Suchergebnisse

<em>This paper analyzes latest findings from the recently completed Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011(SECC2011), by focusing on rural abject poverty and multi-dimensionality of it by the pre-set seven deprivation parameters across rural India .As per schema of SECC2011 for analyzing the various facets of multi-dimensional poverty, firstly one set of households will be excluded on the basis of 13 automatic exclusion parameters, and subsequently another set of households will be automatically included on the basis of five parameters and finally the remaining set would be subjected to verifications by seven deprivations. Thereby, the SECC 2011 had set in motion an effort to capture some specifics of multidimensional poverty as desired by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) in the Government of India. It is surmised here that the union of automatically included and deprived households will provide a base line of the number of poor through a multi-dimensional mode. The intersection of automatically included households with the seven deprivations variables will also identify the socio economic characteristics of the abjectly poor. Besides presenting the above analysis of SECC data, an attempt is made to compare these findings with those based on the unidimensional National Sample Survey (NSSO) poverty ratios ( by S.Tendulker 2009, C Rangarajan 2012) and multi-dimensional (R. Radhakrishna et al 2010) NFHS data based studies. A separate set of multi-dimensional poverty numbers were arrived at in the past for three Five Year Plans (1992-97, 1997- 02, 2002-07) through the Below Poverty Line (BPL) Censuses that were under taken by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to identify the poor households through the State/UT Governments. These later estimates of poor households were never permitted to exceed the official poverty ratio worked out by the Planning Commission for respective State/UT governments. The concepts used to arrive at these poor households will be briefly reviewed here as a prelude to explaining the modes operandi of identifying multi dimensional poverty via SECC 2011. A committee was set in up in February 2013 under the Chairmanship of Abhijit Sen , then Planning Commission Member, to examine the SECC indicators for data analysis, to recommend appropriate methodologies for determining classes of beneficiaries for different rural development programmes. Some of the recommendations of the committee would also be put to scrutiny. </em>

The canonical history of macroeconomics, one of the rival schools of thought and the great economists, gives Robert Lucas a prominent role in shaping the recent developments in the area. According to it, his followers were initially split into two camps, the "real business cycle" theorists with models of efficient fluctuations, and the "new-Keynesians" with models in which fluctuations are costly, and the government has a role to play, due to departures from the competitive equilibrium (such as nominal rigidities and imperfect competition). Later on, a consensus view emerged (the so-called new neoclassical synthesis), based on the dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, which combines elements of the models developed by economists of those two groups. However, this account misses critical developments, as already pointed out by Cherrier and Säidi (2015). As a reaction to Lucas's 1972 policy ineffectiveness results, based on an overlapping generations (OLG) model, a group of macroeconomists realized that a competitive OLG model may have a continuum of equilibria and that this indeterminacy justified government intervention for competitive cycles that emerged even in deterministic models. We can identify here two distinct, but related, groups: one of the deterministic cycles of David Gale, David Cass, and Jean-Michel Grandmont, and another of the stochastic models and sunspots of Karl Shell, Roger Guesnerie, Roger Farmer and Costas Azariadis (Lucas's PhD student). Here, the OLG was the workhorse model. Following from these works, a number of authors, including Michael Woodford, argued that similar results could occur in models with infinitely lived agents when there are various kinds of market imperfections. With such generalization, some of these macroeconomists saw that once these imperfections are introduced, nothing important for business cycle modeling was lost and they could therefore leave the OLG model aside as a model of business fluctuations, to the dismay of authors such as Grandmont, Robert Solow and Frank Hahn. In this paper, we scrutinize the differences between the deterministic cycles and sunspot groups and explore the many efforts of building a dynamic competitive business cycle model that implies a role for the government to play. We then assess the transformation process that took place in the late 1980s when several macroeconomists switched from OLG to infinitelived agents models with imperfections that eventually became central to the DSGE literature. With this we hope to shed more light on the origins of new neoclassical synthesis.

