Latest Project Research Articles

Protest Interview with Prof. Keiko Sakai, Chiba University

Abstract This past spring, Protest editors Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh interviewed Prof. Sakai about how she came to research the politics of the Middle East and Iraq, as well as the changes she has observed in the modes and content of Iraqi protests over the past decades. Prof. Sakai also shared some suggestions for young scholars embarking on the study of the Middle East region and told us a bit about her latest projects on comparative studies and the International Relations (ir) of protest. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Case study on a scientific oral history project using information practice analysis

Introduction. This investigation explored 21st century stewardship of a late 20th century scientific oral history project through the lens of information practice. Oral history project stewardship and reuse are understudied. Literature review. Oral histories foreground human agency in the world. Often studied singly, many reflect an oral history project’s historiographic context. Stewardship documentation by multiple stakeholders accrues over time. The author developed an information practice analysis tool for systematic exploration of oral history stewardship documentation. Method. A case study approach and qualitative content analysis techniques guided investigation of documentation for an oral history project held at Science History Institute in Philadelphia. Textual data was collected for a purposive sample. Analysis and results. Multiple stakeholders’ documentation schema for the purposive sample were analysed in Excel and Word. Results coded five information work models for stakeholder information practices. Discussion. The information work models portrayed stakeholder information practices as mechanisms for stability in the stewardship of contextual assets, and mechanisms for transformation through staff knowledge, as situational assets. Conclusion. Information practice analysis of oral history stewardship in this case study systematised stakeholders’ and user perspectives on access. Implications for theory development lie in leveraging the stability and transformative agency of stewardship and reuse.

Rebuilding St Andrew Undershaft: A Study in Executorial Discretion in Early Tudor London

Using a case study of the early sixteenth-century rebuilding of the London parish church of St Andrew Undershaft, this article focuses on the hitherto unrecognised role played by the executors of London mercantile testators in pre-Reformation church building. Drawing on the rare sets of extant accounts kept by executors in the course of their duties (which would once have been ubiquitous), the details of several ecclesiastical rebuilding projects can be revised, including that of St Andrew’s. It will be argued that this realisation possesses important implications for our understanding of late medieval ecclesiastical building projects, and that executors—sometimes acting on the instruction of the testator but also (more significantly) on their discretion—should be considered a profoundly influential force in shaping the infrastructure of the pre-Reformation City.

The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union: The Dialectics of Rupture and Continuity

Historians, politicians, and other mnemonic actors are actively debating the question about what characterises the relationship between the Romanov Empire and the Soviet Union, i. e. continuity or rupture. The Soviet regime of the interwar period emphasised discontinuity, both in domestic policy and in the international arena. Whenever references to the Romanov Empire appeared in international treaties of the Soviets of that time, it was only in the context of a renunciation of that legacy. However, on the eve of World War II, the Soviet authorities clearly outlined the Soviet state’s claims to its status as a successor state of the Russian Empire, declaring its right to the territories of the Baltic states, Bessarabia, and the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus that had once been part of the Romanov empire, or were claimed by Russia in WWI, such as Galicia and Bukovina. In the USSR, starting in the second half of the 1930s, the image of the Russian Empire as a “prison of peoples” faded into the background, replaced by the arguments about “objective progressiveness” in annexing certain territories and ethnic groups into the empire. However, the role of the October Revolution as the founding myth of the Soviet society persisted until the Soviet Union’s implosion and left no doubt that the rupture was crucially important for the Soviet authorities. During Boris Yeltsin’s presidency in the 1990s, Russia was trying to shape a new narrative of a young nation, which was starting its history from 1991, but the attempt quite predictably failed. After becoming president, Vladimir Putin almost immediately switched to the narrative of “a thousand-year-old state”, proclaiming the legacy of both the Romanov Empire and the Soviet Union part of national history. The article discusses various historiographic approaches to the issue of rupture and continuity between the Romanov empire and the USSR and concludes that one can speak of a radical rupture between the Russian Empire and Soviet Russia (and later, the Soviet Union), since the Soviet project rejected the key components of the late Russian imperial project. At the same time, we can also argue that the imperial nature of the polity itself survived albeit transformed, not just during the 1917–1922 revolutionary crisis but also during the crisis of the 1990s.

