Overarching Focus Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Foreign Perspectives on Tang Dynasty Narratives: Examining History of Imperial China and A History of China

History of Imperial China, published by Harvard University Press in the United States, and A History of China, published by Kodansha in Japan, are significant works on Chinese general history abroad. Due to differing perspectives and temporal and spatial contexts, these works exhibit distinct narrative styles and characteristics for the same historical period. This article compares the narrative variances between the Tang History Volume of History of Imperial China and A History of China, aiming to elucidate the underlying reasons for such disparities. Analysis reveals that the primary distinction between these two historical works lies in their overarching focus: while History of Imperial China adopts a global perspective, examining the evolution of China's imperial system, the volume China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty (History of Imperial China, Vol. III) delves into the shifts and adaptations of the Chinese imperial system during the Tang Dynasty. Conversely, each volume of A History of China boasts unique attributes, with Brilliant World Empires: The Sui and Tang Dynasties (A History of China, Vol. VI) adopting an East Asian perspective to scrutinize the Tang Dynasty's impact as a global empire. This article posits that the disparities in overall structure and specific content between the two works stem from several factors, including publishing objectives and target audiences, the scholarly traditions of Chinese history research in the United States and Japan, the historical relationship between respective countries and China during the Tang Dynasty, as well as the research fields and propositions of the authors.

Associations of suicide-related media reporting characteristics with help-seeking and suicide in Oregon and Washington.

Specific content characteristics of suicide media reporting might differentially impact suicides in the population, but studies have not considered the overarching theme of the respective media stories and other relevant outcomes besides suicide, such as help-seeking behaviours. We obtained 5652 media reports related to suicide from 6 print, 44 broadcast and 251 online sources in Oregon and Washington states, published between April 2019 and March 2020. We conducted a content analysis of stories regarding their overarching focus and specific content characteristics based on media recommendations for suicide reporting. We applied logistic regression analyses to assess how focus and content characteristics were associated with subsequent calls to the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) and suicides in these two states in the week after publication compared to a control time period. Compared to a focus on suicide death, a focus on suicidal ideation, suicide prevention, healing stories, community suicide crises/suicide clusters and homicide suicide was associated with more calls. As compared to a focus on suicide death, stories on suicide prevention and stories on community suicide crises/suicide clusters were also associated with no increase in suicides. Regarding specific content characteristics, there were associations that were largely consistent with previous work in the area, for example, an association of celebrity suicide reporting with increases in suicide. The overall focus of a media story may influence help-seeking and suicides, and several story characteristics appear to be related to both outcomes. More research is needed to investigate possible causal effects and pathways.

Health-Promoting Behavior and Lifestyle Characteristics of Students as a Function of Sex and Academic Level.

University students frequently engage in unhealthy behaviors. However, there is a lack of studies examining a wide range of their lifestyle characteristics by sex and academic level of study. This cross-sectional survey of students enrolled in BSc, MSc, or PhD programs at one university in Germany (N = 3389) assessed physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB), nutrition, sleep quality, and alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use by sex and academic level and was conducted with EvaSys version 8.0. Chi-squared tests compared categorical variables by sex, and binary logistic regression analyses adjusted for sex with Bonferroni adjustments evaluated differences across academic level. Although 91% of students achieved the aerobic PA guidelines, only 30% achieved the muscle strengthening exercises (MSE) guidelines, and 44% had high SB. Likewise, <10% met the fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC) recommendations, >40% of students experienced impaired sleep, and >30% had hazardous alcohol consumption. Less than 20% of the sample achieved the guideline/recommendation of all three PA, MSE and SB. Some behaviors exhibited significant sex and academic level differences. The identified at-risk groups included males (lower FVC), females (eating more during stress), and BSc students (poorer nutrition/sleep quality, more ATOD use). Given the above findings, multipronged strategies are needed with an overarching focus highlighting the health–academic achievement links. Behavioral interventions and environmental policies are required to raise awareness and promote student health.