Los cambios introducidos por el artículo 5 del Real Decreto-ley 11/2013, de 2 de agosto, para la protección de los trabajadores a tiempo parcial y otras medidas urgentes en el orden económico y social, como consecuencia de la Sentencia del Tribunal Constitucional 61/2013, de 14 de marzo, se concretan en un conjunto de medidas específicas, relativas a su acción protectora. En este artículo se analizan las implicaciones directas que los mismos representan respecto al cómputo de los períodos de cotización necesarios para causar derecho a diferentes prestaciones, así como las consecuencias de las últimas actuaciones reformistas, en cuanto a la determinación de la cuantía de las pensiones de jubilación e incapacidad permanente derivada de enfermedad común, comprobando a partir de la simulación de casos concretos que originan datos adicionales a los conceptos claves examinados, que se hace necesario un replanteamiento de la posición del trabajador a tiempo parcial en el ámbito del sistema de la Seguridad Social, que no coincide exactamente con el planteado por el legislador en su última reforma, aún cuando formalmente en la misma, se asimila la protección social del trabajador a tiempo parcial con la del trabajador a tiempo completo. The amendments introduced by Article 5 of Executive Order 11/2013, of 2 August, for the protection of part-time workers and other urgent measures taken in the economic and social order as a consequence of the Ruling of the Constitutional Court 61/2013, of 14 March, are embodied in a set of specific measures relating to its protective action. In this paper the direct implications are analysed with respect to the computation of the number of payments required to be entitled to various benefits, as well as the consequences of the latest legislative reforms, with respect to determining the amount of retirement pensions and permanent disability deriving from common illness, with verification being carried out by simulating specific cases that furnish further data to the key concepts examined. This makes it necessary to rethink the position of the part-time worker's position within the context of the Social Security system, which does not coincide exactly with the one contemplated by the legislator in the latest reform, even when the social protection offered to the parttime worker is assimilated with that of the full-time worker.

Bihar's agricultural development in the latest 10 years between 2005-06 and 2014-15, presents a mixed picture. Agriculture growth was around 4.7 per cent, which was above the national average of 3.6 per cent and in the latest five years, its performance was even more commendable, with an average annual growth rate of 7.1 per cent. However, agriculture productivity of two of its major crops, rice and wheat, is lower than the national average, despite the relatively high private investment in yield augmenting inputs such as fertilisers, certified seeds, tube wells and farm machines. Bihar's agriculture has diversified impressively through dairy development although productivity in milk production is lagging behind other major milk producing states, but poultry development has not taken off. In this paper, we study the composition, sources and drivers of agricultural growth in Bihar with a view to identifying the factors that explain the paradox of low agricultural productivity and high use of productivity augmenting inputs. The study finds that poor public investment in power, all-weather roads and marketing infrastructure, have constrained agriculture in Bihar. In particular, deficiencies in the power infrastructure have resulted in high dependency on diesel for pumping out groundwater for irrigation; this, along with soaring petroleum prices, has depressed returns from cultivation of crops. Further, the proportion of surfaced roads in the state is one of the lowest in the country and needs attention in order to link farmers to markets. Another major difficulty that farmers in Bihar face is the lack of marketing infrastructure, resulting in their inability to reap the price incentives given by the Government of India in the form of minimum support price. Livestock development has not achieved its potential because of strategic deficiencies. In dairy, productivity has remained low because germ plasm from superior breeds has not been used. In poultry, the culture of contract farming involving large integrator companies has not yet been adopted. In the light of these findings, the study makes five principal recommendations to stimulate agricultural growth and productivity in the state, viz., improve the quality and quantity of rural power supply by strengthening transmission and distribution and obtaining separation of feeders for irrigation, increase in the intensity of surfaced roads in rural areas, improve procurement and marketing infrastructure, improve health and reproduction management of dairy animals and obtain a quantum increase in poultry by employing the integrator model as has been done in states like Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