Product promotion copywriting from multimodal data: New benchmark and model

In our latest project, we devise a comprehensive corpus for product promotion text generation, named Video-Enabled Product Promotion Corpus (VPPC), which integrates multimodal and multi-structural information of products such as visual spatial details and fine structural specifics. It is crucial to highlight that this is one of the largest datasets available in the field of video captioning. Notably, conventional multimodal text generation often focuses on regular descriptions of entities and events, which doesn not suffice the real-world requirements of product promotion copywriting, as it necessitates a more lively language style and a high degree of authenticity. Regrettably, there is an evident lack of reusable evaluation frameworks and sufficient datasets at the current stage. To address these challenges, we have proposed a unique baseline approach and authenticity evaluation metric, both tailored to meet the realistic demands of our dataset. The results are promising, as our method surpasses previous approaches across all evaluation metrics.

Engaged Documentary Cinema in Independent Slovenia

The essay discusses engaged documentary cinema in independent Slovenia. It focuses on the aspects of political engagement that address the deprived, underprivileged or oppressed communities and groups in contemporary Slovenian society. In the most unenviable position among them are members of the Roma community, the administratively erased inhabitants stripped of all their civil rights, exploited seasonal workers, representatives of the LGBTQIA+ community and the like. The discussion devotes its main attention to the operation of the informal collective Newsreel Front and its latest project “If the Forests Could Talk, They Would Dry Up with Sadness”, which documents the tragic situation of the refugees on the so-called “Balkan route” and their attempts at crossing the border between Croatia and Slovenia, fenced off with a razor wire.

The Crisis of the Form. The Paradox of Modern Logic and its Meaning for Phenomenology

The goal of this paper is to provide an account of the role played by logic in the context of what Husserl names the “crisis of European sciences.” Presupposing the analyses offered in the Krisis, I look at Formale und Transzendentale Logik to demonstrate that the crisis of logic stems from the deviation of its original meaning as a “theory of science” and from its restriction to a mere “theoretical technique.” Through a comparison between Aristotelian syllogistic and modern logic, I show why the modern discovery of the purely formal dimension of knowledge which makes possible such a mathematical technization is a positive achievement that hinders at the same time the disclosure of the truly philosophical nature of logic. The correct appraisal of this ambiguous phenomenon will explain why the rise of modern logic represents a decisive challenge for the success of Husserl’s late phenomenological project.

To slip out of the geometric straitjacket

The tunnel method is a technique employed in the design of wallpaper patterns to facilitate the hanging process while maintaining the integrity of the pattern. It can be utilised in both the reconstruction of historical patterns and the creation of new ones. I have explored the potential of this method since 2006, and in my latest project, I had the opportunity to document its application in Swedish wallpaper studios and endeavour to understand its historical background regarding cultural and printing conditions. By testing the effect of applying the method to wallpaper patterns, I explored its possibility of generating distinctive effects within the pattern when the wallpaper is installed. In this way, the user can actively participate in determining the degree of variation in the pattern during the installation process, either by embracing serendipity or by making deliberate choices. The purpose is to promote wallpaper patterns with greater variation and wallpapers made from sustainable materials. Although this investigation led to several different ways of utilising the tunnel method, there is still much to be explored in this field. By sharing my work, I aim to motivate more people to explore the potential of the tunnel method. Notably, the communication of its functionality to customers and its integration within the cultural context remain limited.

Interview: Faust in Three Languages, or How to Translate Goethe without Knowing German

Abstract Vadim Astrakhan is a Russian immigrant to the United States who has made a name for himself as a translator and performer of songs by Soviet bard Vladimir Vysotsky. While his previous translations were all from Russian, Astrakhan’s latest project is an English verse rendition of Goethe’s Faust. Astrakhan does not know German. He begins by running Goethe’s original text through Google Translate. He then collates the result with various existing English-language versions of Faust as well as the canonical Russian verse translation by Boris Pasternak (published 1953), which was his main inspiration for putting Faust into rhymed English verse. Adrian Wanner, a professor of Russian and comparative literature at Penn State and a native speaker of German, discusses with Astrakhan what prompted him to translate Goethe’s tragedy. The conversation touches on Astrakhan’s use of English and Russian sources and his methodology and goals as a translator, including the crucial importance he ascribes to bringing to life the music and humor of Goethe’s original for a contemporary American theatrical audience.

