National Minorities, Nationalizing States, and External National Homelands in the New Europe. Notes toward a Relational Analysis. Institute of Advanced Studies Political Science Series, 11 December 1993

Nationalism remains central to politics in and among the new nation-states. Far from »solving« the region's national question, the most recent reconfiguration of political space – the replacement of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia by some twenty would-be nation-states – only recast it in a new form. It is this new phase and form of the national question that I explore in this paper. I begin by outlining a particular relational configuration – the triadic relational nexus between national minorities, nationalizing states, and external national homelands – that is central to the national question in post-Soviet Eurasia. In the second, and most substantial, section of the paper, I argue that each of the »elements« in this relational nexus – minority, nationalizing state, and homeland – should itself be understood in dynamic and relational terms, not as a fixed, given, or analytically irreducible entity but as a field of differentiated positions and an arena of struggles among competing »stances.« In a brief concluding section, I return to the relational nexus as a whole, underscoring the dynamically interactive quality of the triadic interplay

Representation c. 800: Arab Byzantine Carolingian

What could or should be visually represented was a contested issue across the medieval Christian and Islamic world around the year 800. This article examines how Islamic, Byzantine, Carolingian and Palestinian Christian attitudes toward representation were expressed, and differed, across the seventh and eighth centuries. Islamic prohibitions against representing human figures were not universally recognised, but were particularly – if sometimes erratically – focused on mosque decoration. Byzantine ‘iconoclasm’ – more properly called iconomachy – was far less destructive than its later offshoots in France and England, and resulted in a highly nuanced re-definition of what representation meant in the Orthodox church. Carolingian attitudes toward images were on the whole far less passionate than either Islamic or Orthodox views, but certain members of the elite had strong views, which resulted in particular visual expressions. Palestinian Christians, living under Islamic rule, modulated their attitudes toward images to conform with local social beliefs. Particularly in areas under Orthodox or Islamic control, then, representation mattered greatly around the year 800, and this article examines how and why this impacted on local production

Overview of HLLV effluents in stratosphere and above

The injection of large quantities of rocket exhaust effluent into the upper atmosphere by the heavy lift launch vehicle (HLLV) of the solar power satellite system is discussed. The exhaust products considered are CO, CO2, H2O, H2, and NO. The effects on the composition of the atmosphere at different altitudes are estimated

Closure in the Time of COVID-19

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Ground cloud air quality effects

The effects of the ground cloud associated with launching of a large rocket on air quality are discussed. The ground cloud consists of the exhaust emitted by the rocket during the first 15 to 25 seconds following ignition and liftoff, together with a large quantity of entrained air, cooling water, dust and other debris. Immediately after formation, the ground cloud rises in the air due to the buoyant effect of its high thermal energy content. Eventually, at an altitude typically between 0.7 and 3 km, the cloud stabilizes and is carried along by the prevailing wind at that altitude. For the use of heavy lift launch vehicles small quantities of nitrogen oxides, primarily nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, are expected to be produced from a molecular nitrogen impurity in the fuel or liquid oxygen, or from entrainment and heating of ambient air in the hot rocket exhaust. In addition, possible impurities such as sulfur in the fuel would give rise to a corresponding amount of oxidation products such as sulfur dioxide

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A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Alternative Financing and Delivery of Water and Wastewater Services

Too many drinking water and wastewater systems across Canada threaten public health and the environment. In this report, the author writes that many of the municipally owned and operated systems that treat and distribute drinking water perform poorly and lack the financial resources and expertise to meet the challenges posed by aging infrastructure. Indeed, more than 1,000 systems across Canada violate provincial requirements or are subject to boil-water advisories. Brubaker recommends reforms to the financing and operating of utilities to ensure their long-term sustainability. These include introducing competition for water and wastewater services and taking steps to attract more private expertise and capital investment.The Water Series, water and sewage services, Canadian municipalities, capital investment

The 6-vertex model and deformations of the Weyl character formula

We use statistical mechanics -- variants of the six-vertex model in the plane studied by means of the Yang-Baxter equation -- to give new deformations of Weyl's character formula for classical groups of Cartan type B, C, and D, and a character formula of Proctor for type BC. In each case, the corresponding Boltzmann weights are associated to the free fermion point of the six-vertex model. These deformations add to the earlier known examples in types A and C by Tokuyama and Hamel-King, respectively. A special case for classical types recovers deformations of the Weyl denominator formula due to Okada.Comment: v2: renamed the last family of models and showed their connection to character formulae for groups of type BC; addressed some issues in the proof of Lemma 6.2; updated abstrac