Chainsaw operators (Ghana)

In Ghana, the term chainsaw operator is used to refer to an informal worker who uses a chainsaw to fell trees. The chainsaw is a symbol of siphoning off timber resources since the 1980s. While chainsaws were used by the legal industry for timber felling and sawing since the 1960s, illegal operators began draining the timber resources won in state concessions by formal businesses in the 1980s. The governmental attempt to regulate the chainsaws in 1990s by decreeing their mandatory registration through a system of permits (Marfo, Abankwa and Agyeman 2009) did not work. The formalisation process was either too difficult to implement or too simple to circumvent (Quartey 2010). The Ghanaian government succumbed to pressure from the legal industry and outlawed the use of the chainsaw for timber cutting altogether. Location: Ghana However, the de-legalisation was unable to stop illegal operations. By the third millennium, chainsaw operators fell approximately half of all timber harvested in Ghana, generating an estimated loss of 12.8 million dollars per year in public revenue (MLF 2003; Chatham House 2006: 2, 7; Darko Obiri and Damnyag 2009; Glastra 2009; Marfo 2010: 3, 16). As legal enterprises shifted their focus to the more profitable export market where they could exercise a monopoly, they left the internal demand almost entirely in the hands of chainsaw operators (Quartey 2010; Hoare 2014). Despite the intense police repression, the informal timber industry increased further. In 2010, an estimated 17,000 operators, employing 97,000 workers, were active in Ghana (Osei-Tutu et al. 2010: 16; Marfo and Acheampong 2011: 1)

Horizontal and vertical politics. Strategic uses of Abajo and Arriba in the construction of the Venezuelan socialist state

Th e spatial expressions of egalitarian and hierarchical political relations, respectively along the horizontal and vertical axis, are visually illustrated in a broad cross-cultural perspective. Th e dichotomy between los de abajo (those below) and los de arriba (those above) is explored in contemporary Venezuelan politics, using ethnographic and visual evidence. Th e socialist party, which presents itself as rep- resentative of los de abajo, has been increasingly criticized for being los de arriba both by the opposition and by grassroots PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Vene- zuela; United Socialist Party of Venezuela) activists who denounce the persistence of hierarchical dynamics through metaphors such as paracaido (para-shooter) and poner la escalera (holding the ladder).Abstract: Th e spatial expressions of egalitarian and hierarchical political relations, respectively along the horizontal and vertical axis, are visually illustrated in a broad cross-cultural perspective. Th e dichotomy between los de abajo (those below) and los de arriba (those above) is explored in contemporary Venezuelan politics, using ethnographic and visual evidence. Th e socialist party, which presents itself as rep- resentative of los de abajo, has been increasingly criticized for being los de arriba both by the opposition and by grassroots PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Vene- zuela; United Socialist Party of Venezuela) activists who denounce the persistence of hierarchical dynamics through metaphors such as paracaido (para-shooter) and poner la escalera (holding the ladder)

Embedded GPU Implementation for High-Performance Ultrasound Imaging

Methods of increasing complexity are currently being proposed for ultrasound (US) echographic signal processing. Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) resources allowing massive exploitation of parallel computing are ideal candidates for these tasks. Many high-performance US instruments, including open scanners like ULA-OP 256, have an architecture based only on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and/or Digital Signal Processors (DSPs). This paper proposes the implementation of the embedded NVIDIA Jetson Xavier AGX module on board ULA-OP 256. The system architecture was revised to allow the introduction of a new Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) communication channel, while maintaining backward compatibility with all other embedded computing resources already on board. Moreover, the Input/Output (I/O) peripherals of the module make the ultrasound system independent, freeing the user from the need to use an external controlling PC

Prefazione [Critica della democrazia occidentale]

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Graeber sull’anarchia

The text presents three of Graeber’s reflections on anarchy, built on an anthropological perspective: the premises of anarchic organizations lay in egalitarianism, the presence of “spaces in between” and in intercultural creativity; the assembly as the deliberative technique enabling power diffusion; finally, a decolonization of anarchy from its assumed European matrix.Il testo presenta tre riflessioni di Graeber sull’anarchia, frutto di una prospettiva antropologica: le premesse di una organizzazione anarchica individuabili nell’egualitarismo, nella presenza di spazi interstiziali e nella creatività interculturale; l’assemblea come tecnica decisionale a potere diffuso; infine, la decolonizzazione dell’anarchia dalla sua presunta matrice europea

Postfazione. Gli occhi dello Stato agli esordi del ventunesimo secolo

Aggiornamento delle analisi di scott a d esordio XXI secol

Orizzontale e verticale. Le figure del potere

Lo spazio è una dimensione cognitiva imprescindibile. Non è dunque casuale che le raffigurazioni spaziali siano quelle che rendono immediatamente leggibile la soggiacente struttura di potere. Come testimonia una vastissima iconografia, la disposizione dei corpi nello spazio - al centro o ai margini, in alto o in basso, in grande o in piccolo - permette infatti di cogliere in tutta la loro evidenza le relazioni sociali proprie di un dato contesto. Ed è grazie al suo sguardo di antropologo che Boni ha potuto costruire questo originale percorso visivo che individua, nel tempo e nello spazio, le multiformi figure assunte da un potere a vocazione gerarchica e da un principio egualitario propenso invece alla circolarità. Così, attraverso un'analisi delle posture corporali, delle coreografie rituali, delle strutture architettoniche e dei tanti dispositivi associati alle posizioni apicali, si delinea un'inedita storia di quella contrapposizione tra alto e basso che attraversa tanto la modernità quanto l'etnografia classica, per riproporsi intatta oggi nell'inesausta tensione tra l'orizzontalità sperimentata dai nuovi movimenti sociali e l'iper-verticalità che connota i poteri globali, finanza in testa