Insights into Improving Risk and Safety Communication through Environmental Health Literacy.

Messages and materials developed to communicate risk to the public are often misunderstood because the public misperceives risk, science information is too complex, leading to audience misunderstandings, and an overarching focus on the details of the problem without supplying solutions or actions to keep the public safe. This article describes the creation of a communication model to improve risk communication that includes safety information. The authors describe essential components of Risk and Safety Communication based on features of Environmental Health Literacy (EHL), which informed the creation of a protocol for developing risk communication messages and materials. An online training module was developed to aid communicators in creating information to enable the public to protect themselves, their family, and their community, leading to improved comprehension of how the environment impacts health. These principles were developed in a series of focus groups, identifying how the public perceives risk, how they prefer to receive communication, and how participants respond to materials developed using the principles. Important topics discussed are understanding the literacy levels of the target audience, applying that understanding to developing messages, how risk perception leads to misperceptions and how to address those misperceptions by using plain language when developing focused messages and materials.

Exploration: an overarching focus for holistic development

Exploration: an overarching focus for holistic development

Similar crimes, similar behaviors? Comparing lone-actor terrorists and public mass murderers

This article adds to the growth in data-driven analyses seeking to compare samples of violent extremists with other violent populations of interest. While lone-actor terrorists and public mass murderers are frequently treated as distinct offender types, both engage (or attempt to engage) in largely public and highly publicized acts of violence and often use similar weapons. This article investigates the (dis)similarities between both offender types. We use a series of bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses to compare demographic, psychologic and behavioral variables across 71 lone-actor terrorists and 115 public mass murderers. The results show little distinction in sociodemographic profiles, but significant differences in (a) the degree to which they interact with co-ideologues (b) antecedent event behaviors and (c) the degree to which they leak information before the attack. Overall, our data inform the emerging idea that lone-actor terrorists and public mass shooters are not distinct offender types. There is more that unites them than divides them. Although the over-arching focus of our results are on the few variables that distinguish them, the vast majority (80%+), of the 180+ variables showed no significant difference. We discuss implications for threat assessment and management in the context of these results.

A lack of therapeutic engagement and consumer input in acute inpatient care planning limits fully accountable mental health nursing practice.

It is mental health consumer's human right to lead a fulfilling life as they are empowered to actively manage their recovery. This can be facilitated through care planning, yet research suggests that the care plan is not routinely created, discussed, or updated in acute mental health settings. Research on care planning and the role of the mental health nurse highlights the importance of therapeutic communication in care plan development. This paper argues that the lack of meaningful care plan discussions between consumers and mental health nurses in an acute setting is a limitation to the practice of fully accountable mental health nursing care. We explore this limitation in quality care provision by examining literature on accountability and conclude that in mental health nursing, accountability is frequently enacted through an overarching focus on the organizational need to manage risks, rather than on therapeutic engagement.

Psychoanalytic Underpinnings of Socially-Shared Normativity.

