“The very environment militates against denial” : Negotiating Place Through Material Culture

In this article the author reflects on the objects brought into his father’s hospice room in the last eight weeks of his life. Objects and their placement were continually renegotiated as he moved through various stages of his disease — greater and lesser pain, appetite, freedom of movement, and lucidity, and shifting timeframes for his imminent passing. The author’s father had no direct control over the presence or absence of objects, and little control over their placement, so that the room became a site of polite contestation among the various parties helping him in his final days.Dans cet article, l’auteur réfléchit à la signification des objets apportés dans la chambre d’hospice de son père au cours des huit dernières semaines de sa vie. Les objets et le choix de leur emplacement étaient sans cesse renégociés tandis qu’il traversait les divers stades de la maladie — du plus au moins de douleur, d’appétit, de liberté de mouvement, de lucidité, tandis que sa mort inéluctable connaissait des échéances variables. Le père de l’auteur n’avait pas de contrôle direct sur la présence ou l’absence des objets et peu de contrôle sur le choix de leur emplacement, si bien que sa chambre devint un lieu de contestation polie entre les diverses parties en présence qui l’aidaient dans ses derniers jours

Stand-up Comedy as a Genre of Intimacy

Through their use of amplification, stand-up comedians are able to engage an audience at a natural register, employing the modes of everyday, interpersonal, conversational speech, avoiding for the most part the distancing required for most forms of cultural performance. By maintaining control of this conversation, they are able paradoxically to give control away, wresting it back when required, thus creating the illusion of intimacy, exchange, and reciprocity between themselves and the audience. This article provides the beginnings of a framework for understanding stand-up comedy and its relationship to folkloric genres by placing intimacy, not humour, as the primary consideration.En se servant de l’amplification, les monologuistes humoristiques réussissent à créer une réaction naturelle de la part du public, en employant les modes du discours quotidien, interpersonnel, celui de la conversation, évitant ainsi dans la majeure partie des cas la distanciation requise par la plupart des formes de représentation culturelle. En maintenant le contrôle de cette conversation, ils peuvent paradoxalement l’abandonner et le reprendre quand il le faut, créant ainsi l’illusion d’un rapport d’intimité, d’échange et de réciprocité entre le public et eux-mêmes. Cet article pose les premiers jalons d’un cadre permettant de comprendre le monologue humoristique dans la relation qu’il entretient avec les genres folkloristiques en considérant en premier lieu l’intimité et non l’humour

“The Harsh Reality of Being a Woman” : First Bra Experiences

The first bra purchase, which implies the first bra wearing or at least the first bra specifically purchased for the young woman, introduces two phases beyond the demarcation of girl as woman: a lifetime of wearing bras and a lifetime of shopping for bras. In an effort to explore some of the consequences of using the term “rites of passage” in contemporary contexts, this article sets out to identify the elements common to the “rite” of the first bra purchase. It is an activity more or less inevitable in North American women’s culture; it is a commercial transaction, and thus can be affected by socioeconomic class status; and it is inherently associated with the transformations of puberty, both physiological and social (in van Gennep’s sense). Finally, although it is distinct from adolescent sexuality, it is nevertheless virtually inextricable therefrom and thus a gendered activity, one from which the male fieldworker is excluded for reasons that extend far beyond mere impropriety.L’achat du premier soutien-gorge, qui implique le port du premier soutien-gorge ou du moins le premier soutien-gorge acheté spécifiquement pour une jeune femme, introduit deux phases allant au-delà de l’idée de la fille se démarquant en tant que femme : une vie entière à porter des soutiens-gorges et une vie entière à en acheter. Afin d’explorer quelques-unes des conséquences qu’implique le fait d’utiliser l’expression « rites de passage » dans des contextes contemporains, cet article cherche à identifier les éléments relevant du « rite » dans l’achat du premier soutien-gorge. Il s’agit d’une activité plus ou moins inévitable dans la culture féminine nord-américaine ; c’est une transaction commerciale, qui peut donc être soumise à des questions de statut socio-économique ; et elle est inhérente aux transformations de la puberté, tant physiologique que sociale (au sens que lui donne van Gennep). Enfin, bien qu’elle soit distincte de la sexualité adolescente, elle en est néanmoins virtuellement indissociable et reste donc une activité sexuée, de celles dont le chercheur de terrain de sexe masculin est exclu, pour des raisons qui vont bien au-delà de la simple indécence

After America, Canada’s Moment?

