction is given to Klaus Holzkamp's notion of Critical Psychology as a science from the standpoint of the subject. A brief history of the idea is presented with a summary of its theoretical and methodological context. The crux of the matter is that the object of psychological science is no mere object but also a subject that acts on reasons and makes choices among real possibilities for action. This puts the psychologist and the subject on an equal footing that turns research into a cooperative enterprise intended to enhance the understandings of both.
Madness, Sense, and Meaning
Authors: Wulff Erich
Published: April 2009

The mutual interconnectedness of personal sense and generalizable meaning, of subjective grounds for action and generalized possibilities for action, is described as an existential precondition for individuals as subjects in the world. The dissolution of this interconnectedness is madness. Individuals have the choice to acknowledge this interconnectedness and thus constitute themselves as subjects in the world, or they can reject it and thereby surrender themselves to madness. The social contexts that are conducive to such acknowledgement or are detrimental to them are briefly sketched, and structural analogies between the madness of persons and that of a society that is dominated by capital are underscored.
Klaus Holzkamp's Critical Social Science
Authors: Papadopoulos Dimitris
Published: April 2009

1964, 1968, 1973, 1983, 1993, 1995: This essay examines key moments in the formation of Klaus Holzkamp's critical take on social science and psychology. The main target of Holzkamp's work is to craft concepts which enable an immanent interrogation of relations of power and social control sustained through the operations of social science and psychology. Understanding power and control as an immanent question means dealing with power and control as a practical question: critical social science draws its sole justification from its capacity to alter social science and the related social and political fields.
Knowledge and Practice in Critical Psychology
Authors: Osterkamp Ute
Published: April 2009

This article outlines the essential characteristics of a psychology from the subject standpoint that starts from the principal unity of self-determination and determining the relations that determine one's own actions. The main research object in subject science understood in this way is the many forms of hindrances and obstacles, both in theory and in practice, that prevent us from realizing this unity. In contrast to standard research, where one attempts to grasp the dependency of the individual agency of others on societal structures and their cultural meanings, psychology from a subject standpoint is about relating to the societability of one's own actions, that is, analysing them to grasp their own real preconditions and implications. Consequently, in such a subject science perspective, the aim is less to gain or disseminate knowledge and more to analyse the many ways in which “critical” knowledge urging change is ignored or modified to make it compatible with one's own actual possibilities to act. As the paper details, such subject science research is not possible from an external standpoint but entails subjecting one's own assumptions and methods to a critical analysis.
Persons in Structures of Social Practice
Authors: Dreier Ole
Published: April 2009

In this article I argue for grounding psychological theories of persons in relation to structures of social practice. I introduce crucial features of such a theory of persons which is based on critical psychology and invite contributions to its further development. The theory emphasizes that persons are participants involved in personal trajectories in relation to structural arrangements of social practice. It is intended to lead to a richer and worldlier psychology. It also leads to a different understanding of professional psychological practices and of their users. To illuminate this, I present key insights from a study of clients attending therapy. Client changes do not occur only in therapeutic sessions but also in and across the contexts in which these clients live their lives in structures of social practice. In this respect, though, the structural arrangement of secluded sessions with intimate expert strangers significantly affects the mode of working of therapy in the social practice of its clients.
Reaching for Meaning
Authors: Brockmeier Jens
Published: April 2009

In this paper I am exploring meaning and meaning constructions as forms of human agency. Drawing on notions of meaning, agency, and subjectivity by Jerome Bruner and Klaus Holzkamp, my discussion emphasizes the human potentials to act, choose, and imagine as integral to the human condition. Against the backdrop of this discussion, I am particularly interested in the meaning-making resources of language, especially, of two forms of language use. One is agentive discourse—the discourse of agency—because it brings to the fore the constructive dimension of language. The other is narrative, because it is the most complex and comprehensive construction site of human imagination. I suggest that narrative imagination plays a central role in probing and extending real and fictive scenarios of agency.
A 14 000 year sedimentary charcoal record of fire from the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Basin, California, USA
Authors: Beaty R. Matthew , Taylor Alan H.
Published: April 2009

