Fenced in: Common property struggles in the management of communal rangelands in central Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

This paper takes as its starting point the assertion that current rangeland management in the central Eastern Cape Province (former Ciskei) of South Africa, is characterised primarily by an ‘open access’ approach. Empirical material drawn from three case-study communities in the region is used to examine the main barriers to management of rangeland as a ‘commons’. The general inability to define and enforce rights to particular grazing resourses in the face of competing claims from ‘outsiders’, as well as inadequate local institutions responsible for rangeland management are highlighted as being of key importance. These are often exacerbated by lack of available grazing land, diffuse user groups and local political and ethnic divisions. Many of these problems have a strong legacy in historical apartheid policies such as forced resettlement and betterment planning. On this basis it is argued that policy should focus on facilitating the emergence of effective, local institutions for rangeland management. Given the limited grazing available to many communities in the region, a critical aspect of this will be finding ways to legitimise current patterns of extensive resource use, which traverse existing ‘community’ boundaries. However, this runs counter to recent legislation, which strongly links community management with legal ownership of land within strict boundaries often defined through fencing. Finding ways to overcome this apparent disjuncture between theory and policy will be vital for the effective management of common pool grazing resources in the region.

The trilogy of John of God

Monteiro’s assertion of the almighty auteur, after the post-structuralist and post-modern experiences, which had shattered the author and his work in theory and practice, reinstates an authority aimed at organising the chaos caused by the lack of narrative. In a way, therefore, Monteiro’s output is conservative, displaying a peculiar atemporal style, which seems entirely immune to fashion. On the other hand, however, few contemporary films could be more radical than his. Authorship, in his case, means the absence of limits and total freedom of expressing his obsessive world.

Response to comment on “The response of vegetation on the Andean flank in western Amazonia to Pleistocene climate change” – M.L. Cárdenas et al., Science 331, 1055 (25 February 2011)”.

Puyasena et al. question our interpretation of climate-driven vegetation change on the Andean flank in western Amazonia during the middle Pleistocene and suggest that the use of Podocarpus spp. as a proxy of past climate change should be reassessed. We defend our assertion that vegetation change at the Erazo study site was predominantly driven by climate change due to concomitant changes recorded by multiple taxa in the fossil record.

Coordinated Cluster/Double Star observations of dayside reconnection signatures

The recent launch of the equatorial spacecraft of the Double Star mission, TC-1, has provided an unprecedented opportunity to monitor the southern hemisphere dayside magnetopause boundary layer in conjunction with northern hemisphere observations by the quartet of Cluster spacecraft. We present first results of one such situation where, on 6 April 2004, both Cluster and the Double Star TC-1 spacecraft were on outbound transits through the dawnside magnetosphere. The observations are consistent with ongoing reconnection on the dayside magnetopause, resulting in a series of flux transfer events (FTEs) seen both at Cluster and TC-1, which appear to lie north and south of the reconnection line, respectively. In fact, the observed polarity and motion of each FTE signature advocates the existence of an active reconnection region consistently located between the positions of Cluster and TC-1, with Cluster observing northward moving FTEs with +/− polarity, whereas TC-1 sees −/+ polarity FTEs. This assertion is further supported by the application of a model designed to track flux tube motion for the prevailing interplanetary conditions. The results from this model show, in addition, that the low-latitude FTE dynamics are sensitive to changes in convected upstream conditions. In particular, changing the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) clock angle in the model suggests that TC-1 should miss the resulting FTEs more often than Cluster and this is borne out by the observations.

Telefantasy tower blocks: space, place and social realism shake-ups in Misfits

This article considers the ways in which British youth telefantasy Misfits (E4, 2009–13) takes up and makes strange urban spaces familiar from social-realist narratives. Filmed on the sprawling East London estate, Thamesmead, the programme chronicles a group of young offenders who are given powers by a freak storm, turning them into ‘ASBO superheroes’. Misfits depends on its British urban landscapes for the assertion of its ‘authenticity’ within British youth television, using spaces and landscapes familiar from urban youth exploitation cinema and television's narratives of the underclass. After situating the series within existing cultural discourses and recent developments in social-realist representations, the article explores how Misfits disrupts what have become signifiers for the ‘real’ – the brutalism of housing estates, the grey of the concrete and sky – by making them strange, turning them into telefantasy. The series presents the estate as an uncanny place: the domestic, social-realist world shifted into a fantastical space by the storm. Through close analysis, this article explores how the familiar spaces become skewed and unsettling to match our protagonists' isolation, shifting bodies and scrambled sense of self.

