Background Ideas Research Articles

The Press in Novels: Credit, Power, and Mobility in William D. Howells's Modern Instance and Lima Barreto's Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha

The Press in Novels:Credit, Power, and Mobility in William D. Howells's Modern Instance and Lima Barreto's Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha Renata Wasserman (bio) In a recent New York Times column, Nicholas Kristoff lamented the disrepute into which journalism was falling and the "dwindling credibility" reporters commanded; he suggested ways of regaining not only the trust of the public but also the protections that journalists traditionally enjoyed in their pursuit of the facts and the truth. Letters to the editor in subsequent days showed agreement about the symptoms and doubts about the diagnosis and the treatment, but the implicit consensus was that journalists and newspapers had been better and more respected in the past.1 Yet distrust of journalism is not new, and appeared at much the same time as the medium gained influence—though, as usual, history does not repeat itself exactly. These days the problem for journalism is that it faces stiff competition from electronic media and from other informal and highly efficient means for the dissemination of news (ever more loosely defined) against which it needs to assert itself as much as against its institutional or individual detractors. An increase in the reach of journalism, and of public consciousness of its impact, took place at the end of the nineteenth century, as part of a larger constellation of changes, and left its mark on literature in the form of novels with journalists as main or important characters. Such novels emplotted perceived problems with the growth in the volume and acceleration in the spread of information, including its use for political or economic ends, not all of them laudable or honest; they also addressed the opportunity for social mobility offered by the increasing prominence of journalism in an era in which both social mobility and journalism were seen as desirable and [End Page 44] destabilizing. These developments were global, and the literary attention paid to them appeared in different languages, literatures, and polities. I will examine two novels, one from the United States—A Modern Instance (1882) by William D. Howells—and one from Brazil—Recordações do escrivão Isaías Caminha (1909) by Lima Barreto—that lay out for public scrutiny and discussion the relation between economics, truth, information, and life events. Both authors are key figures in the literature of their times, addressing in their works some of the more fractious problems of the period, political and domestic, and one of these was the role of the press in public life. Both wrote, or had written, for periodicals. Barreto had worked for O correio da manhã, an important newspaper in Rio de Janeiro, then the Brazilian capital, where he eventually ran afoul of the management. Howells, who had learned the business from his father, a printer and newspaperman, was a longtime editor of the Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine, where he welcomed early works of novelists who later became prominent and was particularly hospitable to women and African Americans. Their careers were dissimilar and so is the history of the press in the two environments where they wrote, but their "newspaper novels" drew on their direct knowledge of the field and show that the anxieties surrounding the power of the press were similar in both places. Some historical data and a few numbers give an idea of the material background justifying the focus in the late nineteenth century on the increasing importance of journalism: in 1850 there were 1,902 weeklies in the Unites States and 8,633 in 1880. In 1880, there were also 971 dailies in the United States. Economic as well as technological changes spurred increases in production and circulation: between 1880 and 1890 the price of wood-pulp paper, which had been as high as fifteen cents per pound in 1867, fell from four cents to about one and half cents per pound in the larger cities (and the switch to wood pulp-paper after the Civil War had itself cheapened the production of newspapers). Newspaper production also became more efficient as a result of several important technical innovations introduced after the Civil War. First, the placing of type on a revolving cylinder sped...

The place of nature in Godard's late films

The place of nature in Godard's late films

Some Developments in Economic Theory Since 1940: An Eyewitness Account

Any psychologist who has studied eyewitness accounts knows first of all how unreliable they are. I therefore submit this informal account of some developments in economic theory without research, just as a set of recollections. It is also not an autobiography, nor a systematic account of my own work. Rather, I consider primarily those developments in economic theory that have had both general interest in the field and special concern for me. For example, as social choice theory is still a specialized field, I am not going to discuss it at all. Further, as it has turned out, I emphasize the developments of technique, although to some extent I refer to some of the underlying visions of the economy to which they are applied. To evaluate my eyewitness testimony, I give the reader some idea of my background and, in particular, the path that led me to be an economist and that has influenced my work and my perception of the development of economics in general. (As my friend Paul David keeps on reminding me and the rest of the world, all development is path-dependent.) I then follow up with four major aspects of economic research in the last 60 years, the period of my scholarly activity. One, econometric methodology and practice, is of such fundamental importance that it cannot go unnoticed, although I played no role in it. With the other three, general equilibrium, dynamic processes, and uncertainty and information, I was more intimately involved.