This research examines how the controls of fire episode frequency in the northern Sierra Nevada have varied at different temporal scales through the Holocene. A 5.5 m long sediment core was collected from Lily Pond, a ~2.5 ha lake in the General Creek Watershed on the west shore of Lake Tahoe in the northern Sierra Nevada in California, USA. Dendrochronology was used to reconstruct the recent history of fire, and high-resolution charcoal analysis was used to reconstruct fire episodes for the last 14 000 cal. yr BP. Fire episode frequency was low during the Lateglacial period but increased through the middle Holocene to a maximum frequency around 6500 cal. yr BP. During the late Holocene fire episode frequency generally declined except for noted peaks around 3000 cal. yr BP and 1000—800 cal. yr BP. These variations track major climatic and vegetation changes driven by millennial-timescale variation in the seasonal cycle of insolation and regional decadal- and centennial-scale variation in effective moisture in the mid and late Holocene in the Sierra Nevada. Fire episode frequency during the Holocene in the Lake Tahoe Basin varied in response to decadal-, centennial-and millennial-scale climatic variability. Current fire episode frequency on the west shore of Lake Tahoe is at one of its lowest points in at least the last 14 000 years. Given the strong relationship between climate and fire episode frequency, warming due to increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may increase fire episode frequency to levels experienced during the `Mediaeval Warm Period' or the early-Holocene summer insolation maximum as periods of drought intensify.
Twentieth-century warming and hydrographical changes in the Tagus Prodelta, eastern North Atlantic
Authors: Bartels-Jónsdóttir H.B. , Voelker A.H.L. , Knudsen K.L. , Abrantes F.
Published: April 2009

Pluri-annual proxy records of marine sediment cores from the Tagus Prodelta off Lisbon, Portugal, have been generated to gain insight into the climatic and hydrographic changes in the area during the twentieth century. The study includes benthic and planktonic foraminiferal faunas and the stable isotopic composition of one benthic ( Uvigerina celtica) and two planktonic ( Globigerina bulloides and Globorotalia inflata) foraminiferal species. Sea bottom and surface water temperatures were estimated based on the δ18O values of these species and compared with instrumental data. The foraminiferal fauna and the isotope-based temperature record indicate increasing temperatures throughout the last century. The immigration of a new species, Saidovina karreriana, to the area around 100 years ago indicates changes in the trophic conditions and water mass properties, which are probably at least partly due to anthropogenic pollution.
Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers
Authors: Winkler Stefan , Elvehøy Hallgeir , Nesje Atle
Published: April 2009

The steep outlet glaciers of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, are good examples of sensitively reacting maritime mountain glaciers. Their changes in length, frontal position and lower tongue's morphology during the past 20 years have been well documented. At first they experienced a strong frontal advance. After AD 2000 glacier behaviour was dominated by a strong frontal retreat, in some cases causing a separation of the lowermost glacier tongue. In this paper, the glacier length changes are presented both visually and numerically, supplemented by mass balance and meteorological data. The glacier behaviour is interpreted and its causes are discussed. Whereas the factors controlling the advance during the 1990s seem clear, the interpretation of the most recent retreat still leaves some uncertainties. The actual glacier front behaviour cannot fully be related to the mass balance data. Terminus response times and relations between individual mass balance and meteorological parameters have changed. Some hypotheses are given, including disturbance of the `normal' mass transfer and dynamical response of the glacier front because of excessive ablation on the lowermost glacier tongues and summer back melting. These findings underline the sensitivity of maritime glaciers to climate changes. The empirical findings need to be taken into account in the interpretation of recent glacier length changes and their future modelling.
Holocene sediment dynamics in an upland temperate lake catchment: climatic and land-use impacts in the English Lake District
Authors: Hatfield Robert G. , Maher Barbara A.
Published: April 2009

