Ya-Chung Chuang, Democracy on Trial: Social movements and cultural politics in postauthoritarian Taiwan,

The “Sunflower Movement” of spring 2014 has re-activated much scholarly interest in the world of Taiwan’s social movements, which had somewhat declined over recent years. Ya-Chung Chuang’s book, although published before the events leading to the occupation of the Legislative Yuan last year, is therefore timely. One of its major intentions is to highlight the importance of a vital civil society and self-confident social movements for a stable and healthy Taiwanese democracy. Chuang is an anth..

Democracy Under One-Party Rule?

The democratisation of the PRC’s political system continues to be one of the most important issues in contemporary China-watching and research. Although the empirical findings urge us to be very careful in predicting a democratic transition any time soon, most experts seem to be optimistic—at least—when discussing the long-term consequences of the Chinese reform process: Economic development, social stratification, political decentralisation, the rise of social movements, world market integra..

Ya-Chung Chuang, Democracy on Trial: Social Movements and Cultural Politics in Postauthoritarian Taiwan,

Le « Mouvement des Tournesols » du printemps 2014 a relancé chez les chercheurs un intérêt pour les mouvements sociaux à Taiwan qui s’était un peu estompé ces dernières années. Le livre de Ya-Chung Chuang, quoi que publié avant les événements qui ont conduit à l’occupation du Yuan législatif l’année dernière, tombe donc à point nommé. Un des objectifs principaux de l’ouvrage est de mettre au jour l’importance d’une société civile dynamique et de mouvements sociaux déterminés pour garantir une..

Sheng Lijun, China and Taiwan, Cross-Straits Relations Under Chen Shui-bian

This is a very useful account of the latest developments in Taiwan concerning cross-Strait relations and the evolution of Taiwan’s mainland policy. Sheng Lijun’s book presents a huge amount of detail and information on the period between Lee Tenghui’s announcement of the “two states theory” (liangguolun) in mid-1999 and, roughly speaking, the end of the first year of the Chen administration. It also lays out the basic obstacles to a peaceful solution of the Sino-Taiwanese conflict by recallin..

Ya-Chung Chuang, Democracy on Trial: Social movements and cultural politics in postauthoritarian Taiwan,

The “Sunflower Movement” of spring 2014 has re-activated much scholarly interest in the world of Taiwan’s social movements, which had somewhat declined over recent years. Ya-Chung Chuang’s book, although published before the events leading to the occupation of the Legislative Yuan last year, is therefore timely. One of its major intentions is to highlight the importance of a vital civil society and self-confident social movements for a stable and healthy Taiwanese democracy. Chuang is an anth..

The Use of Monitoring Data and Geologic Documentation as a Basis for Defining Rock Mass Behavior Types for Tunnelling

The use of geodetic surveying to measure the absolute 3-D tunnel displacements has provided new opportunities to evaluate the system behavior and interpret the rock mass behavior associated with tunneling. For a meaningful case history evaluation it is necessary to have consistent and quality documentation covering the excavation and support sequence, the geological conditions, as well as the displacement measurements. Combing this data allows the rock mass behavior type to be evaluated. In contrast to many available rock mass characterization or classification procedures, the procedure introduced by the Austrian Society for Geomechanics within the Guideline for the Design and Construction of Conventional Tunnels, focuses on site specific evaluations of the rock mass types, potential rock mass behavior types considering the system boundary conditions and influencing factors, then determines the potential system behavior for different excavation and support methods. Using case histories provides valuable opportunities to develop a data base on rock mass behavior types associated with different environments and excavation and support systems. The examples discussed in this paper demonstrate this procedure can be used to identify key geologic parameters and associated behavior types

Personality and Computer Music

(Abstract to follow

Strukturerfassung in ausgewählten Waldgesellschaften im Nationalpark Harz (Sachsen-Anhalt)

Die Ausweisung von Nationalparken innerhalb der mitteleuropäischen Kulturlandschaft bietet die einmalige Chance, Strukturveränderungen in anthropogen überprägten aber auch in den Resten naturnaher Lebensräume zu erfassen. Vor allem Pflanzengesellschaften als wichtige Strukturkomponenten der Ökosysteme geben wichtige Hinweise zum Zustand der verschiedenen Lebensraumtypen (ELLENBERG 1996). Regelmäßige pflanzensoziologische Untersuchungen können somit quantitative wie qualitative Veränderungen in den Lebensräumen aufzeigen. Dazu wurden zunächst die Farn- und Blütenpflanzen des Nationalparks Hochharz erfasst (KISON & WERNECKE 2004) und darüber hinaus flächendeckend die Pflanzengesellschaften

Attraction to Sad Music: The Role of Imagery, Absorption, and Rumination

Previous studies have identified links between attraction to negative emotion in music with the traits of absorption and rumination. However, no studies have examined the possible interdependencies and influences of these traits. We sought to determine whether a cognitive processing path that leads to attraction to sad music could be identified. We argued that auditory imagery might be an interesting competency to add to the investigation because of the links between imagery and absorption. Participants completed validated surveys measuring the three target cognitive measures, as well as a Like Sad Music Scale. Mediation analysis revealed that absorption mediated imagery in response to sad music, as predicted, and rumination predicted attraction to sad music independently of the other traits. Suggestions for expanding the cognitive process path are proposed, including further investigation of the possible central role of absorption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved

Village elections in contemporary China New Spaces for Generating Regime Legitimacy? Experiences from Lishu County

This article discusses the impact of direct village elections on regime legitimacy in China’s local government. Applying a model based on David Easton’s political systems theory, it is argued that village elections in Lishu county, Jilin province, have contributed significantly to increased social stability and the quality of local governance, resulting in more regime legitimacy. “Rational trust” on the part of the peasants in their cadres may best explain the observation that the cadres’ political supremacy has not been challenged by direct elections