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Terrestrial mining is ethically problematic by virtue of its directly destructive impact and by virtue of its contribution to both the depletion of fossil fuels and (through the use of the latter) to the raising of C02 levels in the atmosphere. Extraction of helium-3 (3He) from the lunar regolith would share two of these same problems, i.e. resource depletion (which I will suggest is the soft problem of lunar mining) and destructive impact (which I will suggest is the hard problem). In response to the hard problem, in spite of the fact that the Moon is a lifeless place, I will argue that we do nonetheless have reasons for lunar protection.
Hip-hop and country music stem from two distinct delineations of blackness and whiteness, most often positioned as diametrically opposed and mutually constitutive. How then do we understand the emergence of what the Wall Street Journal calls âhick hopâ, country music with hip hop verses, hip hop language, hip hop posturing and even occasionally actual hip hop artists rapping in country songs? I argue that to be astonished by the hip-hop country crossover is to not understand the history of âraceâ music or the contemporary reality of poverty among rural whites. White poverty may be invisible to policy and dominant culture but it is increasingly visible to poor whites. Hick-hop represents the contestation and navigation of this invisibility.
Winning a democratic election makes you a democrat no more than eating lettuce makes you a rabbit. The media should focus on the core of events rather than the form when they report on Democracy in Egypt.
This paper addresses some residual misunderstandings about the effects of compulsory voting and, in particular, the effectiveness of compulsory voting laws as a mechanism to stimulate voting turnout. We address studies in which the effectiveness of compulsory voting is either underplayed or miscalculated due to an inappropriate use of atypical cases or a methodological error known as the âecological fallacyâ. Specifically, treating all compulsory voting regimes as a synthetic group can give rise to inaccurate perceptions of the performance of individual regimes like Australiaâs. This paper also compares the efficacy of compulsory voting with alternative turnout-raising mechanisms.
Comparing and contrasting the physician assistant and nurse practitioner on the front lines of U.S. health care, how are the two professions uniquely positioned to serve the millions of uninsured Americans? This chapter explores the differences between these two professions.
Out of the Norwegian Glaciers: Lendbreen- A Tunic from the Early First Millennium AD
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As the temperature rises each year, the assemblages of prehistoric hunters emerge from the ice. Archaeologists in Norway are now conducting regular surveys in the mountains to record the new ďŹnds. A recent example presented here consists of a whole tunic, made of warm wool and woven in diamond twill. The owner, who lived in the late Iron Age (thirdâfourth centuries AD), was wearing well-worn outdoor clothing, originally of high quality.
Cultural Change and Diffusion: Geographical Patterns, Social Processes, and Contact Zones
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Cultures develop and change both through spontaneous, local invention and the adoption of ideas, customs, and objects from other cultural groups. As early as the 1930s, scholars suggested that “no more than 10% of all of the cultural items found in any culture— including our own— orginated in that culture” (Ferraro, 2006). The diffusion or spread of culture from a point of origin to other places and people can occur through personal contact, migration, trade, war, or mass communications. Diffusion is important to studying history, but it is also part of the trajectory of the future.
In a much-publicized paper, Zhong and Liljenquist (2006) reported evidence that feelings of moral cleanliness are grounded in feelings of physical cleanliness: a threat to peopleâs moral purity leads them to seek, literally, to cleanse themselves. In an attempt to replicate and build upon these findings, we conducted a pilot study in which we unexpectedly failed to replicate the original results from the second study of Zhong and Liljenquistâs report. We used the authorsâ original materials and methods; we investigated samples that were more representative of the general population than in the original experiments; we investigated samples from different countries and cultures; and we substantially increased the power of our statistical tests. Nevertheless, we still failed to replicate Zhong and Liljenquistâs initial reported findings.
Growth, Age and Size of the Jurassice Pachycormid Leedsichthys Problematicus (Osteichthyes: Actinopterygii)
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The Jurassic pachycormid osteichthyan Leedsichthys problematicus is renowned for having been able to achieve prodigious size for a bony fish. Building on work of Martill (1986a), a thorough examination of all known material was conducted in order to constrain estimates of the size of this animal and examine its rate of growth. Important specimens of Leedsichthys are described for the first time. The histology of Leedsichthys is reviewed, and the presence of growth annuli is used to establish ages for five specimens.
Horsemen in Forts or Peasants in Villages? Remarks on the Archaeology of Warfare in the 6th to 7th C. Balkans
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Conspicuously absent from 6th to early 7th c. fortified sites in the Balkans are stirrups and other elements of equipment signalling the presence of cavalry troops. Hoards of iron implements containing stirrups have been wrongly dated to Late Antiquity; they are in fact a much later date (9th-11th c. A.D.). Those hoards which can be dated to the 6th c. with some degree of certaintly lack agricultural tools associated with large-scale cultivation of fields. As most such hoards found in Early Byzantine hill-forts typically include tools for the garden-type cultivation of small plots of land, they show that no agricultural occupations could be practised inside or outside 6th c. forts, which could satisfy the needs of existing populations.
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Contemporary scholarship does not pay enough attention to stigma in relation to its temporal status; i.e. whether the stigma is temporary and changeable, or is it permanent? The present article links the study of sociology of time, of destigmatization strategies and of narrative resistance, through a case study of individuals who are stigmatized on the basis of an attribute perceived as temporary and changeable—fatness. Conducting a comparative analysis of Before-and-After weight-loss articles appearing in an Israeli online health magazine, I examine how these narratives marginalize fat people by presenting fatness as temporary and changeable. I then compare these narratives to life narratives produced by Israeli-Jewish women, who self-identify as fat.
Robert Kraut has proposed an analogy between valuing a loved one as irreplaceable and the sort of ârigidâ attachment that (according to Saul Kripkeâs account) occurs with the reference of proper names. We wanted to see if individuals with Kripkean intuitions were indeed more likely to value loved ones (and other persons and things) as irreplaceable. In this empirical study, 162 participants completed an online questionnaire asking them to consider how appropriate it would be to feel the same way about a perfect replica of a loved one, as well as other questions about replaceability.
