EU Environmental Policy under Pressure: Chemicals Policy Change between Antagonistic Goals?

Until now, chemicals policy was unable to find a method to establish a sound balance between the benefits and risks of chemical substances. Policy learning within the European Union (EU) resulted in the formulation of an alternative approach to future chemicals policy in some quarters. The Commission's proposal for new chemicals legislation - presented as 'paradigmatic' policy change - led to a highly controversial lobbying debate. This paper deals in particular with the influence of structures, policy networks, multi-level governance and the influence of new modes of governance on chemicals policy-making. It argues that future policy will not represent the paradigmatic change announced by the Commission but only one incremental, cost-effective step towards such a reform. The final proposal is criticised as a neo-liberal interpretation of the Lisbon strategy which includes a dangerous shift in environmental policy making.

English in Kenyan Education

This article places English language teaching in Kenya within a specific historical context. Any consideration of the use of English in Kenya must take into account the legacy of language policies adopted by both colonial and independent administrations in the country. Use is made in this respect of the growing body of research and theory that focuses on language policy in post-colonial and neo-colonial settings.

Optical colors of 56 near-Earth objects: trends with size and orbit

We present the results of BVRIZ photometry of 56 near-Earth objects (NEOs) obtained with the 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn telescope on La Palma during 2000 and 2001. Our sample includes many NEOs with particularly deep 1 - mum pyroxene/olivine absorption bands, similar to Q-type asteroids. We also classify three NEOs with particularly blue colors. No D-type asteroids were found, placing an upper limit of similar to2% on the fraction of the NEO population originating in the outer main belt or the Trojan clouds. The ratio of dark to bright objects in our sample was found to be 0.40, significantly higher than current theoretical predictions. As well as classifying the NEOs, we have investigated color trends with size and orbit. We see a general trend for larger silicate objects to have shallower absorption bands but find no significant difference in the distribution of taxonomic classes at small and large sizes. Our data clearly show that different taxonomic classes tend to occupy different regions of (a, e) space. By comparing our data with current model predictions for NEO dynamical evolution we see that Q- R-, and V-type NEOs tend to have orbits associated with "fast track" delivery from the main belt, whereas S-type NEOs tend to have orbits associated with "slow track" delivery. This outcome would be expected if space weathering occurs on time scales of >10(6) years. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

'American hegemony after September 11: Allies, rivals and contradictions'

11 September heralded and provided a pretext for a more aggressive but increasingly contradictory American hegemony. Some of the consequences are contrary to the United States' own interests. Its new doctrine of 'preemptive strike' against other sovereign states encourages similarly belligerent behaviour by other governments, and yet more terrorism by nonstate actors, the very threats which were to be eradicated by a re-asserted US hegemony. This essay focuses on three partly overlapping themes: different strategies towards allies - multilateral and unilateral; different forms of power - civil and military; and different ideologies of globalisation - neoliberal and neo-conservative. It argues that while US policy may oscillate between such poles, it often combines the different elements. The overall strategy of the Bush administration is best characterised as unilateral multilateralism. The main issue for US hegemonists is the ways in which their hegemony might best be exercised, maintained and strengthened vis à vis allies and rivals. But for a safer, more democratic world, the choice does not lie between one faction of US hegemonists and another: we need other alternatives such as cosmopolitan democracy and a genuine internationalist movement which would give it some much-needed substance.

The reform of Welfare Regimes in Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay

The aim of this article is to analyze the social policy in Latin America in a context of emerging welfare states. To understand the changes one takes into consideration the theories about institutional reform and the transformations produced in the XX century and the beginning of the XXI to substitute a social security regime mainly based on segmentation of benefi ts and on programs to fi ght poverty by another with an institutional and redistributive nature. The paper pays attention in particular to the path of the most developed welfare states of Latin America: Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay.