Vehicle subtype, make and model classification from side profile video

This paper addresses the challenging domain of vehicle classification from pole-mounted roadway cameras, specifically from side-profile views. A new public vehicle dataset is made available consisting of over 10000 side profile images (86 make/model and 9 sub-type classes). 5 state-of-the-art classifiers are applied to the dataset, with the best achieving high classification rates of 98.7% for sub-type and 99.7- 99.9% for make and model recognition, confirming the assertion made that single vehicle side profile images can be used for robust classification.

Rotational aesthetics: Michael Bay and contemporary cinema’s machine movement

Digital imaging technologies enable a mastery of the visual that in recent mainstream cinema frequently manifests as certain kinds of spatial reach, orientation and motion. In such a context Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise can be framed as a digital re-tooling of a familiar fantasy of vehicular propulsion, US car culture writ large in digitally crafted spectacles of diegetic speed, the vehicular chase film ‘2.0’. Movement is central to these films, calling up Scott Bukatman’s observation that in spectacular visual media ‘movement has become more than a tool of bodily knowledge; it has become an end in itself’ (2003: 125). Not all movements and not all instances of vehicular propulsion are the same however. How might we evaluate what is at stake in a film’s assertion of movement as an end in itself, and the form that assertion takes, its articulations of diegetic velocity, corporeality, and spatial penetration? Deploying an attentiveness towards the specificity of aesthetic detail and affective impact in Bay’s delineation of movement, this essay suggests that the franchise poses questions about the relationship of human movement to machine movement that exceed their narrative basis. Identifying a persistent rotational trope in the franchise that in its audio-visual articulation combines oddly anachronistic elements (evoking the mechanical rather than the digital), the article argues that the films prioritise certain fantasies of transformation and spatial penetration, and certain modes of corporeality, as one response to contemporary debates about digital technologisation, sustainable energy, and cinematic spectacle. In this way the franchise also represents a particular moment in a more widely discernible preoccupation in contemporary cinema with what we might call a ‘rotational aesthetics’ of action, a machine movement made possible by the digital, but which invokes earlier histories and fantasies of animation, propulsion, mechanization and mechanization to particular ends.

Elderly learners and Massive Open Online Courses: a review

Background: Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have become commonplace in the e-learning landscape. Thousands of elderly learners are participating in courses offered by various institutions on a multitude of platforms in many different languages. However, there is very little research into understanding elderly learners in MOOCs. Objective: We aim to show that a considerable proportion of elderly learners are participating in MOOCs and that there is a lack of research in this area. We hope this assertion of the wide gap in research on elderly learners in MOOCs will pave the way for more research in this area. Methods: Pre-course survey data for 10 University of Reading courses on the FutureLearn platform were analyzed to show the level of participation of elderly learners in MOOCs. Two MOOC aggregator sites (Class Central and MOOC List) were consulted to gather data on MOOC offerings that include topics relating to aging. In parallel, a selected set of MOOC platform catalogues, along with a recently published review on health and medicine-related MOOCs, were searched to find courses relating to aging. A systematic literature search was then employed to identify research articles on elderly learners in MOOCs. Results: The 10 courses reviewed had a considerable proportion of elderly learners participating in them. For the over-66 age group, this varied from 0.5% (on the course “Managing people”) to 16.3% (on the course “Our changing climate”), while for the over-56 age group it ranged from 3.0% (on “A beginners guide to writing in English”) to 39.5% (on “Heart health”). Only six MOOCs were found to include topics related to aging: three were on the Coursera platform, two on the FutureLearn platform, and one on the Open2Study platform. Just three scholarly articles relating to MOOCs and elderly learners were retrieved from the literature search. Conclusions: This review presents evidence to suggest that elderly learners are already participating in MOOCs. Despite this, there has been very little research into their engagement with MOOCs. Similarly, there has been little research into exploiting the scope of MOOCs for delivering topics that would be of interest to elderly learners. We believe there is potential to use MOOCs as a way of tackling the issue of loneliness among older adults by engaging them as either resource personnel or learners.

