Law, Translation, and Voice:Transformation of a Struggle for Social Justice in a Chinese Village

The channeling of popular struggles through legal cases is central to the strategy of the emerging “rights defense” movement in China, linking grassroots contention with professional mediators who translate grievances into the institutional environment of law. This was the case in an unusual, ultimately unsuccessful campaign in 2005 to remove an elected village chief in Taishi Village in Guangdong, China, by legal means. While the grievances that sparked the campaign were about the unequal distribution of the benefits from village development, the strategy of instituting a recall procedure and the framing of the campaign in terms of democracy and rule of law obscured distinctly gendered issues of poverty and inequality in the village, even though women were among the most visible protesters. This article employs a “sociology of translation” to link framing processes and power dynamics, thus proposing a methodological approach to reconnecting framing with other aspects of movements. In the Taishi case, the translation of the dispute into the language of law had contrary effects: it opened the door to a legitimate, if temporary, public space for the airing of villagers' claims. At the same time, translation legitimized the voices of “experts” who then became de facto leaders in this public space; it also increasingly shifted the action to the internet, to which the villagers apparently had no access. This analysis raises questions about whether such strategies may result in either the formation of durable rights-based identities among grassroots participants or a sense of being connected to a broader social movement

Decoders for MST radars

Decoding techniques and equipment used by MST radars are described and some recommendations for new systems are presented. Decoding can be done either by software in special-purpose (array processors, etc.) or general-purpose computers or in specially designed digital decoders. Both software and hardware decoders are discussed and the special case of decoding for bistatic radars is examined

The Arecibo Observatory as an MST radar

The radars and other systems at the Arecibo Observatory were designed and built, originally, for incoherent-scatter and radio-astronomy research. More recently, important additions have been made for planetary radar and artificial RF heating of the ionosphere. Although designed and built for a different application, these systems have shown to be very powerful tools for tropospheric, stratospheric and mesospheric research. The Observatory at present has two main radars: one at 430 and the other at 2380 MHz. In addition, 50-MHz MST radar work has been done using portable transmitters brought to the Observatory for this purpose. This capability will become permanent with the recent acquisition of a transmitter at this frequency. Furthermore, control and data processing systems have been developed to use the powerful HF transmitter and antennas of the HF-heating facility as an HF bistatic radar. A brief description of the four radars available at the Observatory is presented

Is there Space for "Genuine Autonomy" for Tibetan Areas in the PRC's System of Nationalities Regional Autonomy?

This article considers whether room exists within the current system of nationalities regional autonomy (NRA) in China to accommodate Tibetan aspirations for "genuine autonomy" under the People's Republic of China (PRC) sovereignty. It examines the legal framework for NRA in China, as well as Chinese government policy and practice toward autonomous areas, in terms of the limitations and possibilities they imply for realizing Tibetan aspirations for autonomy, highlighting specific areas of concern, opportunities and constraints. It explores the development of political and legal approaches toward autonomy since the 1930s, the nature of the current framework and how recent legal and political developments interact with that framework. It looks at options for autonomy under the Chinese Constitution and national legislation, particularly the self-government of nationality (minority) autonomous areas as well as Article 31 of the Constitution which has provided the basis for the establishment of special administrative regions (SARs). Since autonomous areas also exercise the general powers of local governments in the PRC, it describes the general system of local government at the provincial and lower administrative levels. The article examines the practical implementation and operation of minority autonomy and SARs including the apparent gap between law and practice. In particular, special attention is paid to the role of the Chinese Communist Party and its officials which have a significant impact on the exercise of state powers. It concludes that there are formidable obstacles to the autonomy that Tibetans seek in order to preserve their culture, values and identity. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010.postprin

Decoding: Codes and hardware implementation

The MST radars vary considerably from one installation to the next in the type of hardware, operating schedule and associated personnel. Most such systems do not have the computing power to decode in software when the decoding must be performed for each received pulse, as is required for certain sets of phase codes. These sets provide the best signal to sidelobe ratio when operating at the minimum band length allowed by the bandwidth of the transmitter. The development of the hardware phase decoder, and the applicability of each to decoding MST radar signals are discussed. A new design for a decoder which is very inexpensive to build, easy to add to an existing system and is capable of decoding on each received pulse using codes with a band length as short as one microsecond is presented

Capabilities and limitations of the Jicamarca radar as an MST radar

The Jicamarca radar (Long. 76.52W, Lat. 11.56S), located at 20 km from Lima at approximately 500 meters over sea level, is surrounded by mountains which provide a good shield from man-made interference. The radio horizon goes from a few hundred meters, across the dry valley where it is located, to 15 km, along the valley in the direction of the continental divide. This limits the clutter to 15 km, except for one high peak at 21 km. It is the most equatorial of all existing MST radars. Its proximity to the Andes, makes its location unique for the study of lee waves and orographic-induced turbulence. Vertical as well as horizontal projections of MST velocities are obtained by simultaneously pointing with different sections of the antenna into three or four different directions. The transmitters, receivers, and systems for data acquisition, processing, and control are included