bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tanzania's Missing Opposition
Authors: Hoffman Barak , Robinson Lindsay
Published: July 2012

Why do opposition parties in Tanzania remain chronically weak a decade and a half after the country's democratic transition? Part of the absence of a vigorous political opposition is the result of little demand for it and its uninspiring leadership. This argument views the ruling CCM as a relatively benign hegemon acceptable to the vast majority of Tanzanians. Although this argument is based on a significant amount of truth, the main reason opposition parties remain weak is because the CCM suppresses those who contest its near-monopoly of power, including resorting to coercion when other methods of containing the opposition fail.
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy (II): East-Central Europe's Quandary
Authors: Bohle Dorothee , Greskovits Béla
Published: July 2012

Abstract: The article discusses strategies the Central-East European EU member states have applied to protect their populations against the social risks stemming from transformation, foreign-led development and the current economic crisis, and asks how they came about. Some governments spend relatively little on social protection, but employ a high share of their workforce in the public sector. Others offer the most generous support for pensioners and other underemployed groups. As shown in detail in the Hungarian and Latvian case, divergent welfare strategies can be traced back to different socialist legacies and perceptions of the past.
Jordan: Ten More Years of Autocracy
Authors: Yom Sean L.
Published: July 2012

Since his ascension in 1999, King Abdullah II has halted Jordan's decade-long experiment with political liberalization. However, the new royal incumbent has preserved authoritarian power not through highly visible tools of domination, such as widespread coercion and institutional closure, but rather softer instruments of legal manipulation. Through selective economic reforms, new civil society regulations, and hollow pluralism initiatives, Abdullah's regime has tightened its control over political opposition while foreclosing the possibility of mass unrest. As a result, ten years after the Hashemite monarchy received its new king, the prospects for democratic change in Jordan remain exceedingly low.
India's 2009 Elections: The Problem of Corruption
Authors: Sen Ronojoy
Published: July 2012

Abstract: For democrats everywhere, the news coming out of India in the spring of 2009 seemed unalloyedly good: The country had held yet another in what has become a long string of consistently fair and largely peaceful national elections, with the result that the incumbent Congress party and its coalition had won a clear mandate to govern. Yet over the years Indians have come to trust their political leaders less and less. A huge share—nearly a quarter—of the MPs elected to parliament in 2004 were under investigation or actually facing criminal charges. This presents a paradox: While there is overwhelming support for democracy in India the level of trust felt toward political parties and politicians is low, perhaps dangerously so.
Iran in Ferment: Civil Society's Choice
Authors: Boroumand Ladan
Published: July 2012

Abstract: In Iran, the supreme leader's absolute power over the government emanates not from the people, but rather from the divine authority of the Twelfth (or Hidden) Imam. Elections are thus mere administrative procedures whose legitimacy depends upon the pre-election vetting of the candidates and the postelection approval of the results by the unelected, cleric-dominated Council of Guardians. Even so, it is clear that the civil-rights movement put its mark on the content of the 2009 presidential campaign and the rhetoric of the candidates. And while the movement may have miscalculated in assuming that some degree of popular sovereignty—waiting to be activated by the voting masses—lay dormant in the 1979 Constitution, the regime has nevertheless remained unable to usurp popular legitimacy.
Of Silk, Women, and Capital: Peasant Women's Labor in Chinese and Other Third World Capitalisms
Authors: Bell Lynda Schaefer
Published: July 2012

In the early twentieth century, Chinese peasant women's
work in sericulture fused with modern factory production of raw silk,
generating a nonclassic form of Third World capitalism. In Wuxi County,
near the modern treaty port city of Shanghai, women worked long hours
raising silkworms for daily incomes far below those men earned in
grain farming. Escalating demand for silkworm cocoons helped stimulate
a gendered division of labor in all types of work peasant households
performed, with men seeking an array of nonfarm jobs to supplement their
work in grain farming, while women pursued sericulture. As a result, male
peasants in Wuxi migrated more frequently to urban locales in search of
work, and women and children who were left behind became the poorest
people residing in Wuxi villages. These findings demonstrate the
control exercised over peasant women's labor in divergent forms of Third
World capitalisms, and an increasing potential in such situations for
the feminization of rural poverty.
Photography, Performance, and the Making of Female Images in Modern China
Authors: Pang Laikwan
Published: July 2012

Carefully examining the photographs of courtesans, Cixi the Empress, and dan (the male opera performers impersonating female characters) within their cultural economy in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century China, this article explores the relations between photography as a newly imported leisure activity and the making of female images within the new order of China's modern society. Photography's direct replication of reality and its infinite reproductive capacity characterize the complex relationship between reality and representation in modern society, and also render a new cultural space for identity performance. Examining a rich array of issues including prostitution, cross-dressing, fashion, female deification, and the dynamics between gender ideology and female agency, this article analyzes the instability of gender meanings in photographs of women. A coherent pattern of "seeing," or a coherent modern China, is still in the making.
"To Build up the Morals of the Tribe": Southern Ute Women's Sexual Behavior and the Office of Indian Affairs, 1895-1932
Authors: Osburn Katherine M. B.
Published: July 2012