Elevers uppfattningar av vad man bör uppnå efter avslutad kurs i Idrott och Hälsa A : En studie av två gymnasieskolor i årskurs 2 – ett elevperspektiv

The purpose of this work is to see if the students, on two separate high schools, understand what skills you should achieve after completing the course in physical education and health A 100 points. The entire study is based on a student perspective. In order to best answer the purpose, the questionnaire used in the "available groups" in schools. The questions for the work are: To what extent and how students perceive what they should achieve after completing the course in Sport and Health A?, Which is the goal, based on the curriculum in Physical Education, that students feel are important to achieve? and how do a comparison like between these two schools on the basis of what students perceive that they must achieve in Sport and Health A?The result shows that the main goal that finds support in the course objectives is an assertion; Has knowledge of what to eat to maintain or improve health, which over 90% of students had checked in. The least important goal was the claim 14; Know woods and fields and carry out outdoor activities, as 30% of students had checked in. The most important goal that does not find support in the course objectives is claim 10; to be reversed to the lessons, which was 88% in response rate among students. Here was the least important goal, claim 6; to be skilled in various ball games, which received 17% of student responses. The findings revealed that there is a clear health perspective in physical education in the studied groups at the two schools, one can also see that there is an uneven distribution of the elements included in the curriculum of Sport and Health A, and the outdoor life and dance is rare in the teaching of the groups studied at the two schools. Finally, it appeared that the lesson content and teaching are likely to have a significant role in student perceptions of course goals.

Discourse strategies and power roles in student-led distance learning

The assertion of identity and power via computer-mediated communication in the context of distance or web-based learning presents challenges to both teachers and students. When regular, face-to-face classroom interaction is replaced by online chat or group discussion forums, participants must avail themselves of new techniques and tactics for contributing to and furthering interaction, discussion, and learning. During student-only chat sessions, the absence of teacher-led, face-to-face classroom activities requires the students to assume leadership roles and responsibilities normally associated with the teacher. This situation raises the questions of who teaches and who learns; how students discursively negotiate power roles; and whether power emerges as a function of displayed expertise and knowledge or rather the use of authoritative language. This descriptive study represents an examination of a corpus of task-based discussion logs among Vietnamese students of distance learning courses in English linguistics. The data reveal recurring discourse strategies for 1) negotiating the progression of the discussion sessions, 2) asserting and questioning knowledge, and 3) assuming or delegating responsibility. Power is defined ad hoc as the ability to successfully perform these strategies. The data analysis contributes to a better understanding of how working methods and materials can be tailored to students in distance learning courses, and how such students can be empowered by being afforded opportunities and effectively encouraged to assert their knowledge and authority.

Media Coverage and Charitable Giving After the 2004 Tsunami

Media coverage of humanitarian crises is widely believed to influence charitable giving, yet this assertion has received little empirical scrutiny. Using Internet donations after the 2004 tsunami as a case study in a tobit framework, we show that media coverage of disasters increases charitable donations, with an additional minute of nightly news coverage increasing donations by 0.036 standard deviations from the mean. We repeat the analysis using instrumental variables in a tobit model to account for endogeneity, and the estimates are unchanged. We also show that the magnitude and sign of media impact vary by news source and relief agency.

Two additions to Lucas's "inflation and welfare"

This work adds to Lucas (2000) by providing analytical solutions to two problems that are solved only numerically by the author. The first part uses a theorem in control theory (Arrow' s sufficiency theorem) to provide sufficiency conditions to characterize the optimum in a shopping-time problem where the value function need not be concave. In the original paper the optimality of the first-order condition is characterized only by means of a numerical analysis. The second part of the paper provides a closed-form solution to the general-equilibrium expression of the welfare costs of inflation when the money demand is double logarithmic. This closed-form solution allows for the precise calculation of the difference between the general-equilibrium and Bailey's partial-equilibrium estimates of the welfare losses due to inflation. Again, in Lucas's original paper, the solution to the general-equilibrium-case underlying nonlinear differential equation is done only numerically, and the posterior assertion that the general-equilibrium welfare figures cannot be distinguished from those derived using Bailey's formula rely only on numerical simulations as well.

Nota fiscal eletrônica reduz custos para o contribuinte?