Many Students of Color have encountered cultural disrespect within their K-12 education relating to their names. While the racial undertones to the mispronouncing of names in schools are often understated, the authors argue that these incidents are racial microagressions- subtle daily insults that, as a form of racism, support a racial and cultural hierarchy of minority marginalization. Furthermore, enduring these subtle experiences with racism can have a lasting impact on the self-perceptions and worldviews of a child. Using a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework and qualitative data, this study was designed to explore the racial microaggressions and internalized racial microaggressions of Students of Color in K-12 schools, as it relates to their names.
The growth of the business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing within ASEAN contributes significantly to the economic development within the region. With an increasing number of qualified individuals amongst ASEAN member states and the economic turbulence in the west, ASEAN stands to lead in these services. The growth of these industries, however, is not only driven by favorable business conditions but is also highly dependent on infrastructure security â particularly that of information systems. While efforts have been made to address these issues in the form of policies, legislation, and regulations, these continue to be, at best, sporadic and reactive in nature, and non-existent at worse. This paper aims to provide a framework for developing a cyber defense strategy that could be embedded in economic regulations using the Philippines as a model given the large number of BPO and KPOs within its borders.
This examines the resettlement experiences of women who entered New Zealand through the Women at Risk category or who became sole heads of households as a consequence of their resettlement experiences. Funded by the Lotteries Community Sector Research Fund and jointly undertaken by Refugee Services and AUT University
The spectre of rising prices of food articles, vegetables in particular, is haunting Indian policymakers again. A little relief from inflation felt by the consumer during October and early November 2010 was temporary; the prices of onion and a few other vegetables shot up thereafter. The food inflation rate crossed the double-digit mark for the week ending on 11 December due to a sharp rise in the prices of onions, other vegetables and food grains. With the astronomical rise in onion prices in the second and third weeks of December, there is a worrying situation that food inflation could rise further.
Provoking Lactation by the Insufflation Technique as Documented by the Rock Images of the Sahara
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The Saharan rock art iconography shows that the first diffusion of cattle in Africa came with several milking techniques, which contradicts for this continent Sherrattâs hypothesis which considered milking as a âsecondary revolutionâ which would have allowed a better exploitation of animals in arid zones.
'The Art of Art History' is a collection of resources for constructing a critical history of art history. It is not organized as a conventional 'histor of art history' in its own right, nor is it a historical novel with a beginning, middle, and end. It is rather more of an assemblage, or a cabinet of provacative things to think with, each of which has multiple connections to others, both within this anthology and elsewhere. It is also an 'anthology' in the older sense of the word— an accounting of things which in their variety and allure might resemble a garden of flowers; a collection of texts that, in some cases, have been appreciated as fine works of art in their own right.
Rural-Urban Interactions: Influences on the Rural Development Process in the North-East Region of Romania
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This paper aims to present the interactions that occur between urban and rural, realizing a strict separation of these two areas, their populations and their activities here. This thing is being reflected in the division of policies on spatial and sectorial criteria, urban planners usually concentrating on the importance of urban centers as commerce and transportation nods in the regional policy giving little attention to agricultural or rural-led development.
The end of this century has been a period of great transformation for Zimbabwe. As many other developing countries in this period, the nation has gone through a demographic transition, particularly evident during the eighties. This kind of transition is characterized by a sharp decrease in fractional death rates, due the rapid improvement in life conditions, and a slow corresponding decrease in fractional birth rates, which are strongly related to sexual habits and traditions. Zimbabwean demographic transition, however, has been, and actually is very atypical and dramatic, due to the enormous HIV/AIDS epidemic. The fractional death rates have begun to re-increase during the nineties, while birth rates kept on decreasing, due to cultural factors and to the reduction of reproduction capacity of the population, related to the erosion of the fertile population and to the AIDS kids generation caused by the epidemic.
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In recent years, the increase in near-surface global annual mean temperatures has emerged as considerably smaller than many had expected. We investigate whether this can be explained by contemporary climate change scenarios. In contrast to earlier analyses for a ten-year period that indicated consistency between models and observations at the 5% confidence level, we find that the continued warming stagnation over fifteen years, from 1998 -2012, is no longer consistent with model projections even at the 2% confidence level. Of the possible causes of the inconsistency, the underestimation of internal natural climate variability on decadal time scales is a plausible candidate, but the influence of unaccounted external forcing factors or an overestimation of the model sensitivity to elevated greenhouse gas concentrations cannot be ruled out. The first cause would have little impact of the expectations of longer term anthropogenic climate change, but the second and particularly the third would.
Tree Rings Reveal Extent of Exposure to Ionizing Radiation in Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris
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Tree growth has been hypothesized to provide a reliable indicator of the state of the external environment. Elevated levels of background ionizing radiation may impair growth trajectories of trees by reducing the annual groth. Such effects of radiation may depend on the individual phenotype and interact with other environmental factors, such as temperature and drought.
Free to Choose but Liable for the Consequences: Should Non-Vaccinators be Penalized for the Harm they Do?
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Is there a case for holding non-vaccinators legally liable for harm caused to others by their inaction? This will depend on the answers to two questions. First, does the scientific capability exist to prove that Jinny infected Michael with measles? If so, are there legal grounds for either criminal or civil liability?
Previous research suggests that low self-esteem and increased levels of depression are associated with a variety of risky sexual behaviours including poor contraception use, a high number of sexual partners and sexual partners with a risky history. Although previous studies have primarily focused on the effects of risky sexual behaviour on adolescents, this research aims to analyse its relationship in adulthood. So far no research into risky sexual behaviour and its mental health consequences has been carried out in Britain, a gap which this study aims to fill.