This article explores attempts of Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) agents on the Southern Ute reservation in southwestern Colorado to use Southern Ute women to "reform" Ute sexual and marital practices, as well as Ute women's responses to these efforts. While preaching the importance of Indian women as a force for tribal moral "improvement," OIA personnel also made women's sexual behavior the focus of punishment and coercion. Coming from a cultural tradition that allowed them complete control over their sexual choices and activities, however, Southern Ute women resisted the OIA agenda. Even in the face of harsh sanctions, Southern Ute women asserted autonomy over their sexual behavior and often thwarted the OIA's campaign. Attempts to contain Southern Ute women's sexual behavior reflected stereotypes about the sexuality of women of color, and were part of a larger pattern of concern over women's sexual conduct during this period.
Beware the Bed of Fire: Gender, Democracy, and the Jama'at-i Islami in Bangladesh
Authors: Shehabuddin Elora
Published: July 2012

In recent electoral campaigns in Bangladesh, the Jama'at-i Islami or "party of Islam" has claimed that a vote in its favor is a vote in favor of God and Islam; yet, the party repeatedly has failed to find significant support among what is generally considered a pious Muslim population. The Jama'at has attributed its electoral losses to secularist conspiracies, arguing that without such negative propaganda the "god-fearing people" of the country naturally would vote for its candidates. Through a study of the strategies and ideology the Jama'at has employed in its bid to attract women voters, I assess the extent to which the Jama'at is responsible for its inability to achieve broader support. I conclude that despite its public rhetoric, such as its plans to alleviate poverty and safeguard women's interests, the Jama'at has failed to convince most impoverished, unlettered, village women that it represents their interests.
A Proposed Ethical Framework for Vaccine Mandates: Competing Values and the Case of HPV
Authors: Field Robert I. , Caplan Arthur L.
Published: July 2012

Debates over vaccine mandates raise intense emotions, as reflected in the current controversy over whether to mandate the vaccine against human papilloma virus (HPV), the virus that can cause cervical cancer. Public health ethics so far has failed to facilitate meaningful dialogue between the opposing sides. When stripped of its emotional charge, the debate can be framed as a contest between competing ethical values. This framework can be conceptualized graphically as a conflict between autonomy on the one hand, which militates against government intrusion, and beneficence, utilitarianism, justice, and nonmaleficence on the other, which may lend support to intervention. When applied to the HPV vaccine, this framework would support a mandate based on utilitarianism, if certain conditions are met and if herd immunity is a realistic objective.
Non-Heart-Beating Donors of Organs: Are the Distinctions Between Direct and Indirect Effects & Between Killing and Letting Die Relevant and Helpful?
Authors: Childress James F.
Published: July 2012

This essay analyzes the principle of double effect and, to a lesser extent, the distinction between killing and letting die in the context of the Pittsburgh protocol for managing patients who may become non-heart-beating donors or sources of organs for transplantation. It notes several ambiguities and unresolved issues in the Pittsburgh protocol but concludes that neither the principle of double effect nor the distinction between killing and letting die (with the prohibition of the former and the allowance of the latter under some circumstances) erects insurmountable obstacles to the implementation of the protocol. Nevertheless, the requirement of the principle of double effect that the intended good effects outweigh the unintended side effects necessitates careful attention to the probable overall impact of the proposed policy on organ procurement, particularly because public mistrust plays such a significant role in limiting the number of organ donations.
Procuring Organs from a Non-Heart-Beating Cadaver: A Case Report
Authors: DeVita Michael A. , Vukmir Rade , Snyder James V. , Graziano Cheryl
Published: July 2012

Organ transplantation is an accepted therapy for major organ failure, but it depends on the availability of viable organs. Most organs transplanted in the U.S. come from either "brain-dead" or living related donors. Recently organ procurement from patients pronounced dead using cardiopulmonary criteria, so-called "non-heart-beating cadaver donors" (NHBCDs), has been reconsidered. In May 1992, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) enacted a new, complicated policy for procuring organs from NHBCDs after the elective removal of life support. Seventeen months later only one patient has become a NHBCD. This article describes her case and the results of interviews with the health care team and the patient's family. The case and interviews are discussed in relation to several of the ethical concerns previously raised about the policy, including potential conflicts of interest, the definition of cardiopulmonary death, and a possible net decrease in organ donation. The conclusion is reached that organ procurement from non-heart-beating cadavers is feasible and may be desirable both for the patient's family and the health care providers.
Bioethics as a New Human Rights Emphasis in European Research Policy
Authors: Elizalde Jose
Published: July 2012