Alongside social anthropology and discursive psychology, conversation analysis has highlighted numerous ways in which cultural forms of perceiving and acting in the world are primarily rooted in socially shared normativity. However, when consideration turns to the origins and purposes of human affect and emotion, ethnomethodology, and conversation analysis appear to face particular difficulties that arise from the over-arching focus on sense-making practices. This article considers the proposal that psychoanalytic thinking might inform our understanding of how socially shared normativity emerges during infancy and early childhood. First, a framework is sketched out that highlights the fact that from the beginning, an infant’s earliest experience is bound up with those procedures, practices, and social actions that make up what conversation analysts call members’ methods. Second, comparisons are drawn between conversation analysis and psychoanalytic accounts of early experience for infants during the first years of life. Discussion then moves to the Kleinian notion of object relations and the concept of projective identification. Essentially, this is a theoretical account of how “what-was-once-one” (the mother-infant unit) somehow differentiates resulting in the gradual emergence of the “individuated being.” What is often glossed over in this account is the discursively embedded nature of projective identification; a process that is itself interdependent with the embodiment that makes up the infant’s lived engagement with the world. Whatever might constitute consciousness emerges from somatic, embodied, material-physical, tactile/affective experience – that is, a fundamentally social milieu. Ultimately, this raises the question of how transformation (i.e., from the social to the individual) occurs. One answer may be Winnicott’s idea of the transitional space, where the “good-enough” parent is said to be somebody, who can “contain” both negative and positive identifications coming from the infant, transform and re-project such identifications, but in modified form. In this way, the infant begins to recognize/experience what it is they are “feeling.” Such projective identifications are conveyed within and through the prevailing discourses that constitute all social practices. Concluding comments note that conversation analysis may find in psychoanalytic thinking a framework for understanding the interdependence between affect and action, given that in psychoanalytic thought, we find a thoroughly relational conception of human nature.

Detective Casey and the April 2010 shooting

Theoretical basis Several theories emerge in a reading of this case; however, the primary or overarching focus of the case is the role of communication and how ineffective or non-existent communication during training, coordination and follow-up of a critical incident can impact officers, departments and communities. Furthermore, this case provides valuable insights for civilian businesses on the importance of formal and informal communication. Research methodology The case was based upon extensive interviews with a police officer involved in a shooting. In addition to extensive semi-structured interviews, research for the case also included review of psychological evaluations of the officer involved, journalism pieces and blogs written about the shooting under study, and reports from the Attorney General’s investigation of this shooting. Case overview/synopsis Detective Keith Casey, an undercover Narcotics Officer for 12 years, had trained and served as a member and point person for the Emergency Response Team (i.e. Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team) for seven years. On April 25, 2010, Casey was working on an electronic surveillance (i.e. a wiretap) out of the FBI office when he received the call about a barricaded suspect in Hammonton, New Jersey. The barricaded suspect had pulled a gun on an EMT in Deptford New Jersey and threatened to kill himself and others. At approximately, 4:10 a.m. because he was perceived to be a danger to himself and others, the SWAT team was sent into the home where the suspect was barricaded. After ignoring repeated commands to drop his weapon, the barricaded suspect was struck down by cases moments after the SWAT team entered the home. Preparation and training on intervention and team management has become increasingly more important for police departments around the world. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been placed on officer bias; however, little attention has been placed on officers who pull the trigger and the events that follow. This case offers a first-hand account of how communication, between all players, before, during and after an officer involved shooting impacts all phases of the critical incident. Complexity academic level This case is targeted to undergraduate and graduate students in organizational communication, but may include public relations, introduction to management, strategic management and organizational behavior, especially if the course includes a discussion of communication and crisis management.

Critical success factors for subway construction projects – main contractors’ perspectives

Successful subway construction projects involve many socio-economic, cultural and environmental challenges. These projects enhance public convenience, and are complex and uncertain, involving multiple governmental organizations. The critical success factors (CSFs) of these projects have been identified and prioritized from a main contractors’ perspective, to enable project managers to prioritize their efforts and concerns. This study sheds light on CSFs in subway construction projects and contributes to the project delivery success literature with an overarching focus on the contractors' perspectives. Our investigation revealed that, for subway construction projects in Iran, goal setting through clear and realistic project goals, project management competency, competent project team, good cultural fit, top management support and adequate funding throughout the project are the top-ranking CSFs. An extensive body of literature is reviewed, and 140 potential success factors are identified. Then, a focus group has been conducted in which the potential CSFs reduced to 39 success factors. The priorities and ranking of the success factors were evaluated according to the views of 63 project managers of subway projects. The correlation coefficients analysis was used to analyze the results, and it revealed that 23 success factors such as goal setting, top management support and PM competency were perceived to be critical by the respondents. No other research has, until now, found the critical factors leading to success in subway construction industry in Iran. The results have been verified against other research done in other countries.