Accelerated erosion and transport of fine sediment from upland temperate catchments can reflect increased erosivity and/or erodibility, due in turn to climatic and/or human forcing. Identification of sediment fluxes and sources over Holocene timescales can both enable understanding of the relative impacts of these forcings and provide perspective on recent sediment fluxes. Here we present a ~ 5500 yr record of sediment fluxes and sources from Lake Bassenthwaite in the English Lake District, utilizing magnetic measurements and fuzzy clustering, coupled with independent pollen and archaeological records, to identify the timing and impact of catchment disturbance. This record shows that recent sediment flux increases (ie, within the last 150 years) are unprecedented in scale throughout the mid—late Holocene and appear to be in response to specific human changes occurring within the catchment. Earlier episodes of human activity, from the mid Holocene onwards, show no link with increased lake sediment fluxes, indicating either limited catchment impact and/or `buffering' through within-catchment sediment storage. Increasingly intensive land use and reduction of sediment storage through revetment construction on a key inflow, Newlands Beck, have resulted in 3 × increases in lake sediment flux. These data may be significant for other upland temperate areas, as increasing land-use pressures and reduced sediment storage capacity may not only increase contemporary sediment flux, but increase sensitivity to predicted increases in rainfall and storminess as a result of global climate change.
A geochemical and lead isotopic record from a small pond in a remote equatorial island, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
Authors: Barros de Oliveira Sonia Maria , Ruiz Pessenda Luiz Carlos , Marques Gouveia Suzy Eli , Babinski Marly , Favaro Deborah Ines Teixeira
Published: April 2009

A 72 cm long core was collected from Lagoa da Viração (LV), a small pond in the Fernando de Noronha island, northern Brazil. Sediments from the lower section of the core (20—72 cm depth) contain essentially mineral matter, while in the upper section (0—20 cm depth) mineral matter is mixed with organic matter. Lithogenic conservative elements — Si, Al, Fe, Ti, Co, Cr, Cu, Ba, Ga, Hf, Nb, Ni, Y, V, Zn, Zr and REE — exhibit remarkably constant values throughout the core, with concentrations similar to those of the bedrock. The vertical distribution of soluble elements — Ca, Mg, Na, K, P, Mn and Sr — is also homogeneous, but these elements are systematically depleted in relation to the bedrock. LOI, TOC, Br, Se, Hg and Pb, although showing nearly constant values in the lower section of the core, are significantly enriched in the upper section. The concentration profiles of Br and Se suggest that they may be accounted for by natural processes, related to the slight affinity of these elements for organic matter. On the other hand, the elevated levels of Hg and Pb in recent sediments may be explained by their long-range atmospheric transport and deposition. Furthermore, the isotopic composition of Pb clearly indicates that anthropogenic sources contributed to the Pb burden in the uppermost pond sediments.
A late-Holocene palaeoecological record from Ambra Crater in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and implications for agricultural history
Authors: Sniderman J.M.K. , Finn J. , Denham T.P.
Published: April 2009

A series of monoliths collected from Ambra Crater in the Upper Wahgi valley, Papua New Guinea have been subject to multiproxy (pollen, microcharcoal and diatom) palaeoecological investigation. The palaeoecological record enables a relatively high-resolution reconstruction from c. 4000—500 cal. BP. Throughout the sequence, the valley floor and crater area were continuously deforested and carpeted with a grassland-disturbance taxa mosaic. Vegetation communities in the valley were largely unaffected by successive tephra deposition events, although some muted effects occurred. Tephra deposition did have considerable local effects on soil water conditions and hydrology in the base of the crater. The Ambra Crater record is consistent with longer chronologies from wetlands in the Upper Wahgi valley, which document extensive disturbance to dryland forests and their replacement with grasses and other disturbance taxa from the mid Holocene. The Ambra Crater record, taken in conjunction with previously published multisite data, enables critique and discrimination of different interpretations of agricultural history in the highlands during the late Holocene.
Holocene palaeoecological reconstruction of three boreal peatlands in the La Grande Rivière region, Québec, Canada
Authors: Beaulieu-Audy Véronique , Garneau Michelle , Richard Pierre J.H. , Asnong Hans
Published: April 2009