For more than five centuries the industrial era has operated on the basis of market exchanges as a means of allocating resources and distributing income. The input market, if efficient, provides those who have some resources (such as labour) to trade it for other resources (such as money) so that other goods could be purchased. Demand for goods at lower prices justify the need for the firm, a consolidator of resources, including labour, but also investing in technology and capital to produce such goods in exchange for money with some profit. Globalization didn’t change the nature of the game, merely the players, and with the different players came the political agendas. The last 30 years, however, have seen a subtle shift in the way the economy has been operating, much of it spurred by the Internet, which started as a medium to reach out to unserved markets with the message or product largely unchanged.
Intersubjective-Systems Theory: A Phenomenological-Contextualist Psychoanalytic Perspective
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In this article I outline the essentials of my phenomenological-contextualist psychoanalytic perspective as it has been applied to a wide range of clinical phenomena, including development and pathogenesis, transference and resistance, forms of unconsciousness, emotional trauma, and therapeutic change. I characterize the therapeutic comportment entailed by these formulations as a kind of emotional dwelling
This project uses visual performance-based research methods to connect communities for mental health and well-being. Although visual methods are becoming increasingly widely accepted as a social science research method, performance-based methods are less well established, and the intersection between different methods is an exciting area for current inquiry.
On Nehemiah’s City Wall and the Size of Jerusalem during the Persian Period: An Archaeologist’s View
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The borders and the size of Jerusalem in the Persian period have been discussed and debated by many scholars since modern research of Jerusalem started in the 19th century C.E. The scholarly discussion on these subjects focused on the reconstruction of the course of the city wall that, as is generally assumed, surrounded Jerusalem during this period. The debate on these questions is based on sources of two kinds. On the one hand, the written biblical sources, in particular the book of Nehemiah, include much information on the city wall and its course, as well as on the topography of Jerusalem. Indirect data are also to be found in the descriptions of Josephus. On the other hand, we have the vast corpus of archaeological data accumulated during 150 years of continuous field research. In my view, the archaeological data should be the starting point for the study of Jerusalem and its borders, history, and material culture in the biblical period.
The Role of Nigeria in Peace Building, Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa since 1960
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Conflict management encompasses a wide range of issues such as peace building, conflict resolution, and peacekeeping. To undertake an analysis of Nigeriaâs role in conflict management since 1960 therefore is to focus on its various efforts towards building, supporting,and enforcing peace across Africa and the rest of the world. Such efforts are grounded concretely not only in the availability of material resources and military capabilities and how they are or should be deployed in the pursuit of our national interest; they are also historically grounded in our commitment to peace, justice, and equality of all peoples, as well as in the belief in, and respect for the right of all peoples to collectively determine their destiny. It is these commitments that have informed our role in peace building regionally, continentally, and globally
Contemporary geographical thought is constrained by a political economic imagination rooted in binarism, which is exemplified in debates surrounding neoliberalism. Neoliberal proponents call for decentralization and increased capital flows, while Marxists respond by pairing centralization with capitalismâs abrogation. The latter view considers hierarchy necessary, a position that promotes authority and regards horizontal politics as propitious to neoliberalism. Anarchismâs coupling of decentralization with anti-capitalism is dismissed because Marxism cannot accommodate the processuality of prefigurative politics. Marxism demands a revolution with a masterplan, considering horizontality a future objective. Such a temporality ignores the insurrectionary possibilities of the present and implies a politics of waiting.
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This article investigates a mass-mediated campaign against a perceived increase in suicides among gay (or presumed-to-be-gay) youth in the United States since September 2010. âIt Gets Betterâ (IGB) became a rallying cry for âanti-bullyingâ activists, politicians, celebrities and ordinary people who created YouTube videos addressed to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth who might be considering suicide. A critical discourse analysis of a sample of IGB videos reveals a neoliberal frame that places the burden of a âbetterâ life onto the emotional lives of LGBT youth, who are instructed to endure suffering in the interest of inevitable happiness. Drawing on Foucault and Orrâs work on the construction and management of mental illness, we use the concept of âpsychopowerâ to explore how these IGB videos render queer youth suicide both a psychological disorder and a sociological crisis for which the only viable solution is âhomonormativeâ subjectivity.
As new media is transforming culture, we transform ourselves into digital identities in the information age. Digital identities are who we say we are, when we are online. They can be a subtype of a public persona, an extension of our âtrueâselves, or they can be completely fabricated and fantastical, to function as a mask to hide the identity of an Internet user from rest of the world. A digital identity can spin intricate, interconnected webs utilising creative, social and interactive platforms that enable them to share and perform to an open or closed audience. Both online identities and online communities are part of a virtual reality; simply put, a reality or existence that in most cases will only exist on the Internet and not âofďŹineâ in real life.
Cultured meat is produced in vitro by using tissue engineering techniques. It is being developed as a potentially healthier and more efficient alternative to conventional meat. The goal of this study was to estimate energy use, land requirements, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for large-scale cultured meat production. Life cycle assessment (LCA) research method was used for assessing the environmental impacts along the production chain. Cyanobacteria hydrolysate was assumed to be used as the nutrient and energy source for muscle cell growth. The results showed that cultured meat production involves approximately 35-60% lower energy use, 80-95% lower GHG emissions and 98% lower land use compared to conventionally produced meat products in Europe. Conventionally produced poultry had slightly lower energy use than cultured meat. It is concluded that the overall environmental impacts of cultured meat production are substantially lower than those of conventionally produced meat.