El culto a la Virgen María tuvo durante el periodo colonial americano una notable vigencia. Desde la Conquista se desarrolló un proceso continuado y negociado de simbología icnográfica mariana, en función de su 'intervención' en fundamentales acontecimientos históricos. El culto mariano en América se implementó con fines ideológicos y de propaganda de los valores cristianos pertenecientes al conquistador; generando un proselitismo religioso entre los indígenas; y un instrumento de poder político y cultural de las elites fundadoras, y después criollas; que determinó la vida pública y privada en los reinos y virreinatos americanos por espacio de más de tres siglos. Este trabajo supone un acercamiento a dicho proceso, y tiene como principal objeto de estudio la iconografía mariana desarrollada en la ciudad de Tunja, del Nuevo Reino de Granada, durante los siglos XVI y XVII. Teniendo presente, que en relación con el culto mariano instalado en dicha ciudad, existen dos momentos fundamentales en relación con el culto mariano: un culto a lo que llamamos las "Vírgenes de Conquista", fomentado por los fundadores de la ciudad; y un culto posterior que denominamos "Vírgenes Encomenderas" y que será promocionado por las primeras generaciones de españoles nacidas en tierras del Nuevo Reino de Granada. During the American colonial period, devotion towards the Virgin Mary was notably present in its different manifestations and representations. Since the time of the Conquest, a continuous and negotiated process of Marian iconographic symbology was developed; it was based on its 'intervention' in fundamental historical events. The cult to the Virgin Mary in America was implemented for ideological purposes, and acted as propaganda for christian values from the conquerors' viewpoint, generating a religious proselytizing among the natives and an instrument of political and cultural power of the founding elites - and later the criollo elites - which determined public and private life in American kingdoms and viceroyalties for over three centuries. This work is an approach to this process, and its main object of study is Marian iconography developed in the city of Tunja, Kingdom of the New Granada, during the 16th and 17th centuries. In relation to the cult to the Virgin Mary installed in that city, there are two fundamental moments: a cult of what we call the 'Vírgenes de Conquista', fostered by the founders of the city, and a later cult we call 'Vírgenes Encomenderas' promoted by the first generations of Spaniards born in the Kingdom of the New Granada.

Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) classrooms is the latest addition to the ongoing quest for transforming pedagogical practices and driving educational development outcomes. Governments and policymakers around the world are embracing the idea of integrating digital learning technologies into educational settings backed by research on the benefits offered like the lifelong development of individual learners. While technological interventions open up unlimited possibilities for accessing information and improving collaboration, thereby engaging learners with more interactive learning activities, a new type of gap between individuals could also take shape as the penetration of technologies and adoption stages advance. Results from past projects of similar nature within educational settings have indicated the possible rise in the gap among individuals based on digital access (i.e., equity in access/ownership of digital learning technologies), digital capability (i.e., equity in digital/information literacy skills and usage) and digital outcome (i.e., equity in knowledge acquisition and progression).Therefore, we have conducted a longitudinal study to investigate a BYOD initiative by a New Zealand School. This study shares rich insights in the context of technology-mediated pedagogies and specifically BYOD classroom, as to how digital divides moved beyond access and skills to ensure inclusive learning outcomes. As a part of the five-year study of the technology-mediated teaching and learning initiative, we have been able to explain some of the unanswered questions around the issue of digital divides in the learning process. We investigated issues pertaining to digital divide in the context of BYOD classrooms to make the following revelations. First, the BYOD classroom initiative did not end up accentuating existing gaps in access to digital tools and technologies, despite earlier studies indicating towards increase in gaps. Second, our analysis strongly indicated the changing nature of digital divides with the presence of gaps in terms of information literacy and critical thinking ability, as the BYOD classroom progressed to mature stage. This was eventually bridged in the later stage, as students slowly adjusted to the classroom curricular structures in the BYOD classroom. Third, learner self-efficacy has been identified as a determinant of learning outcomes. In the earlier phase of ICT adoption, learner self-efficacy is influenced by a combination of information literacy, critical thinking ability, and positive motivation; however subsequently, self-efficacy influences affordances in various aspects of social cognitive abilities related to individual's learning activities affecting how learners engage and apply technology to achieve learning outcomes.

