Alternatives to meaninglessness in Ken Kesey\u27s Sometimes A Great Notion

At first glance, Ken Kesey appears to be a contemporary prophet of doom. His characters find little meaning in life, as each day brings only hopelessness and despair. For each of these characters, there are many causes of and responses to the problem of meaninglessness. The common denominator which links all of Kesey’s characters, and perhaps all men, is that they cannot progress towards any kind of satisfactory existence until some meaning for life is found

BeppoSAX observations of the quasar Markarian 205

We present the first BeppoSAX observation (0.1 to 220 keV) of the quasar Mrk 205. We have searched for the unusual Fe line profile claimed in the XMM-Newton spectrum which has been widely discussed in recent literature. We find no evidence for a broad, ionized Fe line component in our data. We detect for the first time a Compton hump in this object. Besides, when this component is included in the fit, the line strength diminishes, in agreement with a recent re-analysis of the XMM-Newton data, but with better constraints on the reflection component thanks to the PDS instrument (15-220 keV). We interpret this fact as another indication for illumination of a distant and cold material rather than reprocessing in the highly ionized inner parts of an accretion disk. We cannot constrain the presence of a high energy cutoff but we confirm the existence of a variable soft excess (one year timescale).Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Muslim women in American and hijab : a study of empowerment, feminist identity, and body image

This qualitative study examines how, if at all, the Islamic practice of hijab (veiling) empowers those women who practice and if it has any influence upon feminist identity and body image. This study is based upon the perspective of 12 adult Muslim American women living in North Carolina who practice a form of physical hijab on a daily basis. Participants were recruited using a snowball sampling technique and interviewed in person by the researcher. Questions included, but were not limited to: do you feel empowered by the hijab why or why not? Do you identify as a feminist, why or why not? Do you feel the hijab contributes to a positive or negative body image, why or why not? Each interview was audio recorded and subsequently transcribed by the researcher and analyzed using an open coding system. The major findings of the study were: the hijab was empowering for these women by providing control over their physical selves; the hijab was a conscious choice; participants believed their image as a Muslim woman challenged mainstream Western images of empowered women; the hijab was seen as separate from their physical body but generally contributed to a positive body image; and hijab was a choice not influenced by male control. The findings from this study can contribute to social work education and practice, through considering forms of female empowerment not considered and to help dispel negative stereotypes of Muslim women and the practice of hijab

Water rights, conflict and policy: Proceedings of a workshop held in Kathmandu, Nepal, January 22-24, 1996

IrrigationIrrigation managementWater rightsWater lawConflictFarmers' associations

High-energy emission from NGC 5506, the brightest hard X-ray Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy

We present results on the hard X-ray emission of NGC 5506, the brightest narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxy above 20 keV. All the recent observations by INTEGRAL, Swift and Suzaku have been analysed and spectral analysis during nine separated time periods has been performed. While flux variations by a factor of 2 were detected during the last 7 years, only moderate spectral variations have been observed, with the hint of a hardening of the X-ray spectrum and a decrease of the intrinsic absorption with time. Using Suzaku observations it is possible to constrain the amount of Compton reflection to R = 0.6-1.0, in agreement with previous results on the source. The signature of Comptonisation processes can also be found in the detection of a high-energy cut-off during part of the observations, at Ec = 40-100 keV. When a Comptonisation model is applied to the Suzaku data, the temperature and the optical depth of the Comptonising electron plasma are measured at kT = 60-80 keV and tau = 0.6-1.0, respectively. The properties inferred for NGC 5506 in this study agree with those based on other data sets for the same AGN, and fit the picture of NLS1 having in general lower high-energy cut-offs at hard X-rays than their broad line equivalent.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Proceedings of the Workshop "Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies and Their Place in the Universe", Milano, April 4-6, 2011 (Proceedings of Science, http://pos.sissa.it/cgi-bin/reader/conf.cgi?confid=126

Admission policies as enablers and disablers of children’s rights to basic education: Stakeholders’ perceptions

In this article we report on a qualitative study done in Pretoria, South Africa, in which we investigated the experiences of 2 representatives of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE); School Governing Body (SGB) spokespersons from 4 schools located in the Gauteng province, 2 representatives of the Federation of SGBs, 4 principals from 4 schools, and 4 parents from 4 schools regarding public primary schools’  admission policies and practices as enablers or disablers of children’s rights to basic education. Using  structured, open-ended interviews, qualitative data were generated to explore the  experiences of the  participants on the public primary schools’ admission policies and practices as enablers or disablers of a  right to basic education. We argue that the implementation of school admission policies as enabler to  access to basic  education must be based on a system of rights and corresponding obligations  established by the Constitution of the Republic  of South Africa, 1996, and the various legislative and  policy frameworks. The findings of the study reveal that the learner  admission system in South African  public schools remains problematic, which in turn aids as a disabler of children’s right to basic education