This article reviews direct water consumption in tourism from both quantitative and qualitative viewpoints, and with a perspective on climate change, to assess the current water demand of the tourism sector and to identify current and future management challenges. The article concludes that even though tourism increases global water consumption, direct tourism-related water use is considerably less than 1% of global consumption, and will not become significant even if the sector continues to grow at anticipated rates of around 4% per year (international tourist arrivals). The situation is different at the regional level of analysis, however, because tourism concentrates traveller flows in time and space, and often in dry regions where renewable water reserves are limited. Furthermore, the understanding of tourismâs indirect water requirements, including the production of food, building materials and energy, remains inadequately understood, but is likely to be more substantial than direct water use. The article concludes that with expected changes in global precipitation patterns due to climate change, it is advisable in particular for already water scarce areas to engage in water management. Recommendations for managing tourismâs water footprint are made.
Re-Examining the ‘Out of Africa’ Theory and the Origin of Europeoids (Caucasoids) in Light of DNA Genealogy
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Seven thousand five hundred fifty-six (7556) haplotypes of 46 subclades in 17 major haplogroups were considered in terms of their base (ancestral) haplotypes and timespans to their common ancestors, for the purposes of designing of time-balanced haplogroup tree. It was found that African haplogroup A (originated 132,000 Âą 12,000 years before present) is very remote time-wise from all other haplogroups, which have a separate common ancestor, named β-haplogroup, and originated 64,000 Âą 6000 ybp. The finding that the Europeoid haplogroups did not descend from âAfricanâ haplogroups A or B is supported by the fact that bearers of the Europeoid haplogroups, as well as all non-African haplogroups do not carry either SNPs M91, P97, M31, P82, M23, M114, P262, M32, M59, P289, P291, P102, M13, M171, M118 (haplogroup A and its subclades SNPs) or M60, M181, P90 (haplogroup B), as it was shown recently in âWalk through Yâ FTDNA Project (the reference is incorporated therein) on several hundred people from various haplogroups.
The aim of this paper is to discuss, with no pretense of being exhaustive, some of the main epistemological shortcomings of Eritrean historiography and, at the same time, to suggest possible alternative frameworks, mainly on the basis of my own research and teaching experience carried out both in Eritrea and in Italy over the past 15 years.
Neoliberalism as Discourse: Between Foucauldian Political Economy and Marxian Poststructuralism
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Contemporary theorizations of neoliberalism are framed by a false dichotomy between, on the one hand, studies influenced by Foucault in emphasizing neoliberalism as a form of governmentality, and on the other hand, inquiries influenced by Marx in foregrounding neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology. This article seeks to shine some light on this division in an effort to open up new debates and recast existing ones in such a way that might lead to more flexible understandings of neoliberalism as a discourse. A discourse approach moves theorizations forward by recognizing neoliberalism is neither a âtop downâ nor âbottom upâ phenomena, but rather a circuitous process of socio-spatial transformation.
Although Breaking Bad (AMC, 2008-2013) is one of the most critically acclaimed TV Series of the last decade, it has been the subject of little academic research. This paper aims to figure out the motivations fueling Walter Whiteâs behavior, one of the most compelling characters in contemporary popular culture. The discovery of Walter Whiteâs cancer serves as a catalyst (a particularly appropriate chemical term) for him to unveil his true âinner selfâ. As we will explore, the progressive moral and criminal decline of Walter White is spurred on by the contradictory tension between two radical emotions that become ârationalizedâ in order to justify his actions, which become increasingly less defensible: an increasing pride, and the guilt that fades as the narrative unfolds.
Two Denials of Liberty: Morality, Authority and Obedience in the “Milgram Experiments”
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This paper re-analyzes Stanley Milgramâs own account of his widely known experiments on obedience to authority. It will focus on the conceptual apparatus that Milgram constructed to interpret his findings and the way his crucial concepts â morality, authority and obedience â were empirically operationalized. The ultimate argument of this paper will not be that Milgramâs findings (according to his own account) are null and void. Rather, it raises the possibility that what is of interest in the experiments is not the fact that a majority of people continued to push levers under conditions of coercion, but that a substantial minority somehow managed to extricate themselves. From an indictment of humanity, thus, the âMilgram experimentsâ will become the demonstration of the resources humans may draw upon to become everyday heroes in rebelling against meaningless, arbitrary and destructive oppression.
From Alpha to Omega: A Practical Solution to the Pervasive Problem of Internal Consistency Estimation
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Coefficient alpha is the most popular measure of reliability (and certainly of internal consistency reliability) reported in psychological research. This is noteworthy given the numerous deficiencies of coefficient alpha documented in the psychometric literature. We present a brief review of the psychometric literature on coefficient alpha, followed by a practical alternative in the form of coefficient omega. To facilitate the shift from alpha to omega, we also present a brief guide to the calculation of point and interval estimates of omega using a free, open source software environment.
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Life-Cycle Economic Analysis of Distributed Manufacturing with Open-Source 3-D Printers
Total Views: 1,512
The recent development of open-source 3-D printers makes scaling of distributed additive-based manufacturing of high-value objects technically feasible. These self-replicating rapid prototypers (RepRaps) can manufacture approximately half of their own parts from sequential fused deposition of polymer feedstocks. RepRaps have been proposed and demonstrated to be useful for conventional prototyping and engineering, customizing scientific equipment, and appropriate technology-related manufacturing for sustainable development. However, in order for this technology to proliferate like 2-D electronic printers have, it must be economically viable for a typical household. This study found that 3-D printers could cut household costs by up to $2000 per year. It appears clear that as RepRaps improve in reliability, continue to decline in cost and both the number and assumed utility of open-source designs continues growing exponentially, open-source 3-D printers will become a mass-market mechatronic device.
In this paper, we will focus on the Qanat underground irrigation system that has been developed 3,000 years ago in ancient Iran (Persia). The Qanat system is one of the most ecologically balanced water recovery methods available for arid regions. The rise and dispersal of the Islam is mirrored in the ascent of âthe Empire of Qanatsâ in the Old World â from the Iberian Peninsula to central Asia. But around the middle of the previous century âthe Age of Qanatsâ came to an end. One cause was the introduction and widespread use of the pumped tube well. Electric and diesel-pumped wells offer advantages over Qanat irrigation by allowing water to be brought to the surface on command, but over-pumping has caused water tables to fall, aquifers to be depleted and Qanats to be abandoned at an accelerating pace. The new water resources management regime of deep wells and large dams is more in tune with a mechanistic worldview than with the traditional religious framework. These modern technologies have drastically altered the public perception and appreciation of water, which is now seen as a sheer endless resource.