Perspectives on the Integration of Older Men and Women

This introduction to the special issue “Social Integration in Later Life” addresses the background ideas and concepts of the articles encompassing research into the extent and quality of older adults’ integration in organizations, family, and personal networks. A rough conceptual framework is provided, distinguishing between types of integration and different units of analysis. The macro level of society and its social institutions as well as smaller groups and the social locations of individuals are addressed. On a macro level, integration and segregation are juxtaposed, building on classic discussions of integration, as well as recent ideas about social resources, welfare states, and rekindled considerations of age segregation. At the individual level, the concepts of integration and isolation and the subjective assessments of embeddedness and loneliness are contrasted.

Aspects and Prospects of Measuring Studying and Learning in Higher Education

The development of two dominant research traditions is described: students' approaches to learning (SAL) and information processing (IP). The development of the third tradition, self-regulated learning (SRL) is added. SAL is based on European research, whereas IP and SRL are more typical background ideas for North-American research. The most central conceptual frameworks behind these traditions are analyzed. These frameworks form the foundations for the most common inventories used in higher education to measure university students' learning and studying. A larger multilayered perspective is then outlined with three levels of context: general, course-specific, and situational. The other contributions to this Special issue are discussed in relation to this larger picture.

Sweet preferences and sugar consumption of 4- and 5-year-old children: role of parents

We investigated the relationships in children between rules that restrict consumption of mono- and disaccharides (MDS), consumption of MDS and preferences for sucrose-containing orangeade. The background ideas of restriction rules we also investigated. To this end, 44 children (5.1±0.5 years) performed a rank-order and paired-comparison test of preference for five orangeades, which differed in sucrose concentration (0.14, 0.20, 0.29, 0.42, 0.61 M sucrose). Parents filled out a questionnaire concerning restriction rules and their children's consumption of MDS-containing foods. Stronger restriction rules were related to a lower consumption of beverages that contained MDS and to a lower consumption of MDS-containing foods during breakfast and lunch. The most freedom to choose foods that contain MDS was given during the afternoon. Fifty-five percent of the children who were highly restricted showed a preference for the highest concentration of sucrose in orangeade. None of these children preferred the orangeade with the lowest concentration of sucrose. While 19% of the children who were little restricted preferred the beverage with the lowest concentration of sucrose, 33% preferred the beverage with the highest concentration. These parents generally believed that sugar has a bad effect on health and had similar background ideas concerning restriction rules.

The Living Color of Students’ Lives: Bringing Cajitas into the Classroom

I write this essay with the intent of sharing insights into my teaching pedagogy and strategies as illustrated through my “sacred box” or cajita projects that I have implemented into my courses for the past seven years to commemorate El Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). In this essay, I outline the background and initial ideas that crystallized into this class project and describe the impact of the project on myself and on the lives of students. First, I begin our discussion with a reflection of my teaching philosophy and my attempts to reinforce these perspectives through a two-month-long cajita assignment. From there, I describe the cajita project itself and conclude with a discussion as to the significance of this project and the need for grounded teaching strategies in the classroom. Continuing with my student as artist metaphor, in my mind, when students enter the classroom, they bring their lives and experiences on a painter’s palette where an artist lays and mixes the range of living colors symbolic of a person’s life journeys and experiences. In turn, as a teacher I offer my students a painter’s canvas in the form of lectures, discussions, readings, and assignments representative of a canvas of knowledge where students, utilizing this space, are inspired and motivated to explore the range of living colors on their palettes that speak to their lives in deep and profound ways. This philosophy is best illustrated through the insights offered by the poet T.S. Eliot that I hold near to my heart as teacher and educator. The The author wishes to acknowledge the work of Felix Padilla, Laura Rendon, and David Abalos who inspired this essay.

