Doing gender and development: understanding empowerment and local gender relations

A major dilemma in Gender and Development (GAD) work is why it is that sometimes women may feel better off colluding with gendered structures that ensure their continued subordination rather than seeking approaches that will allow them to break free of this. Kandiyoti (1988 Gender and Society 2 274-90) has identified this apparent collusion as 'patriarchal bargains', which offer women greater advantages than they perceive can be achieved by challenging the prevailing order. Such women are therefore reluctant to engage in empowering activities that may challenge their gendered bargain. This paper explains this dilemma in the context of GAD work undertaken with Bedouin women in Southern Egypt

The swept angle retarding mass spectrometer: Initial results from the Michigan auroral probe sounding rocket

Data from a sounding rocket flight of the swept angle retarding ion mass spectrometer (SARIMS) are presented to demonstrate the capability of the instrument to make measurements of thermal ions which are differential in angle, energy, and mass. The SARIMS was flown on the Michigan auroral probe over regions characterized first by discrete auroral arcs and later by diffuse precipitation. The instrument measured the temperature, densities, and flow velocities of the ions NO(+) and O(+). Measured NO(+) densities ranged from 10 to the 5th power up to 3 x 10 to the 5th power ions/cu cm, while the measured O(+) densities were a factor of 5-10 less. Ion temperatures ranged from 0.15 up to 0.33 eV. Eastward ion flows approximately 0.5 km/sec were measured near the arcs, and the observed flow magnitude decreased markedly inside the arcs

Identifying aspects of temporal orientation in students’ moral reflections

History education comprises moral issues and moral aspects, often perceived as an important and meaning-making foundation that makes learning relevant and interesting. The interrelationship between time layers fuels historical interpretations and facilitates perceptions of moral issues. This article focuses on a study investigating how secondary school students express inter-temporal relationships in encounters with a morally challenging historical event, which for the participants would have been a moral dilemma. Using historical consciousness as the theoretical framework, a matrix linking two prominent theoretical models – Jörn Rüsen’s (2004) types of narratives and Ann Chinnery’s (2013) strands of historical consciousness – was developed to analyse and categorize secondary school students’ expressions of temporal orientation. To carry out the research, 15-year-old Finnish and Swedish students read an excerpt from Christopher Browning’s (2017) book Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (originally published in 1992). The students answered and discussed open-ended questions regarding the relevance of the text to their lives and others’ lives, and the applicability of this historical situation to Europe now and in the future. Using this empirical material, the analysis provides a tentative overarching depiction of students’ expressions of temporal orientation, and reports on findings of how temporal orientations relate to moral reflection

Identifying aspects of temporal orientation in students’ moral reflections

History education comprises moral issues and moral aspects, often perceived as an important and meaning-making foundation that makes learning relevant and interesting. The interrelationship between time layers fuels historical interpretations and facilitates perceptions of moral issues. This article focuses on a study investigating how secondary school students express inter-temporal relationships in encounters with a morally challenging historical event, which for the participants would have been a moral dilemma. Using historical consciousness as the theoretical framework, a matrix linking two prominent theoretical models – Jörn Rüsen’s (2004) types of narratives and Ann Chinnery’s (2013) strands of historical consciousness – was developed to analyse and categorize secondary school students’ expressions of temporal orientation. To carry out the research, 15-year-old Finnish and Swedish students read an excerpt from Christopher Browning’s (2017) book Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (originally published in 1992). The students answered and discussed open-ended questions regarding the relevance of the text to their lives and others’ lives, and the applicability of this historical situation to Europe now and in the future. Using this empirical material, the analysis provides a tentative overarching depiction of students’ expressions of temporal orientation, and reports on findings of how temporal orientations relate to moral reflection

Electrometer system measures nanoamps at high voltage

Floating electrometer eliminates major source of error since any leakage from electrometer case, which is at high voltage, appears only as load on high voltage supply and not as part of current being measured. Commands to and data from floating electrometer are transferred across high voltage interface by means of optical channels

Challenging empowerment: AIDS-affected southern African children and the need for a multi-level relational approach

Critics of empowerment have highlighted the concept's mutability, focus on individual transformation, one-dimensionality and challenges of operationalisation. Relating these critiques to children's empowerment raises new challenges. Drawing on scholarship on children's subjecthood and exercise of power, alongside empirical research with children affected by AIDS, I argue that empowerment envisaged as individual self-transformation and increased capacity to act independently offers little basis for progressive change. Rather it is essential to adopt a relational approach that recognises the need to transform power relationships at multiple levels. This analysis has implications for our wider understanding of empowerment in the 21st century. © The Author(s) 2013.This research was funded by DFID

On character generators for simple Lie algebras

We study character generating functions (character generators) of simple Lie algebras. The expression due to Patera and Sharp, derived from the Weyl character formula, is first reviewed. A new general formula is then found. It makes clear the distinct roles of ``outside'' and ``inside'' elements of the integrity basis, and helps determine their quadratic incompatibilities. We review, analyze and extend the results obtained by Gaskell using the Demazure character formulas. We find that the fundamental generalized-poset graphs underlying the character generators can be deduced from such calculations. These graphs, introduced by Baclawski and Towber, can be simplified for the purposes of constructing the character generator. The generating functions can be written easily using the simplified versions, and associated Demazure expressions. The rank-two algebras are treated in detail, but we believe our results are indicative of those for general simple Lie algebras.Comment: 50 pages, 11 figure