1,055 research outputs found
Personal and Political: A Micro-history of the “Red Column” Collective Farm, 1935-36
This article investigates the confluence of personal interests and official policy on collective farms in the mid-1930s, a period that has received far less
scholarly attention than the collectivization drive. The current historiography on collective farmers’ relationship with the state is one-sided, presenting peasants either as passive victims of or idealized resistors to state policies. Both views minimize the complex realities that governed the everyday lives of collective farmers for whom state policies often were secondary to local concerns. This paper, which draws upon rich archival materials in Kirov Krai, employs a micro-historical approach to study the struggle to remove the chairman of the “Red Column” collective farm in Kirov Krai in 1935- 36. It demonstrates that local and personal issues (family ties, grudges, and personality traits) had more influence on how collective farmers reacted to state campaigns and investigations than did official state policy and rhetoric. The chairman’s rude and arrogant behavior, mistreatment of the collective farmers, and flaunting of material goods led to his downfall. But to strengthen their arguments, his opponents accused him of associating with kulaks and white guardists. The chairman and his supporters struck back, alleging that his detractors were themselves white guardists and kulaks, who sought revenge for having been expelled from the collective farm.
Such a micro-historical approach reveals the importance of popular opinion, attitudes, and behavior on collective farms and the level of control that collective farmers had over shaping the implementation of state policies. This paper enables one to appreciate that peasants knew well how to manipulate official labels, such as kulak or class enemy, as weapons to achieve goals of local and personal importance. It enriches the historiography by offering a different way to appreciate peasant attitudes and behavior, and collective farm life in the mid-1930s
Australia and the International Astronomical Union: The 1973 Sydney general assembly
Formed in 1919, the International Astronomical Union is the international body representing professional astronomers. Australia joined the union soon after its formation but, due to financial difficulties, dropped out for a few years until re-joining just before the Second World War. The main non-financial contribution any country can make to the union is to host one of its general assemblies that are held in different countries and cities every three years. After Australia’s bid to host a general assembly in 1967 or 1970 was unsuccessful, another bid was made for 1973. This second bid was accepted by the union’s executive council and confirmed in a letter from the union’s general secretary. The five years of planning and organisation for the assembly were made difficult by several external threats. The main one was the late proposal from Poland to move the 1973 assembly to Warsaw to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Copernicus. A compromise of an extraordinary general assembly in Poland following the ordinary one in Australia led to reduced numbers of overseas participants in Sydney. Despite this and other problems, the 1973 general assembly was regarded as highly successful
Study of 23 day periodicity of Blazar Mkn501 in 1997
We confirm a 23 day periodicity during a large flare in 1997 for X-ray data
of X-ray satellite RXTE all sky monitor(ASM), 2 TeV gamma ray data from Utah
Seven Telescope and HEGRA, with a Fourier analysis. We found the three results
to be the same with a newly estimated error. We confirm the presence of a
frequency dependent power (1/f noise) in a frequency-power diagram. Further, we
calculated a chance probability of the occurrence of the 23 day periodicity by
considering the 1/f noise and obtained a chance probability 4.88*10^-3 for the
HEGRA data: this is more significant than previous result by an order. We also
obtained an identical peridoicity with another kind of timing analysis-epoch
folding method for the ASM data and HEGRA data. We strongly suggest an
existence of the periodicity. We divided the HEGRA data into two data sets,
analyzed them with a Fourier method, and found an unstableness of the
periodicity with a 3.4 sigma significance. We also analyzed an energy spectra
of the X-ray data of a RXTE proportional counter array and we found that a
combination of three parameters-a magnetic field, a Lorentz factor, and a
beaming factor-is related to the periodicity.Comment: 25 page, 27 figures, acceptted by astroparticle physic
Stalin’s Constitution
Upon its adoption in December 1936, Soviet leaders hailed the new so-called Stalin Constitution as the most democratic in the world. Scholars have long scoffed at this claim, noting that the mass repression of 1937-1938 that followed rendered it a hollow document. This book focuses on the six-month long popular discussion of the draft Constitution, which preceded its formal adoption in December 1936. Drawing on rich archival sources, this book uses the discussion of the draft 1936 Constitution to examine discourse between the central state leadership and citizens about the new Soviet social contract, which delineated the roles the state and citizens should play in developing socialism
Ausbildungsverbund Rhöner Lebensmittel e.V.