Pollen and macrofossil analyses from central peat cores along with 23 radiocarbon dates were used in palaeoecological reconstructions for three peatlands (LG1, LG2 and LG3) within the lower La Grande Rivière watershed in northern boreal Québec. Basal ages from LG3 and LG2 indicate up to an 1100 years later and possibly more abrupt Tyrrell Sea retreat in the LG3 area compared with the timeline for the region. Both autogenic and allogenic factors were found to have influenced local vegetation succession and rates of peat accumulation. Internal autogenic factors such as peat accumulation were key elements for the general peatland developmental pathway that followed the classic hydrosere sequence (pond-fen-bog). Regional climate and hydrography are the main external factors associated with changes in vegetation assemblages, surface wetness and consequently rates of peat accumulation. The LG2 and LG3 peatlands began developing shortly after 7000 cal. BP as shallow ponds with herbaceous freshwater aquatic and emergent taxa. Both sites rapidly evolved into fens with brown mosses. The autogenic transition from fen to bog occurred at both sites between 6000 and 5500 cal. BP. A long-term decrease in peat accumulation rates corresponding to a gradual densification of the local tree and shrub cover occurred at the LG2 and LG3 sites between 5000 and 1500 cal. BP. These changes were simultaneous at the two sites and therefore suggest the influence of external factors such as a shift to cooler and drier climatic conditions from the middle to late Holocene (Neoglacial period). Development of the LG1 site was delayed by a much later Tyrrell Sea retreat and started with a relatively long eutrophic aquatic phase. Both internal factors (minerotrophic conditions) and external factors (local topography and climate) contributed to the somewhat slower pace of vegetation succession. Synchronous increased peat accumulation rates in the last 1500 years at the three sites are attributable to regional vegetational shifts possibly due to the influence of recent climatic conditions and lower peat compaction of the acrotelm.
In other words: breaking the monologue in Whitman, Williams and Hughes
Authors: Goodblatt Chanita
Published: April 2009

One important aspect of the ‘Whitman tradition’ in American poetry is its breaking of the monologic hegemony of the lyric voice. Focusing on this aspect necessarily assumes that a poem establishes a ‘fictional context of utterance’, particularly a ‘complex or shifting discourse situation … [which]may involve variations in deictic centre’ (Semino, 1995: 145). The resulting dialogic interplay of voices stands at the very centre of Walt Whitman’s poem ‘Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking’, William Carlos Williams’s ‘The Desert Music’ and Langston Hughes’s ‘Cultural Exchange’. The present discussion of dialogic interplay in the lyric text turns naturally to Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia. Making use of the cline of speech presentation developed by Leech and Short (1981), Bakhtin’s categories of ‘compositional-stylistic unities’ will be elaborated upon: direct authorial literary-artistic narration; the stylistically individualized speech of characters; and incorporated genres. In ‘Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking’ there is an interplay of voices between boy, bird and sea, within a narrative frame related by the adult and child lyric speakers. Within the more general conversation in ‘The Desert Music’ there is an interplay of the lyric speaker’s own social and poetic selves, while in ‘Cultural Exchange’ dialogic interplay is highlighted in the use Hughes makes of the ‘intimidating margins of silence’ (Culler, 1975: 161) which conventionally surround a lyric text, filling them with musical notations that comment on the lyric voice.
Institutionalized utterances, literature, and language teaching
Authors: MacKenzie Ian
Published: April 2009

Linguists have recently suggested that a large proportion of linguistic performance in naturally acquired languages is enabled by the internalization of a huge number of institutionalized utterances, or lexical phrases, or fixed and semi-fixed expressions. This research parallels the discovery, earlier this century, of the oral-formulaic nature of Homeric poetry. Furthermore, although written literature (as opposed to oral epic poetry) is generally assumed to be anything but formulaic, it can be shown that it too necessarily contains a lot of institutionalized expressions, or at least transformations of them, and that our own repertoire of memorized phrases almost certainly comes from literary as well as oral sources. Foreign language teachers clearly need to give serious consideration to the prevalence of lexical phrases, in both speech and writing. Literature can be used in the foreign language classroom as (among many other things) a source of institutionalized phrases.
Whose parliament? Political oratory and print culture in the later 18th century
Authors: Reid Christopher
Published: April 2009

A recurrent feature of the long history of the British Parliament has been its resistance to the media which facilitate public access to its proceedings. Throughout the 18th century the reporting of parliamentary debates was technically a breach of privilege and it was not until the 1770s that the publication of proceedings in newspapers became an established fact of political life. The emergence of this extra-parliamentary public sphere had important implications for parliamentary discourse itself. With opinion increasingly being made and exchanged outside Westminster, parliament itself came under pressure to adapt to changing circumstances and readerships.