Research examining countries' policy responses to minority rights contestations typically focuses on the role of social movements and political institutions in delivering beneficial policy outcomes. Studies of same-sex relationship recognition (SSRR) policy adoption are no different. This dissertation diverges from previous narratives to present a theory of rights recognition grounded in comparative political economy and public policy. Specifically, I argue comprehensive welfare states that reduce economic inequalities, better address social inequalities, and are thus more likely to adopt SSRR policies sooner than their less comprehensive counterparts. A potential implication of my theory—that comprehensive welfare states adopt more expansive SSRR policies—comes into conflict with existing research on policy reinvention suggesting early adopting states adopt sub-optimal policies and then update them to keep pace with later adopters. I test my theory and the competing hypotheses about the welfare state's effects on policy expansiveness using a mixed-methods research design and a database of SSRR policy adoptions in 20 countries between 1978 to 2015. Cox proportional-hazards models allow me to examine the effects of the welfare state on the timing of policy adoption, and a case study of the United States and the Netherlands illuminates key theoretical mechanisms. I disentangle the competing hypotheses about policy expansiveness in several ways. First, a seemingly unrelated estimation procedure involving multiple component event history analyses and robust/sandwich standard errors allow me to evaluate the differing effects of covariates on each type of policy adoption. I then use logistic regression to discern whether comprehensive welfare states adopt more expansive SSRR policies. Lastly, I examine the relationship between welfare state comprehensiveness and the number of policies states adopt over time. I find welfare state comprehensiveness predicts the adoption of an SSRR policy, but that comprehensive welfare states do not necessarily adopt the most expansive policies—at least initially. Instead, comprehensive welfare states adopt less expansive policies and update them to keep pace with their late adopting peers. These findings improve our understanding of identity politics and comparative welfare states, offering a cautious commentary on the potential pitfalls of retreating on social rights. They also bolster previous findings about the implications of policy reinvention. Finally, my approach to studying SSRR policy adoption offers some synthesis for the eclectic strand of research attempting to explain SSRR policy adoption.

This study focuses on Verkhnegostagayevskoye—a fortress in the Krasnodar Territory, dating to the Late Classical and Early Byzantine era. It has a multilevel fortifi cation system constructed with the use of Classical Greek building materials according to the tradition of adobe-and-stone architecture. The fortress, situated far away from major seashores and inland transport arteries and studied by nondestructive topographic methods such as magnetic prospection, was a strategically important refuge. The scale of construction activities indicates signifi cant administrative resources of the rulers. The master-builders were qualifi ed specialists with a good knowledge of local materials, relief, and geological structure of the area. Construction materials differed with regard to position: pumpkin shell was used for outside-facing walls, whereas peripheral defensive structures were made of local sandstone and limestone. Judging by parts of columns including Doric capitals with very flat echini, dating to the Late Hellenistic or Roman period, dismantled remains of public buildings were used for fortifi cation. The production of building materials and the construction works may have been a long-term job for the Bosporans. The fortress was probably part of a political structure involved in the minting of the famous replicas of Roman denarii. These replicas marked one of the oldest routes connecting the Black Sea coast with Central Ciscaucasia via the Kuban drainage. ; Статья представляет результаты комплексного изучения Верхнегостагаевского городища (Краснодарский край), датируемого позднеантичным – ранневизантийским временем. Продемонстрированы возможности привлечения недеструктивных методов (топосъемка и магниторазведка) в исследованиях памятника с многоуровневой системой оборонительных сооружений, возведенных с использованием античных строительных материалов в соответствии с традициями сырцово-каменной боспорской фортификационной архитектуры. В работе приводится информация об особенностях рельефа местности, в которой расположен памятник, являвшийся стратегически важной крепостью-убежищем. Большое внимание уделяется описанию фортификации городища – двух поясов стен, выполнявших оборонительную функцию цитадели, а также монументального сооружения общественного назначения, остатки которого были открыты в 2014–2017 гг. Приводится характеристика датирующего материала, полученного при проведении археологических раскопок. Публикуются хронологические определения. На основе наблюдений, касающихся масштаба работ по возведению крепости, а также их качества, сделан вывод о том, что строители имели представление об особенностях микрорельефа и строительных материалов. Отмечено вторичное использование при строительстве камня из более ранних разрушенных построек. Рассматривается возможность связи Верхнегостагаевского городища с локализуемым многими исследователями в указанном регионе синхронным политическим образованием, которое, вероятно, было причастно к чеканке подражаний римским динариям.