Although issues of morals and ethics remain largely a national matter, the European Community (EC) and the Council of Europe have taken an increasing interest in identifying and harmonizing the often conflicting policies of the European countries on bioethical matters. This article examines the role these organizations are playing and identifies some of the initiatives that have been taken in specific areas.
Justice and the Market for Health Insurance
Authors: Powers Madison
Published: July 2012

After reviewing some of the insurance-related obstacles to access to health care, some ethical criteria for evaluating proposals aimed at reforming the health insurance marketplace to achieve universal access are developed. The additional reforms needed to eliminate many of the deficiencies in the current health insurance marketplace are discussed. It is suggested that without such substantial reforms some of the other goals such as expanded consumer choice and overall societal health care cost savings may not be effectively promoted.
A Ray of Light About Frozen Embryos
Authors: Clayton Ellen Wright
Published: July 2012

The Tennessee Supreme Court's decision in Davis v. Davis , a case that raises the question of how to allocate frozen embryos in the event of divorce, addresses many of the legal issues posed by in vitro fertilization. The decision considers the interests of the progenitors as well as of the children who may result. For example, the court held that gamete providers' discretion regarding the disposition of embryos can be limited only when their decisions would harm the children who might be born. The court also made clear that efforts to seek genetic parenthood are protected only when accompanied by a desire to raise the resulting children, a conclusion that also affects other reproductive technologies. In addition to elaborating an analytic framework, the court set guidelines for resolving disputes when the couples had made no prior agreements, including holding that while the embryos are ex-utero the desire to avoid genetic parenthood almost always trumps the wish to become a parent. The well-reasoned analysis in Davis v. Davis should help shape legal and ethical discussion regarding the use of in vitro fertilization for many years to come.
Medical Ethics in Latin America: A New Interest and Commitment
Authors: Drane James F. , Fuenzalida Hernán L.
Published: July 2012

Recent visits to five Latin American nations indicate that some medical professionals are eager to increase the role of bioethics in their countries. Conversations with key figures there point up similarities and differences among Latin nations, and between Latin countries and the United States, in their approaches to ethics. Opportunities exist for U.S. bioethicists to help get bioethics teaching and research off the ground in Latin America.
Ontological and Ethical Implications of Direct Nuclear Reprogramming: Response to Magill and Neaves
Authors: Condic Maureen L. , Lee Patrick , George Robert P.
Published: July 2012

The paper by Magill and Neaves in this issue of the Journal attempts to rebut the "natural potency" position, based on recent advances in direct reprogramming of somatic cells to yield "induced pluripotent stem" (iPS) cells. As stated by the authors, the natural potency position holds that because "a human embryo directs its own integral organismic function from its beginning . . . there is a whole, albeit immature, and distinct human organism that is intrinsically valuable with the status of inviolability and deserving full moral respect" (p. 26). The authors boldly assert that "The recent production of iPS . . . highlights a prima facie absurdity for the natural potentiality argument" (p. 29). Yet the argument against natural potency is both logically flawed and based on a characterization of the scientific evidence that is factually inaccurate.
Quantifier Scope in English, Chinese, and Japanese
Authors: Kuno Susumu , Takami Ken-ichi , Wu Yuru
Published: July 2012

This article critically examines Aoun and Li's (1993) syntactic analysis of quantifier scope interpretations in English, Chinese, and Japanese, and it shows that (i) there are serious theoretical problems with Aoun and Li's account of scope interpretations for the double object and topicalization constructions; (ii) there are ambiguous sentences that Aoun and Li's analysis predicts to be unambiguous; and (iii) there are unambiguous sentences which their analysis predicts to be ambiguous. While problem (iii) makes their analysis insufficient, problems (i) and (ii) make it untenable. We propose a quantifier scope analysis that is free from any of the above three problems. We claim that the quantifier scope interpretations of a given sentence result from the interactions of various principles, some syntactic, others nonsyntactic. We propose an expert system that takes all these principles into consideration, and arrives at a composite opinion of the relative strengths of the potential scope interpretations of a given sentence. We speculate that wide idiolectal variations in quantifier scope interpretations are due to differences among speakers on the relative weights these principles receive in their respective expert systems.
Resource Discovery: Catalogs, Cataloging, and the User
Authors: Chapman Ann
Published: July 2012

This article considers resource discovery from the viewpoint of visually impaired people. Starting with the tasks of find, identify, select, and obtain, it examines how catalogs can be enhanced to assist visually impaired users. It then looks at the inclusion of specific data within catalog records and how they help the user. This is followed by some reflections on display issues and a reference to the need for accessibility in catalog systems. It concludes that improvements for visually impaired people provide features that sighted people will appreciate as well.
Displaying Traditional Yorùbá Religious Objects in Museums: The Western Re-Making of a Cultural Heritage
Authors: Catalani Anna
Published: July 2012