Focusing on the House of Commons, this article examines how a parliamentary culture of gentlemanly orality began to negotiate a relationship with an increasingly dominant culture of print. With particular reference to the early 1780s it considers the extent to which the publication of debates complicated oratorical performance, requiring speakers to conceive of their productions as engaging with a new kind of public and inducing them to refashion themselves rhetorically in recognition of shifting conceptions of political sincerity, accountability and trust.
A cognitive approach to characterization: Katherina in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew
Authors: Culpeper Jonathan
Published: April 2009

In this article, I argue that literary characterization can be fruitfully approached by drawing upon theories developed within social cognition to explain the perception of real-life people. I demonstrate how this approach can explain the construction of Katherina, the protagonist in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Specifically, I introduce notions from cognitive theories of knowledge (especially schema theory), and impression formation. Using these, I describe (1) the role of prior knowledge in forming an impression of a character, and (2) how various types of impression are formed. Prior to my analysis of Katherina, I outline the kind of shrew schema the Elizabethans might have had knowledge of. Then, in my analysis I argue that the textual evidence in the first part of the play is largely consistent with this schema, and thus Katherina at this stage is largely a schema-based character. However, I show that as the play progresses a number of changes create the conditions for a more complex and personalized character. As a consequence of this analysis, I claim that Katherina is not, as some critics have argued, simply a shrew, or an inconsistent character, or a typical character of a farce.
Towards a procedure for metaphor identification
Authors: Steen Gerard
Published: April 2009

This article aims to demonstrate the possibility of a stepwise procedure for metaphor identification. It is situated against the background of a more encompassing and complete five-step procedure for deriving conceptual metaphorical mappings from linguistic metaphors. The mainly cognitive linguistic assumptions of this overall approach are explicated first, with an emphasis on the purpose of identifying metaphor in language rather than in language behaviour. The compatibility between this cognitive-linguistic and a more generally cognitive psychological approach to metaphor is guaranteed by then introducing the notion of metaphorical propositions as the bridge between linguistic metaphors and metaphorical mappings. Moreover, reliability is hopefully increased by adopting the strategy of beginning with clear cases, which means that the initial focus is on all nominal, verbal, adjectival and adverbial concepts. As a result of this, a minimal procedure for finding metaphorically used words and concepts may be presented in the form of a list of seven instructions. A demonstration of this procedure is finally provided in the form of a detailed analysis of Robert Browning’s ‘Parting at Morning’.
Bilingual word-play in literary discourse: the creation of relational identity
Authors: Cortés-Conde Florencia , Boxer Diana
Published: April 2009

This article discusses linguistic manifestations of bilingual identity in the literary narratives of Woman Hollering Creek, by Chicana writer Sandra Cisneros. Of particular interest here is the little-studied phenomenon of bilingual groups’ fluid identities. We posit that relational identity (RID), which implies more fluidity than either individual or social identity, is achieved in bilingual literary discourse via such mechanisms as humourous code-switching and playing with linguistic devices. Linguistic strategies in Cisneros’ narratives show how being bilingual not only lies in the use of two languages but consists of an entirely new system which is a play on both languages. This gives the effect of humour, but also creates a solidarity with the ‘in group’, through language that is only understood by ‘we’.
‘Evil tongues’: the rhetoric of discreet indiscretion in Fontane’s L’Adultera
Authors: Hess-Lüttich Ernest W.B.
Published: April 2009

