Policy Feedback: The Comparison Effect and Small Business Procurement Policy

Federal programs to help small business obtain government contracts reflect a type of policy learning termed the comparison effect. In contrast with studies of learning focused on policy instruments, the comparison effect directs attention to a class of policy dissatisfaction that leads to a search for new policy and the translation of dissatisfaction into problem definitions that influence the agenda. In the comparison effect, policy fuels comparisons of government treatment of different groups or sectors that contribute to compensatory or offsetting programs for those deemed to be on the losing end of the comparison.     

The Fractal Theory of Central Place Geometry: A Diophantine Analysis of Fractal Generators for Arbitrary Löschian Numbers

We develop material to determine whether or not an arbitrary number is Löschian; the procedure embodied in the theorems achieves the desired result more swiftly than do previous solutions to this problem. The correspondence between a partition of the central place lattice and a quadratic form permits the rapid determination of the lattice coordinates of an arbitrary Löschian number and of the exact shape of a single fractal generator used to form an entire central place hierarchy associated with an arbitrary Löschian number. Central place hierarchies may be generated geometrically using a single shape applied initially to a hexagon and subsequently, scaled appropriately, to resultant polygons. Fractional dimensions of arbitrary central place hierarchies, measuring their “space-filling” characteristics, follow naturally from this general procedure.     

MISSIONARIES AND WAR LORDS: A STUDY OF CULTURAL INTERACTION ON ABAIANG AND TARAWA

Hiram Bingham Jr, Protestant missionary, landed at Abaiang in the Gilbert Islands in November 1857. He came not only with a distinct missionary policy but also with an inner vision based on his ideals and his own personal interpretation of the Protestant Christian message. Bingham envisaged a loving community which was made up of both ruler and the ruled, including men and women, young and old. For their part, Gilbertese on Abaiang did not share Bingham's view of God or the cosmos. They had their own spirits (Anti) and lived in a world punctuated by wars. Given their limited contact with Europeans, most Islanders on Abaiang and Tarawa saw little relevance in the particular type of Christianity that Bingham espoused and attempted to convey to them. Yet despite this dissonance, two war chiefs (uea) began a communication. This communication was meaningful to their side but was not shared by the other. Bingham was perceived in a way he would not have wanted and he, in turn, misinterpreted the entire situation in Abaiang and nearby Tarawa. The result was that the missionaries became embroiled in the wars and failed to usher in a reign of peace and benevolence.     

The Spatial Structure of the Rural-Urban Fringe: a Multivariate Approach

The literature contains many definitions of the rural-urban fringe, but it is difficult to find consensus on how many zones it contains, or how they can be mapped. It is argued in this paper that transitions within the fringe and at its borders are continuous rather than abrupt. In a study area adjoining London, Ontario, cluster analysis is used, and it leads to the identification of three norms. Membership probabilities are then mapped on the basis of each areal unit's resemblance to these norms through discriminant analysis.
Dans la litterature, il y a beaucoup de definitions de la fringe péri-urbaine, mais on discute le numéro de zones dans la fringe et la méthode de sa cartographie. On raisonne ici que les transitions dans la fringe et sur ses bords sont continues plutôt qu'abruptes. Dans cette étude des environs de London, Ontario, on emploie de 'cluster analysis' qui donne l'identification de trois groupes normatifs. On en fait une carte des probabilités d'adhésion sur la base du correspondance de chaque unité aréale à ces groupes normatifs par l'analyse discriminatoire.     

The informer, the lover and the gift giver: female collaborators in Pau 1940-1946

In July 1940 the Armistice Commission sent a German delegationto Pau in south-western France. The delegation included AndréMüller, a Nazi who also worked for the German SecurityPolice. Müller's twenty-nine letters to a female collaborator,alongside the testimonies of those who knew the two friends,provide an unusual opportunity to recapture a sense of day-to-dayrelations between the occupied and occupiers. The Nazi officer'sletters reveal his reflections on the war, his hopes and, aboveall, his material needs. The cycle of epistolary exchange thatlinked the two friends entailed a unidirectional flow of giftsfrom the female collaborator to Müller. The letters, goodsand services they exchanged raise important questions aboutthe location of power, indebtedness and gratitude in Franco-Germanpartnerships; they also provide an opportunity to test assumptionsabout the inequality of such relationships in occupied France.The court testimonies in Pau also offer rare insights into femaleinvolvement in collaborationist movements, which were primarilya male sphere of activity and influence.     