This paper, based on doctoral research carried out from January 2003 through July 2005, addresses the interpretation and representation of non-Western religious material culture in Western museums and offers a comprehensive view of the way traditional religious Yorùbá objects are displayed in contemporary museums in Britain. Museum exhibitions can be conceived as a visual narrative, which absorbs the religious essence of traditional religious non-Western objects into broad categories. At the same time, these categories are still strongly affected by Western aesthetic appreciation, understanding, and classificatory systems. In museum displays, traditional Yorùbá religious material culture loses its distinctiveness and is absorbed into global pan-African representations. Therefore, in order to be able to reach more informed or "authentic" interpretations, museums should include the memories and voices of the people who are "closer" to the original meanings of traditional religious objects.
Shades of Blue: Debating Greek Identity through Santiago Calatrava's Design for the Athens Olympic Stadium
Authors: Traganou Jilly
Published: July 2012

In October 2001 Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design the roof of the Athens Olympic Stadium that was meant to be the signature building of the 2004 Olympic Games. The "jewel in the crown," as the roof was characterized by the media, received mixed reviews. An examination of various interpretations of Calatrava's project (from its inception in 2001 to its completion in 2004) that appeared primarily in the popular media, rather than the formal literature on architecture, illuminates architecture's function as a means of debating national identity as well as its relationship with the broader public realm in contemporary Greece.
Debureaucratization Failure in Post-Dictatorial Greece: A Sociopolitical Control Approach
Authors: Samatas Minas
Published: July 2012

Why has there been a perpetual debureaucratization failure in post-dictatorial Greece and why have all prescriptions for rational administrative reform failed to date? This paper addresses these questions from a sociopolitical control perspective, examining the organized efforts of the post-dictatorial political forces in Greece to acquire, maintain, and reproduce their established interests in the state apparatus and the wider public sector. Utilizing a comparative analysis of the attempts at administrative reform and exposing the similarities of the clientelistic politics of both governing parties, i.e., Néa Dimokratía and PASOK , the paper argues that the overall performance of the Greek public administration is not pathological but rather functional for the established sociopolitical control system of Greek bureaucratism—i.e., the particular organization and operation of the entire state apparatus—imposed and perpetuated by the Greek ruling forces to serve their politicoeconomic interests. Debureaucratization goes against party interests; it is pursued and implemented only to the extent that it does not inhibit—indeed, that it enhances—party control of the state and of patronage.
Altered States: Space, Gender, and the (Un)making of Identity in the Short Stories of Georgios M. Vizyenos
Authors: Barbeito Patricia Felisa
Published: July 2012

Georgios M. Vizyenos's short stories were written during the mid to late 1880s, a period that saw the birth of demoticism and increasing interest in folkloric movements, as well as an investment in self-representation and the establishment of a coherent national identity. The Athenian critical establishment categorized Vizyenos as a Tourkomerítis , a term that constructs identity by contrasting geographic location and nationality. The discomfiture reflected in this epithet may also issue from the way Vizyenos's stories problematize the notion of an inherent, homogeneous, and unitary concept of identity: they complicate spatial categories and relations and result in a concomitant reworking of gender roles, national identifications, and genres.
Gender, Narrative Modes, and the Procreative Cycle: The Pregnant Word in Vizyenos
Authors: Syrimis George
Published: July 2012

In Vizyenos's stories, femininity and orality constitute a conceptual unit, a world view, and a voice in direct contradistinction to masculinity and literariness. Vizyenos's exploration and problematization of the preceding categories suggests a movement from the oral to the written, as well as from the feminine to the masculine. Functioning at the junction of these two categories is a dissident and dissonant gender-crossing that in Vizyenos's texts appears at the narrative and meta-narrative levels, articulates the labor of transition, and ultimately engenders the texts. Although this movement may initially be conceived in diachronic or teleological terms, Vizyenos's texts offer alternative identities (linguistic, gender, and national) that are best conceived as modes of being rather than as essential or inevitable stages in personal, social, or literary development.
British Attitudes to Constitution-Making in Post-1931 Cyprus
Authors: Markides Diana , Georghallides G. S.
Published: July 2012

The 1930s found Cyprus facing the disheartening results of drought exacerbated by the effect of the worldwide depression and the years of tribute payment. Sir Ronald Storrs's optimistic plans could not be realized; the economic frustration was compounded by the legislative council's restraints on attempts at representative government. The October 1931 demonstration and fire at Government House and the resultant repression of even the modicum of political action previously allowed were followed by a change of governor. Storrs's thoughts on a constitution were suppressed by the Colonial Office. Sir Reginald Stubbs, the new governor, was instructed to form a palliative advisory council, the members of which were given no voice. Greece, too, frowned on any vigorous pursuit of nationalism. Those who sought moderation and cooperation in a gradualist approach to self-determination were rendered powerless and seen as traitors by those who wanted immediate enosis. Britain thus lost the opportunity that concessions to self-respect and local authority might have provided to allow its colony to become a self-governing dominion.
Nuevas fundaciones: Temporalidad e historia en La comunidad de Álex de la Iglesia
Authors: Moreiras-Menor Cristina
Published: July 2012

