RETHINKING THE LEADERS EFFECT: PERSONAL AND NATIONAL APPEAL OF MODI-ELECTION 2019

The 2019 General Election was a landmark victory for BJP and for Narendra Modi in particular. One major factor that led to the historic landslide victory for BJP was brand Modi himself. The brand Modi was carefully weaved by the BJP and their digital media team, around his very successful and an aggressive foreign policy building a sense of National Pride for Indians . The Brand Modi was also built around the Man Ki baat and his image of an incorruptible man. His digital team was so powerful during the 2019 elections that even the Macro economic issues took a back seat. More than anything else a very strong factor that contributed to the landslide victory of Modi led BJP in 2019 was a weak coalition of the opposition and lack of a strong leader that people could look up to as an alternative to Narendra Modi.

US infrastructure plan will narrow digital divide

Significance However, like many other important sections in the bill, the funding for new digital infrastructure has been cut drastically. Although digital access is a policy priority, it took a back seat to other, more visible priorities such as bridges. Impacts Local and state governments will take the lead on planning and implementing new digital infrastructure programmes. Companies may reduce their overseas digital infrastructure investment if domestic opportunities promise lower risk and higher returns. Public utilities may lead on developing digital infrastructure in the most rural areas.

Queen of Bohemia

This chapter assesses how Elizabeth Stuart was crowned Queen of Bohemia in Prague on November 7, 1619, three days after she had watched her husband Frederick V become the country's king. It soon became plain that Elizabeth, would not be taking a back-seat role in the government of Bohemia. Indeed, Elizabeth was no sooner crowned queen of this 'wretched and dangerous' kingdom than she found herself ruling it. The sequence of events that led to Elizabeth's keeping the home fires burning in Prague rather than Heidelberg had been set in motion years before. The chapter then recounts the Defenestration of Prague. It also looks at the two royal deaths which had a major impact on Elizabeth, though in greatly contrasting ways: first is that of the incumbent King of Bohemia, Matthias, and second is that of Elizabeth's mother, Anna. Ultimately, the arrival and coronation of Frederick and Elizabeth in Prague was greeted with positivity and poeticism, underlying which was the sense that they were fulfilling their destiny as the saviours of Protestantism.

Empowerment, love, and connection: Lessons learned from the Farmacy Project, a food-is-medicine program in Rutland, Vermont

Senior high school student volunteer Tyler Carroll walks out to the car that has pulled up along the back of the renovated former iron works building, the site of the Vermont Farmers Food Center, in downtown Rutland, Vermont. Tyler says, “Hi! Can I get your name, please?” Tyler then takes one bag from the table covered with bagged farm shares and puts one in the customer’s back seat, thanking them as they drive off with their local goods. The members are here to receive their produce prescription through the Farmacy Project, a program that provides 150 individuals in the county with 15 weeks of fresh produce grown exclusively by local Rutland county farms. Finishing up its sixth year in 2021, the program has become a standard in the area, working with healthcare providers who identify individuals with chronic diet-related health conditions who could benefit from a “food as medicine” produce share. This project intersects community health and local agriculture. Many, although not all, members may be food insecure as well, as reflected in the 68% of members this year who were food insecure based on the results of the two-item food insecurity questionnaire of the U.S. Household Food Security Survey.

Symbolism in Hemingway’s The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

This paper analysed Ernest Hemingway’s The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber using New Criticism framework on symbolism. Comparisons of drinks, clothes, and colours paralleled the difference between Francis, a wealthy yet unconfident man, and Wilson, a man of masculinity. The next was the sitting positions of the characters in the car in which front seat symbolised authority and power whereas back seat inferiority and lack of confidence. Car symbolised protection, segregation, and power for Margot, whereas camp, and savannah foresaw Francis’ transformation from a wealthy person of comfort (camp) to a man of manly conviction signified with savannah offering wilderness. This transformation was also attributed to Francis’ overcoming obstacles symbolised with a lion and buffalos. Guns and rifles possessed by male characters indicated their dominance with Margot, the only female, practically left-out, except by the end of the story when she wielded a rifle shooting Francis dead.

A Scoping Study on Driver’s Perspective of Distracting Factors

Distracting activities while driving are common and can result in errors that threaten road users’ safety. The main objectives of this study were to investigate drivers’ perspectives of the factors contributing to distraction, determine the relative rank of types of distractions, recognize the road factors and environmental effects that make distractions more dangerous, and identify the most effective measures to reduce driver distractions. A survey was conducted to assess Jordanian drivers’ experiences with distracted driving, and what solutions they believed could be implemented to solve the problems. The study’s outcomes revealed that drivers perceive visual distractions as the most dangerous, followed by cognitive, manual, and auditory distractions, respectively. It was also found that “mobile phone texting or dialing” was ranked the top most dangerous visual and manual distracting factor. “Baby is crying or kids are fighting in the back seat” was perceived by all demographic groups as the riskiest auditory factor. Regarding cognitive distraction, four factors were perceived as the most serious, of which “Baby is crying”, “Driving while angry or sad or agitated”, “Talking on a cell phone—even a hands-free one” and “Conversing with passengers” were determined to be the top four distracting factors. The results also revealed that drivers believe that “laws and enforcement” is the most effective measure to reduce distractions while driving.

The Pride of Sparta

After control of the mainland Greeks passed into Macedonian hands in 338, Sparta stayed aloof from the League of Corinth and the organizational structures put in place to keep the Greeks in order. This stance was prompted by the Spartans’ awareness of their proud history, but the reality was that Sparta was no longer as strong as it had been, and indeed was suffering from a severe decline in the number of its citizens, and therefore in the size of its army. After an armed rebellion led by their king Agis III in 330 was put down, Sparta took a back seat in international affairs, until its pride was somewhat revived in the 290s and 280s by the maverick Cleonymus, a member of one of the two Spartan royal families. Cleonymus allied himself with Pyrrhus of Epirus for an attempt to take Sparta for himself, but died in the process. By then the anti-Macedonian faction in Sparta had gained the upper hand, as in Areus I’s expedition against the Aetolians, Macedonian allies at the time, in 281. When Antigonus gained the Macedonian throne in the 270s, he knew he could expect trouble in the Peloponnese from the Spartans.

Riding shotgun – Front-seat research and the socio-material considerations of ethnography on the move

In this article, we explore methodological considerations of using the car as space for ethnographic research on police work. With a socio-material perspective, we are concerned about how the car’s particular materiality and mobility shapes social interaction that takes place within it. We argue that this affects the researcher role, and that the researcher’s spatial position in the car affects the researcher role further. The position’s impact on interaction is made evident when the researcher is ‘riding shotgun’, rather than being placed in the back seat. We argue that this front-seat role comes with increased reciprocity towards the driver/officer, demanding a more (inter) active research practice. Hence, the riding shotgun position potentially increases the empirical input with the closer interaction between the researched and the researcher. More generally, the case illustrates the very delicate considerations of researcher positioning within ethnography on the move.