			Home About us Contact

Present Circumstances (present + circumstance)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Critical Pedagogy for the Present Moment: Learning from the Avant-Garde to Teach Globalization from Experiences

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2003
André C. Drainville
Closer to us in what it integrates and in its consequences, global politics still gets conceptualized as if it belonged to a realm of its own, disembedded and abstracted beyond quotidian experiences of power. Still folded in a supernatural world that cannot be of their making, as far from experience as their cold war predecessors were, international studies (IS) students are as alienated and find it as hard to work with critical imagination. To teach students to be more than mere technicians of whatever new world order may be born of present circumstances, we have to unmake the political separation that still exists between the study and teaching of global politics and everyday life in the world economy. This article presents a record of a decade-long teaching experiment conducted in the department of political science at Laval University in Québec City. Borrowing techniques and inspiration from the "historical avant-garde," I have worked to reinvent my pedagogical practice to create "situations" in which students can be full, unalienated subjects in the learning process. [source]

Escape of farmed tilapiines into the wild and entry of wild forms in fishponds, and the possible interactions between wild and farmed tilapiines from a sample of smallholder farms in Central Uganda

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
Matthew Tenywa Mwanja
Abstract Seven smallholder fishponds in central Uganda were studied between 2000 and 2001 to investigate the interaction of farmed tilapiines with their wild conspecifics. Emphasis was on the features that facilitate escape of fish and/or entry of fish into the farms and interactions between the farmed and the wild. These included number of species, source of seed, connection between pond and natural watercourses, purpose of the farm, destination of cultured fish and interaction between farmed and wild fish. Fishponds had no screens against entry of wild fish into the farm or escape of farmed fish into the wild and occurred within wetlands close to natural watercourses. Ponds stocked with one fish species were found to have multispecies with some individuals that were apparently intermediate morphs between the species. Fry produced within the growout fishponds was shared with other farmers within and outside the watersheds. This study showed that smallholder farms with little or no control of escape or entry of fish out and into the fishponds, and little or no management present circumstances that facilitate continued movement of tilapiines within and across watersheds in Ugandan waters. The study also indicated possible genetic interaction between farmed and their wild conspecifics through interactions within fishponds. Résumé Sept viviers appartenant à de petits propriétaires ont étéétudiés entre 2000 et 2001 pour rechercher l'interaction entre les tilapiinés d'élevage et ceux qui vivent dans la nature. On insistait sur les caractéristiques qui facilitent la fuite et/ou l'entrée des poissons dans les fermes et les interactions entre les poissons d'élevage et les poissons sauvages. On a étudié le nombre d'espèces, la source de la progéniture, les connections entre les bassins et les cours d'eau naturels, la raison d'être des fermes, la destination des poissons d'élevage et l'interaction entre les poissons d'élevage et les poissons sauvages. Les réservoirs n'avaient pas de filtres pour empêcher l'entrée des poissons sauvages ou la fuite des poissons d'élevage et ils se trouvaient dans des zones humides proches de cours d'eau naturels. Les bassins qui avaient été stockés avec une seule espèce de poissons se sont avérés contenir plusieurs espèces, et certains individus semblaient avoir une morphologie intermédiaire entre différentes espèces. Le fretin produit dans les bassins de croissance était partagé avec d'autres éleveurs dans ou en dehors des bassins versants. Cette étude a montré que les petits élevages qui exercent peu de contrôles sur les entrées ou les sorties de poissons dans et hors des bassins et une gestion nulle ou très réduite, offrent des conditions qui facilitent le déplacement continu des tilapiinés au sein des bassins de rivières et entre eux, dans les eaux ougandaises. Cette étude indique aussi qu'il est possible qu'il existe des interactions génétiques entre les poissons d'élevage et les poissons sauvages de même espèce, au niveau des bassins d'élevage. [source]

Atomic structure and positron lifetime in the metallic glass Zr55Cu30Ni5Al10

PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (C) - CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 10 2007
K. Sugita
Abstract Zr-based metallic glasses have superior characteristics such as mechanical strength, corrosion resistance and precision casting ability. From positron lifetime measurements, a negative temperature dependence of the mean positron lifetime above room temperature was reported and ascribed to the presence of shallow traps. However, the trapping sites remain unknown under the present circumstances. To get a further understanding of the experimental positron lifetime value, the positron density distribution and the lifetime in the Zr-based metallic glass Zr55Cu30Ni5Al10 have been calculated. The calculation shows that the positrons are annihilated inhomogeneously and most positrons are annihilated preferentially around Cu/Al. These results indicate that the positron lifetime not exactly reflects the total free volume. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]

Venezuela, April 2002: Coup or Popular Rebellion?

BULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 3 2004
The Myth of a United Venezuela
This article assesses the merits of opposing National Assembly reports into the coup against President Chávez of Venezuela in April 2002. Looking at the historical context and the content of the reports, it argues that the two opposing accounts reflect a class division that has always existed in Venezuela but has been officially denied. It concludes that a possible exit from the stalemate could be that the opposition accept the reality of this class division and therefore the Chávez government as a legitimate representative of the popular classes. This, however, is unlikely in the present circumstances. [source]