Alex de la Iglesia’s film ‘La comunidad’ examines the incomplete and conflictive transition from Franquista social values and economic models to the cultural values of democratic post-Franquista (postmodern) Spain. Through the dialogue that the director establishes between different cultural and filmic traditions, as well as through the relation between narratives elements in the film and contemporary social issues such as the “common graves” of Franquismo and the “disappeared”, ‘La comunidad’ analyzes the notion of a centered community as a constant tension between past and present, between old and new Spain, in which the specters of the past haunt the present through the reproduction of violence within this contemporary new Spain. This paper focuses on the film’s delirious, hilarious, and violent representation of Madrid’s “central location”, the affects and violence that forge the terms of that center’s forms of internal organization, the monumental Madrid of the Post Office building and its networks of communication, and the presence of opposing economic systems (the feudalism of the notion of ‘inheritance’, the popular obsession with the ‘soccer pools’, and the postmodern world of value as implied in the films’ representation of the real estate industry, along with the precariousness of flexible labor), in order to highlight the traces of a Franquista past that, through a recuperation of the grotesque, communicates with and invades the cultural representation of a history that is said to have surpassed and successfully forgotten the cultural values of the country’s past.

Through the concepts of non-contemporaneity and anamorphosis, this essay analyzes the peculiar temporality represented in the film, and studies the madness and violence that underlies the concept of ‘center’, which has been so important to the construction of Spanish nationalism and which remains, perhaps in unconscious form, one of the dominant narratives of post-dictatorship Spain
"Le Père Judas," ou la (re)construction laborieuse d'un conte peu convaincant de Guy de Maupassant
Authors: Haezewindt Bernard
Published: July 2012

"Le Père Judas" a été publié par Guy de Maupassant dans Le Gaulois du 28 février 1883. Ce journal de droite sera plus tard antidreyfusard et affichera ouvertement les préjugés antisémites de sa rédaction et aussi de ses lecteurs. Ce conte, non repris du vivant de Guy de Maupassant fait partie de ceux que l'auteur, pour des raisons diverses, n'a pas jugés dignes de figurer dans ses recueils. Serait-ce pour des raisons politiques ou purement artistiques, l'écrivain jugeant que ces récits, au moment de leur première parution, étaient plus alimentaires que littéraires? Nous ne pourrons peut-être jamais répondre à cette question qui exige, en fin de compte une explication de l'auteur. Néanmoins, nous pouvons tenter d'élaborer des supputations à cet effet, fondées sur une étude structurale et textuelle approfondie du "Père Judas." (In French)
Sand's La Mare Au Diable, Awakening through "Evil" and the Hero's Journey
Authors: Hamilton James F
Published: July 2012

The theme of evil implicit in Sand's title and confirmed by her quotation from Genesis found above a woodcarving of Holbein points to the hero's journey in La Mare au diable (1846). This narrative device explains the transformation of Germain in the devil's pond as the shock of awakening from depression and from a false innocence by an encounter with the Shadow. Sand's portrayal of evil as a necessary encounter in the journey to maturity shows intuitive insight. The transformation of her hero upon exiting from the woods is confirmed by his acceptance of rejection and by his subsequent realization of a Warrior's energy in the defense of Marie, a precondition to attaining the Lover's stature. His service to love and the mediation of woman's culture lead to marriage and to self-integration celebrated in a closing scene of poetic union between earth and heaven bearing witness to Germain's new consciousness of nature's beauty and the gift of life.
Games Medievalists Play: How to Make Earnest of Game and Still Enjoy It
Authors: Kendrick Laura
Published: July 2012

This essay extends Johan Huizinga’s analysis of the concept of play as expressed in language, with particular attention to the shifting semantics of the words “play” and “game” in English over the course of the Middle Ages. It also considers the relationship between playing and interpretation in Huizinga’s own work and in medieval literary studies influenced by him. If play is the way a society expresses its interpretation of life and the world (as Huizinga claims in

Homo Ludens

), and if much medieval literature and art are the remains of medieval play and game (as he claims in

The Waning of the Middle Ages

), then granting these texts the importance they deserve, interpreting them “seriously,” requires us to play their game: to draw a sort of magic circle around them, to play by rules, such as avoiding anachronism, and to play roles, such as trying to perceive as a person would at that time.
Knowledge Transfer and Information Skills for Student-Centered Learning in Spain
Authors: Pinto Molina María , Sales Dora
Published: July 2012

Knowing how to select, organize, and use information in order to solve problems, handle new situations, and continue learning are key issues in the teaching and learning scenario in contemporary society. Teaching these skills is particularly critical for European universities and is currently recognized as vital in the context of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning. In the face of this need for an information literate society, diverse approaches, especially involving e-learning resources and portals, have been developed and put forward. The aim of this paper is, first, to offer an outline of the relevance of knowledge transfer and information skills in a context of student-centered learning and, second, to provide a succinct analysis of some recent Spanish academic experiences in this area.
Beyond financial aid: alternative approaches to improving college participation
Authors: Mumper Michael
Published: July 2012