‘Gossip’ is yet to be discovered as a genre of everyday talk in the study of German language and literature. So far, it has been described in detail only in sociology, anthropology, ethnography of communication, and feminist linguistics. The focus of study in these fields has been on aspects of conversation analysis, social function, psychological implications, constellation of relationships, and the like. By contrast, based on a broadly established methodological foundation, linguistic tools of dialogue analysis are applied in this article to various forms of gossip in Theodor Fontane’s society novel L’Adultera. The main interest here is the way in which the author creates these forms of fictive, simulated, literary gossip in order to structure the course of the action, to give an indirect sketch of the characters, to include critical comments on the society of the time and to present literary means of negotiating social relationships.
‘From their point of view’: voice and speech in George Moore’s Esther Waters
Authors: Chapman Siobhan
Published: April 2009

George Moore’s Esther Waters 1983 [1894] has been praised by critics for the sustained manner in which Esther serves as the controlling consciousness of her own story. This article explores the possibility of using stylistic accounts of some of the distinctive linguistic features of the text to offer an explanation of this. As an illiterate servant girl as well as an unrepentant ‘fallen woman’, Esther is an unlikely and, at the time of first publication, controversial heroine, let alone central consciousness. The narrative of the novel is considered in terms of Uspensky’s (1973) notion of ‘point of view’, and various later developments of this, in order to assess how Esther acts as ‘characterfocalizer’ for her own story. The manner in which Esther gives ‘voice’ to that story is examined with reference to Leech and Short’s (1981) ‘cline of speech presentation’. Further, it is argued that Esther’s ‘voice’ is not only heard when her speech is represented, but permeates the narration of her story. Bakhtin’s (1981) notion of ‘voice-images’ is used to explore this idea. Throughout the discussion of these themes, comparisons are drawn with Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a novel very close to Esther Waters in date and theme, but in which some significantly different linguistic choices are made. It is argued that these differences can, in part, account for the different viewpoints, or ideological stances, of the two texts.1
Discourse and time in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Authors: Herman Vimala
Published: April 2009

This article explores different verbal resources for the representation of time in drama. Drama as a genre is subjected to different pressures of time, given that the fictional time spans in the dramatic world must be realized within the real time allocated to a performance, a context which a dramatic text necessarily addresses. The temporal scope of plays can be highly expanded or contracted, but whatever option is used in a play, it is the result of the strategic exploitation of different resources. Theatre provides non-verbal means, like lighting and décor, but verbal resources are more dynamic. The verbal dialogue enacts speech events, and speech events are tied to spatio-temporal contexts, which can be transformed via speech use. The article examines various verbal resources like deixis, tense and aspect, lexical choices in clock and calendrical references, and pragmatics in order to explore their productive functions in constructing the complex and dynamic temporal world of one play, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The Conceptualisation of Growth
Authors: Janssen Frank
Published: April 2009

Many different variables have been used to measure the firm's growth. Employment and sales are the two most used criteria within the literature on growth determinants. Most of the time, researchers do not provide any theoretical justification for using one or the other criterion and appear to use them interchangeably, as if they constituted equivalent representations of the same observable reality, that is, the firm's size. Using a sample of Belgian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), we have tested the interchangeability of these two criteria. Our results show that these two types of growth are determined by factors that are largely distinct. Organisational growth is thus shown to be a multifaceted phenomenon that cannot be reduced to a single dimension. This also means that growth cannot be measured through composite indicators, mixing different variables like sales or workforce, because they do not measure the same phenomenon. From a managerial point of view, this means that the resources that are mobilised and the strategies that are implemented by a firm should vary depending on whether it wishes to attain one or the other type of growth.
Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, and Customer Loyalty in Indian Commercial Banks
Authors: Lenka Usha , Suar Damodar , Mohapatra Pratap K.J.
Published: April 2009