?Simon Wren-Lewis?s chapter in this volume outlines a general theory of austerity. Underpinning it is a desire for policymakers ? as well as the social sciences ? to learn from the experience of austerity over the last decade. In particular, Wren-Lewis makes the point that austerity was, at a global level, unnecessary. The asterisk to this finding relates to particular countries, where austerity at a national level was unavoidable. Ireland?s recent economic history is not only remarkable but also incredibly useful, if policymakers are to learn lessons from the experience of the last decade. The economic journey from ?the poor man of Western Europe? in the late 1980s, through the export-led growth of the 1990s and the credit-led growth of the early 2000s, to the sharp economic contraction in the years after 2007, contains much for other small open economic regions to learn. This is particularly true in the context of a region ? Ireland ? largely dependent on one city of global significance (Dublin), where that region lacks its own monetary policy and recourse to the traditional levers of trade policy to react to economic shocks. Exposed to global economic tailwinds, and later headwinds, and with an inadequate domestic policy response, two key aspects of the local economy ? government spending and housing ? bore much of the brunt of Ireland?s economic contraction. With Ireland once again one of Western Europe?s fastest growing economies, it is tempting for policymakers locally to assume that lessons have been learnt, or perhaps that Ireland was unlucky in its exposure to global shocks. It is the aim of this chapter to show that the poor management of two key domestically-focused sectors contributed separately and jointly to the severity of the economic correction in Ireland. In so doing, it hopes to highlight some key themes for policymakers to take away from Ireland?s experience in austerity and housing. The bulk of this chapter is organised around two key relationships. The first is the contribution that the housing sector made initially to the huge expansion in government spending and thus, by corollary, in austerity. Whereas that section focuses on the effect of housing on austerity, the next section focuses on the reverse: the impact austerity has had on the housing sector in Ireland. The penultimate section draws out the policy implications of the preceding analysis, outlining what principles should act as the foundation for housing policy into the future, after which the chapter concludes.

Background: The precise mechanism linking systemic inflammation with insulin resistance (IR) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains elusive. In the present study, we determined whether the incretin-insulin axis and incretin effect are disrupted in patients with RA and if they are related to the IR found in these patients. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study that encompassed 361 subjects without diabetes, 151 patients with RA, and 210 sex-matched control subjects. Insulin, C-peptide, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP), dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) soluble form, and IR indexes by homeostatic model assessment (HOMA2) were assessed. A multivariable analysis adjusted for IR-related factors was performed. Additionally, ten patients and ten control subjects underwent a 566-kcal meal test so that we could further study the postprandial differences of these molecules between patients and control subjects. Results: Insulin, C-peptide, and HOMA2-IR indexes were higher in patients than in control subjects. This was also the case for GLP-1 (0.49 ± 1.28 vs. 0.71 ± 0.22 ng/ml, p = 0.000) and GIP (0.37 ± 0.40 vs. 1.78 ± 0.51 ng/ml, p = 0.000). These differences remained significant after multivariable adjustment including glucocorticoid intake. Disease Activity Score in 28 joints with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (? coefficient 46, 95% CI 6?87, p = 0.026) and Clinical Disease Activity Index (? coefficient 7.74, 95% CI 1.29?14.20, p = 0.019) were associated with DPP-4 serum levels. GLP-1 positively correlated with ?-cell function (HOMA2 of ?-cell production calculated with C-peptide) in patients but not in control subjects (interaction p = 0.003). The meal test in patients with RA revealed a higher total and late response AUC for glucose response, a later maximal response of C-peptide, and a flatter curve in GIP response. Conclusions: The incretin-insulin axis, both during fasting and postprandial, is impaired in patients with RA. ; This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Health, Subdirección General de Evaluación y Fomento de la Investigación, Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013–2016 Instituto de Salud Carlos III [ISCIII] PI14/00394) and by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (to IFA). The research of MAGG was supported by European Union FEDER funds and by the "Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria" (grants PI06/0024, PS09/00748, PI12/00060, and PI15/00525) of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII; Spanish Health Ministry). The research of MAGG was also partially supported by RETICS Programs RD12/0009 (RIER) and RD12/0009/0013 from the ISCIII (Spanish Health Ministry).