For the past thirty years, governments have used financial aid as
the principle means of increasing college participation among the
disadvantaged. But the limits of this approach have become clear.
This essay explores several leading studies of alternative methods
to open the doors to higher education. Included in the review are a
study of open admissions at CUNY, a compilation of innovative
pricing and student aid strategies, a proposal to reform federal
student aid, and an analysis of how low-income children get to
college.
Geologic Evidence of Hurricane Rita Recovered from Texas Point, TX
Authors: Crosby Michael K. , Reese Carl A.
Published: July 2012

Hurricane Rita made landfall at the Texas/Louisiana border on 24 September 2005 as a category 3 hurricane. In November 2006, four cores were recovered along a north-south transect from the marsh at Texas Point, TX. Loss-on-ignition and grain size analysis identified the inorganic storm layer (consisting of fine-grained sands and silts) deposited as a result of this event. Results show that the sediment pushed inland by the 3 m storm surge was unevenly distributed along the transect. Areas of open water (i.e. small lakes) along the transect provide a different depositional environment than the vegetated marsh surface and affect the characteristics of the storm layer, and thus potentially the interpretation of the hurricane history. This variability suggests that great caution is required when reconstructing past hurricane activity in marsh environments, especially when storm layer thickness is being used for the estimation of past hurricane strength.
The Memory of the Holocaust in Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man
Authors: Frunză Sandu
Published: July 2012

Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man is a central work in understanding the way in which the subjective memory of a Holocaust survival receives a general meaning. This requires a context in which the duty to prevent the repetition of the tragic events endured by European Jews becomes a universal responsibility we must assume. This text examines the process of dehumanization and total degradation of a human being in the conditions of the death camp, and examines the antidote that Levi proposes for escaping the state of existential pathology. Particular emphasis is placed on the way in which Levi, who embraces secular humanist values, uses religious background and religious symbolic structures in order to provide additional understanding of the fact that in the absence of God, the world itself becomes void of humanity.
“Show Me the Shoah!”: Generic Experience and Spectatorship in Popular Representations of the Holocaust
Authors: Metz Walter C.
Published: July 2012

This essay explores the relationship between the textual features of popular cultural artifacts pertaining to the Holocaust and the circumstances of their reception. Comparative cultural studies methods are deployed in analyzing a film, Life is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997); a children’s book, Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches (1961); and the Jewish Museum Berlin, designed by Daniel Libeskind.
Performances of Jewish Identity: Spartacus
Authors: Burton Margaret
Published: July 2012

Produced at the height of the cold war, the gladiator film Spartacus (1960) is recognized as an answer to HUAC’s redbaiting members of the Hollywood film community. Unexplored, however, has been the hypothesis that the film is a production expressing cultural aspects of Jewish identity and memory. Considering the multiple authorship of Howard Fast, Dalton Trumbo, Kirk Douglas, and Stanley Kubrick, this paper examines aspects of the film that suggest not only a response to oppression on American soil, but also a recognition of broader forms of imperialism or fascism, such as the Nazi genocide of Jews in the Holocaust.
Two Enthusiasts
Authors: Post Robert C
Published: July 2012

Beginning in San Francisco in 1873, cable railways spread to nearly every large American city and several overseas. Los Angeles had three systems, the most successful of which began operation on Temple Street in 1886. Frederick Wood and John Fowler, who managed the Temple Street Cable Railway, were responsible for several mechanical innovations that they hoped would be adopted by other lines. To demonstrate these, they kept a section of cable track and conduit above ground, and in the summer of 1892 they posed alongside this section. Unfortunately—but probably not yet obvious to them—by 1892 cable railways were on the verge of being rendered obsolete by Frank Sprague's system of electric traction and thus the demand for mechanical novelty had vanished. Total cable railway mileage nationwide peaked the next year at 305; by the time the Temple Street line was converted to electricity in 1902 the total was down to 100, and ten years after that it was down to 20, nearly all of it on the steep hills of San Francisco. For cable-car enthusiasts like Wood and Fowler, Sprague had spoiled the fun.
Caterina's Colombina: The Birth of a Female Trickster in Seventeenth-Century France
Authors: Radulescu Domnica
Published: July 2012

This essay is devoted to the seventeenth-century Italian actress Caterina Biancolelli, who lived and acted in France during the reign of Louis XIV, and, in particular, to her creation of the famous comedic role of Colombina. It explores how Caterina’s character acts as a superb illustration of transgressive humor, subversive performance, and improvisational comedy by drawing from the rich oral tradition of the female performers in the commedia dell’arte tradition as well as from her own comedic genius.
Electoral turnout in Johannesburg: socio-economic and political determinants
Authors: Fauvelle-Aymar Christine
Published: July 2012

