Kawabata and cinema: the ambivalence of knowledge,medium, and influence

Abstract

Many researchers have considered the involvement of Kawabata Yasunari in cinema and the medium's possible influence on his literature. Such approaches, however, tend to assume a definition of the motion pictures as visuality or montage that then influences Kawabata instead of first considering Kawabata's own conception of cinema, his own film theory. By analyzing his writings on film, including his film criticism, short stories involving cinema, and his involvement in the film A Page of Madness, this paper outlines Kawabata's conception of cinema and argues that he developed a portrait of cinema that posed it as a challenge to identity, perception and knowledge itself. Often associated with the female body, the movies became to Kawabata both an object of fascination and a threat, something ultimately to be controlled through literature and the literary subject. What influenced his literature was then perhaps this perception of cinema as posing an epistemic crisis. It is his ambivalence towards this challenge that can serve as a key for elaborating on Kawabata's complicated location within prewar modernism.     

Insights into Selected Features of Pakistan’s Most Wanted Terrorists

This article attempts to provide insights into selected features of Pakistan’s most wanted terrorists using a dataset of 895 high-profile terrorists provided by the Counter Terrorism Wings of the Criminal Investigation Departments of regional police offices of Pakistan. It identifies spatial patterns of terrorist supply at subnational levels. The educational background of terrorists has also been analyzed. Noteworthy variations are observed in the supply of different types of terrorists across the geographical landscape of Pakistan. Findings also reveal that though terrorists are relatively more educated than the population group they emerge from, there is a higher probability of them emerging in districts with lower socio-economic performance.     

Uneven paths: women and welfare in Italy and Spain

Taking the Spanish case as a departure point, this paper explores a variety of causes for the slowdown in female employment growth in Italy over recent years. The paper analyses the peculiarities of the Italian labour market, with a higher propensity to inactivity than in other countries, as well as the generally low educational levels among the Italian population and the pervasive presence of the black economy. It goes on to examine institutional and political features, such as the organisation of social policies, the political weakness of feminism, the role of the Catholic Church, family networks and the North–South duality (which is particularly extreme with regard to gender equality). The features studied relate to each other in a logic which could account for the divergent paths of the social position of women in Italy and Spain. The article is based in Labour Force and Multiscopo surveys, as well as on interviews with Italian social policy experts.     

Overcoming the Impact of Corruption through Diligence: The Experience of Russian Female Managers

This article proposes that managerial time spent dealing with regulations, in addition to being a reflection of regulatory burden, can also be partially accounted by managerial strategy and propensity to “play by the rules” rather than rely on informal corrupt means to solve business problems in Russia. Using top-manager gender as a proxy for such behaviors, the study finds that firms headed by female managers are more likely to devote more time to dealing with regulations, and to protect their interests in courts. Such firms are less likely to be in a situation where corrupt requests are made, and also minimize corruption impact such as relative size of payments, when actually exposed to corruption pressures. It appears that there are non-spurious gender effect persisting after controlling for multiple firm- and region- level variables. With regards to managerial time spent on dealing with regulations in particular, it appears that the gender effects are reflected in differential responses to corrupt pressures (e.g. spending more time dealing with regulations), but increase in time tax by itself does not appear to limit impact of corruption, except waiting times for operating license, which are shortened. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

德莱赛与菲茨杰拉德作品中的女主人翁形象对比

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Sentencing Female Drug Offenders: Reexamining Racial and Ethnic Disparities

This study analyzes the relationship between race/ethnicity and sentencing outcomes for female drug offenders in Florida. Grounded in the focal concerns perspective, the research examines whether, in the specific case of drug offenders, minority women are treated more harshly than White women. Interaction models are estimated to determine the influence of drug offense type on racial and ethnic sentencing disparities. Differences in sentencing outcomes are also examined following significant policy changes in the state. In general, the findings suggest that minority female drug offenders are disadvantaged at both the incarceration and sentence length decisions. It also appears that perceptions of dangerousness associated with female offenders' race/ethnicity and offense are incorporated into sentencing authorities' patterned responses. That is, the level of disparity between Black, Hispanic, and White females is conditioned by type of drug offense in the interaction models. The changes in sentencing policy also impact the role of race and ethnicity in sentencing decisions. By analyzing drug offenders exclusively, the current study clarifies the role of race in sentencing decisions for females. In contrast to prior research that examined all offense categories together, the current study suggests that for drug offenses, minority females may, in fact, be deemed more dangerous and culpable than White female drug offenders.     

知识经济时代的图书馆及其发展策略

步入21世纪,人类将进入以知识信息的生产、分配和利用为基础的知识经济时代.在知识经济时代里,图书馆作为人类知识的宝库,其职能与作用更显突出与重要.面对知识经济的挑战,当代图书馆应大力实施有效的发展策略,以适应时代发展的潮流.     

对女性暴力犯罪的思考

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浅议油田企业工会女职工工作

随着油田企业改革与重组的不断深化,原有的体制和机制都发生了根本性的变化,原有单一经济结构发展成为多元化经济结构。经济结构与利益格局的变化,要求工会女工组织和干部必须认清形势,审时度势,迎接挑战,全力做好新时期的女职工工作。