"Bruno Kreisky - Auswirkungen seines politischen Exils auf seine Politik?"Das Ziel der vorgelegten Arbeit lag in der Erforschung von möglichen (späteren) Auswirkungen eines politischen Exils. Für sie wurde die Persönlichkeit Dr. Bruno Kreisky ausgewählt. Er emigrierte 1938 nach Schweden und durfte erst 1946 zurückkehren. Es wird festgehalten, dass der Exilant Kreisky politische Lehren, sowie gesellschaftspolitische Werthaltungen, wirtschafts- und sozialpolitische Grundzüge der schwedischen Demokratie (Sozialdemokratie) übernommen und dann auch teilweise in seine eigene Politikgestaltung eingearbeitet hat. Die wesentlichsten Erkenntnisse haben auch zu einer ideologischen Wandlung geführt. Er hat sich von einem marxistisch orientierten Funktionär zu einem pragmatischen agierenden Demokraten gewandelt. Er legte auch seine Vorbehalte gegen den "Reformismus" ab und erreichte durch zahlreiche Reformen eine gesellschaftspolitische Veränderung in Österreich. Der wirtschaftspolitische Einfluss nach der "Stockholmer Schule" führte zum sogenannten "Austrokeynesianismus". Einflüsse auch bei der Sozialpolitik (Relation zwischen Schulden und Arbeitslose) und in der Außenpolitik. Seine stringente Neutralitätspolitik schloss aber Kooperationen mit den Staatsvertragsmächten, Nachbarstaaten, Entwicklungsländer und "Blockstaaten" nicht aus. Größter außenpolitischer Erfolge gab es bei der Südtirol Problematik (Streitbeilegung durch die Vereinten Nationen und nicht durch den Internationalen Gerichtshof. Seine internationalen Kontakte bewährten sich bei seinen "Fact finding Actions". Nationale Kontakte ermöglichten den historischen Friedensschluss zwischen Katholischer Kirche und der SPÖ. Die Erkenntnisse und Lehren des Exils halfen daher Kreisky, diese später, als Regierungschef in seinem Heimatland umzusetzen.Graz, 24.05.2017 Heinrich Reicher, BA ; Bruno Kreisky - the impact of his political exileHis policy? "The aim of the presented work was to investigate possible (later) effects of political exile. For her the personality was selected Dr. Bruno Kreisky. He emigrated to Sweden in 1938 and was not allowed to return until 1946.It is stated that the exile Kreisky adopted political doctrines, as well as socio-political values, economic and social policy principles of Swedish democracy (social democracy), and then partially incorporated into his own policy-making.The most important findings have also led to an ideological transformation. He has changed from a Marxist-oriented functionary to a pragmatic acting democrat.He also rejected his reservations about "reformism" and achieved numerous changes in the social policy of Austria. The economic influence on the "Stockholm School" led to the so-called "Austrokeynesianism". Influences also in social policy (relation between debt and the unemployed) and in foreign policy. However, his stringent neutrality policy did not exclude cooperation with the state parties, neighboring states, developing countries and "block states". The South Tyrol problematic situation (dispute settlement by the United Nations and not by the International Court of Justice) had the greatest impact on foreign policy.His international contacts have proved successful in his "fact finding actions". National contacts made the historic peace between the Catholic Church and the SPÖ possible.The findings and teachings of the exile therefore helped Kreisky, who later on, as government head in his home country implement.Graz, May 24, 2017 Heinrich Reicher, BAGraz, am 24.05.2017 Heinrich Reicher, BA ; vorgelegt von Heinrich Reicher, BA ; Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung des Verfassers/der Verfasserin ; Zusammenfassungen in Deutsch und Englisch ; Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Masterarbeit, 2017 ; (VLID)1962760

Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. is a troublesome weed, causing economic losses by reducing crop yield, increasing herbicide and tillage costs, and degrading soils due to increased tillage requirements. The major control method for C. arvense is herbicide application, but this poses socio-environmental and herbicide resistance risks. The European Union promotes reduced dependence and sustainable use of herbicides, combined with cultural and mechanical weed control. This thesis assessed the effects of integrated weed control on the population dynamics of C. arvense. For mechanical control, farmers are recommended to act when C. arvense is most sensitive to disturbance, i.e. at the point of minimum belowground weight, coinciding with 7-10 leaves per shoot. However, many farmers believe that this is too late. To estimate the compensation point (CP), defined as the minimum weight of the entire belowground structure of C. arvense, and identify links between initial root weight, planting depth and crop competition, three outdoor pot experiments were performed. For chemical control, farmers are recommended to spray when the majority of C. arvense shoots are 10-20 cm high. To assess the effects of timing and dose of herbicide application (MCPA), and crop competition on growth and development of C. arvense, one outdoor pot experiment and one field experiment were performed. The field experiment also assessed the effects of selective cutting. It was found that CP for C. arvense occurred before 3-leaf stage and that treatment effects were minor (<0.5 leaf stages). Depletion of planted root fragments ceased on average around leaf stage 3-4, indicating that CP occurs at early leaf stages. In the pot experiment, the strongest effect of herbicide treatment was obtained by spraying with the recommended dose in the presence of a crop when the largest C. arvense shoot had 3-4 leaves, corresponding to maximum height 13 cm and median height 6 cm. Crop competition reduced biomass, shoot height and leaf production of C. arvense regardless of herbicide dose. In the field experiment, herbicide treatment at 4-5 leaves or 8-10 leaves gave similar control effects as selective cutting. Herbicide application had a more immediate effect on growth and development of C. arvense while selective cutting depleted the below-ground structures more gradually. The results indicate that mechanical control of C. arvense should be performed earlier than previously recommended, probably before C. arvense reaches 3-4 leaves per shoot. Also early herbicide spraying seems to be as efficient as spraying later in the season.

Defence date: 21 March 2017 ; Examining Board: Lucy Riall, EUI (Supervisor); Pieter Judson, EUI; Nicola Miller, UCL; Larry Wolff, NYU ; In my dissertation I study the ways in which the literary figures of free males on horseback, the Cossacks and the gauchos, were endowed with political meanings in the River Plate and Ukraine of the 1830s and 1840s. My study is located within the field of history of political culture with special attention paid to ideology, its symbolical representations and the ways in which they formed part of broader mythologies. The two cases are not studied for their own sake, but as examples of complex ideological tensions caused by the expansion of state and the transformation of bourgeois society. What brings their stories together is their having a common point of reference in the late Enlightenment/Romantic fantasy of 'nonmodernity' of which the anarchic frontier horseman is just one symbol. The overarching question that I address is how several different actors in their contingent environments employed these symbols to construct the male subject of modern politics (modernity being understood here as a disciplinary myth and a claim-making concept, rather than a tangible historical condition). I offer contextualized interpretations of several texts: verse journals directed at uneducated subalterns of Buenos Aires at the beginning of 1830s; a historical novel by Nikolai Gogol; a celebrated biographical essay by Domingo F. Sarmiento; pulp novels, secret reports, memoirs and propaganda dossiers of Michał Czajkowski, a Polish-Lithuanian politician and military commander based in Istanbul; Polishand Ukrainian-language writings of several minor authors from Austrian Galicia. I show that the Cossack/gaucho myths are just two examples of dream about the free life beyond the limitations imposed by the state and society. In fact, that dream was present in many other environments and took many different guises, US cowboys being just one obvious, though chronologically later, example. Such longings were inextricably linked to the global 'structured transformations' interpreted by the historical actors as the rise of 'modernity,' though clearly the figure of anarchic frontier horseman was not the only conceptual tool used to cope with them. What made the Cossack/gaucho myths so successful was that they were a very specific antithesis of 'modernity,' one that combined 1) the rejection of state and family; 2) the claim to be truly native; 3) and the promise of liberating the repressed masculine instincts.

Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) classrooms is the latest addition to the ongoing quest for transforming pedagogical practices and driving educational development outcomes. Governments and policymakers around the world are embracing the idea of integrating digital learning technologies into educational settings backed by research on the benefits offered like the lifelong development of individual learners. While technological interventions open up unlimited possibilities for accessing information and improving collaboration, thereby engaging learners with more interactive learning activities, a new type of gap between individuals could also take shape as the penetration of technologies and adoption stages advance. Results from past projects of similar nature within educational settings have indicated the possible rise in the gap among individuals based on digital access (i.e., equity in access/ownership of digital learning technologies), digital capability (i.e., equity in digital/information literacy skills and usage) and digital outcome (i.e., equity in knowledge acquisition and progression). Therefore, we have conducted a longitudinal study to investigate a BYOD initiative by a New Zealand School. This study shares rich insights in the context of technology-mediated pedagogies and specifically BYOD classroom, as to how digital divides moved beyond access and skills to ensure inclusive learning outcomes. As a part of the five-year study of the technology-mediated teaching and learning initiative, we have been able to explain some of the unanswered questions around the issue of digital divides in the learning process. We investigated issues pertaining to digital divide in the context of BYOD classrooms to make the following revelations. First, the BYOD classroom initiative did not end up accentuating existing gaps in access to digital tools and technologies, despite earlier studies indicating towards increase in gaps. Second, our analysis strongly indicated the changing nature of digital divides with the presence of gaps in terms of information literacy and critical thinking ability, as the BYOD classroom progressed to mature stage. This was eventually bridged in the later stage, as students slowly adjusted to the classroom curricular structures in the BYOD classroom. Third, learner self-efficacy has been identified as a determinant of learning outcomes. In the earlier phase of ICT adoption, learner self-efficacy is influenced by a combination of information literacy, critical thinking ability, and positive motivation; however subsequently, self-efficacy influences affordances in various aspects of social cognitive abilities related to individual's learning activities affecting how learners engage and apply technology to achieve learning outcomes.

This article is devoted to the motif of Schism in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The House of the Dead. The analysis marks the interaction of The House… with the essays of the 1860s. While depicting the meek image of an old schismatic (Rus. raskolnik), Dostoyevsky exaggerated the seriousness of his crime in order to emphasise his rebellious potential. This echoes Dostoyevsky's controversy with the Westernisers and Slavophiles in his essay Two Camps, where in the advocates of the Schism, he sees aspiration for truth, which he considers a pledge of hope for the future in Russian life.In the depiction of prison runaways (Rus. beguny) in The House…, one can see the possible impact of A. P. Shchapov's article on sectarian runaways: in both works, escape is understood in the first place as a form of popular protest. The need for suffering in The House… is not characteristic of the runaways, but of the old schismatic and another prisoner. Moreover, nothing is said about the purifying function of suffering, which is one of the most important topics of Dostoyevsky's later works.The schismatic and runaways in The House… foreshadow Makar Dolgoruky in Dostoyevsky's The Raw Youth. However, the schismatic's ambivalent image is still far from Makar's ideal image. The paradoxical image of the latter became the basis of a series of characters of Dostoyevsky's later works, in whom "haughtiness" is combined with "meekness". ; Статья посвящена мотиву раскольничества в «Записках из Мертвого дома» Ф. М. Достоевского. В ходе анализа отмечено взаимодействие текста «Записок…» с публицистикой 1860-х гг. При изображении кроткого образа старика-­старообрядца писатель преувеличил серьезность его преступления, чтобы подчеркнуть его бунтарский потенциал. Это перекликается с его дальнейшей полемикой с западниками и славянофилами в статье «Два лагеря теоретиков», где Достоевский отмечает в сторонниках раскола стремление к истине, которое для него является залогом надежды на будущее в русской жизни.В изображении тюремных бегунов в «Записках…» сказывается возможное влияние статьи А. П. Щапова о сектантских бегунах: у обоих бегство понимается в первую очередь как вид народного протеста. Потребность страдания в «Записках…» свойственна не бегунам, а старику и другому арестанту, причем об очищающей функции страдания, ставшей одной из важнейших тем позднего творчества Достоевского, еще ничего не упоминается. Раскольник и бегуны в «Записках…» предвещают Макара Долгорукого в «Подростке». Однако раздвоенный образ старика-раскольника все же еще далек от идеального образа Макара. Парадоксальный образ последнего стал зародышем целого ряда героев дальнейших произведений писателя, в которых «гордыня» уживается с «кротостью».