A study on the criteria of internal transparency, efficiency and effectiveness in measuring local government performance

AbstractPublic managers perceive performance measurement as an indispensable element of modernising the public sector in the quest to achieve ‘more for less’, despite research showing that performance measurement in the public sector is risky in terms of unexpected and undesirable effects. Through a case study of the introduction of a performance measurement system (PMS) in a Danish municipality, our analysis focuses on how internal transparency unfolds in terms of addressing performance measures and aligning them with the criteria of efficiency and effectiveness. We conclude that there are two main reasons the PMS fails to address the desired effects in terms of modernising the municipality. First, an overarching focus by top management on outcome measurement results in inattention to the measurement of resource consumption and efficiencies. Second, empowerment of lower‐level managers in the formulation of key performance indicators (KPIs) results in competence problems related to PMS design. Therefore, many of the KPIs are designed as milestone measures, chosen to constrain the influence of the PMS on daily activities. These factors hinder the organisation's ability to design KPIs that attribute costs to outputs and therefore render the goal of internal transparency impossible to achieve for the municipality. The consequence is a PMS that loses track of its very purpose along with a false sense of security among top management regarding the optimisation of scarce resources.

Building better systems on strong relationships: A co-design case study of a local initiative

In 2012, a small team made up of experienced acute care clinicians was established, and based in the local Primary Health Care Organisation. The challenge was to address specified health targets focused on nurturing excellence in acute care delivery within the General Practice Team environment. Our primary focus was to build energy and enthusiasm for acute care, increase capability and capacity in practice by working with multiple teams in a co-design, integrative fashion. Foundational work involved identifying the willing who understood the aim and the shared vision, and who had the passion to engage in this new way of working. Building relationships with the primary health care providers was pivotal - the point of difference involved working in partnership to identify the challenges and opportunities. Being responsive, transparent and honest in a timely fashion was critical. This approach was underpinned by co-design and quality improvement principles. This enabled ongoing trust and confidence in the processes being tested. Over time as relationships built and confidence grew, the focus changed from targeted initiatives to a whole of systems approach. The building blocks had been laid in the form of individual acute care packages such as standing orders, acute knowledge and skills education programme and intravenous training. Other packages were developed as the need was identified in partnership with the teams involved. As acute care delivery in the community became more embedded, and the strategic focus shifted to move acute care closer to the health home, another key programme aimed at avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital evolved. The key aims were: • To reduce the escalation of care from community to hospital • To implement specific acute clinical pathways • To support innovation and responsiveness • To support a quality improvement approach to acute care which was systematic, focused and reflexive Our small team acted as a conduit between primary and secondary providers, linking the services together and enabling new connections. The team’s methodology was simple but effective - having the right people at the table, working within their environments to develop effective systems with an overarching focus on integration across the health care continuum. The presentation will highlight the journey with our key partners, our successes and our challenges. It will depict the evolution of our programme of work from targeted acute care packages, to the development of the Primary Options for Acute Care programme and the introduction of a primary Early Warning Score. It will demonstrate the challenges and highlights of our approach as we continue to move acute care forward for our people in the Manawatu, Tararua, and Horowhenua districts.

The Strengths and Challenges of Palliative Day-Care Centers: Qualitative Study With the Professionals Involved.