Contestability of Australian Federal Elections

Using data on federal elections for both the Upper and Lower Houses in Australia and the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI), we explore whether the contestability/concentration varies across elections. Our results show significant movements in contestability over time. The results also imply a smaller degree of concentration than we would expect to find in a two-party system. To the extent that the Upper House (Senate) – until the 2004 election – is not controlled by the executive, this implies a greater level of political competition, and choice for voters, than that associated with two-party systems.     

Identity challenged: Taiwanese women migrating to Australia

This article investigates the experiences of Taiwanese women who migrated to Australia between 1980 and 2005. It is part of a larger project about the migration experiences of Taiwanese women who moved to Australia and to Canada with the aim of providing a direction for facilitating cultural transition for future female migrants. The article presents some of the findings from 21 semi-structured interviews which were conducted between July and October 2011, shedding light on the role that gender, age at the time of migration and family situation play in debates around cultural identity and the place of Taiwanese women in Australia. Relational-cultural theory serves as the theoretical framework for the central argument that – in spite of the differences between younger women and those in their 30s and 40s in relation to the motivation to migrate and ways to connect – the ability to build new relationships in Australia while maintaining existing ones in Taiwan is essential to establishing a positive view of self, and consequently to successful migration.     

Early Cambodian gold and silver from Prohear: composition,trace elements and gilding

Rescue excavations in Prohear, southeast Cambodia, recently saved the last untouched graves of one of the richest prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia. Many Iron Age burials dating from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD contained gold and silver ornaments so far unknown from archaeological contexts together with indications for the presence of an immigrated elite. A first selection of 59 objects were analysed by LA-ICP-MS to obtain detailed information about the composition, as well as minor and trace elements. The majority of the ornaments consist of electrum and auriferous silver with low copper concentrations, and two main groups indicating different alluvial gold sources can be distinguished by different concentrations of Pt, Ir, Bi and different Pd/Pt ratios, one group being related to rich burials with non-local features. The SEM and EDX analyses of four objects revealed two different gilding techniques observed for the first time in Southeast Asian artefacts: foil-fusion gilding, related to special Ag–Au–(Cu)–Sn alloys containing up to 4% tin, and depletion gilding.     

From dialogue to polylogue: Exploring the Israeli and Palestinian past in the present

Resumen Este artículo trata sobre un proyecto centrado en el pasado contencioso en Israel y Palestina. Frente a un escenario de incesantes conflictos, los participantes árabes y los judíos descubrieron sus compromisos mutuos, con distintos puntos de vista, en las comunidades en las que trabajaron. Partiendo de esta base común los participantes exploraron las áreas en las que coinciden o discrepan. No obstante, el espíritu predominante del proyecto era el de la colaboración. Un ejemplo de ese espíritu fue el éxito del esfuerzo de los participantes del proyecto por proteger un antiguo asentamiento que iba a ser destruido por la construcción de un muro de seguridad, a través del West Bank, por Israel.

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Résumé Cet article traite d'un projet au sujet du passé de discorde entre l'lsra?l et la Palestine. Avec pour arrière-plan un conflit incessant, les participants arabes et juifs ont découvert qu'ils étaient mutuellement impliqués dans les communautés dans lesquelles ils travaillaient. Dans le context de ce point commun, les participants on exploré les zones d'accord et de désaccord. La mentalité prédominante dans ce projet a été une de coopération. Le symbole de cet esprit de coopération a été le succès de l'effort des participants du projet pour sauver un ancien établissement menacé de destruction certaine lors de la construction du mur de sécurité par l'lsra?l à travers la West Bank.