A new dimension of sister city relationships in the 21st century : a pilot study in Australia

Sister City agreements have historically provided a goodwill platform for countries 10 undertake activities for the enhancement of peaceful and cooperative relations. They have also become instruments for cities 10 develop their own form of internationalization and to provide for specific activities of cullural,educational or other similar cooperative exchanges between cities generally in different nations. Sisler City Relationships are broadly-based, officially approved, long-IeI\u27m partnership between two communities in two countries. Using on-line questionnaires distributed through the membership of Australian Sisler City Association (ASCA), this pilot study confirmed that the existing relationships are mainly focused on cultural exchange, education and council exchange. An overwhelming majority of the local governments, however, are ready for theextension of the Sister City Relationship by developing business and economic related activities. in fact the pilot study confirms this research is timely and necessaty especially in developing policy guidelines and operationframeworks.<br /

A puzzling cue of Yūsuf Ḏū Nuwās: hypothesis on its interpretation and its connections with non-written languages of Yemen

A sentence recorded in Arabic sources (namely Wahb b. Munabbih and Ibn Isḥāq) about the story of Ḥimyarite king Ḏū Nuwās shows some features that may be interpreted as "South-Arabian", though they can hardly be ascribed specifically to one of the epigraphic languages we know. The suggested interpretation could be a little hint for a reflection on non-written languages of Yemen in Late Antiquity and early Islamic Age

Una piattaforma open source per la navigazione indoor: applicazione alla facoltà di ingegneria civile e industriale dell'università di Roma "Sapienza"

“Il conferire struttura e identità all’ambiente è una capacità vitale propria di tutti gli animali dotati di movimento” (Lynch, 1964). È proprio da questo che prende spunto l’idea del progetto qui proposto, dal tentativo di riproporre su un foglio il territorio che si abita, dando specifico ordine agli elementi; in quanto è proprio l’assenza di smarrimento e la capacità di orientarsi a darci un senso di equilibrio e benessere. “La stessa parola smarrito significa, nella nostra lingua, molto di più che semplice incertezza geografica: essa porta con sé sfumature di vera tragedia. […] si potrebbe obiettare, che il cervello umano è meravigliosamente adattabile. […] eppure, anche il mare ha il sole e le stelle, i venti, le correnti, gli uccelli e il colore dell’acqua senza i quali la navigazione sarebbe impossibile.” (Lynch, 1964) La cartografia riveste un ruolo di fondamentale importanza per tutti i dati di tipo geografico, i dati cioè che presentano come caratteristica principale un attributo spaziale; i fenomeni descrivibili a partire dal loro posizionamento vengono detti georeferenziabili. La cartografia, pertanto, si occupa dell'archiviazione (e della rappresentazione) di dati georeferenziabili; essa mira, dunque, a fornire una conoscenza del territorio sia di tipo puntuale che generale, a sviluppare processi logici in funzione di relazioni e a fungere da supporto di base per pianificazione, progettazione e gestione del territorio. (Brovelli, 2000) È in questo contesto che si inserisce il progetto in oggetto, nel tentativo di fornire uno strumento utile e potente che consenta al singolo utente di orientarsi in tempo reale, e quindi supportando la vera e propria navigazione, in aree non caratterizzate da copertura GNSS. Il progetto qui riportato propone l’utilizzo di una piattaforma open source per supportare la navigazione indoor, e ne mostra un’applicazione negli ambienti della facoltà di ingegneria civile e industriale dell’università di Roma “Sapienza”."Granting structure and identity to the environment is a vital capacity of all animals with movement." (Lynch, 1964) It is precisely from this that the idea of the project proposed here is inspired, by the attempt to propose the territory that people dwell on a sheet, giving specific order to the elements; as it is the absence of loss and the ability to orient ourselves to give us a sense of balance and well-being. "The same word lost means in our language much more than simple geographical uncertainty: it brings with it shades of true tragedy. [...] One might object, that the human brain is wonderfully adaptable. [...] Still, even the sea has the sun and the stars, the winds, the currents, the birds and the color of the water without which the navigation would be Impossible." (Lynch, 1964) Cartography plays a fundamental role for all geographic data, that are data which have a spatial attribute as the main feature; The phenomena that can be described starting from their positioning are termed georeferenced. Cartography, therefore, deals with the storage (and representation) of georeferencing data; it aims to provide a knowledge of both local and general territory, to develop logic processes based on relationships and to serve as a base for planning, planning and management of the territory (Brovelli, 2000). It is in this context that the project is inserted in an attempt to provide a useful and powerful tool that allows a single user to navigate, in real time, in areas without GNSS coverage. The project proposes the use of an Open Source platform to support indoor navigation and shows an application in the environments of the Faculty of Civil and Industrial Engineering at the University of Rome "Sapienza"