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo investigar se a adoção de documentos eletrônicos, uma realidade cuja obrigatoriedade é crescente no Brasil, é acompanhada por uma redução nos custos de conformidade das empresas. O autor buscou o referencial teórico em várias áreas do conhecimento: no Direito Tributário e no Direito Civil, na Matemática Aplicada, na Tecnologia da Informação e, por fim, na Contabilidade. Do Direito Civil vieram os conceitos de documento, que juntamente com conceitos de Matemática e de Teoria da Informação permitem construir a noção de Documento Eletrônico. Do Direito Tributário vieram as noções relativas aos tributos no ordenamento brasileiro, e as suas obrigações associadas (principal e acessórias). Da Contabilidade buscaram-se as definições de custos de conformidade e de transação, de forma que se pudesse avaliar quanto custa para uma empresa ser conforme com as obrigações tributárias acessórias brasileiras, especialmente no que tange ao uso de documentos fiscais eletrônicos. O estudo foi circunscrito na Nota Fiscal Eletrônica, que no Brasil deve ser utilizada em operações de circulação de mercadorias em substituição à Nota Fiscal Modelo 1 ou 1-A, documento tradicional que existe há décadas no Brasil. Buscaram-se informações quantitativas com empresas brasileiras, e a conclusão final é que existem evidências que justificam a afirmação de que o uso de documentos eletrônicos é mais barato que o uso de documentos em papel, mediante a comparação entre os custos de transação associados com a Nota Fiscal Modelo 1 ou 1-A e com a Nota Fiscal Eletrônica.

A politica fiscal no Brasil : limites e contradições : o caso do Estado do Espirito Santo

o estudo pretende contribuir para a análise da realidade brasileira, através do caso do Estado do Espírito Santo, no período compreendido entre 1946 a 1980, tentando demonstrar a dependência financeira dos governos estaduais refletida na perda de receitas próprias e da necessária autonomia para a sua utilização. Numa visão retrospect.iva observa-se uma excessiva tendência à centralização manifestada pelo federalismo brasileiro, principalmente, depois da Reforma Tribut.ária de 1967, que estabeleceu um rigoroso controle da União sobre as receitas tributárias e sobre a ação dos Estados- membros, reduzindo sua autonomia em matéria de legislação tributária. A centralização financeira e política fez com que os go- . , . vernos estaduais perdessem 8S prerrogativasanteriorrnente adquiridas e tivessem limitada sua autonomia em;matéria de politica fiscal. Tentou-se compensar a acentuada redução das receitas tributárias estaduais lnstituindo- se o mecanismo das transferências que, a despeito de suas funç5es redIstributi vas, impõe uma série de exig§ncias e determinações para a sua aplicação. A partir dessa constataç50 passa-se a analisar a política fiscal no Estado do Espírito Santo observando-se as administrações estaduais nesse período. Cheg~-se à conclusão de que as sucessivas crises financeiras ocorridas limitaram a formulação de uma política fiscal estadual. Com isso, constat3-se que os estados passaram a ser rneros agentes administrativos reproduzindo as decis5es maiores formuladas pelo governo federal. Em linhas gerais, tentou-se comprovar a dependência fi--

Microcrédito, emprego e renda: uma pesquisa empírica na ICC-BLUSOL/SC

Esta pesquisa objetivou analisar o impacto do microcrédito junto aos microempreendedores beneficiados pela Instituição de Microcrédito ICC-Blusol de Blumenau, Santa Catarina. De um total de 5.451 clientes foram selecionados e analisados 94, os quais obtiveram microcrédito durante os 10 últimos anos. Para testar a veracidade da afirmação, utilizou-se modelo econométrico utilizando a técnica de dados em painel, através da estimação das variáveis no modelo de efeitos fixos e efeitos aleatórios. Como variável independente utilizou-se a premissa "Valor do Empréstimo" e como variáveis dependentes "Vendas", "Resultado Operacional", "Garantia Real", "Garantia Aval", "Recursos Humanos", "Custos Fixos" e "Custos Variáveis". Conclui -se que somente as variáveis "Vendas" e "Resultado Operacional" validam a afirmação de que o acesso ao microcrédito resulta em incremento de Faturamento e Renda. A criação e manutenção de empregos, embora não tenha sido comprovada na análise estatística, ficou evidente, pois a simples sobrevivência da empresa já pressupõe isto.