Palliative day-care centers are a marginal service within the palliative care landscape. Relevant research on the potential and added value of this service model is lacking, and it may therefore be underappreciated. To examine how representatives of Belgian palliative day-care centers perceive their strengths and added value, as well as the biggest challenges to their survival. Qualitative study of individual interviews and an overarching focus group. Data collection was performed from December 2014 to April 2015. Inductive coding was used to extract relevant themes from the verbatim transcripts. Participants were professional representatives of all 5 Flemish palliative day-care centers: 7 participants for the individual interviews and 6 participants for the focus group. Five strengths were identified: (1) unique care model, (2) contact with peers in a nonclinical environment, (3) a reliable and competent multiprofessional team, (4) care tailored to the individual, and (5) respite for family caregivers. The most significant challenges were (1) optimizing government funding and (2) achieving sufficiently high occupancy and referral. According to interviewees, this latter challenge was due to the low visibility of the service to professionals and the public, unclear referral criteria, and the psychological threshold for referral among patients and professionals. Palliative day-care centers strive to provide unique services for patients with advanced illness. However, negotiating adequate funding and raising referral by changing current perceptions are paramount to unlocking their potential. Scientific analysis of cost utility and patient outcomes associated with their use is necessary.

Berlin Replayed: Cinema and Urban Nostalgia in the Postwall Era by Brigitta B. Wagner

Reviewed by: Berlin Replayed: Cinema and Urban Nostalgia in the Postwall Era by Brigitta B. Wagner Katharina Gerstenberger Berlin Replayed: Cinema and Urban Nostalgia in the Postwall Era. BY Brigitta B. Wagner. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 299. Paper $30.00. ISBN 978-0816691746. Berlin continues to attract scholarly attention. Brigitta Wagner's new book is a welcome addition to this still growing corpus of works that examine various aspects of the city's past and present, often with an overarching focus on memory culture and questions of identity and belonging. Berlin Replayed explores the connections between filmic representations of Berlin and their importance for the emergence of a postwall urban identity. Setting out to understand the "intertwined nostalgic allure and danger" (2) of historical and contemporary filmic representations for present-day interpretations of the city, Wagner, who is a filmmaker herself, reconstructs how this archive of images has been created, used, and reused over time. Most important in this context, she insists early on in her well-written and carefully researched study, are two decisive events in Berlin's history, namely the destruction of World War II and the subsequent division that has shaped not only the urban landscape, but also the use and function of the film material that preserves as well as creates versions of the city at various points in time. The nostalgia for a city that is irretrievably lost, a sentiment that is probably shared by the majority of viewers today who have no personal recollections of pre-World War II Berlin, must of course always reckon with the political developments that have led to these events and Germany's responsibility in the process. Central to Wagner's thinking is the relationship between time and space in a given film and its changing meanings over the course of the film's reception. The pleasure and challenge for the viewer to reconcile locations and architecture that no longer exist in his or her imagination, and the political and cultural use of the gap between current reality, a photochemically preserved past, and future aspirations are at the heart of this project. In addition to an informative and carefully crafted introduction that outlines the theoretical framework for the book's guiding questions and a brief conclusion, the volume consists of four chapters that follow a chronological as well as spatial order. Appropriately, the study opens with a chapter on Walter Ruttmann's Berlin. Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (1927) and frequently returns to this quintessential Berlin [End Page 467] film throughout. Wagner then focuses on 1950s Berlin films, juxtaposing two East Berlin films—Gerhard Klein's Berlin, Ecke Schönhauser (1957) and Eine Berliner Romanze (1956) with two West Berlin films, Die Halbstarken (1956) and Endstation Liebe (1958), both by Georg Tressler. Wagner then explores representations of Potsdamer Platz, focusing mainly on Wim Wenders's Der Himmel über Berlin (1987) and the context of its creation in conjunction with the celebration of Berlin's 750th anniversary in 1987. The final chapter discusses postunification films, most importantly Tom Tykwer's 1998 Lola rennt and Wolfgang Becker's 2003 Good Bye, Lenin!. In addition, Wagner includes analyses of digital projects such as Joachim Sauter's and Dirk Lüsebrink's The Invisible Shape of Things (1995), which invites viewers on an interactive visual walk around Potsdamer Platz. A significant number of film stills, maps, and other pertinent illustrations rounds out the volume. Wagner's book is valuable for a number of reasons. First, it offers insightful interpretations of a selection of key films about and set in Berlin with regard to their use of space and location and the political and cultural implications of the filmmakers' choices. Second, Wagner provides a wealth of information about the individual films' history of reception, including data on screenings and tickets sold as well as the circumstances of production and the impact of changing funding models. In the 1920s, for instance, we have the financial interests and influence of American film studios and the resulting phenomenon of Kontingenzfilme; during the postwar and postwall periods changing funding models for films produced in Berlin brought about shifting definitions as to what constituted a...

