Humanities & Social Sciences papers

Arson

Katarina Fritzon — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:14:31 PST

Considering a new framework for designing pubic safety 'filler' messages on highway variable-message signs: Applying the behaviour change wheel

Marilyn Mitchell — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:46:57 PST

This paper reviews literature regarding ‘filler’ (particularly safety) messages on variable message signs (VMS), then evaluates the applicability of Michie, van Stralen and West’s behaviour change wheel for message generation using examples from Queensland. Although designed for generating health care interventions, the wheel readily extends itself to road safety. The paper concludes with a brief list of techniques for writing persuasive safety messages. This research was conducted because limited research is available on VMS safety messages or models for their generation. The literature review indicated that although controversy exists regarding the use of VMS for safety messages, more drivers would rather have the messages than blank signs; however, certain messages are seen as more useful than others. Further, VMS safety messages should not be expected to change the behaviour of all drivers but rather help a small share. The key benefit of this paper is that it proposes a comprehensive framework for generating VMS safety messages and describes strategies for writing them. Further research should be conducted on driver reactions to these messages.

导论

布雷特•麦考密克 et al. — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:27:42 PST

China and outer space

Rosita Dellios — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:42:50 PST

China’s space program began in the 1950s as part of its nuclear weapons program. Today it spans both civilian and military requirements, as well as bolstering national prestige: China is only the third country, after the United States and Russia, to operate an independent manned space program. The country’s ambition may see a Chinese astronaut landing on Mars. In the defensive realm, China is developing a counterspace capability to thwart a future adversary from using their space-based assets against China in time of conflict. While publicly opposed to an arms race developing in space–and China’s space white paper strongly backs the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs–it recognizes the risks of this occurring. By developing its own space-based capabilities while at the same time renouncing the weaponization of space, China can be: (a) militarily credible, in that it has a program in play to counter any emergent hegemonic practices in space; and (b) diplomatically persuasive insofar as it would like to join the international community in keeping space as a weapons-free zone. The continuity in China’s unified, comprehensive effort in space research and development strengthens China’s credentials as a global power with a distinctive space policy.

International relations theory and Chinese philosophy

Rosita Dellios — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:05:41 PST

Extract:

Insights drawn from a comparison between International Relations theory and Chinese philosophy provide a timely vantage point for ‘Chinese Engagements’ at this historical juncture of China’s emergence as a twenty-first century global power. In this chapter, after a brief historical background, three major International Relations theoretical perspectives are examined: neorealism, neoliberal institutionalism, and social constructivism. In addition, hegemonic stability theory and global governance are selected as concepts relevant to the globalised political world. The theory of correlativity is discussed as an introduction to Chinese philosophy and this is followed by Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism as the tripartite philosophical foundations of the Chinese tradition. Legalism and Mohism are two added perspectives that help elucidate the polarities of Chinese philosophy. Conclusions are drawn in terms of mutuality between the two, soft power and the correlative nature of the global governance phenomenon.

The Chinese development model: International development and hegemony

Jonathan H. Ping — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:34:59 PST

Extract:

What is the appropriate role for the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) to play in the contemporary international political economy (IPE)? This chapter employs the discipline of IPE to explain the contemporary state market relationship from a historical perspective, and develops the thesis that China as a great power should take a more active responsibility in order to play a considerably larger role in the IPE. We cannot ignore the fact that today’s IPE, because of liberal interdependence and the functions of the mercantilist security dilemma, links regional issues to global issues; given this set of circumstances, China must of necessity engage with the IPE. It is equally important to remember that, as a consequence of its relative size, Chinese development will impact profoundly on the development of all nation-states. The option facing all other nation-states, then, is to decide whether they will view China as an ally or as a threat to their own development. Of course, China does not have to remain passive while such decisions are made, but can strategically influence the choices other nation-states make.

Why psychopaths like Dexter aren't really all that bad

Paul Wilson — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:19:12 PDT

Psychopathic serial killers are ruthless executioners who stalk their prey and dispatch them, often by the most sadistic means. Their victims, by definition, number in the tens or, in extreme cases, even the hundreds. Dexter is a stellar example of the psychopathic serial killer. Like others of his ilk, he can be charming, insightful, and even soft and gentle at times. Similar to many killers with predatory inclinations, Dexter hides behind the respectable coat of family and work. But in common with his psychopathic brethren, he delights in ritualistically dissecting his victims and then keeping a trophy of his handiwork—in Dexter’s case a small glass slide of their blood.

