scholarly journals Moving beyond “China in Africa”: Insights from Zambian Immigration Data

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Postel
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Multiple Primary ◽  
Chinese Migration ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Trade And Investment ◽  
Shed Light

China's growing presence in Africa is not news: the expansion of bilateral trade and investment ties has garnered intense media and political focus over the past decade. However, less is known about the people accompanying these increasingly intensive flows of goods and capital. This paper focuses on Zambia, drawing on multiple primary datasets to shed light on both the scale and nature of Chinese migration to the continent. Two years of Department of Immigration employment-permit data serve as the basis for the first quantitative analysis of the “Chinese” in “Africa,” illuminating the increasing diversity of this population flow. While the growing Chinese presence in Africa is often viewed as a coherent neocolonialist strategy planned and implemented by the Chinese state, this paper demonstrates that it is in fact typified by a multitude of both public and private actors with independent motives.

scholarly journals The Role of Superstition in Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Shakespeare’s Macbeth: A Comparative Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Jamal Subhi Ismail Nafi’
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Huckleberry Finn

<p>This article is an attempt to explore the inclusion and the use of superstitious elements in Mark Twain’s novel <em>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</em> (1884) and Shakespeare’s play <em>Macbeth</em> (1611). Superstition involves a deep belief in the magic and the occult, to almost to an extent of obsession, which is contrary to realism. Through the analytical and psychological approaches, this paper tries to shed light on Twain’s and Shakespeare’s use of supernaturalism in their respective stories, and the extent the main characters are influenced by it. A glance at both stories reveals that characters are highly affected by superstitions, more than they are influenced by their religious beliefs, or other social factors and values. The researcher also tries to explore the role played by superstition, represented by fate and the supernatural in determining the course of actions characters undertake in both dramas. The paper concluded that the people who lived in the past were superstitious to an extent of letting magic, omens; signs, etc. affect and determine their lives; actions and future decisions. They determine their destiny and make it very difficult for them to avoid it, alter it or think rationally and independently. And that, man’s actions are not isolated, but closely connected to the various forces operating in the universe.</p>

The Rise of Multistakeholder Partnerships

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 205-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayelet Berman
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
International System ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Past ◽  
Governance Model ◽  
Public And Private Stakeholders ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Multistakeholder Partnerships

In the past two decades, multistakeholder partnerships have been on the rise. With the perceived failure of intergovernmental organizations to get things done, the international system has turned toward partnerships. Allowing for collaboration with private actors, they are increasingly seen as the governance model du jour. They're praised for being democratically legitimate, thanks to their inclusion of a range of public and private stakeholders—most notably the inclusion of developing countries and civil society that had hitherto been excluded from international policy-making processes. My comments address three topics: (1) the rise of partnerships in context, (2) the reasons for their rise, and (3) challenges.

CASTING MAIZE SEEDS IN AN AYÖÖK COMMUNITY: AN APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF DIVINATION IN MESOAMERICA

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-478
Author(s):  
Araceli Rojas
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Complicated System ◽  
Maize Seeds ◽  
The People ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractRecent investigation among the Ayöök (Mixe) people of Oaxaca showed that the on-going use of a 260-day calendar complements the divinatory technique of casting maize seeds. This paper offers a detailed description of this mantic practice as a means to approach and better understand precolonial divinatory practices and the people who practiced them, such as thetonalopouhqueamong the Nahua. In particular, this new data will also serve to shed light on the use of the pictorial manuscripts that portray the 260-day calendar, such as the so-called Borgia Group Codices. Along these lines, historical and colonial accounts, origin narratives, visual culture, and the archaeology surrounding divination will also be re-examined. This article will show that, similar to the Ayöök contemporary daykeepers and diviners, those that lived in the past were also wise women and men who were specialized in managing the complicated system of symbolism surrounding prognostication and prescription set out over 260 days. Furthermore, they employed divination for medical purposes and aided people with afflictions, curing them of sickness.

scholarly journals Towards a Visual Typology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 7935
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Barton ◽  
Felipe Gutiérrez-Antinopai
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Concerted Effort ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hybrid Nature ◽  
Private Actors