Traceable measurements and data of thermophysical properties for solidmaterials: a review

Measurements of thermophysical properties for solid materials, whichare traceable to metrological standards, and network systems for combining thedata producers and users are discussed. A Japanese national project fordeveloping a new measurement technology of thermophysical properties andreference materials for solids started in 1997 with a five year termconsisting of more than ten participating laboratories and universities.Details of this project are described as an example of the research onthermophysical properties for solid materials. Major goals of the projectinclude development of precision measurement methods for bulk materials,standardization of methods for evaluating the uncertainty in measurement,establishment of reference materials with evaluated uncertainties in theproperties, and development of advanced measurement methods for thin films andsurfaces. Background ideas underlying the project are described from theviewpoint of data users of thermophysical properties. A system for data userssupported by databases and measurements is discussed. A new idea, consistingof independent databases at data production and evaluation sites, is proposedas a network database system

The problem with 'greening liberal democracy'

A frequently heard claim is that liberal democracies are not reacting effectively to the environmental challenge. One important explanation is that liberal democracies have a problem justifying environmental policies. Greening liberal democracy is maybe the most dominant intellectual response to that problem. However it has been suggested that the environmental issue could not be resolved within the liberal democratic moral framework and therefore that this 'greening' of liberal democracy is a mere modus vivendi. In response I shall argue that there are good reasons to doubt the neutrality of liberal democracy with regard to environmental values. In that sense there is indeed a problem with 'greening liberal democracy'. However, when looking deeper into the question we also see that this problem is partly due to the fact that certain basic aspects of environmental political thought fundamentally resist some of the background ideas, which provide the rationale for the liberal democratic idea of neutrality. And this, I shall argue, raises some doubts regarding the environmentalist position, which justify at least some aspects of the greening thesis.

The concept of programme specification and its application in the new quality assurance framework

The article introduces the idea of programme specification and background to the development of policy by the Quality Assurance Agency. Programme specification will promote an outcomes approach to learning and the specification of standards across UK higher education and provide the basis for a new national quality assurance framework that focuses primarily on academic standards. It argues that the process of producing and justifying programme specifications will have an important influence on academic and quality assurance practices and the product (the programme specification) will result in new types of information about higher education learning.

Phase and Amplitude Difference between Velocity and Intensity Helioseismic Spectra

An explanation for the phase and amplitude difference between velocity and intensity oscillations of the Sun is provided. The phase difference along the modal lines in the power spectra was originally observed by Deubner and coworkers in 1989. From a simple adiabatic theory of solar oscillations, one expects this phase difference to be 90° for modes below the acoustic cutoff frequency (bound states) and zero for modes above the acoustic cutoff frequency (scattered states). But, surprisingly, from observations, the bound states show a phase difference that is below 90° along modal lines, and the scattered states also show a nonzero phase difference. We compute the phase difference between the velocity and intensity oscillations using medium angular degree data obtained from the Michelson Doppler Imager instrument on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and confirm Deubner's result. We conclude that the unusual phase characteristics of the solar oscillations can be attributed to the fact that a part of the background is correlated to the source responsible for exciting the waves. The idea of the correlated background also explains why the high-frequency modes above the acoustic cutoff frequency are stronger in intensity than in the velocity power spectrum relative to the uncorrelated background, while at frequencies below the acoustic cutoff the velocity power relative to the uncorrelated background is stronger compared to the intensity. In addition, this explains the relative shift of the maxima in the velocity and intensity high-frequency power spectra.