The wedding of al-Hadhād and al-Ḥarūrā. Glimpses of paganism in Arabia

Here is an analysis of the tale of the marriage of al-Hadhād (of the Ḥimiar royal dynasty) with a woman of jinn found in Arabic sources dated from the 9th to 12th century. In the light of archaeological data and other folklore sources collected by scholars in the last 60 years (Serjeant, Daum, Rodionof), this tale could be interpreted as a foundation myth, with its strong anthropological and political implications, for the community of Maʾrib, the capital city and the main site of Sabaic religiousness in pre-Islamic times. It could also provide some keys of interpretation of a more general religious sensitivity in Arabia encompassing polytheistic or monotheistic creeds

30 years of the Contemporary European Studies Association of Australia (CESAA)

The establishment of the European Studies Association of Australia (CESAA) owes much of its emergence and vitality to changes in the new geo-political framework and especially to the end of the Cold War in Europe. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, followed by the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Maastricht Treaty deliberations in 1993 responded to these political changes. What captured the imagination of the world, including in Australia, with the Maastricht Treaty was the proposal for a single currency (the Euro) not to mention the embracement of a new name – The European Union (EU). These changes provided the twelve members of the European Community of the time a new global actor in the making. Australia, across the board began to engage with this entity and universities, scholars and others began to seek out the nature of the European Union. In this context came the association for European Studies which saw it had a voice for these European developments

Australia-China and Stern Hu : cold war, corruption or cooling of relations

China‘s economic growth over the last decade has been spectacular. Australia has been a beneficiary of this Chinese growth especially in terms of China‘s demand for resources and the strength of Chinese exports. Pundits even suggest that Australia avoided the global recession as a result of this trade relationship. Trade relations between Australia and China have resulted in China becoming Australia‘s key trading partner. The arrest and imprisonment in 2009 of four Rio Tinto executives (including Stern Hu the head of Rio‘s operation in China) based in China case has raised fears of posing a strain on this vital economic relationship. Moreover China‘s inability to takeover of Rio Tinto and the significance and consequences of this incident are at the core of this paper. This paper asks whether these events reflect the uncertainties of doing business in China or whether they demonstrate China‘s sovereign right to enforce anti-corruption legislation. While China has embraced the international business community, the consequences of the arrest of Stern Hu has placed pressures on the Australian-China trade relations which may go beyond normal country to country tensions

Celebrity meets Populism in Europe: The Political Performances of Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi

Throughout the world, celebrity and populism have become formidable combinations in supporting political leadership. The rise of these phenomena has provoked much debate and has led to the examination of the features, causes and consequences of this kind of politics. Celebrity politics is a reflection of both the influence of celebrities and the power of celebrity images in the media which see politicians becoming celebrities, deliberately or accidentally. The political rise and fall of Nicholas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi and their roles in the performances associated with political leadership furnish two case studies of celebrity and populism in France and Italy respectively. This paper examines these two “presidential-style” leaders in Europe who at first seemedadept in practising aspects of both celebrity and populist politics

Using sister city relationships to access the Chinese market

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to offer a new approach for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Australia to engage in sustainable trade with China through the use of Sister City relationships. The reason for writing this paper is to address this research gap with the aim of influencing government policy at the national and the local level.Design/methodology/approach &ndash; The main methods used is a historical literature review, a critical review of the effectiveness of the Sister City relationships and an examination of a special Sister City relationship between Latrobe City in Australia and the Chinese city of Taizhou.Findings &ndash; Throughout the course of the paper it was established that Sister City relationships had been insufficiently utilized as commercial facilitators and especially SMEs in regional Australia. This was especially evident in terms of trade relations with China.Research limitations/implications &ndash; This conceptual paper will require further research at different levels. Future research should establish what Australian sister cities with China are actually doing and how a more focused relationship utilizing SMEs in their territory might be utilized. This is clearly a limitation with this conceptual paper, which it is hoped will be overcome with new research planned by the authors.Practical implications &ndash; The practical implications emerging from this paper is that Sister City relationships can be refocused from their current role to becoming structurally integrated into trade facilitators for SMEs in pursuing trade with China. Most Sister City relationships do not have a trade focus in the first instance. As a result of this paper we are hoping that local government policy makers and state government trade facilitators will see Sister City relationships in a new light.Originality/value &ndash; This paper brings to attention cases of Sister City relationships which have gravitated towards a trade focus (an exception like Latrobe City) in which results are already evident. A paper of this kind is directed at governments at all levels as well as SMEs who wish to work better with government.<br /