Representations of sustainability and sustainable development, as images, figures, and models have received relatively little attention in the literature, compared with textual definitions. However, there has been a concerted effort by authors to communicate complexity to specialized and wider audiences over the past fifty years. The purpose of this article is to present a taxonomy of visual representations of sustainability and sustainable development that reveal the conceptual diversity and complexity of these metanarratives of the dynamics of socio-ecological systems (SES). Using an exploratory and interpretive methodology, the principal objective is to describe and interpret the core traits of 18 different representations, which reflect the hybrid nature of sustainability and sustainable development depictions, but also allow them to be categorized into six main types. This exercise is based on the review of images used in the secondary literature on sustainability and sustainable development, and also websites that have compiled sets of images. The shared roots or common traits of the six main types are to be found in the principles of complexity, nonlinearity, holism, projection, and praxis. These roots reflect not only the dynamics of SES, but also how these system representations change according to their purposes and etiologies which are, in turn, defined by the academic, public, and private actors who design them.

scholarly journals Stronger communities? Changing prospects for community-led strategic planning in New Zealand

1970 ◽  
pp. 22-44
Author(s):  
Bruno Brosnan ◽  
Christine Cheyne
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Past ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
New Phase

New Zealand’s Local Government Act 2002 ushered in a new phase in local government, a phase that is best characterised by the term ‘empowerment’. Not only were councils empowered to promote social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being, in contrast with previous more prescriptive legislation, but citizens were empowered to engage in community-led strategic planning. In many respects the new statute reflected contemporary international public management trends in which governance is increasingly being conducted via networks of public and private actors. However, with the change of government from a centre-left Labour-led coalition to a centre-right National-led government following the November 2008 general election, it is less certain that local government and communities will continue to experience a strengthening of the pluralisation of governance that has been a feature of the past decade. This article argues that the potential disempowerment of local government, and possible attenuation of community-led strategic planning in New Zealand, comes at a time when the momentum for devolution to local government and other communities is increasing elsewhere.

scholarly journals Biography of a Painted Wessel from Starčevo: Discovering Layers of Meaning

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Bajčev
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Painted Pottery ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Representative Material

Scientific interest in the painted pottery of the Starčevo culture in Serbia dates back to the very beginnings of research and the first works on the relative-chronological systematization of the Early and Middle Neolithic of the central Balkans. This paper presents the deconstruction of our established notion of painted ceramics as the ultimate parameter of relative-chronological dating, the most representative material reflection of the cultural identity of the people of Starčevo culture and the highest achievements of Starčevo culture. The paper discusses circumstances and archaeological practices through which this ingrained view and knowledge of painted pottery was formed. The research is based on the analysis of the biography of a painted vessel from the Starčevo-Grad site, having in mind that a detailed life history of an object can shed light on wider phenomena in the archaeological discipline. The aim of this paper is to remind that objects do not have a single essential meaning, but that their meaning shifts and builds through changes in the historical and social context, as well as through changes of actors gathered around certain practices in which the objects are used. The biography of the painted vessel is therefore viewed as a series of assemblages of relations in two planes, through which its identity and layers of meaning were built. The first plane is the Neolithic, in which the focus is on the practices of painting and use, and the second is her life in the role of an archaeological artifact, during which she moves from the sphere of scientific research and musealization to the sphere of negotiating contemporary cultural identities. By applying a new analytical approach, we discovered that this vessel was not very skilfully and carefully painted, and that as such it does not testify to the highest achievements of Starčevo culture, but to a social practice, learning, apprentices and mastering the skill of pottery painting. Therefore, I believe that by reducing painted pottery to relative-chronological parameters and luxury objects, we lose sight of the possibilities through which we can build much more diverse interpretations of the past.

The different faces of international posting: Why do companies use posting of workers?