Bearing Witness: The Lived Experience of Sitting With Patients

There is abundant literature focused on the practice of using hospital sitters as part of standard patient safety care. However, minimal attention has been paid to understanding the actual experiences of hospital workers as they sit with distressed and often agitated patients. With the overwhelming number of hospitalized patients who require sitters, attention must be paid to the healthcare workers' perspective. In this study a phenomenological approach was used to elicit the perceptions of these hospital sitters. Themes which emerged from the participant's lived experiences of sitting included: Accepting them, It's not about me, You're not alone, Taking it to heart, Lifts me up, and Supporting role, with an overarching focus of Bearing witness. Nursing implications for this study suggest that using advanced practice psychiatric nurses in med–surg settings may help to support the hiring and training of skilled sitters and lead to improved psychological nursing care. In addition, identifying health care workers who best "fit" the sitter profile may promote the role from one of safety surveillance to one of therapeutic engagement.

Re-conceptualising graduate employability: the importance of pre-professional identity

ABSTRACTDespite efforts to broaden the concept of graduate employability, there remains an overarching focus on developing industry-relevant employability skills. The skills-based approach is, however, too narrow and does not fully capture the complexity of graduate work-readiness. This paper argues for the redefining of graduate employability by embracing pre-professional identity (PPI) formation. PPI relates to an understanding of and connection with the skills, qualities, conduct, culture and ideology of a student's intended profession. The ‘communities of practice’ model is drawn upon to demonstrate how PPI can be developed during university years. Here, a student makes sense of his/her intended profession through multiple memberships and differing levels of engagement with various communities within higher education's ‘landscape of practice’. Example communities include professional associations, student societies, careers services and employers. Implications for stakeholders are discussed.

Fibrous Tectonics: A Rethinking of Composite Production through Innovation and Exploration of Molding Techniques and Methodologies

The inherent possibilities of composites present an exciting frontier in architecture that has remained largely untapped. In light of the current computational capacities and new digital tools in manufacturing, composites are just beginning to re-situate themselves in the field of architecture. Efficiency and durability coupled with a load bearing capacity make a strong case for the use of composites as a primary building material.We now possess the computational and digital manufacturing tools that make the development of a composite building viable. On a holistic level, the research has concerned itself with an overarching focus on developing a composite building which minimizes the required costs and labor while simultaneously creating the potential for customized forms. Based on the concepts of mass customization, when the workflow from digital conception to digital production is seamless, a variety of composite structures can be produced at no greater expense. This potential for an efficient “one off” composite architecture empowered by digital manufacturing and computation, is where the research is positioned.At present, the research has been focused on exploring surface composite structures through a reinvention of the ‘mold’. This approach has involved using inflated bladders, rather than traditional molds of milled foam or aluminum in order to produce composite structures. In doing so, the benefits of inflatables are all encompassing. Not only do they allow for inexpensive transportation and rapid deployment, but they also lend themselves to the production of large scale structures through the simple use of air and pressure, thus minimizing both material and effort. This lies in stark contrast to traditional composite manufacturing techniques which require molds to be milled out of solid aluminum blocks or high density foam volumes, whereas inflatable molds are easily heat sealed and inflated. When considering issues of scalability, traditional molding techniques demand significantly more labor, material, and with that, overarching costs. Inflatable molds however, require only more air.Coupled with the rethinking of molding techniques is a consideration in the technological methodologies in order to produce such composite structures. The research looks to the new developments in the composite industry, such as Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) and Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM). These processes greatly simplify the manufacturing of composites and eliminate much of the manual labor traditionally associated with composite structures. By taking advantage of the existing vacuum bag used for compaction while producing composites, the VARTM process pulls resin through the bag under vacuum pressure, thus wetting out the fibers and eliminating typical layup deficiencies while producing a nearly weightless composite structure.