In this study we provide a basic test of a niche-specialization hypothesis of the Dark Triad (i.e.,narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). We propose that in order to best enact a “cheater strategy” those high on the Dark Triad traits should have optimal cognitive performance and, thus, have a night-time chronotype. Such a disposition will take advantage of the low light, the limited monitoring,and the lessened cognitive processing of morning-type people. The Dark Triad composite was correlated with an eveningness disposition. This link worked through links with the “darker” aspects of the Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, secondary psychopathy, and exploitive narcissism); correlations that were invariant across the sexes. While we replicated sex differences in the Dark Triad, we failed to replicate sex differences in chronotype, suggesting eveningness may not be a sexually selected trait as some have argued but is a trait under natural selective pressures to enable effective exploitations of conspeciďŹcs by both sexes.
A Medieval Welfare State? Welfare Provision in a Twelfth-Century Icelandic Law Code
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The history of law in Iceland is remarkable for both the respect with which the Icelanders held the law and the attention to detail and concern for the well-being of the population as a whole which the law showed in its canons. Several of the law coders were published in the era of the Icelandic commonwealth in the tenth to twelfth centuries. Particularly outstanding is Icelandic law’s concern with the care of the elderly and for those in need. The detailed nature of the law’s definition of the rights and responsibilities of children to their parents and its concern for the maintenance of the needy goes much further than any other law code in contemporary Europe. It is the purpose of this paper to present an outline of the rules for social welfare contained in the twelfth-century Icelandic law code, the GrĂĄgĂĄs, which appear to also be unique early rules for welfare provision in medieval Europe.
Early Mediaval Detroit: The Motor City as a Mirror for Illuminating Urban Shrinkage in the Late Antique West
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Detroitâs population has fallen by half from a high of about 1.9 million in 1950. Postwar racial tensions, the growing difficulties of the U.S. auto industry, and the destruction of the 1967 riots are among the factors that are widely acknowledged to have contributed to the cityâs population decline, the effects of which are readily evident in Detroit’s urban fabric. Entire sections of the city have been depopulated, leaving a hash of abandoned buildings, vacant or overgrown lots, and crumbling infrastructure. Wildlife not seen in Detroit since preindustrial times has begun to reappear. Some remaining residents of these areas have taken up semi-agrarian lifestyles, hunting raccoons or raising crops in formerly urban spaces and selling their goods in ad-hoc markets. Police and other agents of municipal authority are regarded as either ineffectual or irrelevant. Many of those who remain in the urban core do so because no other option is available to them. These developments may hold clues for revealing the form of changes in western Europe during the 5th and 6th centuries, when similar shrinkage of the urban footprint took place in many cities and towns. Do modern Detroit and its residents, with their various adaptations to the changing circumstances of their environment, provide, to any extent, a model for shrinking post-Roman cities?
Post-globalisation India has seen the rise of several moral panics around questions of sexuality and safety. In this paper, I ask how women who see themselves as feminist mothers in urban India reflect on a variety of concerns, including clothing, fashion, consumption, sexualisation, sexuality education and sexual choices. I reflect on the complex ways in which young women are exercising choices around sexuality and how feminist mothers reflect on these choices in relation to questions around risk and morality. This paper represents the beginning of an inquiry into the question: what does it mean to be a feminist mother raising daughters in twenty-first-century urban India?
The year 2011 was one of incredible, worldwide revolutionary activity. Shortly after the completion of this book the largest global occupation movement in history crystallised in October 2011. This occupation movement is the practical and theoretical heir to the political strategies developed by Deleuze, Guattari and the Zapatistasas articulated in the chapters of this book. Inspired by the Arab Spring, the occupations in Wisconsin, the riots against austerity measures in Europe and the UK, and the occupations by the Spanish indignados and the Greeks at Syntagma Square, the Occupy movement has spread to over 2,556 cities across eighty-two countries,and over 600 communities in the United States.
Role Models for Young People: What Makes an Effective Role Model Program? A Report to the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme
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The âWhat makes an effective role model program?âresearch project was commissioned by the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS) to explore the extent and use of role model programs and their effectiveness, and to inform the development of role model programs for young people. This report undertakes a literature search and an audit of role model programs targeting young people, aged 12-25, delivered by various groups in educational and community settings, in both Australia and overseas, in order to explain what makes a role model program effective or not in stimulating the changes for young participants.
The Early Neolithic central place at Herxheim is deďŹned by a perimeter of elongated pits containing fragments of human bone, together with pottery imported from areas several hundred kilometres distant. This article offers a context for the centre, advancing strong evidence that the site was dedicated to ritual activities in which cannibalism played an important part.
Imagine a scenario where some set of individuals witness an extraordinary event which impels them to communicate regarding that event to other individuals, who in turn will communicate with yet others. In this scenario, it is possible for an external observer to witness the fact of communication, but not the content. How might that observer effectively make the inference that an extraordinary event has occurred?
From the Back Burner to the Front Burner: How Analytics Re-ignite Ideas
SPOTLIGHT ON RONALD FAULSEIT, DePAUL UNIVERSITY
Archaeologist Ronald Faulseit of DePaul University no longer has to feel guilty when he indulges in his pet project— Mayan astronomy. Rather, exposure on Academia.edu has justified his endeavors and has even given him something to write about.
"I’m surprised by how much interest one of my papers gets," says Ronald. "It’s a very technical paper on Mayan astronomy.”