Pierre Bourdieu as a Sociologist of the Economy and Critic of 'Globalisation'

This article examines Pierre Bourdieu's sociology of the economy and his more recent politically engaged interventions on 'globalisation'. Many scholars regard these as not being in the same academic league as his classic studies on taste, academia, and state elites, etc., and, instead, dismiss them as a private matter or even, as the spleen of Pierre Bourdieu, the individual. This paper questions this disjunction of the 'academic' and 'politically engaged' sides of Pierre Bourdieu's work. First, it argues that his most recent interventions against a neo-liberal globalisation were the logical result of a particular definition of intellectual practice that had been outlined before in his sociology of the intellectual field. It then demonstrates that Bourdieu's economic sociology and critique of contemporary capitalism not only does not contradict his earlier research, but that it provides valuable and original insights into the current transformation of the political economy of the advanced capitalist countries. The paper concludes with a suggestion of how to strengthen the theoretical foundation of Bourdieu's analysis of contemporary capitalism by relating it to and making it compatible with alternative approaches in the tradition of critical political economy.

Conscientiousness and laboriousness as academic achievement predictors in a Spanish students sample

To understand academic performance of students, the variable of conscientiousness from personality inventory Big Five, has been recognized as an important key. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship established between the personality factor conscientiousness itself and two of its facets, laboriousness and planning, with academic performance, and observe if there are genre differences in consciousness personality factor. A total of 456 Spanish students of high school and college participated in the study. They were requested to answer a personality report and a self inform questionnaire. The results show that both conscientiousness as a personality dimension and the consideration of laboriousness facet are able to predict academic performance, especially with regard to student’s exam marks, classroom attendance and dedication to study. The genre variable pointed out that feminine genre is more conscious than male in that personality factor. From a practical perspective, these results indicate that the establishment of a routine of continuous work is suitable for improving student grades and their adaptation to the educational environment.

The Complete Works of John Milton: Volume III: The Shorter Poems (816pp.)

Volume III of the new eleven-volume edition of Milton's Complete Works provides a definitive scholarly edition of all of Milton's shorter poems in English, Latin, Italian, and Greek, as well as his Mask, taken from both published and manuscript sources. It includes his 1645 Poems complete with all prefatory materials, thus illuminating the ways in which author, publisher, and print shop shaped this volume. It then presents all the new poems added in the 1673 edition (with the new Table of Contents), as well as the poems omitted from both editions. A careful collation of textual variants among these sources as well as the 1637 anonymous publication of Milton's Mask is provided. The Bridgewater manuscript of Milton's Mask (probably close to the acting version) and his working copy from the Trinity Manuscript, with its many alterations and additions, are transcribed in their entirety, so that the various versions may be compared and studied. 

A special feature of this edition is a new translation of Milton's many Latin and Greek poems that is both accurate and attentive to their literary qualities. This is augmented by a detailed and comprehensive commentary that highlights classical, vernacular, and neo-Latin parallels. A poetic translation of Milton's six Italian sonnets and Canzone is also supplied. In addition, the Appendices contain all the versions of Milton's shorter poems in all the contemporary manuscript and printed sources, so they may be examined in relation to their specific contexts. The transcription of all the versions of Milton's poems in the Trinity Manuscript allows in several cases, notably 'Lycidas' and 'At a Solemn Music,' for examination of the evolution of these poems as Milton weighed choiced of diction and sound qualities, enabling further understanding of his poetic practices. 

Barbara Lewalski is responsible for text, textual apparatus, and commentary pertaining to the vernacular poems in all sections of this edition including the appendices, and manuscript transcriptions (with the exception of A Maske), as well as the Occasions, Vernacular Poems,and Textual Introductions. Estelle Haan is responsible for text, textual apparatus, and commentary for the Poemata in all sections of this edition,and for the Poemata Introduction. She has also provided all translations from Latin, Italian, and Greek in the Testimonia, Poemata, and associated commentary, and transcriptions of the BL Damon, the Bodleian AdJoannem Rousium, and A Maske from the Trinity and Bridgewater manuscripts. Andrew McNeillie has provided poetic translations for Milton’s Italian sonnets, and Jason Rosenblatt has provided some Hebrew text and commentary pertaining to Milton’s Psalm translations.John Cunningham has transcribed Henry Lawes’ music for Milton’s masque, with commentary (Appendix E). Biblical references are taken from the King James (Authorized) Version.