Interview: Faust in Three Languages, or How to Translate Goethe without Knowing German

Abstract Vadim Astrakhan is a Russian immigrant to the United States who has made a name for himself as a translator and performer of songs by Soviet bard Vladimir Vysotsky. While his previous translations were all from Russian, Astrakhan’s latest project is an English verse rendition of Goethe’s Faust. Astrakhan does not know German. He begins by running Goethe’s original text through Google Translate. He then collates the result with various existing English-language versions of Faust as well as the canonical Russian verse translation by Boris Pasternak (published 1953), which was his main inspiration for putting Faust into rhymed English verse. Adrian Wanner, a professor of Russian and comparative literature at Penn State and a native speaker of German, discusses with Astrakhan what prompted him to translate Goethe’s tragedy. The conversation touches on Astrakhan’s use of English and Russian sources and his methodology and goals as a translator, including the crucial importance he ascribes to bringing to life the music and humor of Goethe’s original for a contemporary American theatrical audience.

Petroleum++: The Expanded Scope of the Industry and Our Role in It

The expanded scope of our industry as it evolves means that members of the petroleum engineering profession will enjoy a long, rewarding career. At the same time, we need to continue developing our competencies to enable expected contributions in producing new forms of energy resources and mitigating climate change concerns, as well as the constant changes and advancements in our traditional role of producing oil and natural gas. Based on the projections of multiple groups including the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the International Energy Agency (IEA), and several international and national oil companies, it is clear the world energy demand will continue to grow into the 2040s. Lower-carbon sources will be the fastest-growing among the various sources of energy, demand for oil will continue to increase at least into the 2030s, and demand for natural gas will continue to grow into the 2040s. The latest projection from IEA (October 2022) illustrates these points. For example, as I am writing this column, Norway approved more than $18 billion investments to develop 19 oil and gas fields. Consensus also appears to indicate that policy will influence the speed of change of the energy landscape, that energy transition will vary by region, and that the pace of the energy transition will depend on costs, infrastructure, project execution, and geopolitics. This indicates that multiple solutions are needed to satisfy energy demand, oil and gas will remain essential for decades, and technological developments will continue to be needed in all sources of energy and may end up changing the mix of energy sources in the future. Data and projections also show two important points. The required levels of investment to provide the world with its energy needs are lagging, and there will be a shift in the regional demand of energy. Needed investment in oil and gas should be about $900 billion annually. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, when investment dipped to $600 billion, investments have gradually increased but are not yet to the desired levels. For the new energy sources to reach the level needed for IEA’s Net Zero 2050 target, annual investment in the range of $2,600 billion is needed. Right now, this investment is around $1,700 billion. Projections for the regional share of the world economy indicates that Asia will have about 43% of the world economy by the year 2040 (currently at 35%) followed by North America at about 24% (currently at 26%) and the EU and the UK at about 17% (currently at 20%). Shares of Latin America and the Middle East will stay around the current levels of 7% and 4%, respectively, while Africa’s share will increase from about 4 to 5%. The tables show the changes in global primary energy demand as well as the changes in different regions. I obtained the information from the sources cited earlier. However, I converted the values from exajoules (1e18 joule, a measurement unit I cannot relate to) to BOE using a conversion factor of 1 exajoule = 163.45e6 BOE.

Proposed Improvement of Subcontractor Selection Process at PT Bangun Beton

In construction, the main responsibility of PT Bangun Beton as the main contractor is to complete the project on time and with good quality according to the expectations of the project owner. However, companies often face late projects and results that do not meet targets. Therefore, the author wants to provide a solution to overcome this problem. After conducting a situation analysis using Kepner Tregoe, it was found that one of the causes of delays was continuous work. If one job is not completed, then other work cannot be started so that the whole project is late. Subcontractors can be a contributing factor to this problem. Therefore, the authors use decision analysis as a plan of action. This study uses the analysis of Risk Management and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Data collection methods used were questionnaires and focus group discussions (FGD). Data analysis was carried out qualitatively by considering the relevant criteria. The newly developed criteria are evaluated to determine which criteria need attention. AHP is used to sort these criteria. The results showed that the criteria with the highest weight were Technical Ability, Quality, Performance History, Interpersonal Relations, HSE, Resources, Technological Innovation, and Financial Capability. These criteria can assist companies in prioritizing the selection of the right subcontractors. These criteria can also be used in the tender process and subcontractor evaluation. By implementing this solution, it is expected that PT Bangun Beton can improve the timeliness and quality of project results. An effective subcontractor selection process will help address ongoing work issues and improve project execution efficiency.