Usually only drawing a small crowd at conferences, Ronaldâs side pursuit of Mayan astronomy had all the signs and symptoms of a small topic lost in the expansive sea of archaeology. Consequently, Ronald thought his audience was narrow, and rarely went beyond presenting his ideas at conferences, that is until he started checking his Academia.edu analytics.
âHonestly I thought that there were only a few people who were interested in that work,â says Ronald. âBut seeing that thereâs a wider interest in it and that there are actually a lot more people who are looking at these things shows me that it’s worthwhile to keep pursuing this topic.â
So then rather keep his ideas simmering on the back burner, Ronald decided to move forward and put the flame on high. Presenting a paper on Mayan astronomy last year, interest sparked by Academia.edu encouraged Ronald to write up his abstract into an article, which will be published in an edited volume later this year.
The popularity of his Mayan pursuits has made Ronald reflect on the interest generated by some of his other papers, which, as the main topics of research, account for the majority of his academic endeavors.
âOne of my first publications was in a very small journal that’s not widely available. Maybe 10 people had read the paper in this little journal, and I knew all of them!â says Ronald. âBut then I put it on Academia.edu and now it’s my most-viewed paper. People from all over the world have read it, or at least looked at it. It’s pretty cool to see that you can have this broader communication with Academia.edu.”
And with this broader communication, Ronald anticipates more interaction and discussion, ultimately helping his own career.
âAcademia.edu gives you a lot of access to a lot of different things and keeps you up-to-date on whatever people are posting. So obviously if you have this kind of interaction, and if youâre building on ideas and sharing them in this way, it will definitely get you more exposure and people will begin to know who you are when you’re applying for jobs. Then, I think that it will become even more important as you’re going for tenure— people will be exposed to your academic record and see what kind of contribution youâre making. I think career-wise, it’s a really positive thing.”
Recognizing the fruits of exposure through Academia.edu, Ronald actually thinks the perks will be even greater for the field itself.Â
âNowadays there are so many researchers focusing on so many different things and Academia.edu helps weed out all of the noise. It’s like a filter,” says Ronald. “You can look at who is writing about what you’re doing, create a bibliography of work, and then build on that rather than reinvent the wheel— you can move to the next step.”
Thinking about his own next move once his article on Mayan astronomy is published later this year, Ronald plans to post it on Academia.edu with the hopes that it will be shared and discussed, helping others take their next step as well.
âItâs more likely more people will read it on Academia.edu then will even know it exists in the edited volume!” says Ronald.
Academic Bio:
Ronald Faulseit is an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at DePaul University and post-doc at Southern Illinois University- Carbondale where his research centers around Mesoamerican archaeology. His current fieldwork takes place in the Oaxaca Valley in Mexico where he investigates changes and continuities in behavioral patterns at the household and community level before and after the collapse of the Monte AlbĂĄn state during the Classic period (A.D. 200 - 900).
Ronaldâs work can be viewed here.
Sidestepping ‘The Practice Trap’
SPOTLIGHT ON PATRICK LARSSON, NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (UK)
Psychologist Patrick Larsson of the National Health Service (UK) is on his toes, weary of the fragile line he walks. With one slip of his attention paired with the grind of seeing clients day-in and day-out, Patrick could easily get sucked into âThe Practice Trapâ.
Simply put, The Practice Trap is this: âWhen you donât have any time for the academic side.â
âAs a practice-based psychologist it becomes easy to fall into the trap,â adds Patrick. âSo you really have to be proactive in trying to expand your thinking around issues in mental health and psychology, which is why I try and keep up through Academia.edu.â
Outside of his practicing hours, Patrick has been making incredibly efficient use of the little free time and energy that he has, publishing up to two manuscripts a year, a feat that is driven out of a genuine interest in adding to the body of scientific literature. (As a non-academic practicing psychologist, publish or perish does not rule the trajectory of his career). Fueled by the discovery of unique and thought-provoking articles, lately Patrickâs academic productivity has hinged on the access afforded by Academia.edu. Working for the National Health Services, Patrickâs access to academic databases is otherwise sparse.
Particularly attracted to works in critical and political psychology, Patrick says, âAcademia.edu can really expand your thinking by seeing what other psychologists are writing about and the ideas that they’re developing outside of the more traditional research that we write.â
âWhen you’re working as a psychologist, the material we use is quite narrow— it is very evidence-based material and doesn’t really stray into other areas,â adds Patrick.
Expanding his horizons through Academia.edu allows Patrick to step back and observe the constellation of psychology and mental health as a whole, seeing how these fields are shaped by more than just the randomized control trials much of his psychology training was based on. Instead, now Patrick can see the evolution of thoughts regarding mental health and psychology, and how these practices are also shaped by less quantifiable systems, like socioeconomic and political environments.
Sparking innovation and excitement about the field with each paper that pops into his news feed, Patrick says, âAcademia.edu shows that there are a lot of people out there thinking differently, and it’s quite fun to see people’s ideas be developed.”
Academic Bio:
Patrick Larsson is a London-based counseling psychologist for the National Health Service of the United Kingdom. As a counseling psychologist, Patrick works in primary care seeing over 20 clients per week on a range of mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and interpersonal difficulties. Patrick received a PsychD from the University of Roehampton in 2010.
Patrickâs work can be viewed here.
Trending Papers on Academia.edu
This Week’s Most Viewed PapersÂ
Each day thousands of Academia.edu users scour the site, discovering new research topics and catching wind of trending papers.
Here’s what sparked the curiosity of Academia.edu users this week:
The impacts of climate change on Thailand â namely prolonged droughts, decreased agricultural and ďŹshery yields, violent ďŹooding, sea level rise and health-related issues â are already serious and will likely create or exacerbate a number of additional problems during the next few decades. While the government has begun framing policies to both adapt to and mitigate climate change, its response so far has been limited due to shortcomings in both the planning and implementation processes. Climate change will retard the countryâs growth and enormously strain the countryâs political system, state and society.
