Conflict Assessment in Energy Infrastructure Siting: Prospects for Consensus Building in the Northern Pass Transmission Line Project

As energy demand grows rapidly worldwide, power line infrastructure will continue to be a major development planning challenge. This study considers the environmental conflict that has arisen over a transnational transmission line project between Canada and the United States. A qualitative conflict assessment is presented to define the parameters for consensus that could prevent protracted litigation between stakeholders. Proactively designing a process to encourage consensus building during the early development phase remains the most critical determinant of compromise. In this article, we argue that in this case a consensus‐building effort could be feasible if certain design requirements were met, including gaining the participation of key stakeholders, paying attention to trust, and focusing on the issues specific to this transmission line rather than to a larger energy discussion. The research shows that despite potential pitfalls, reaching more widely accepted and ecologically sensitive solutions to environmental conflicts through participatory and collaborative approaches is possible and worth the effort.     

Filippo Boni,Sino-Pakistani Relations: Politics,Military and Regional Dynamics

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

A Pilot Study Comparing Postmortem and Antemortem CT for the Identification of Unknowns: Could a Forensic Pathologist Do It?

Forensic pathologists are commonly tasked with identifying human remains. Although DNA analysis remains the gold standard in identification, time and cost make it particularly prohibitive. Radiological examination, more specifically analog imaging, is more cost-effective and has been widely used in the medical examiner setting as a means of identification. In the United States, CT imaging is a fairly new imaging modality in the forensic setting, but in more recent years, offices are acquiring CT scans or collaborating with local hospitals to utilize the technology. To broaden the spectrum of potential identifying characteristics, we collected 20 cases with antemortem and postmortem CT images. The results were qualitatively assessed by a forensic pathologist and a nonmedically trained intern, and all cases were correctly identified. This study demonstrates that identification of human remains using visual comparison could be performed with ease by a forensic pathologist with limited CT experience.     

An analysis of a prehistoric homicide from northern California

An analysis was performed on a prehistoric human vertebral column recovered during an archaeological excavation in the Sierra of northern California. Fifteen burials believed to represent the Maidu culture of 400 to 700 years ago were recovered. The vertebral column from one of the individuals is particularly significant because of three embedded projectile points. The analysis attempts to recreate the trajectory of each point; to determine the possible extent of damage done by each with emphasis upon which could have been fatal; and by employing available ethnographic and archaeological data, to suggest the possible circumstances surrounding the violent event. The conclusion suggests that death may have resulted from any of the three wounds and was probably the result of an intratribal dispute.     

Perception of corruption by traffic police and taxi drivers in Bukavu DR Congo: the limits of moral analysis

ABSTRACT

This study explores how traffic police, taxi drivers and anticorruption agencies each perceive corruption in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thirteen traffic police officers were interviewed, three focus groups of four to five taxi drivers were conducted, and two members of anti-corruption agencies were interviewed. Findings suggest that while western NGOs and anti-corruption agencies consider corruption immoral and a major barrier to development, both the traffic police and taxi drivers perceive it as a normal expression of solidarity and a sine qua non condition for survival. For them, corruption is a system that provides job security, greater access to food, accommodation, healthcare and education in the dysfunctional and failed Congolese State. This suggests that framing corruption in the transport sector of Bukavu solely as a moral issue and seeking to eliminate it without establishing a new system that effectively meets the needs of the population may result in more serious social problems than the corruption itself.     

An analytical and comparative study of male and female images in Qajar dynasty paintings during the reign of Fath-Ali Shah (1797–1834)

Qajar dynasty painting began in the reign of Fath-Ali Shah (1797–1834) and ended with the death of Naser al-Din Shah (1831–1896). In this period, art was influenced by the government; new rules assigned to art as to sociopolitical conditions and figurative paintings were exploited as a tool in governing the country. In the paintings ascribed to Fath-Ali Shah's period, women also appear alongside the images of men who were principally historical, political and religious key figures of their own time. The significant status of women was the most important factor in this. These images were not merely limited to eminent characters as musicians, dancers, servants, acrobats images were drawn as delicately and magnificently as male images and even enjoyed better radiance, vivacity, pep, variety and tonality than them. Male images were elegantly drawn in formal costumes, often with the same composition. The similarities and differences of male and female images in Qajar paintings can be assessed according to the criteria of composition, colour, positioning, and the number of figures, assimilation, the intricacies and the degree of characterization. This study also stresses the characteristics of men's and women's images in the paintings.