Despite their commonalities, Dexter does not quite fit entirely into the serial killer species. He is the Robin Hood of serial killers and is unlike some of the other villains in the show, motivated as they are by sexual thrills or desires to brutally dominate other human beings. The fictional psychopaths in the Dexter series have no aspirations to wipe the evil-doers off the planet. Dexter alone is cannibalistic in his pursuits he kills his own kind rather than seeking the marginalized or defenseless. These killers, who eventually ended up as Dexter’s own victims, did not give a damn about the ideology of those they killed—only about their victims’ physical attributes and how those characteristics fulfilled their murderers’ dark and horrible fantasies.

Selecting a directional methodology for a creative practice film

Michael Sergi — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:43:27 PDT

An actor’s performance, as it appears on screen, is unstable. The viewing audience has no way of knowing to what extent the performance was the actor’s creation in front of the camera when the scene was filmed, or re-constructed, by the editor and director, in post-production. Editors will often describe how they took a look from this take, a sentence from that take, a reaction from yet another take, and then had the actor ADR (automated dialogue replacement) that line that had a slight word stumble in it (Seger, 1994; Rosenblum, 1979; Travis, 2002; Bare, 2000; Proferes, 2008). However, when exploring how directors read an actor’s performance is the central thesis of a doctoral exegesis, as it was in my case, then it is vital that the actor’s performance is captured in such a way that it remains as stable, and un-recreated, as possible. Only then can a director claim to have read the actor’s performance when it was created and recognised it as being satisfactory. Otherwise, it would not be possible to know whether it was the director, the editor or the producer who truly was able to distinguish the quality of the actor’s performance. In order to achieve this, I had to select a directorial methodology that would enable me to capture the actor’s performance in such a way that I could begin to understand how a director reads an actor’s performance on set. I would then be able to present that same unaltered performance for examination and peer review. In Figures traced in light: On cinematic staging (2005), Bordwell undertakes a close examination of the directorial methodology of Greek director Theo Angelopolous and Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi: two exceptional proponents of the long-take mise-en-scéne shooting style. In Notes: On the making of Apocalypse Now (1993), Eleanor Coppola describes a similar directorial methodology used by Francis Ford Coppola. And in Sherman’s Directing the film: Film directors on their art (1976) other notable directors describe similar methodologies. This paper sets out the directorial methodology used in the production of the film Gingerbread Men, the creative component of my Doctorate of Creative Arts, and describes how that methodology is grounded in the work of significant directors.

International regimes and globalization: Tools for managing complex change

Ronald James Ferguson — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:43:20 PDT

International Regimes have long been understood as cooperative mechanisms that allow states to work with each other, shaping expectations and generating areas of convergence on specific issues. (Chen & Chen 2009; Gorg & Ulrich 2006; Brahm 2005; Keohane 1982). Ranging across numerous areas, including fisheries conservation, food production, international trade, proliferation control regimes, control of illicit goods, monetary regimes, development agenda, and environmental cooperation, they can often operate where international institutional control is weak. In the 21^st century, such regimes often draw on international non-government organizations and mobilize public and community support as part of their strategy. As such, a wide range of actors can be engaged in regime creation and support, e.g. Taiwan as an economic actor, Global Witness as a key INGO monitoring regimes in the control of ‘blood diamonds’, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group in supporting alternative track proliferation control mechanisms. In more general terms, a deeper understanding of successful regime creation and maintenance may offer realistic paths to moderate the cross impacts of ‘turbulent’ globalization, without problematic political investment in contentious global-level institutions.

Is depression 'evolutionary' or just 'adaptive'? A comment

Christoper F. Sharpley et al. — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:40:18 PDT

Some recent explanations of depression have suggested that it may be “evolutionary” in that there are advantages to the depressed individual which arise from some aspects of depressive symptomatology. While the depressive behaviour of withdrawal from the adverse environment may provide some immediate benefits to the depressed individual, thus making it potentially “adaptive” in the short-term, this does not fit the biological definition of “evolutionary”. In fact, depression does not meet two of the three required criteria from natural selection in order to be evolutionary. Therefore, while some depressive behaviour may be advantageous for the depressed individual, and is therefore “adaptive” in an immediate sense, it cannot be accurately described as “evolutionary”. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.