The Torturer's Smile as the Stain of Enjoyment

The Subject of Torture: Psychoanalysis and Biopolitics in Television and Film by Hilary Neroni. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. 200 pages. $28.00 paperback.In his well-known essay with Sade,1 Jacques Lacan claims that Donatien Alphonse Francois, Marquis de Sade, is in fact the truth of Kant. That is to say, the Kantian respect for the moral law, according to Lacan, contains an unconscious enjoyment that possesses a certain sadistic characteristic. The respect for the moral law articulated by Kant is unknowingly tied to a sadistic pleasure in being able to cause pain and humiliation in the victim. The Sadist torturer acts, according to Lacan, as an agent of the moral law. Although for Kant there must remain a gap between the subject's pathological motivations and personal sentiments (feelings, personal desires, and so forth) and the moral law, there is, as Slavoj Zizek explains, a priori sentiment that the subject necessarily experiences when confronted with the injunction of the moral Law, the pain of humiliation.2 Zizek notes that for Lacan, the Kantian privileging of pain as the only a priori sentiment is correlative with the Sadean notion of pain as the privileged way to access sexual enjoyment. How might we consider Lacan's argument in the context of contemporary practices and representations of torture-torture, that is, as an arm of the law?Hilary Neroni's The Subject of Torture takes up this question directly. The book is insightful and enjoyable, and it provides a considerably useful point of entry into a key debate in contemporary cultural and political theory. Its overarching focus is the debate between proponents of and those of psychoanalysis. The book addresses the diverging critical and analytical perspectives of power that depend on the choice of the body or the subject as the site of knowledge. This debate is at the heart of current theories of subjectivity, power, and ideology, and in this book Neroni defends the Lacanian psychoanalytic approach, particularly a version of it influenced by Zizek and Joan Copjec.3Interest in biopolitics and the body have developed out of critiques of Marxist and psychoanalytic conceptions of subjectivity. Though important in many respects-particularly when dealing with questions about racism and sex, for instance-a focus on the body seems to sidestep the role of desire and enjoyment and their connection to truth. In The Subject of Torture, which includes poignant, psychoanalytically charged interpretations of popular films such as Zero Dark Thirty (2012), the Hostel and Saw series, and television series such as 24, Homeland, and Alias, Neroni contends that is actually aligned with contemporary ideology and informs the predominant fantasy about torture. The torture as it is described by Neroni, is one that sees the body as a repository of information that, bound to its wish for mere corporeal survival, can be made to purge whatever details are deemed necessary for the enhancement of the security state. Neroni contrasts the biopolitical fantasy with the psychoanalytic conception of the desiring subject. Unlike the biopolitical body, the desiring subject is not a repository of information. Rather, it is based in an irrational (unconscious) experience of enjoyment. Therefore, on the one hand the reigning fantasy, the one that sees the body as repository, opens up an avenue for the critical interrogation of biopolitics and biopower that Neroni pursues, and on the other hand, according to Neroni, the psychoanalytic interpretation of the desiring subject shows precisely why as a technique of interrogation is bound to failure. Through her interpretation of various media representations of torture, Neroni shows that the limits of are tied to ideologies of the body and knowledge that miss the pathological dimension of libidinal pleasure. Her analyses also make a significant contribution to the psychoanalytic critique of ideology, and the book therefore proves useful beyond the limited scope of popular culture studies. …

OMKAR L. SHRESTHA and AEKAPOL CHONGVILAIVAN, eds. Greater Mekong Subregion: From Geographical to Socio-economic Integration. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2013, xvi+270p.