From illustrating poems to creating a picture book: Creative collaborations with Italian author Anna Travagliati, Italian artist Serena Della Bona and US translator and editor Bristin Scalzo Jones

In this article, author Anna Travagliati explores her creative collaborations with artist Serena Della Bona and translator and editor Bristin Scalzo Jones, in the form of summaries of two projects: Presagi | Omens: A Collection of Illustrated Poetry in Italian and in English (2021), whose English translation was carried out by Jones, and their latest project, the picture book La Cavaliera e la Notturna | The Knightess and the Nocturne, an original story which reinterprets the familiar fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. A large part of the article consists of interviews conducted by the author with Serena Della Bona and Bristin Scalzo Jones, who detail their respective backgrounds, interests, professional practices and their views on collaboration and on creating picture books for a young adult and adult readership. These interviews centre feminist collaboration in both content and form, in so far as they allow this article to push back against masculine individualistic conceptions of authorship by providing a polyphony of female voices, spoken in their own words. The article is accompanied by two appendices which provide examples from both Omens and The Knightess and the Nocturne.

Latest Developments in the Field of Optical Communications for Small Satellites and Beyond

In this paper, we introduce our vision for the future non-terrestrial networks beyond 5G and discuss the possible implementation scenarios for free-space optical communication technology in it, especially regarding the satellite communications segment. We show and discuss some of the latest system developments globally in the field of optical communications for small satellites. Together with the latest projects in the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan for payloads for small moving platforms, a specific trend in the field is clearly defined. We further show our newly developed ground station for the experiments with our High-speed Communication with Advanced Laser Instrument (HICALI) payload and discuss the main challenges in a satellite to ground optical link and our specific solution providing preliminary test results of the performance.

The Sexualization of Adolescent Girls Via Influencing on Social Media: Literature Review

Teenagers spend a significant portion of their day on social media, where they are always "connected" to read and be informed about their friends' latest projects and those of other celebrities. The so-called "influencers," who are the newest trend in online marketing and hold the power to influence their followers, now dominate social networking sites. Young people try to rediscover themselves during adolescence through the various changes they go through. They thus frequently assess their own social status by comparing it to that of others. Adolescent girls are pushed to adopt an objectified view of themselves by the images and beauty standards displayed on social media and by social stereotypes surrounding women. Additionally, the phenomenon of sexualization is observed, where children are told that in order to be liked by their peers, they must emphasize their sexual attractiveness. The literature review led to the conclusion that there is a strong connection between the sexualization of adolescent girls and the sexualized role models that are promoted on social media. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that these can result in low self-esteem, depression, eating disorders, and early sexual activity. These results show how serious this phenomenon is on a large scale and can be a valuable tool for experts, who can use them to make the right interventions, so that to manage and prevent the occurrence of these behaviors.

New World of Gain: Europeans, Guaraní, and the Global Origins of Modern Economy by Brian P. Owensby