„Finde ich einen Ausbildungsplatz, der mir Freude macht und mir eine berufliche Perspektive eröffnet?“ Viele Hauptschülerinnen und Hauptschüler stellen sich besorgt diese Frage. Eine Initiative von Lebensmittelbetrieben im Biosphärenreservat Rhön, unterstützt von der Evangelischen Handwerkerarbeit in Kurhessen-Waldeck, möchte darauf eine positive Antwort geben. Hauptschule – Restschule? Ca. 20 % aller Jugendlichen seien angeblich nicht ausbildungsfähig? Bis 2020 wird die Zahl der über Sechzigjährigen um über 10 % steigen, von aktuell 44,5 % auf 55 %, schreibt Frank Schirrmacher in seinem Bestseller „Das Methusalem-Komplott.“ Können wir es uns da leisten, ein Fünftel der Generation, die 2020 auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Schaffenskraft sein wird, als Versager abzuschreiben
Stalin’s Constitution
Upon its adoption in December 1936, Soviet leaders hailed the new so-called Stalin Constitution as the most democratic in the world. Scholars have long scoffed at this claim, noting that the mass repression of 1937-1938 that followed rendered it a hollow document. This book focuses on the six-month long popular discussion of the draft Constitution, which preceded its formal adoption in December 1936. Drawing on rich archival sources, this book uses the discussion of the draft 1936 Constitution to examine discourse between the central state leadership and citizens about the new Soviet social contract, which delineated the roles the state and citizens should play in developing socialism
Recurrent ~24 h Periods in RXTE ASM Data
Analysis of data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite's All Sky
Monitor instrument for several X-ray binary sources has identified a recurrent
\~24 h period. This period is sometimes highly significant, giving rise to the
possibility of it being identified as an orbital or super-orbital period.
Further analysis has revealed the same period in a number of other X-ray
sources. As a result this period has been discounted as spurious, described
variously as arising from daily variations in background levels and beating
between the sampling period and long-term secular trends in the light curves.
We present here an analysis of the spurious periods and show that the dominant
mechanism is in fact spectral leakage of low-frequency power present in the
light curves.Comment: 9 Pages, 10 figures, 1 table, submitted to PASA 20th December 2004.
Added 1 page of text and 3 figures to clarify results and discussion.
Resubmitted 16th May 2005. Accepted 25th June 200
Unevenly-sampled signals: a general formalism of the Lomb-Scargle periodogram
The periodogram is a popular tool that tests whether a signal consists only
of noise or if it also includes other components. The main issue of this method
is to define a critical detection threshold that allows identification of a
component other than noise, when a peak in the periodogram exceeds it. In the
case of signals sampled on a regular time grid, determination of such a
threshold is relatively simple. When the sampling is uneven, however, things
are more complicated. The most popular solution in this case is to use the
"Lomb-Scargle" periodogram, but this method can be used only when the noise is
the realization of a zero-mean, white (i.e. flat-spectrum) random process. In
this paper, we present a general formalism based on matrix algebra, which
permits analysis of the statistical properties of a periodogram independently
of the characteristics of noise (e.g. colored and/or non-stationary), as well
as the characteristics of sampling.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics, in pres
Photometry of two DQ white dwarfs - search for spots
Aims. The intensity profiles of the C_2 Swan bands in cool DQ white dwarfs
cannot be adequately fitted with models that otherwise succesfully reproduce
spectral features of the molecule CH in these stars. Initial modelling showed
that a two-component atmosphere in the style of a spot might be able to solve
the problem.
Methods. We photometrically observed the two cool DQ white dwarfs GJ1117 and
EGGR78 to search for variability caused by stellar spots.
Results. We have not found any such variability, but we estimate the effects
of hypothetical spots on lightcurves. We also estimate detection probabilities
for spots in different configurations. Alternative explanations of the problem
are needed and briefly discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, published in A&
Bayesian analysis of the radial velocities of HD 11506 reveals another planetary companion
We aim to demonstrate the efficiency of a Bayesian approach in analysing
radial velocity data by reanalysing a set of radial velocity measurements. We
present Bayesian analysis of a recently published set of radial velocity
measurements known to contain the signal of one extrasolar planetary candidate,
namely, HD 11506. The analysis is conducted using the Markov chain Monte Carlo
method and the resulting distributions of orbital parameters are tested by
performing direct integration of randomly selected samples with the
Bulirsch-Stoer method. The magnitude of the stellar radial velocity
variability, known as jitter, is treated as a free parameter with no
assumptions about its magnitude. We show that the orbital parameters of the
planet known to be present in the data correspond to a different solution when
the jitter is allowed to be a free parameter. We also show evidence of an
additional candidate, a 0.8 MJup planet with period of about 0.5 yr in orbit
around HD 11506. This second planet is inferred to be present with a high level
of confidence.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to appear in A&
- …