The DANIS database system: integrating bibliographic and factual information using CDS/ISIS software and the common communication format

This article presents the Danube Information System (DANIS), which is a database containing records on documents, persons, organisations, projects, events and standards relevant to the management of the Environmental Programme on the Danube River Basin. In the first part, the background ideas for an integrated bibliographic/factual system based on the CDS/ISIS software and the common communication format (CCF) are briefly discussed, along with the development activities of the system, such as training workshops and expert meetings. A brief account of the present state of the art of the project, including the actual management set-up and Internet presence, concludes this part. In the second part, some technical aspects of DANIS are highlighted, such as the enrichment of the sytem by the data entry and searching interfaces and the technical solutions introduced to cope with the integrated approach in both indexing and display formats.

Project START

When the Japanese Fifth Generation Computer project was launched in the early 1980s, data-processing professionals along with the world press were quick to appreciate the strategic goals and background ideas of the project which has since been referred to as “Japan's challenge.” Soon, next generation computing projects and programs, like MCC in the U.S., ESPRIT in Europe and ALVEY in Great Britain emerged as a response to this challenge.

Treating Prodromal Episodes to Prevent Relapse in Schizophrenia

Our current study compares intermittent medication with maintenance medication in the treatment of stable schizophrenic out-patients. According to the intermittent approach, known active medication is given only when the patient develops prodromal signs of relapse and until the patient restabilises. After restabilisation, medication is discontinued. The impetus for this work came as the result of our interest in finding ways to diminish the incidence of tardive dyskinesia. Many investigators believe that tardive dyskinesia is generally related to the amount of neuroleptic medication a patient has taken during his lifetime. Since it is routine for many aftercare clinics to maintain these patients indefinitely on antipsychotic medication, ways must be found to reduce the amount of medication taken by chronic schizophrenic patients. This paper will present the background ideas and preliminary studies which led to the present study and preliminary results of the present study.

ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF ARMOURSTONE SHAPE AND WEAR

Impacts, abrasion and physico-chemical weathering which sometimes result in rapid changes of armour shape and size can have disastrous consequences for armour stability. This paper draws together the background ideas and some new techniques which have been developed to tackle the prediction of weight loss and shape change of rock armourstone during the life of a coastal structure. The framework proposed is to measure separately the wear resisting material properties of a rock type using a tumbling mill simulation of prototype block degradation. Time on the structure is then related to mill time by a factor which accounts for initial block size and the site specific environmental conditions. A field site in Scotland is used to demonstrate the new image analysis methods for measuring rounding of prototype blocks. The shape analysis results can also be used to calibrate the equivalent wear factor for conditions at that site. Discussion of this framework is extended to dynamically stable design concepts where abrasion losses are faster. Preliminary flume testing in collaboration with H. R. Wallingford indicates that losses in stability due to rounding could be considerable.

RITUAL, DRAMA AND SOCIAL BODY IN THE LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH TOWN

This article aims to discuss a specific late medieval cult as practised in a specific context: that of the late medieval town. The kind of town to be considered falls typically into the category of “provincial capital”, or at least of “county town”, in terms of a recently suggested classification. The cult in question is the cult of Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi was celebrated annually on a day which fell sometime between the end of May and the end of June. What I propose to discuss are the various rites which were celebrated on Corpus Christi Day, the various dramatic, theatrical manifestations which took place in connection with the occasion, and the mythology associated with both. By and large, Corpus Christi has received more attention from literary scholars than from historians. This is because the famous Corpus Christi play cycles developed in connection with the Corpus Christi cult. The mythology of Corpus Christi has been very interestingly discussed by, for example, V. A. Kolve and Jerome Taylor. Much has been written about the ways the plays were presented and produced, some of this by scholars with a strong historical sense, as more recently Alan Nelson and Margaret Dorrell. Nevertheless, there does seem to be lacking amongst most of these writers anything more than a very generalized idea of the late medieval social background against which the cult was practised and the plays performed; and very little sense of the specific social needs and pressures to which both responded.

