203 research outputs found
Language intermediaries and local agency: peacebuilding, translation/interpreting and political disempowerment in 'mature' post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina
The peace negotiations that ended the 1992â95 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina established a constitutional system of ethnic power-sharing that satisfied its signatories (the presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia) enough for war to cease and provided for international military and civilian peacebuilding to play a significant role in post-conflict Bosniaâs governance and economy. This indefinite peacebuilding mission, still ongoing in a downsized form, depended â like any other form of intervention where foreigners work across linguistic boundaries â on interlinguistic mediation by locally-recruited translators/interpreters, an aspect of knowledge production that even current peace and conflict research into peacebuildingâs micropolitics often neglects. On an individual level, locally-recruited interpretersâ frequently-overlooked agency was integral to peacebuilding practice. Yet theorising their agency must also acknowledge the macrosocial level, where the post-war constitutional system has often been argued to have stripped Bosnians of political agency, since it foreclosed political participation as anything but an ethnic subject corresponding to the three institutionalised ethnic identities (Bosniak, Croat or Serb). The entrenched and growing disconnect between political elites and the public, expressed through social protest in 2014, foregrounds the problem of agency and dis/empowerment in Bosnian society more sharply than research on the politics of translation/interpreting and peacebuilding in Bosnia before 2014 took into account, yet reveals further articulations of how international peacebuilding and domestic political contestation were intertwined
Vertex Operators for Closed Superstrings
We construct an iterative procedure to compute the vertex operators of the
closed superstring in the covariant formalism given a solution of IIA/IIB
supergravity. The manifest supersymmetry allows us to construct vertex
operators for any generic background in presence of Ramond-Ramond (RR) fields.
We extend the procedure to all massive states of open and closed superstrings
and we identify two new nilpotent charges which are used to impose the gauge
fixing on the physical states. We solve iteratively the equations of the vertex
for linear x-dependent RR field strengths. This vertex plays a role in studying
non-constant C-deformations of superspace. Finally, we construct an action for
the free massless sector of closed strings, and we propose a form for the
kinetic term for closed string field theory in the pure spinor formalism.Comment: TeX, harvmac, amssym.tex, 41 pp; references adde
Origin of Pure Spinor Superstring
The pure spinor formalism for the superstring, initiated by N. Berkovits, is
derived at the fully quantum level starting from a fundamental
reparametrization invariant and super-Poincare invariant worldsheet action. It
is a simple extension of the Green-Schwarz action with doubled spinor degrees
of freedom with a compensating local supersymmetry on top of the conventional
kappa-symmetry. Equivalence to the Green-Schwarz formalism is manifest from the
outset. The use of free fields in the pure spinor formalism is justified from
the first principle. The basic idea works also for the superparticle in 11
dimensions.Comment: 21 pages, no figure; v2: refs. adde
Roads to interdisciplinarity - working at the nexus among food systems, nutrition and health: 1st annual Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (ANH) Academy Week, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), 20-24 June 2016
The development agenda over the next 15 years will be framed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), of which more than half relate either directly or indirectly to the agricultural sector, highlighting its importance in economic growth and development of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (FAO 2015). It is therefore imperative that agricultural systems are better understood, so that they may be strengthened and optimised to deliver outcomes in line with the SDGs. The interface between agriculture, nutrition and health is particularly multifaceted and complex, and the development of successful strategies will require an integrated and multi-sectoral approach (Dorward and Dangour 2012; Jones and Ejeta 2016).
âAgri-healthâ is an evolving paradigm seeking to unify research approaches and methodologies between agriculture and health. Research within the field encapsulates a broad range of disciplines, locations and actors, and aligns these into a common research agenda. In doing so, agri-health aims to transcend barriers imposed by the longstanding institutional and disciplinary silos. Much progress has been made in recent years in this regard (Harris et al. 2013; Kanter et al. 2014; Picchioni et al. 2015). However, more coordinated efforts are required to generate consensus and target strategic priorities amongst the many existing information gaps (Webb and Kennedy 2014). Understanding the linkages between complex issues such as globalisation, climate change, food systems, and evolving burdens of malnutrition is central to agri-health research.
The Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH) was created in 2010 with a key focus on agri-health interdisciplinary research. LCIRAH includes experts from across the member colleges of the University of London: the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC).
The Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy (ANH Academy), was established in 2015 as a platform to facilitate learning, knowledge sharing, capacity building and collaborative partnerships among the growing global community of researchers, practitioners and policy makers working within agri-health. It was developed with support from the Innovative Metrics and Methods for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) research programme,Footnote1 led by LCIRAH and Tufts University, in partnership with the CGIAR Programme on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). Within this scope, the ANH Academy hosts an annual ANH Academy Week, building on the legacy of five agri-health research conferences organised by LCIRAH; as well as events and activities coordinated under the CGIAR A4NH.
The inaugural ANH Academy Week took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 2016 and included two days of interactive âlearning labsâ (training sessions on skills and methods across a broad range of disciplines in agri-health), followed by a three-day research conference. The conference included a mix of abstract-driven sessions, round table discussions, and keynote speeches from across the spectrum of agriculture, nutrition and health disciplines, and a wide range of countries.
Hawkes et al. (2012) developed a conceptual framework (Fig. 2, hereafter referred to as the Framework), outlining the key pathways through which agriculture may affect nutritional status in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), as well as broader drivers of these pathways. Drawing on this Framework, this paper aims to provide an analytical synthesis of the ANH Academy week by mapping the research and debates presented during the conference
Non-BPS D-Branes in Light-Cone Green-Schwarz Formalism
Non-BPS D-branes are difficult to describe covariantly in a manifestly
supersymmetric formalism. For definiteness we concentrate on type IIB string
theory in flat background in light-cone Green-Schwarz formalism. We study both
the boundary state and the boundary conformal field theory descriptions of
these D-branes with manifest SO(8) covariance and go through various
consistency checks. We analyze Sen's original construction of non-BPS D-branes
given in terms of an orbifold boundary conformal field theory. We also directly
study the relevant world-sheet theory by deriving the open string boundary
condition from the covariant boundary state. Both these methods give the same
open string spectrum which is consistent with the boundary state, as required
by the world-sheet duality. The boundary condition found in the second method
is given in terms of bi-local fields that are quadratic in Green-Schwarz
fermions. We design a special ``doubling trick'' suitable to handle such
boundary conditions and prescribe rules for computing all possible correlation
functions without boundary insertions. This prescription has been tested by
computing disk one-point functions of several classes of closed string states
and comparing the results with the boundary state computation.Comment: 47 pages, 1 figure. Typos corrected, references added and slight
modification of certain explanation made. Version accepted for publication in
JHE
Light Composite Vector Bosons
In gauge theories with slowly-running coupling constants, it may be possible
for four-fermion operators to be nearly marginal. Such operators can possess
asymptotically weak couplings, and can plausibly give rise to light composite
vector mesons.Comment: 16 pages (TeX w/epsf), 4 figures (uuencoded) included,
CERN-TH.6767/9
ÎČ-Adrenoceptor blockade modulates fusiform gyrus activity to black versus white faces.
INTRODUCTION: The beta-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol is known to reduce peripheral and central activity of noradrenaline. A recent study found that intervention with propranolol diminished negative implicit racial bias. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in order to determine the neural correlates of this effect. Healthy volunteers (Nâ=â40) of white ethnic origin received a single oral dose (40 mg) of propranolol, in a randomised, double-blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled design, before viewing unfamiliar faces of same and other race. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We found significantly reduced activity in the fusiform gyrus and thalamus following propranolol to out-group faces only. Additionally, propranolol lowered the implicit attitude score, without affecting explicit prejudice measure. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that noradrenaline pathways might modulate racial bias by acting on the processing of categorisation in the fusiform gyrus
The scientific basis of climate-smart agriculture: A systematic review protocol
Background: âClimate-smart agricultureâ (CSA)âagriculture and food systems that
sustainably increase food production, improve resilience (or adaptive capacity) of farming
systems, and mitigate climate change when possibleâhas quickly been integrated into the
global development agenda. However, the empirical evidence base for CSA has not been
assembled, complicating the transition from CSA concept to concrete actions, and
contributing to ideological disagreement among development practitioners. Thus, there is an
urgent need to evaluate current knowledge on the effectiveness of CSA to achieve its intended
benefits and inform discourse on food, agriculture, and climate change. This systematic
review intends to establish the scientific evidence base of CSA practices to inform the next
steps in development of agricultural programming and policy. We will evaluate the impact of
73 promising farm-level management practices across five categories (agronomy,
agroforestry, livestock, postharvest management, and energy systems) to assess their
contributions to the three CSA pillars: (1) agronomic and economic productivity, (2)
resilience and adaptive capacity, and (3) climate change mitigation in the developing world.
