本·阿格尔的生态危机理论对我国生态文明建设的启示

本·阿格尔是生态社会主义"红绿交融"阶段的主要代表人物,他认为资本主义的危机已经从生产领域转移到了消费领域,"异化消费"是导致生态危机的主要根源。为此,他提出了解决生态危机的方法:"期望破灭的辩证法"所导致的模式变革,通过分散化、非官僚化以及民粹主义与马克思主义的结合走向生态社会主义。探析本·阿格尔的生态危机理论,有利于当前我国生态文明制度建设探索,对我国走出一条适应中国国情的生态文明建设道路具有重要启示。     

Facial Age Synthesis Using Sparse Partial Least Squares (The Case of Ben Needham)

Automatic facial age progression (AFAP) has been an active area of research in recent years. This is due to its numerous applications which include searching for missing. This study presents a new method of AFAP. Here, we use an active appearance model (AAM) to extract facial features from available images. An aging function is then modelled using sparse partial least squares regression (sPLS). Thereafter, the aging function is used to render new faces at different ages. To test the accuracy of our algorithm, extensive evaluation is conducted using a database of 500 face images with known ages. Furthermore, the algorithm is used to progress Ben Needham's facial image that was taken when he was 21 months old to the ages of 6, 14, and 22 years. The algorithm presented in this study could potentially be used to enhance the search for missing people worldwide.     

‘A lucid stream of everywhereness’ in Ben Okri's Wild (2012): A postmodern perspective

Abstract

The argument begins by claiming that the phrase, ‘a clear lucid stream of everywhereness,’ taken from Ben Okri's The landscapes within, at once encapsulates the postmodern theories of complexity and relativity and evokes a cosmic dimension and a striving for Dasein [authentic human existence] that inform his poetic vision in his latest collection of poetry, Wild (2012). It proceeds to argue for the complexity inherent in the notion ‘postmodernism’; then discusses selected poems in terms of modernity's curious dilemma of ‘just now’ negating the preceding ‘just now’, that the French philosopher Jean-François Leotard talks of, treating recurring motifs of change, transformation and continuing presence. This includes a discussion of the two poems, dedicated to the memory of Okri's late mother and father respectively, that bookend the anthology, contextualising them within postmodernity. The article concludes by re-invoking its own abstract title in ‘Towards the Sublime’ in terms of Leotard's definition, before briefly assessing the import of Okri's latest collection of poems.     

Phenomenological ecology in two occasional poems by Ben Okri

Abstract

This article begins with a brief discussion of the three terms: the poet, ontopoiesis and eco-phenomenology or phenomenological ecology. An explication of its thrust, viz. the significance of sowing/sewing ‘a quilt of harmony’ (Wild 2012: 20), in relation to the broad yet symbiotic theme of cosmic ecology follows. The discussion proceeds by presenting a close critical analysis of Ben Okri's ‘Lines in Potentis’, a poem commissioned by the then Lord Mayor of London in 2002 in commemoration of the bombing of the City of London and which is featured in Okri's most recent anthology of poetry, Wild (2012: 26-27). Both my thrust and my argument are predicated on another occasional poem from Wild, ‘A Wedding Prayer’ (2012: 20-22), which is not analysed in any detail. Axiomatic to the interpretation is the poet's own conception of ‘wild’, cited on the dust cover of the anthology, as ‘an alternative to the familiar, where energy meets freedom, where art meets the elemental, where chaos can be honed’. More precisely, for this London loving Nigerian poet, ‘the wild is our link with the stars…’. This is not aesthetic posturing. As I attempt to show in my reading of the focal poem, it has to do with mystical unrest viewed from an eco-phenomenological ‘enjoyment of literature, of beauty, of the sublime, the elevated, as well as our compassion for the miseries of humankind, [and] generosity towards others.. inspired by the subliminal passions of the human soul’ (Tymieniecka 1996). As the conclusion attempts to show, this projects some of the epistemology of Africans in Africa and the Diaspora. It does this by invoking the contentions of fellow African phenomenologist, Achile Mbembe, in comparison with Tymieniecka's argument that the soul is the ‘soil’ of life's forces and that it is thus the transmitter of life's constructive progress. Such progress is from the primeval logos of life to its annihilation in the anti-logos of man's ‘transnatural telos’ (Tymieniecka 1988: 3).     

参半国不在文单西北辨——论参半在尖竹汶

唐代文献有关参半国的方位,向来是学界争论的焦点.上个世纪,国内外学者对参半国的方位作了许多讨论,但其结论都缺乏说服力.既然<新唐书·真腊传>说"文单西北属国曰参半" 的说法找不到出路,笔者改以<太平御览>引<唐书>云:"参半国……,其国在真腊西南千余里,城临大海,土地下湿"的角度来思考.据泰国的考古发现,尖竹汶帕涅古城的地理环境与<太平御览>有关参半的记载十分一致啊!尖竹汶府帕涅古城正是参半国所在.<郑和航海图>中柬埔寨与暹罗之间有一地名叫占贲港,占贲正是参半的对音.占贲即今之尖竹汶.     

How about me? The scope of personal information under the Australian Privacy Act 1988

A recent Australian Federal Court decision has raised the issue of the scope of information protected under the Australian Privacy Act 1988. The Court failed to adequately address this question, leaving Australians unsure as to whether sections of their information, such as the IP addresses allocated to their mobile devices, will be considered personal information under the Act. The main consideration the Court dealt with was what it means for information to be “about” an individual. In this paper I address two questions: a) how is information determined to be “about” an individual under the Act; and b) how should this determination be made in the future? I conclude that currently available guidance from the courts, the Australian Information Commissioner and scholarly commentary are inadequate to enable individuals, organisations and agencies to consistently make such determinations. Accordingly I draw on approaches to this question taken in Canada, New Zealand, the European Union and the United Kingdom to argue that the definition should be broadly interpreted in a technologically-aware manner. This will help to ensure that personal information is more comprehensively protected under the Privacy Act.     

The Transformation of Labor Party Immigration Policy, 1901–1945

ABSTRACT

The Commonwealth Labor government’s introduction of a program of mass immigration after the Second World War was a pivotal moment in the nation’s history. The program itself and the experiences of those who settled in Australia have been studied closely by historians and social scientists. Less attention has been given to the fact that the postwar policy represented a transformation of Labor’s traditional attitude to immigration. Since its foundation in the 1890s, the Australian Labor Party had been suspicious of immigration and opposed to programs of assisted immigration on the basis that migrant labour threatened the wages and conditions of Australian workers. This article traces Labor’s attitudes to migration before the Second World War and shows how economic and security exigencies compelled the party to repudiate its decades-long opposition to assisted immigration. The article suggests that the reason that the postwar immigration program does not receive greater prominence in histories of the Labor Party is because the policy and its chief architect, Arthur Calwell, are diminished by their association with the White Australia policy.     

Santam and Nando's: An advertising narrative of local humour,local conflict,local co-branding

ABSTRACT

In 2011 South African short term insurer Santam (Santam Ltd.) put in place an advertising initiative that illustrates the power of a humorous brand narrative effected in conjunction with another brand. In this case, it is the South African arm of Nando's (Nando's Chickenland Ltd.), a fast food restaurant chain specialising in Portuguese-themed chicken dishes that rely heavily on peri-peri spices. The two well-known brands aired a series of five commercials on television and the Internet, trading good-humoured jibes centred around the value proposition of each company's offering. The resultant rise in social media viewership and consumer engagement was notable and illustrates the efficacy of a cobranded narrative run over numerous media platforms; in this case radio, television, social media, print and the Internet.