2021 ◽  
pp. 095968012110232
Author(s):  
Dries Lens ◽  
Ninke Mussche ◽  
Ive Marx
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Cost Minimization ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
The Past ◽  
High Potentials ◽  
Routine Tasks ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Skill Shortages ◽  
Shed Light

The importance of the posting of workers across EU borders has grown considerably in the past decade, causing concern regarding its impact on labour standards in Europe. This article asks why posting has taken such a flight. Building on quantitative analysis and in-depth interviews set against other sources, we shed light on employer motives for deploying posted workers. We develop a typology of posting which shows that while cost minimization is a crucial motive, especially in sectors where labour cost is an important competitive concern, a much wider set of motives are at play. Skill shortages across all levels of the skills spectrum play a crucial role in every sector. In addition, companies use sub-contracting for highly specialized temporary work as well as for routine tasks. Posting is also used for career development, especially of high potentials. Based on the wide array of employer motives for the use of posting, our typology distinguishes between ‘competition posting’, ‘specialisation posting’ and ‘expert posting’. The article discusses some implications for EU policy vis-a-vis posted work.

Bence-albee after 25 years: A new superior α-factor correction procedure for the quantitative analysis of oxides and silicates

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 1744-1745
Author(s):  
John T. Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Electron Microprobe ◽  
Binary Systems ◽  
Correction Procedure ◽  
Geological Samples ◽  
The Past ◽  
Large Matrix ◽  
Computational Speed ◽  
Microprobe Data ◽  
Geological Sciences

One of the most cited papers in the geological sciences has been that of Albee and Bence on the use of empirical " α -factors" to correct quantitative electron microprobe data. During the past 25 years this method has remained the most commonly used correction for geological samples, despite the facts that few investigators have actually determined empirical α-factors, but instead employ tables of calculated α-factors using one of the conventional "ZAF" correction programs; a number of investigators have shown that the assumption that an α-factor is constant in binary systems where there are large matrix corrections is incorrect (e.g, 2-3); and the procedure’s desirability in terms of program size and computational speed is much less important today because of developments in computing capabilities. The question thus exists whether it is time to honorably retire the Bence-Albee procedure and turn to more modern, robust correction methods. This paper proposes that, although it is perhaps time to retire the original Bence-Albee procedure, it should be replaced by a similar method based on compositiondependent polynomial α-factor expressions.

Quantitative surface damage studies by H.R.E.M.

1989 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 632-633
Author(s):  
S. R. Singh ◽  
H. J. Fan ◽  
L. D. Marks
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Surface Science ◽  
Surface Damage ◽  
Space Environment ◽  
Oxygen Desorption ◽  
The Past ◽  
Diffusion Controlled ◽  
Original Observation ◽  
Substantial Interest

Since the original observation that the surfaces of materials undergo radiation damage in the electron microscope similar to that observed by more conventional surface science techniques there has been substantial interest in understanding these phenomena in more detail; for a review see. For instance, surface damage in a microscope mimics damage in the space environment due to the solar wind and electron beam lithographic operations.However, purely qualitative experiments that have been done in the past are inadequate. In addition, many experiments performed in conventional microscopes may be inaccurate. What is needed is careful quantitative analysis including comparisons of the behavior in UHV versus that in a conventional microscope. In this paper we will present results of quantitative analysis which clearly demonstrate that the phenomena of importance are diffusion controlled; more detailed presentations of the data have been published elsewhere.As an illustration of the results, Figure 1 shows a plot of the shrinkage of a single, roughly spherical particle of WO3 versus time (dose) driven by oxygen desorption from the surface.

Suicidal Behavior in Black South Africans

Crisis ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lourens Schlebusch ◽  
Naseema B.M. Vawda ◽  
Brenda A. Bosch
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
To Come

Summary: In the past suicidal behavior among Black South Africans has been largely underresearched. Earlier studies among the other main ethnic groups in the country showed suicidal behavior in those groups to be a serious problem. This article briefly reviews some of the more recent research on suicidal behavior in Black South Africans. The results indicate an apparent increase in suicidal behavior in this group. Several explanations are offered for the change in suicidal behavior in the reported clinical populations. This includes past difficulties for all South Africans to access health care facilities in the Apartheid (legal racial separation) era, and present difficulties of post-Apartheid transformation the South African society is undergoing, as the people struggle to come to terms with the deleterious effects of the former South African racial policies, related socio-cultural, socio-economic, and other pressures.

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