Sporting with the Classics: The Latin Poetry of William Dillingham

Sporting with the Classics: The Latin Poetry of William Dillingham (2010) (back cover)

Dana Sutton, University of California:
‘The great merit of Estelle Haan's study is that she is willing to take Dillingham seriously as a poet. Her reproduction of his work, together with an English translation and very detailed studies of his individual poems have the combined effect of rescuing an interesting poet from near-total oblivion. This, in my opinion, is the finest thing a neo-Latin scholar can do, and Haan accomplishes her task with the same skill, sensitivity, and eloquence that have distinguished her studies of other neo-Latin poets of this period (Joseph Addison and Vincent Bourne). It is impossible not to react to this volume with extreme respect and appreciation’.

Gordon Campbell, University of Leicester:
‘Nothing substantial has ever been published on Dillingham, but with this volume we have a new corpus of poetry that intersects with the work of many other seventeenth-century neo-Latin and vernacular poets. Professor Haan’s scholarship is here (as always) placed at the service of the poet, and she leads the reader gently through the work of a new poet. Professor Haan is the most eminent and able neo-Latinist of her generation, and her scholarship never fails; sometimes it dazzles as in the chapters on the hangman's stone and on Renaissance topiary. Her research is always up-to-date, and her translations have a gracefulness that other laborers in the vineyard can only envy’.

Alien gosd in the new epics: Noah remythologised through the ancient astronaut hypothesis in Abel's Montagut's "La gesta d'Utnoa"

Modern scientific world-view has undermined traditional myths, the functional survival of which seems to depend today in the West on a positivist justification. This would place them in the field of real History, through their study and revitalization by pseudoscientific disciplines such as the Atlantis and the ancient astronaut hypotheses. These have inspired new epic poems in (regular) verse that combine classic and/or biblical myths with a (pseudo)scientific modern world-view. For example, the critical rewriting of Noah’s myth by using the ancient astronaut hypothesis as a fictional device to produce a contemporary kind of plausibility allowed Abel Montagut to renew epic poetry, updating it also by adopting science fiction chronotopes in order to structure his fictional construction and to generate a high ethical sense for our time. Thus, his Poemo de Utnoa (1993) / La gesta d’Utnoa (1996), which has become a major classic of the literature in Esperanto thanks to its original version in this language, is a landmark of both science fiction and neo-biblical epics. This poem is written from a secular and purely literary perspective.

La evolución de destinos turísticos litorales consolidados. Análisis comparado de Balneario Camnoriú (Brasil) y Benidorm (España)

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en estudiar la evolución de los destinos turísticos litorales consolidados a partir del análisis comparado entre Balneario Camboriú y Benidorm. Se trata de dos destinos localizados en contextos territoriales y turísticos diferentes, en los que se contrastan de manera empírica los indicadores de evolución de los destinos y se vinculan las dinámicas evolutivas con el modelo territorial-turístico resultante en cada destino. El análisis realizado permite contrastar los postulados de los modelos evolutivos clásicos (Butler, 1980) e incorporar los nuevos planteamientos de la geografía económica evolutiva. La investigación delimita cronológicamente los periodos de desarrollo de ambos destinos para identificar los factores con mayor incidencia en la evolución de los mismos. Una evolución marcada, fundamentalmente, por la ubicación geográfica, la planificación y gestión urbanoturística a diferentes escalas, la dependencia de determinados mercados emisores y la influencia de factores macroeconómicos. Un conjunto de factores interrelacionados que dibujan trayectorias dispares para los destinos analizados.