Numerous factors have been advanced to explain electoral turnout. This paper puts the emphasis on two main categories of determinants: socio-economic and political. Numerous studies have shown that turnout increases with the socio-economic status of the voters. In the Johannesburg case, this study shows that, contrary to the usual finding, turnout is higher in the most deprived wards. Among the political factors, this paper studies the influence of the closeness of the electoral race on turnout. And there again the result is different from the usual one. In Johannesburg, turnout decreases with the degree of electoral closeness. Different specificities of the South African political situation may help to understand these unexpected results.
Public participation on dam building in South Africa: a case study of the Berg Water Project
Authors: Thompson Lisa
Published: July 2012

This paper examines the participatory processes which led to the building of the Berg River Dam in South Africa’s Western Cape province. The government-led formal participatory processes stand in contrast to the mobilisation of environmental activists against the building of the dam. In this case, the creation of formal participatory forums both subverted and neutralised resistance of the environmental movement and civil society against the building of the dam, largely through the mobilisation of policy discourses on water ‘scarcity’.
The interconnections between environmental philanthropy and business: Insights from the Southern African Nature Foundation
Authors: Ramutsindela Maano
Published: July 2012

Analyses of environmental philanthropy tend to focus on non-profit organisations and the business sector as unrelated entities. However, the links between business and environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) through philanthropy can be ascribed to a number of factors ranging from the pursuit of commercial interests to the nature and status of NGOs. This article argues that environmental philanthropy, as a mode of giving for the advancement of an environmental cause, can more appropriately be understood by paying attention to the interconnections between NGOs and the business sector. This argument is supported by a case study of the Southern African Nature Foundation, which, from its inception in 1968 to its demise in 1995, had strong links with commerce and industry. The paper concludes that environmental philanthropy is underpinned by shared interests that are pursued through dense networks between philanthropists and environmental lobby groups.
Embracing the Challenges - Installation of the Deepest Level 4 Multilateral Cemented Junction
Authors: Hua An Wen , Qing Teng Xue , Tong Yang Xiang , Xiang Bai Deng , Ponton Calvin , Durst Doug
Published: July 2012

To increase and optimize single well production performance, multilateral drilling and completion technology were implemented from a new single wellbore deep in the Tarim Desert of the Xinjiang Province in northwestern China.

Although planning and preparation began in earnest in Tianjin months in advance of the actual installation, the on-site demands, distant logistics support, and the well depth operational demands of the project installation were the most challenging steps in the process. The remote location of the multilateral well in the Tarim Desert proved to be an operational and logistical challenge in terms of time (4- to 5-days travel time by vehicle) and distance (3600 kilometers) to the nearest repair and maintenance facilities in Tanggu, Tianjin Province in eastern China.

The well design was based on a vertical pilot well, or motherbore, drilled and cased into the reservoir. The multilateral system was then installed to add another wellbore, thereby increasing reservoir exposure. The goals of this system were to accelerate production, increase ultimate recovery and, for this particular operator, qualify multilateral technology for application in this specific field. Because of the unprecedented depth of the proposed junction, thorough project management and planning were required throughout, from the feasibility phase through the execution phase, to mitigate risk and to promote a successful project installation.

Strong collaboration between the operator and service supplier resulted in the world's deepest TAML Level 4 cemented multilateral installation at 5082 m TVD junction depth and 5889 m MD at the lateral toe. This was also the first multilateral installation by Tarim Oil Company and the first cemented Level 4 multilateral installation in China. This paper describes the objectives, challenges, best practices, contingencies, logistics issues, results, and lessons learned from the implementation of this deep-set multilateral technology.
Self-organising map rainfall-runoff multivariate modelling for runoff reconstruction in inadequately gauged basins
Authors: Adeloye Adebayo J. , Rustum Rabee
Published: July 2012

Water resources assessment activities in inadequately gauged basins are often significantly constrained due to the insufficiency or total lack of hydro-meteorological data, resulting in huge uncertainties and ineffectual performance of water management schemes. In this study, a new methodology of rainfall-runoff modelling using the powerful clustering capability of the self-organising map (SOM), unsupervised artificial neural networks, is proposed as a viable approach for harnessing the multivariate correlation between the typically long record rainfall and short record runoff in such basins. The methodology was applied to the inadequately gauged Osun basin in southwest Nigeria for the sole purpose of extending the available runoff records and, through that, reducing water resources planning uncertainty associated with the use of short runoff data records. The extended runoff records were then analysed to determine possible abstractions from the main river source at different exceedance probabilities. This study demonstrates the successful use of emerging tools to overcome practical problems in sparsely gauged basins.
An appraisal of the performance of data-infilling methods for application to daily mean river flow records in the UK
Authors: Harvey Catherine L. , Dixon Harry , Hannaford Jamie
Published: July 2012

