Determinism in the mountains: The ongoing belief in the bellicosity of 'mountain people'

It has long been argued that mountains have an effect on wars. While some research understands this chiefly in physical terms, other research looks at the effect that mountains have on human nature. This article looks at the two thousand year history of the term 'mountain people.' It explores how the belief has emerged that living in mountainous regions changes people to the degree that it makes them more likely to engage in conflict. It also explores how mountain people can be seen in a more positive light, but this perspective is often ignored by both popular media and conflict research. It makes the case that the foundations upon which perceptions of 'mountain people' are based are rather shaky and somewhat misleading for empirical conflict research

Why work ‘at home’? Oxfam’s value-added and the UK Poverty Programme

International development NGOs are in existential crisis. Their legitimacy and added value are increasingly challenged. While scholars have focussed on legitimacy, work on ‘value-added’ is scarce. In particular, no research addresses the value of domestic programmes to INGOs. This paper rectifies this, focussing on the case of Oxfam GB’s UK Poverty Programme (UKPP). Using empirical research from 35 interviews with Oxfam GB staff, partners and beneficiaries and over 150 archive documents, the paper identifies seven assets through which the programme provides value added to OGB. It highlights the possibility that these could offer insights into the dimensions of future INGOs

Places of Poverty and Powerlessness: INGOs working ‘at home’

The search for transformatory development practice, distanced from colonial binaries and representations, has been the focus of decades of scholarship. Recent research suggests that INGOs are central in this regard, whether in their governance, fundraising, advocacy, knowledge-management, engagement with others or their approach to programme design. This paper progresses these debates by providing empirical evidence of the value of domestic programming in this ‘project’. Drawing on three case studies, the paper finds evidence of INGOs’ search for a programme strategy, which moves minimising the violence of ‘othering’ from theory to practice

Geological evaluation and applications of ERTS-1 imagery over Georgia

ERTS-1 70mm and 9 x 9 film negatives are being used by conventional and color enhancement methods as a tool for geologic investigation. Geologic mapping and mineral exploration by conventional methods is very difficult in Georgia. Thick soil cover and heavy vegetation cause outcrops of bed rock to be small, rare and obscure. ERTS imagery, and remote sensing in general have helped delineate: (1) major tectonic boundaries; (2) lithologic contacts; (3) foliation trends; (4) topographic lineaments; and (5) faults. The ERTS-1 MSS imagery yields the greatest amount of geologic information on the Piedomont, Blue Ridge, and Valley and Ridge Provinces of Georgia where topography is strongly controlled by the bedrock geology. ERTS imagery, and general remote sensing techniques, have provided us with a powerful tool to assist geologic research; have significantly increased the mapping efficiency of our field geologists; have shown new lineaments associated with known shear and fault zones; have delineated new structural features; have provided a tool to re-evaluate our tectonic history; have helped to locate potential ground water sources and areas of aquifer recharge; have defined areas of geologic hazards; have shown areas of heavy siltation in major reservoirs; and by its close interval repetition, have aided in monitoring surface mine reclamation activities and the environmental protection of our intricate marshland system

A New Way to Proxy Levels of Infrastructure Development

Researchers in many fields have needed to develop a measure of infrastructure, and many proxies have been used toward this end, such as night light data and the Digital Chart of the World (DCW). Yet there are issues in using these methods. This paper presents a new way of proxying infrastructure: analysing the file sizes of map images on the Bing, Google, OpenStreetMap and Sina websites. The paper also demonstrates four ways in which this can be achieved. This approach is by no means perfect and does not solve all of the difficulties presented by other methods. Nevertheless, it does provide a simple and functional alternative proxy for level of infrastructure development

Recycling of carbon fibre composites

A clear case for carbon fibre recovery and reuse exists on environmental grounds due to the high cost and energy use of virgin fibre production. On a specific energy basis, carbon fibres can be recovered at around 10% of the energy required to manufacture virgin fibres but the scale of the recovery process can make a large difference to overall cost effectiveness. This study will describe the technical and economic challenges associated with the recycling of carbon fibres, the state of the art in recycling technologies and the re-use of fibres in high performance composites

Prevalence and clinical characteristics of left ventricular dysfunction among elderly patients in general practice setting: cross sectional survey

Objective: To assess the prevalence and clinical characteristics of left ventricular dysfunction among elderly patients in the general practice setting by echocardiographic assessment of ventricular function. Design: Cross sectional survey. Setting: Four centre general practice in Poole, Dorset. Subjects: 817 elderly patients aged 70-84 years. Main outcomes: Echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular systolic function including measurement of ejection fraction by biplane summation method where possible, clinical symptoms, and signs of left ventricular dysfunction. Results: The overall prevalence of left ventricular systolic dysfunction was 7.5% (95% confidence interval 5.8% to 9.5%); mild dysfunction (5.0%) was considerably more prevalent than moderate (1.6%) or severe dysfunction (0.7%). Measurement of ejection fraction was possible in 82% of patients (n=667): in patients categorised as having mild, moderate, or severe dysfunction, the mean ejection fraction was 48% (SD 12.0), 38% (8.1), and 26% (7.9) respectively. At all ages the prevalence was much higher in men than in women (odds ratio 5.1, 95% confidence interval 2.6 to 10.1). No clinical symptom or sign was both sensitive and specific. In around half the patients with ventricular dysfunction (52%, 32/61) heart failure had not been previously diagnosed. Conclusions: Unrecognised left ventricular dysfunction is a common problem in elderly patients in the general practice setting. Appropriate treatment with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors has the potential to reduce hospitalisation and mortality in these patients, but diagnosis should not be based on clinical history and examination alone. Screening is feasible in general practice, but it should not be implemented until the optimum method of identifying left ventricular dysfunction is clarified, and the cost effectiveness of screening has been shown

The Eternality of the Sacred : Durkheim’s Error ?

Durkheim affirmait que le sacré était éternel. Il pouvait prendre des formes diverses et changer d’une société à l’autre mais il était toujours présent. Cette affirmation est mise au défi, non pas sur le plan de la théorie sociale mais sur celui de la réalité empirique de la Grande-Bretagne. En dépit de l’existence de nombreuses enclaves où l’on rencontre du sacré, lorsqu’on observe le pays, globalement, les seules revendications perceptibles sont en faveur d’une forme d’humanisme. Jusqu’à quel point et dans quels groupes les repère-t-on ? Serait-ce dans les attitudes humanistes que les citoyens britanniques trouveraient leur sacré ? L’humanisme ne serait-il qu’un système moral ?Durkheim soutenait que toute morale comportait une dimension sacrée sinon religieuse. Mais on peut douter qu’il en soit réellement ainsi. Selon Durkheim l’humanisme servait de base à la religion de l’homme occidental moderne. Le culte de l’individu auquel il se référa si souvent constitue-t-il une religion ? Il ne réunit pourtant pas les critères que Durkheim posait pour définir la religion. Durkheim met lui-même en échec la visée « scientifique » de sa démarche lorsqu’il affirme que les notions de sacré et de religion sont des universaux culturels. Et si la Grande-Bretagne n’était qu’une des exceptions à la règle, cela même suffirait à soulever un certain nombre de questions