This article examines whether service quality of Indian commercial banks increases customer satisfaction that fosters customer loyalty. Data were collected from 350 valued customers of scheduled commercial bank branches in Orissa (India). A questionnaire elicited information on socio–demographic variables along with human, technical, and tangible aspects of service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. Results suggest that better human, technical and tangible aspects of service quality of the bank branches increase customer satisfaction. Human aspects of service quality were found to influence customer satisfaction more than the technical and tangible aspects. Customer satisfaction furthers customer loyalty. Increase in service quality of the banks can satisfy and retain customers. In the Indian banking sector, human aspects are more important than technical and tangible aspects of service quality that influence customer satisfaction and promote and enhance customer loyalty.
An Investigation into Innovations in SMEs
Authors: Wang Yong , Costello Pat
Published: April 2009

This article focuses on innovation in small businesses. Specifically, the objectives of the paper are twofold: a) to explore the impact of individual features, business resources, organisational culture, structure and market dynamism on firm-level innovation; b) to develop insights into innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The research procedure follows Yin's (1994) case method approach. Two Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies, winners of various innovation awards in the West Midlands of the UK, participated in the case studies. Evidence from the studies shows that innovation intensity is dependent on the availability and sufficiency of financial and human resources. Furthermore, an organisational culture supporting new product development and an innovation-conducive structure/mechanism influences the innovation outcomes. Evidence also reveals that firm-level innovation will be influenced internally by senior executives’ experiences and externally by market dynamism.
Theory for Strategy
Authors: Basrur Rajesh M.
Published: April 2009

The realist school of thought in international relations theory, under attack in the post-Cold War era for its numerous failings, has turned away from its focus on system structure to a refined version of its earlier form, which also focused on domestic factors and policy choice. But the neoclassical school neglects important systemic dynamics arising from variations in levels of economic and strategic interdependence. A refined neoclassical approach, by focusing on the relationship between degrees of interdependence and the role of structure, identifies the scope for optimal policy choice in different settings. For India, a nation on the threshold of major power status, this provides an improved basis for interpreting the changing international system and fashioning an appropriate broad strategy toward it.
Afghanistan in South Asia
Authors: D'Souza Shanthie Mariet
Published: April 2009

Afghanistan seems to be sliding into chaos notwithstanding the initial euphoria that followed the toppling of the Taliban regime. The long-term stability of Afghanistan is mainly contingent upon its integration in a regional cooperative framework. The Afghanistan Compact adopted at the London Conference in January-February 2006 identified regional cooperation as a main plank of the international community's reconstruction strategy. However, not all stakeholders in the region share similar perceptions or interests in promoting regional cooperation. This article seeks to examine whether regional cooperation in South Asia could be an effective mechanism to bring in long-term stability in Afghanistan. Will regional cooperation augment Afghanistan's capacity to deliver basic needs to the Afghan people? Would its entry into the South Asian fold contribute to peace in that country?
India as a Threat
Authors: Vinayaraj V.K.
Published: April 2009

India dominates the South Asian region in political and strategic terms. India's overwhelming presence, big brotherly attitude and the regional security initiatives taken by it are perceived by its neighbours as threats to their security. It is in this context that Bangladesh's threat perceptions of India and changes thereof are analysed in this article. Bangladesh's threat perceptions vis-à-vis India are diverse in nature varying from political, economic, environmental and strategic issues. The changing nature of such threat perceptions has led to insecurity in the region and has created strains in bilateral relations. The article analyses the changing nature of threat perceptions in Bangladesh determined by power, geographic proximity, offensive capabilities and perceived intentions. Apart from analysing the dynamics of Bangladesh-India relations, the article also attempts to identify the reasons for change in Bangladesh's threat perception of India.
AIDS and the State
Authors: Iqbal Javed Mohammad
Published: April 2009

The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic is now considered not only a health problem, but also a development issue as well as a security threat. While states have responded in varied ways to the AIDS epidemic, most have failed in combating it. What explains the variations in state responses to the AIDS epidemic? This article compares the state responses of Brazil, India and South Africa to AIDS with the help of a few variables: states’ primacy to human security, socio–cultural norms, civil society activism and a rapidly changing strategic environment. This article demonstrates that a greater level of state's primacy to human security threats like HIV/AIDS and civil society activism produce a more successful state response. The article further suggests that social and political conditions do impact upon the state's response to AIDS. Prominent among them are the rapidly changing strategic environment and socio–cultural norms.