Two-Photon Absorption and the Cyclotron Line in Her X-1

The cyclotron line in Her X-1 is a hard X-ray feature at ≈ 58 keV discovered by Trümper et al. (1977). A cyclotron emission line at about this energy had been predicted by Gnedin and Sunyaev (1974) and Basko and Sunyaev (1975). They developed a model for the infall of accreted matter onto a magnetized neutron star’s surface, and concluded that hot spots would form at the polar caps and radiate X-rays. They predicted that the optional depth for bremsstrahlung would be less than unity, that for Compton scattering greater than unity and that for cyclotron absorption much greater than unity. A cyclotron line is then implied due to the emission spectrum lying below the black-body spectrum except near the cyclotron energy where it rises up to the black-body limit. More recent developments of these background ideas have been reviewed by Börner (1980).

Alcoholism and Drug Dependence: Planning a New Service

An outline is given of some of the background ideas and experiences that a new mental health administrator brings to his task of planning innovative services for alcoholic and drug‐dependent persons. Familial and interpersonal factors are overviewed, and an account is given of the concepts and principles being adopted in the planning of a treatment service in the Australian Capital Territory.

A - Introduction: "Living 2016" and the "In 2016" Project

This introduction presents the idea as well as the theoretical, methodological and ethical background of the In 2016 project, a research project that looks into the realities of everyday life and other post-revolutionary lifeworlds (Lebenswelten) in Egypt and Tunisia. Its aim is to provide a kind of ‘encyclopedia of 2016’ that enables users, in a snapshot portrait of one year, to ‘jump right into’ and move around (via crossreferences) in post-revolutionary Arab realities; a tool that allows readers to approximate the experience of ‘how it feels/felt’ to live in these countries in this period of transition and historic change that the Arab World is currently going through. Taking its inspiration from Hans Ulrich GUMBRECHT’s In 1926, an “essay on historical simultaneity,” the project focuses on two key fields of cultural production where salient issues and ‘the meaning of life’ are regularly discussed and from where reflections of bodily experiences, emotions and affects can be collected: fiction and social media.The present dossier spécial emerged from a first, exploratory workshop connected to the In 2016 project. The dossier’s objective is twofold: while the introduction will give the reader an idea of background of the project in general, the contributions will mirror a first stage in the project group’s experience: the collection of an overwhelmingly huge amount of fresh relevant material, its ‘close reading’ or ‘thick description’, and the individual researchers’ first, preliminary attempts to find the “arrays”, “codes” and “collapsed codes” that seem to be typical of living the ‘2016 experience’.Key words: Historiography of the ‘Arab Spring’, social media, fiction

Mental maladjustment in the East African.

Relatively little is yet known of the incidence or nature of mental disorder in Africans. The literature on African psychiatry is not extensive and, although a wealth of anthropological and sociological work has given us an idea of the cultural and physical background of the African, we are still much in the dark as to how these factors influence his personality and what bearing they may have upon mental illness. A number of studies of patients in African Mental Hospitals have been made by various writers and diagnostic classifications have been attempted. Most writers agree that it is rare to find any great degree of similarity between the various types of mental disorder in Africa and those found in the higher developed western countries. Most of the work in this field has been summarized by Carothers (1954).My aim in this paper is to give a rough idea of the African background, to speculate on various aspects of the African personality in the light of present knowledge, and to try and reflect these speculations by description of the various types of insanity that are encountered in a mental hospital in Tanganyika. Some of the differences in the nature and aetiology of these disorders, compared with those most common in the home country, will be discussed. My remarks are, of course, confined to Tanganyika and if I inadvertently use the term “the African” I refer to the native of Tanganyika whom I have studied for the past eight years and who compose the bulk of the patients in hospital.