The last decade has seen serious setbacks to the global role of the United States. Iraq, Afghanistan and the 2008 economic crisis provoked deep partisan debates about American policy but little in the way of consensus on how to respond. Meanwhile, America’s rivals have gained strength and a new south-south economy of investment and trade has emerged. There is little disagreement that the U.S. has lost its relative power to influence developments around the world. Is this Canada’s moment to extend our global influence

MacEdward Leach and the songs of Atlantic Canada

This essay describes a website that brought the earliest audio recordings made in Atlantic Canada to the attention of scholars, singers, and cultural historians: MacEdward Leach and the Songs of Atlantic Canada (http://www.mun.ca/folklore/leach). Among the many collections of traditional song that have been made in Newfoundland and Labrador, there was until 2004 a noticeable gap in their accessibility. Collections by Karpeles (1970), Greenleaf and Mansfield (1965 [1933]), Peacock (1965), and Lehr (1985)--as well as Leach's Labrador collection (1966)--were published in print editions, and selections from Peacock (1956) were released on LP, but the earliest audio recordings made on the islands of Cape Breton and Newfoundland by American folklorist MacEdward Leach were largely unknown.1 His collections are important not only for their size but also for their geographic and generic range.Not

Microwave Weed and Soil Treatment in Rice Production

Herbicides resistance has challenged sustainable rice productivity. Consequently, interest in chemical-free weed management has increased to overcome this constraint. This chapter has demonstrated the effect of pre-sowing microwave soil heating as a new alternative to chemicals for confirmed herbicide resistant weeds of the Australian rice production system. Microwave can superheat weed plants, creating micro-steam explosions in the plant structures to kill weeds. This requires the least amount of energy to achieve weed control and can be likened to a ‘knock down’ herbicide treatment. Considerably, more microwave energy can be applied to the soil to achieve weed seed bank deactivation; however, there is growing evidence that this strategy also changes the soil biota and nutrient profile in favour of substantial increases in crop yield, when crops are planted into this microwave-treated soil. An energy application of approximately 400–500 J cm−2 gave approximately 70–80% reduction in weed establishment in three field trials conducted at two agro-ecological zones of the Australia. In addition, there was a 10 times higher nitrogen use efficiency, and a 37% higher water use efficiency was achieved through this aspect of the microwave technology. There is also evidence that the soil treatment strategy provides persistent effects, beyond a single season; therefore, the rice production is better than when using conventional weed control methods

A Multiwavelength View at the Heart of the Superwind in NGC 253

Here we present new optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope of the NGC 253 central region, which reveal numerous discrete sources in a ring--like structure. This is combined with data at infrared, millimeter, radio and X-ray wavelengths to examine the nature of these discrete sources and the nucleus itself. We find that the majority of optical/IR/mm sources are young star clusters which trace out a ~50 pc ring, that defines the inner edge of a cold gas torus. This reservoir of cold gas has probably been created by gas inflow from a larger scale bar and deposited at the inner Lindblad resonance. The family of compact radio sources lie interior to the starburst ring, and in general do not have optical or IR counterparts. They are mostly SNRs. The radio nucleus, which is probably an AGN, lies near the centre of the ring. The X-ray emission from the nuclear source is extended in the ROSAT HRI detector indicating that not all of the X-ray emission can be associated with the AGN. The lack of X-ray variability and the flat radio spectrum of the nucleus, argues against an ultraluminous SN as the dominant energetic source at the galaxy core. The diffuse emission associated with the outflowing superwind is present in the central region on a size scale consistent with the idea of collimation by the gas torus.Comment: 26 pages, Latex, 6 figures, 4 tables, submitted to MNRA

A direct analysis of flood interval probability using approximately 100-year stream flow datasets

Series of observed flood intervals, defined as the time intervals between successive flood peaks over a threshold, were extracted directly from eleven approximately 100-year streamflow datasets from Queensland, Australia. A range of discharge thresholds were analysed that correspond to approximately 3.7 months to 6.3 year return periods. Flood interval histograms at South East Queensland gauges were consistently unimodal whereas those of the North and Central Queensland sites were often multimodal. The exponential probability distribution (pd) is often used to describe interval exceedance probabilities, but fitting utilizing the Anderson Darling statistic found little evidence that it is the most suitable. The fatigue life pd dominated sub-year return periods (<1 year), often transitioning to a log Pearson 3 pd at above-year return periods. Fatigue life pd is used in analysis of the life time to structural failure when a threshold is exceeded and this paper demonstrates its relevance also to the elapsed time between above-threshold floods. At most sites, the interval medians were substantially less than the means for sub-year return periods. Statistically the median is a better measure of central tendency of skewed distributions but the mean is generally used in practice to describe the classical concept of flood return period

Data and Research that Matter: Mentoring School Counselors to Publish Action Research (Practitioner-Focused Research)

Data and research serve as powerful advocacy tools in highlighting the effectiveness of school counselors and school counseling programs. School counselor educators can be key mentors who support practitioners in sharing the findings of local school action research. This article focuses on four unique projects by school counselors that demonstrate specific outcomes in student achievement and the mentoring efforts in guiding the dissemination of their results. The authors discuss recommendations for school counselors and counselor educators based on the mentoring process and publishable action research projects