The Crisis Interregnum: Considerations on the Political Articulation of the Global Crisis. From the New Right-Wing Populism to the Occupy Movement
Total Views: 415
In 2013, the world is entering the sixth year of the global crisis. In those six years, sparked by the unfolding events, there has developed a burgeoning literature regarding the origins, conjunctures and regional manifestations of the crisis. In many ways, this debate evolved from long-term disputes regarding the nature of the current phase of capitalism and its periodization (monopoly-finance capitalism, post-Fordism, finance driven accumulation regime, financial-market capitalism, neoliberalism, high-tech capitalism etc.) and has brought to light the epistemological and political differences between the various approaches. It is the goal of this paper to shed some light on the political articulations of the global crisis and assess the interrelations between global leadership efforts seeking exit strategies from the crisis and the hegemonic struggles underlying their agencies.
These comments are my first effort to think through, in public, some very difficult, controversial and complex questions about the transformations of American society. Let me start by explaining the war referred to in my title. The war refers to the sweeping transformation of American society that has defined the last quarter of the twentieth century, a transformation, even a revolution, that has apparently enabled neoliberals and neoconservatives to work together in some unnamed common cause.
At the beginning of the 21st century, creativity is changing, both in the way we conceptualize and understand it and in the practices of creativity. In this article, we summarize the emerging changes and articulate their outlines, drawing on creativity research, popular culture, the ânetworkedâ society, and a variety of other sources.
Current research offers some tantalizing support for claims that psychedelics can be used to enhance cognition, improve intelligence, and strengthen cognitive studies.
The phrase âdiasporic cosmopolitanismâ juxtaposes the seemingly opposite sensibilities of communalism and openness. This specific modification of the term cosmopolitanism reflects a broader propensity among scholars of every day migrant life to link the term cosmopolitanism with a modifier that implies its opposite—-vernacular, rooted, ghetto and diasporic. These seemingly contradictory terms query hegemonic assumptions about how cosmopolitanism is lived, whose cosmopolitanism is being noted and who is in fact open to the world.
Ethnographic practice developed within anthropology as a fieldwork method and methodology that values uncertainty and the necessary reflexivity this triggers. In order to give this epistemological challenge a chance, ethnographers were allowed sufficient time to soak in ‘Otherness’. Time was deemed indispensable to cope with the ambiguity of what exactly to look for while ‘being there’, in the field. Long periods of waiting were seen as a precondition for creativity and serendipity. But how to guarantee these unpredictable scientific values while various authorities and media demand from anthropologists, like from other scholars in the social sciences, to shed light on what is going on immediately; they have to write and publish quickly to keep their ethnographic account relevant before it becomes obsolete, hereby blurring the line between the anthropological quest and journalistic accounts.Â
âIdolsâ hold great power in Japan. Referring to highly produced singers, models, and media personalities, idols can be male or female, and tend to be young, or present themselves as such; they appeal to various demographics, and often broad crosssections of society. Idols are interchangeable and disposable commodities that âafďŹliate with the signifying processes of Japanese consumer capitalismâ. From popular music and photo albums to fashion and accessories, idols are produced and packaged to maximize consumption. At the same time, they are the currency of exchange in the promotion and advertising of all manner of other products and services. For the Japanese consumer, immersed in a culture of celebrity, the idol is coterminous with consumption. In the Japanese media system, organized around idols, the consumer is positioned as a fan. For the fan-consumer, the idol as an object of desire is a fantasy or ideal construct, a âmirrorâ reďŹection, which resonates with deep affective or emotional meaning.
In September 2008, underwater archaeologists discovered a pointed wooden object in the Ljubljanica River near Sinja Gorica in Ljubljansko barje. Its shape is reminiscent of Palaeolithic leaf-shaped stone and bone points. Two wood samples were dated and found to be made and used around the time the Neanderthals were gradually becoming extinct and the ďŹrst anatomically modern humans were beginning their journey from the Middle East to Europe. Te Ljubljanica site thus joins four other European sites that have produced remains of wooden hunting weapons dating to the Palaeolithic
Despite the proliferation of critical studies of communication, the meanings of the words âcommunicationâ and âcriticalâ remain deeply contested. Attending to the history of the use of these terms inside and outside of the academy offers a broader perspective on some of the most pressing issues confronting scholars of communication today.
Tenured Tips for Academia.edu
SPOTLIGHT ON BRIAN SINCLAIR, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
Exposure, accessibility and sharing. Three reasons why tenured University of Calgary Architecture Professor, Brian Sinclair, joined Academia.edu two months ago.
âAcademia.edu presents an opportunity to both understand the landscape of scholarship that’s happening internationally, and also to share— in a broader kind of way— the scholarship that I’m engaged in. It has to do with exposure, accessibility, and sharing. Those are the big motivators for me,” says Brian.
Trotting across the globe for presentations, conferences, research, and independent consulting, Brian has a far-reaching network, but one that at times can be difficult to tend, especially in the summer when heâs on the road most days. So Brian joined Academia.edu to stay plugged into the âcommunity of scholars catalogued by the siteâ, even when he himself is far off the grid.
âI have a lot of interaction internationally, but to be able to post my papers and begin to see where the attraction is coming from in a more formal or systematic way is really quite interesting and quite valuable,” adds Brian.
And while Brian is still discovering the varying degrees of value of this exposure, his experiences within just two months of joining have already highlighted several key ways that Academia.edu can help even tenured, highly-networked professors like himself.
Prior to joining Academia.edu, Brian used a mix of his personal website, LinkedIn and Archinect (a site specific to architecture and design) to showcase his work. But these sites couldnât quite capture the dynamic nature of Brianâs research, consequently excluding potential key audiences from his work. Working on topics ranging from environmental design and super-tall buildings to slums and informal settlements in places like Japan, Brianâs scholarship taps into architecture and psychology, two disciplines he holds post-graduate degrees in.
