Conclusion: A Turning Point for Liberal Democracy

Digital networks have unified contemporary geoculture around market expansion and the spectacle. The society of the selfie, as a sociotechnical complex that has emerged from the capitalist transformations since the 1980s, is the quintessence of a new structure for human relatedness. The introduction of new communication technologies always works in two directions at once—we become more connected in some ways, more alienated in others. The story of Web 2.0 and the discontents of the society of the selfie are, in this sense, a different genre of the same basic tendency. The society of the selfie is not the cause of this widespread immiseration, but it is historically inseparable from it, and in some significant ways contributes to the social changes and dislocations that authoritarian movements react against with their militant retrotopic visions. Yet the desire for progressive change to a more inclusive, egalitarian form of society is influenced by the same dislocations and crises that impact the authoritarians, in this case the cosmopolitans and anti-capitalists reacting not just against economic deprivation but also against a competitive, reified social world that has imposed rigid norms about work, strength, and individualism, while depriving them of belonging, cooperation, and ‘the good life’. If the society of the selfie favours threats that reify contemporary sociality and warp communication dynamics, it also feeds mechanisms of engagement and the production of new social ties, as well as new expectations for participation and empowerment in society.

Three Pressure Peaks Analysis for the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 by the SAMPSON Code

In view of the 1F decommissioning project, the Institute of Applied Energy (IAE) has been analyzing the course of the accident using the SAMPSON code with an aim to investigate its progression in detail. For 1F Unit-2, certain discrepancies between measurement values and analysis results still exist. For example, although three pressure peaks occur after a manual activation of a safety relief valve (SRV), its mechanism is yet unclear. This study seeks to elucidate the mechanism for the three pressure peaks using a new presumption for the relocation of the debris through the lower part of the core. The current results could reproduce the basic tendency for each peak. However, some deviations between simulation results and measured values indicate the necessity for further improvement of the thermal-hydraulic model used in SAMPSON.

Easy-Going: The Treatment of Written Records in the Ancient Syropalestine

Who invented the Proto-Sinaitic writing? Sophisticated scribes, or unlettered workers? Orly Goldwasser, the chief advocate of the second possibility, borrowed from economic sciences the term ‘disruptive innovation’ that “describes a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves ‘up market,’ eventually displacing established competitors.”[1] During the years spent with translations of Levantine texts for a Czech kind of „Context of Scripture“, I had an impression – however daring – that it is possible to generalize this finding for the Syropalestinian literature as a whole. Be it cuneiform or linear, narrative or Listenwissenschaft,[2] it shares the same basic tendency for simplicity and unambiguousness.DefinitionsDisruptive innovation: process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitorsCenter and Periphery: The centre–periphery model is a spatial metaphor which describes and attempts to explain the structural relationship between the advanced or metropolitan ‘centre’ and a less developed ‘periphery’[1] www.claytonchristensen.com/disruptive_innovation.html[2] KTU 1.103 is a very special example from many points of view (and on the background of Y. Cohen, Akkadian Omens from Hattuša and Emar. The šumma immeru and šumma ālu Omens, in: Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, 97, 2007, str. 233‑251).

The Liberative Role of Jh?nic Joy (P?ti) and Pleasure (Sukha) in the Early Buddhist Path to Awakening

This paper challenges the traditional Buddhist positioning of the four jhànas under the category of `concentration meditation' and the premise regarding their secondary and superfluous role in the path of liberation. It seeks to show that the common interpretation of the jhànas as absorption-concentration, attainments that have no liberative value, is incompatible with the teachings of the Pàli Nikàyas. The paper argues few things: First, that one attains the jhànas, not by fixating the mind or being absorbed into a meditation object, but by releasing and letting go of the foothold of the unwholesome mind. Second and related, that the entrance into the first jhàna is the actualization and embodiment of insight practice. Third, that jhànic joy (piti) and pleasure (sukha) has significant liberative importance in the path of liberation; they allow the mind to let go of a rooted and basic tendency that causes suffering: the tendency to desire sensual pleasures (kàma).

Caspian Region Integration Initiatives: Trends and Prospects

Nowadays, along with the fast-developing processes of globalization there is an active dissemination of the regionalization process, which allows the nation-states to reach a higher level of cooperation and, in most cases, leads to the creation of supranational organizations. Although the level of integrity and interdependence in particular interstate regional organizations considerably differs from one part of the word to another, nevertheless, each state is aware of the need to achieve a higher level of economic and, in some cases, political integration. The basic tendency marked above can be fully applicable to characterize the current trends, which, to some extent, are fixed in the dialogue between the countries of Caspian Five. It becomes more and more obvious that the Caspian states feel the need for improving multilateral economic relations, so as strengthening security, cultural and environmental cooperation. Therefore, the article is devoted to identifying promising political and economic initiatives that could form the basis for future regional integration.

KONSTRUKSI IDEOLOGI BAHASA GURU DALAM PEMBELAJARAN DI KELAS

This study aims to describe the construction and strategy of ideology expressions represented by the teacher language in classroom learning. It employed the critical qualitative approach through Critical Discourse Analysis. The data were collected through observations of learning in public and private junior high schools in Malang City. The findings are as follows. First, ideologies represented by the teacher language include: (a)students as the teacher’s subordinates, (b) the teacher as controller of students, (c) silence as the best way in learning, (d) students’ mistakes as taboos, (e) obedience as a success determinant, (f) differences in learning capabilities between males and females, (g) students possessing no autonomy and responsibility, (h) students’ obligation to serve the teacher,(i) students that need to be scared in order to learn, and (j) students’ basic tendency to lie. Second, such ideologies are expressed through the use of prohibition, command, words ideologically contested, lexicalization, irony, metaphor, eponym, and labeling.

Shakedown in Elastic-Plastic Systems Under Dynamic Loadings

Following the derivations of Koiter, who gave a general proof of Melan’s shakedown theorem for elastic-plastic systems under quasi-static reversible parametric loadings, it is shown here that the inclusion of the inertia force due to dynamic loadings does not change the basic tendency for the system to shakedown, if it can. Because of the validity of this shakedown theorem, the problem of designing a system under dynamic loadings and with only a finite amount of allowable plastic work can be transformed into a quasi-static, elastic counterpart. For the case of proportional loadings, two methods for solving the “compounded” shakedown load are proposed. One is called the “Method of Zero Work;” the other, involving a systematic numerical procedure, is called the “Method of Direct Search.” The concept of “optimum preloading” is also introduced.

Systematic Alterations of the Apparent Centers of Lines

Predictable stimulus-bound alterations in the apparent centers of lines were used to discriminate behavioral differences in bisection. 2 dimensions of individual differences were demonstrated in bisection that appeared to be related to cognitive control mechanisms: the well-known basic tendency for the upper segment of lines to be overestimated, and the relative influence on the apparent centers exerted by the stimulus-effects. The roles on these of minor modifications in the stimulus and of secondary factors such as practice, eye and hand dominance, sex, etc., were examined. A more basic effect was noted when the lines were bisected in a horizontal orientation—there was almost no correlation between S's performance with vertical vs horizontal lines. Even though the two main effects noted above were still present, their measures did not correlate with those of the vertical bisection. The implications of this are discussed.