River flow records are fundamental for the sustainable management of water resources and even very short gaps can severely compromise their utility. Suitably-flagged flow estimates, derived via judicious infilling, are potentially highly beneficial to data users. The UK National River Flow Archive provides stewardship of, and access to, UK river flow records. While many datasets held on the archive are complete, gaps remain across a wide range of flow records. A comprehensive assessment of existing techniques for infilling these gaps is currently lacking. This paper therefore assesses 15 simple infilling techniques (including regression, scaling and equipercentile approaches), each relying upon data transfer from hydrologically-similar donor stations, to generate estimates of flow at 26 representative gauging stations. Results reveal the overall superiority of equipercentile and multiple regression techniques compared to the poorer capability of catchment area scaling. Donor station choice has a strong influence on technique performance. Modifying datasets to improve homogeneity, by seasonally grouping flows or excluding certain periods, offers improved performance. These findings provide a foundation upon which guidance on infilling river flow records can be based in future, allowing hydrometric practitioners and data end-users alike to adopt a consistent and auditable approach towards infilling.
Kinematics of a high-redshift galaxy: A case study
Authors: Cirkovic M.M.
Published: July 2012

A kinematics of a z = 2.81 galaxy toward bright QSO 0528-250, as inferred from the absorption spectroscopy is discussed. There are sufficient arguments for a far-reaching conclusion that we are observing an older, uninvolved version of the local Galactic interstellar medium.
Measured, calculated and predicted Stark widths of the singly ionized C, N, O, F, Ne, Si, P, S, Cl and Ar spectral lines
Authors: Djenize S.
Published: July 2012

In order to find reliable Stark width data, needed in plasma spectroscopy comparision between the existing measured, calculated and predicted Stark width values was performed for ten singly ionized emitters: C, N, O, F, Ne Si, P, S, Cl and Ar in the lower lying 3s - 3p, 3p - 3d and 4s - 4p transitions. These emitters are present in many cosmic light sources. On the basis of the agreement between mentioned values 17 spectral lines from six singly ionized spectra have been recommended, for the first time, for plasma spectroscopy as spectral lines with reliable Stark width data. Critical analysis of the existing Stark width data is also given.
The anthropic argument against infinite past and the Eddington-Lemaitre universe
Authors: Cirkovic M.M.
Published: July 2012

This study in the philosophy of cosmology is a part of an ongoing effort to investigate and reassess the importance of the anthropic (Davies-Tipler) argument against cosmologies containing the past temporal infinity. Obviously the prime targets of this argument are cosmological models stationary on sufficiently large scale, the classical steady state model of Bondi, Gold and Hoyle being the best example. Here we investigate the extension of application of this argument to infinitely old non-stationary models and discuss additional constraints necessary to be imposed on such models for the edge of the anthropic argument to be preserved. An illustrative counterexample is the classical Eddington-Lemaitre model, in the analysis of which major such constraints are presented. Consequences of such an approach for our understanding of the nature of time are briefly discussed.
Life and scientific activity of Dusan Saletic (1927-1999)
Authors: Sadzakov S. , Dacic M. , Cvetkovic Z.
Published: July 2012

Dusan Saletic, engineer-geodesist and colonel of the Yugoslav army, for many years an external collaborator of the Belgrade Astronomical Observatory had a prominent share in the accomplishment of some task concerning the problems of the positional astronomy. Presentation is here given of his activity and achievements in that field, along with the list of his published works.
The Hβ line shape of Akn 120
Authors: Stanic N. , Popovic L.C. , Kubicela A. , Bon E.
Published: July 2012

We present here the Akn 120 H? line profiles from 97 spectra observed from 1977 till 1990 at Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (Appendix 1). The H? line has been fitted with three broad and one narrow Gaussian throughout the whole considered period. The central broad components of the H? and a shelf cause the H? line shape variation. Three broad Gaussians may suggest the existence of three broad line regions in the central part of the Akn 120. Long-term H? line shape variations in spectra of this galaxy are discussed.
Mathematical model for the 0.5 billion years aged Sun
Authors: Tatomir E.
Published: July 2012

An algorithm is given for constructing evolutionary tracks for a star with the mass equal to one solar mass. The presented model can be applied to the stars belonging to the inferior main sequence, which have the proton-proton reaction as energy source and present a radiative core and a convective shell. This paper presents an original way of solving the system of equations corresponding to the radiative nucleus by using Taylor?s series in close vicinity to the center of the Sun. It also presents the numerical integration and the results for a 0.5 billion years aged solar model.
Interaction between variable solar UV radiation and tropospheric circulations as a possible cause of five year oscillation in Earth rotation
Authors: Jovanovic P. , Djurovic D.
Published: July 2012

It is shown that Five Year Oscillation in Earth rotation is possibly caused by variable solar UV radiation and a corresponding perturbation mechanism is suggested.