âAt a lot of the conferences I present at there’s an equal chance of having mathematicians and biologists as having architects or urban planners,â adds Brian on how his work intentionally transcends disciplinary boundaries.
And while his previous academic networking and sharing sites did not account for the breadth of his work and potential audience, Academia.edu does.
âAcademia.edu allows for a much more potent interdisciplinary reach, which is good,â says Brian. âMany academics today— for all sorts of reasons— are reaching beyond their disciplinary lines, and I think Academia.edu really permits that kind of exploration and encourages those kind of linkages across disciplinary boundaries, which is healthy and very, very valuable.”
And as Brian continues to straddle disciplines and wade into new, overlapping academic communities on Academia.edu, heâs also learning some new lingo that has been expanding his reach. By closely studying the keyword categories catalogued within the site, Brian has learned how to identify the nuanced differences in academic language spanning communities, essential for clearly communicating his ideas to a broad audience.
âCataloguing and categorizing through the keywords is really valuable,â says Brian. âSometimes Iâll do a search on a particular topic and that topic might be cast in a couple of ways with different keywords. It’s intriguing for me to search around and discover the various communities of scholars using these keywords.”
And from casting his net wide and disseminating his research into diverse academic communities united on Academia.edu, Brian has discovered yet another value that he hasnât been able to find anywhere else: formal feedback.
Fascinated by the differences in document views by countries, Brian is understanding more about where the âmarketâ exists for each research topic heâs engaged in. Not only tickling this international academicâs curious bone, this information helps Brian fine-tune what topics to further explore depending on what neck of the woods he is in.
âI do a lot of research and consulting in places beyond North America, so to be able to see that in a particular part of the world there’s an interest in one of my areas of research tells me that I should begin to pursue some opportunities for building awareness and lecturing to professional and governmental organizations in those jurisdictions,â adds Brian.
Already reaping the rewards of Academia.edu in just two months, Brian plans to spend the upcoming academic year following up on the feedback heâs received, reaching out to network and build connections, and exploring the catalogue of communities and topics housed on the site.
âOne of the things to underscore is the possibility for exchange and the access and the searchability of the database based on commonly-accepted categories or keywords. Â These are things that even an established academic, who is very active internationally, can gain considerable benefit from,â says Brian adding, âAcademia.edu is a pretty potent way of expanding or enhancing your exposure.”
Academic Bio:
Brian Sinclair is a Professor of Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of Calgary. He has held many administrative roles over his career, including Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design and Presidential Advisor on Design+Sustainability at the University of Calgary. Brian holds a Masterâs in Psychology, Masterâs in Environmental Design (architecture), and PhD in Human Environmental Sciences and Architectural Studies.
Broadly speaking, Brianâs research investigates the overlap between the physical design of realm, like construction, and the psychological and sociological ways in which people inhabit and build cities. Topics covered by Brianâs research include: place-making and placelessness, such as forced migration through climate change, and the psychology of dimensions of human behavior that inform how and where people live; the collision of science and spirituality; and the advanced technology behind super-tall buildings and how urban dwellers interface with such designs.
Brianâs work can be viewed here.
On Why Reaching Out Matters
SPOTLIGHT ON MATT ROWBERRY, ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Moving from the UK to the Czech Republic to join the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, geological engineer Matt Rowberry needed a plan; while finding a job after his post-doc was a weight off of his shoulders, Mattâs new gig brought with it a different bag of challenges, namely figuring out how to fund his new research on fracking and fault displacement. Bearing the burden of finding funding solely on his own, Matt knew that increasing his citations would be key, so he turned to Academia.edu to execute step one of his plan: gaining readership.
"Citations themselves are important for grant proposals, so it was about how I could reach out to the widest possible audience with the eventual hope of getting citations, which would then improve my chances of getting funding in the future," says Matt on why he joined Academia.edu.
Looking to be competitive in the race for funding, gaining citations isnât about prestige or boosting his ego. Rather, Matt sees citations as a vehicle to what so many of us desire: career freedom.
âCitations can really give you the freedom to do whatever research you want. I’m looking for that sort of freedom,” says Matt.
And while the seeds for citations are still germinating (we all know how painfully long the publication process can be), rising readership has caused other opportunities to bud, like the rebirth of long-shelved research, which, when in full bloom, may very well help Matt gain that freedom heâs been looking for.
âIt’s not necessarily about reaching an entirely new audience,â says Matt on the goal of gaining readership on Academia.edu. âIt’s about finding people who can stimulate my interests and move what I’ve done forward.â
For example, lately Matt has been receiving an unexpectedly large amount of messages from academics interested in his post-doc research in South Africa— work that hasnât been published, but rather just exists in the form of conference abstracts— setting the wheels in motion for something larger.
âItâs given me the impetus to write up that research into coherent papers rather than just leaving them as abstracts,” says Matt. Â
But writing up his abstracts into full publications isnât just fueled by his rising document views. Rather, the messages he’s received from curious academics have evolved into productive discussions that have sparked new ways of interpreting his work, recharging Mattâs battery and enhancing his ability to contribute to the growing body of scientific literature.
âThe important thing about the people who have contacted me,â says Matt, âis that they have a different type of understanding to mine. So it’s about finding common ground and working out where the gaps are in my understanding in order to produce manuscripts that are scientifically rigorous.”
And while a high citation count may be a precondition to rising in the ranks for funding and inevitably gaining research freedom, itâs also the outcome of producing scientifically-sound manuscripts, something that Mattâs new readership on Academia.edu is helping him do.
Academic Bio:
Matt Rowberry is a Research Scientist at the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, an extension of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. As a geological engineer, Mattâs research spans many topics from the evolutionary geomorphology of Wales (PhD research) and of southern Africa following the break-up of Gondwana (his post-doc research) to investigating whether fracking can induce fault displacement and thus trigger earthquakes (his current research).
Mattâs work can be viewed here.
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