The Jesuit missions among the Guaraní Indians in Paraguay (1640s to 1767) have attracted attention for many centuries. At their peak in the early eighteenth century, the missions, numbering thirty at the time, encompassed around 140,000 people. They appeared to be virtually autonomous in their government, relying mostly on an internal economy only partially connected to the colonial economy. Owensby contributes to the study of these missions by placing them within a larger history of capitalism (which he calls “gain”). He argues that the Guaraní economy, based on what he calls “substantive mutuality,” offered an alternative to the European model’s increasing focus on mercantile endeavor and the exaltation of individual profit.Owensby dives deeply into the history of Paraguay as a Spanish colony, from its beginnings when the Guaraní accepted the Spanish as allies to aid in the defense against outside indigenous enemies. He asserts that the Guaraní understood society as the ultimate refuge against predation; the keys to a good life were exchange and reciprocation, which the Guaraní initially enjoyed with the Spanish, accepting them as brothers-in-law to their women and thus incorporating them into their society. As the sixteenth century wore on, however, the Spanish changed this relationship by seizing or demanding Guaraní women as a way to accumulate wealth. Owensby provides a culturally sensitive discussion of the interplay between Spanish exploitation of indigenous labor and the Guaraní response. The Guaraní began to bristle at the Spanish demands.By the early seventeenth century, the Jesuit missions had offered the Guaraní protection from Spanish exploitation. Owensby shows through the careful reading of philosophical texts, ranging from Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas to sixteenth-century Spanish treatises, how the Jesuit vision dovetailed with Guaraní social relations. By the early eighteenth century, the missions had reached their apogee, which Owensby characterizes as a system largely based on indigenous consent to the mutual benefit of the Spaniards and the Guaraní (“substantive mutuality”). Owensby does not provide much detail about the founding of the missions nor of their administration; his purpose is to explore the thinking that lay behind the way the missions were supposed to work.The foregoing is not meant to imply that Owensby does not discuss such crucial aspects as the lead-up to the Guaraní War, when a large part of the mission population rebelled against the king, surrendering seven of the most prosperous missions to the Portuguese as part of the Treaty of Madrid (1750). Owensby dedicates two chapters to the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 and its aftermath to show how new ideas of utility and the triumph of economic rationality over other aspects of rule destroyed the mission towns. Chapter 7 is an acute analysis not only of the missions but also of the late eighteenth-century reform project of the Spanish Bourbon monarchy in general.In its attempt to use the Guaraní missions to make larger points about the history of capitalism, the last chapter veers from Paraguay to a discussion of how intellectuals of the seventeenth and eighteenth century (mis)interpreted the Jesuit missions for their own ends. Owensby uses interpretations from the British Isles to reveal the disdain that most thinkers had for the missions as a counterexample to the emerging European system of commerce and individual gain.Through his exploration of the Paraguayan missions, Owensby makes the case that European notions of economic gain were not inevitable and that societies could be organized in better ways to bring about greater well-being. This book is important not only for its erudition about the Paraguayan missions but also for its understanding of the European colonial enterprise and economic thought in general.

Jazzing: New York City's Unseen Scene

Jazzing: New York City's Unseen Scene

New LiDAR‐Based Elevation Model Shows Greatest Increase in Global Coastal Exposure to Flooding to Be Caused by Early‐Stage Sea‐Level Rise

AbstractThe latest projections indicate that sea‐level rise (SLR) is certain to exceed 2 m in coming centuries, and a rise by 4 m is considered possible. Radar‐based land elevation models applied to date suggest that the increase of area below mean sea level, that is potentially exposed to permanent flooding, will accelerate as SLR proceeds, being relatively limited initially. However, applying new and more accurate satellite LiDAR elevation data we find the opposite pattern, with the fastest increase in the area of exposed land occurring in the early stages of SLR. In one‐third of countries most of this increase will be caused by the first meter of SLR and in nearly all within the first 2 m. We conclude that in many regions the time available to prepare for increased exposure to flooding may be considerably less than assumed to date, and that better elevation data will support timely preparations. The global LiDAR lowland DTM (GLL_DTM_v2) elevation data set developed for this assessment is available in the public domain.

Digitalization in Knowledge Management Systems for Project and Operational Management in Software Development to Increase Efficiency

PT Snack Sehat is a manufacturing company that produces healthy snacks and beverages in Indonesia. Its IT division has a software department that manages all creation and maintenance of information system projects. Although the software department planned and monitored project development thoroughly during their work, 42% of projects were late in 2020. Those late projects' costs led to financial loss and kept rising through 2020-2021. Digitalization is how technologies affect several aspects of life, like social interactions, business operations, and how people work. Digitalization improved and sped up knowledge-sharing processes within the organization. Since knowledge sharing is done more frequently, the absorptive capacity will also be improved. This brings up the question of how to design a KM program with digital tools that will help PT Snack Sehat to increase its efficiency in project development and operation support. The primary data for this research was gathered from KM Assessment using APO KM Framework and focus group discussion with top and middle-level managers from PT Snack Sehat. To develop a KM program, the research will use Six Steps KM Processes, which consist of KM Project, KM Assessment, KM Planning, K-Development, KM Implementation, and KM Evaluation. The development steps will include defining the objectives of the KM program, answering questions related to the knowledge management components (people, process, and technology), determining the knowledge management strategy based on KM objectives, and setting the action plan to get ten commitments from top-level management. The results show several processes and methods that need to be added to the current KM: KM Orientation & Training, Shadowing, Sharing Knowledge Checklist, Lesson Learned Document, Document Validation, and Document Organization. The complete knowledge management process will also be mapped in a Knowledge Stock and Flow Diagram using SECI Matrix. Keywords: Project Development, Operational Management, Six Steps KM Processes, SECI Matrix, Digitalization, Absorptive Capacity, Efficiency

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