The resulting data will be compiled into a searchable Web-based database and analytical
engine that can be used to assess the relative effectiveness and strength of evidence for CSA,
as well as identify best-fit practices for specific farming and development contexts. This
represents the largest meta-analysis of agricultural practices to date.
Methods/Design: This protocol sets out the approach for investigating the question: How do
farm-level CSA management practices and technologies affect food production and/or
farmersâ incomes, resilience/adaptive capacity, and climate change mitigation in farming
systems of developing countries? The objective of this ongoing systematic review is to
provide a first appraisal of the evidence for CSA practices in order to inform subsequent
programming. The review is based on data found in English-language peer-reviewed journals
with searches using terms relevant to CSA practices and CSA outcomes. Searches were
conducted via Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. Articles located were screened first by
abstract and then full text according to predefined eligibility criteria for inclusion in the
review. Data capturing the context of the study (e.g., geographic location, environmental
context), management practices, and impacts (e.g., indicators of CSA outcomes) will be
compiled from those studies that meet the predetermined criteria. Statistical relationships
between practices and impacts will be evaluated via meta-analytical approaches including
response ratios and effect sizes. Mechanisms to identify bias and maintain consistency
continue to be applied throughout the review process. These analyses will be complemented
with an analysis of determinants of/barriers to adoption of promising CSA practices covered
in the meta-analysis. Results of the review will be incorporated into a publicly available Web-based
database. Data will be publicly available under Creative Commons License in 2016
Shifting Characterizations of the âCommon Peopleâ in Modern English Retranslations of Thucydidesâ History of the Peloponnesian War: A corpus-based analysis
Little research has yet explored the impact of (re)translation on narrative characterization, that is, on the process through which the various actors depicted in a narrative are attributed particular traits and qualities. Moreover, the few studies that have been published on this topic are either rather more anecdotal than systematic, or their focus is primarily on the losses in character information that inevitably occur when a narrative is retold for a new audience in a new linguistic context. They do not explore how the translatorâs own background knowledge and ideological beliefs might affect the characterization process for readers of their target-language text. Consequently, this paper seeks to make two contributions to the field: first, it presents a corpus-based methodology developed as part of the Genealogies of Knowledge project for the comparative analysis of characterization patterns in multiple retranslations of a single source text. Such an approach is valuable, it is argued, because it can enhance our ability to engage in a more systematic manner with the accumulation of characterization cues spread throughout a narrative. Second, the paper seeks to move discussions of the effects of translation on narrative characterization away from a paradigm of loss, deficiency and failure, promoting instead a perspective which embraces the productive role translators often play in reconfiguring the countless narratives through which we come to know, imagine and make sense of the past, our present and futures. The potential of this methodology and theoretical standpoint is illustrated through a case study exploring changes in the characterization of âthe common peopleâ in two English-language versions of classical Greek historian Thucydidesâ History of the Peloponnesian War, the first produced by Samuel Bloomfield in 1829 and the second by Steven Lattimore in 1998. Particular attention is paid to the referring expressions used by each translatorâsuch as the multitude vs. the common peopleâas well as the specific attributes assigned to this narrative actor. In this way, the study attempts to gain deeper insight into the ways in which these translations reflect important shifts in attitudes within key political debates concerning the benefits and dangers of democracy
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