Greater Mekong Subregion: From Geographical to Socio-economic Integration OMKAR L. SHRESTHA and AEKAPOL CHONGVILAIVAN, eds. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2013, xvi+270p.The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), arguably the most glittering development opportunity in Asia, is steadily attracting an international audience. After a period of mistrust and instability, the subregion has been the stage for a number of successful development stories as well as a few failures. When peace prevailed over the conflicts that divided its peoples, an unprecedented wave of regionalizing efforts in the entire area enticed many foreign institutions into investing in the development of the GMS. Given the peculiar situation characterizing most of the bloc's countries, the first priority was that of upgrading the existing infrastructure and building new links in order to improve the spatial connectivity of the subregion. In other words, priority was given to geo- graphical integration through the abatement of physical barriers.With this book, a collection of selected papers presented at the eponymous conference organ- ized by ISEAS in Singapore in 2010, the editors attempted to present the events that have charac- terized the development of the GMS during the last two decades, with an overarching focus on the transition from geographical to socio-economic integration that the subregion is undergoing. The book is divided into two parts: the first is country-specific and aims to discuss some of the emerg- ing issues from a national perspective (chapters 2-7); the second is thematic and each chapter aims to look at single issues from a subregional perspective (chapters 8-12).Larry Strange (chapter 2) provides the reader with a very simple, yet exhaustive and persua- sive description of the events that have characterized Cambodia's development over the last few decades. The analysis of the new development paradigm after 1998 and of the response subsequent to the 2008-9 global economic crisis is very accurate, and praises the timeliness and the appropri- ateness of the government's policies during this period. Unfortunately, the author fails to acknowl- edge some systemic flaws that hinder a more thorough incorporation of Cambodia into the GMS scheme, while giving too much attention to Cambodia's relation with ASEAN, China, and the rest of the world. Cambodia's strength in the GMS is weighed mainly in terms of its advantageous geopolitical location, which might produce economic benefits in the future. While remaining chal- lenges and weaknesses are acknowledged, the conclusion is indeed not conclusive, as it does not properly consider the GMS context. It simplistically states that the country's future lies in exiting the vicious circle of aid-dependency and in graduating from LDC-status (Least Developed Country) in order to eventually distribute more equitably the national wealth.Oudet Souvannavong (chapter 3) provides a good overview of recent development indicators in Lao PDR, although almost all of them are macroeconomic. Too much attention is given to government policies, and the author fails to explain with concrete cases how such governmental intentions are implemented on the ground, nor what people's reactions to them are. Policy sug- gestions presented within the chapter are simplistic, and the tables shown lack units and could be clearer. However, the overall image of the country in the GMS context is very clear and objectively drawn: inadequate education, weak exports, unfriendly business environment, corruption, poor infrastructure, low population density, urban-rural divide, and the omnipresent lack of the rule of law are arguably the biggest obstacles hindering a more constructive participation of the country in development programs. The author also clearly identifies the country's strengths, such as the huge hydropower potential and a young population, and provides very down-to-earth policy sug- gestions on cross-border customs operations and the transit system, specific infrastructural proj- ects, special economic zones, electricity for domestic consumption, a national rail grid to transport raw materials, smart agriculture (i. …

Sustainability science: accounting for nonlinear dynamics in policy and social–ecological systems

Resilience is an emergent property of complex systems. Understanding resilience is critical for sustainability science, as linked social–ecological systems and the policy process that governs them have the capacity for nonlinear dynamics. The possibility of nonlinear change in these systems means that there is an inherent degree of uncertainty in social–ecological systems and the policy process. Abrupt, nonlinear change often results in social and/or ecological surprises that create tremendous challenges for environmental management. Thus, it is necessary to improve environmental management via a suite of mechanisms that have the capacity for adaptation. This paper suggests how we can move closer to achieving this goal through an overarching focus, including reformed and new law, adaptive management and adaptive governance, scenario planning, and leading indicators.