Stevie Smith and Her Dancing Girls

Abstract

What constitutes a good Stevie Smith poem? The question bothered the author herself and it can bedevil the reader too, with evaluative quandaries often compounding interpretative ones. Smith's uncertainty about the relative merits of her poems informed publication decisions, and this in turn has resulted in certain compositions being overlooked in critical assessments of her achievement. This article takes as a test-case example a hitherto largely neglected poem, ‘The Ballet of the Twelve Dancing Princesses’, and through sustained close reading makes the case that the poem, unpublished in Smith's lifetime, may be one of her finest pieces. Through an analysis of the poem's cultural and historical context, its manifold ambiguities, its imagery and atmosphere, its coded engagement with the fabular and the strange effects achieved through rhythm and rhyme, the poem is shown to offer a complex, psychologically suggestive response to issues which exercise Smith in many of her poems, including the tension between innocence and knowledge, between the child and the adult, between the capricious and the calculated, and between the ‘frivolous’ and the ‘ominous’. The difficulty of determining how ironically and how seriously Smith engages with some of the latent preoccupations of her poem, such as the power of sorcery and the supernatural, the growth of sexual awareness in young girls and (possibly) the approach of the Second World War, is taken as symptomatic of the tendency of Smith's poems to at once invite and defy exegesis. Taken together, these various concerns and characteristics provide the grounds for considering one of Smith's overlooked poems as one of her most effective. Yet the conclusion seeks to complicate this assessment by cross-questioning the criteria by which Smith's ‘success’ as a poet may be determined.     

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Carbon Flows between the EU and Eastern Europe: Baselines, Scenarios and Policy Options

We develop baseline data and an analytical framework for understanding the role that flows of carbon between the Former Soviet Union/Commonwealth of Independent States (FSU/CIS) and the European Union (EU) may have in enabling the EU to meet major reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the medium-term future. The paper sets out an analysis of contemporary flows of carbon between the EU, EU Candidate Countries and the FSU/CIS, and outlines two scenarios for investigating how flows may develop in the future under different assumptions about climate and energy policy. The 'trading' scenario assumes unconstrained trade in tangible (mainly gas) and intangible (tradable emissions permits) flows of carbon from the FSU/CIS to the EU. The 'autonomy' scenario assumes limits to carbon flows and a subsequent requirement for high levels of domestic de-carbonisation in the EU (e.g. energy efficiency and indigenous energy sources). We conclude that neither scenario is feasible or desirable, but that even a combined approach, which sees trade complemented by tough domestic action, still requires far greater efforts than are currently planned.     

Economics of Polluter Pays Principles for Mitigating Social Costs of Electricity: A Search for an Optimal Liability Share

To deal with externalities associated with electricity generation, under the Polluter Pays Principles (PPP), companies can be made to pay the compliance costs and then pass these costs incurred on to the end-users by charging a higher price per kWh of electricity used. However, there is a need for an optimal liability scheme, in terms of economic efficiency, equity and ethics in a world of favor seeking politics. With implicit weighting of welfare gains and losses to society, we developed supply-demand models. By incorporating plausible parameter values into the models, the optimal liability shares fell to less 100 percent (full) liability. However, the model is very sensitive to changes in the parameter values.     

贯彻落实科学发展观推进党校建设与发展

2007年,是中国人民全面落实科学发展观、加快构建社会主义和谐社会的重要一年。党校作为市委的一个重要部门,干部教育培训的主渠道、主阵地,理应在贯彻落实科学发展观中走在前头、作出表率。当前,党校广大教职工要以科学发展观为统领,深入学习领会、贯彻落实《条例》精神,认真分析党校工作面临的新形势新任务,深入思考近年来党校发展中存在的问题,进一步明确党校的工作重点和主要措施,努力实现干部教育培训工作新突破,积极推进新时期党校的建设与发展。     

浅议学校人力资源管理的激励机制

人力资源激励是一门艺术。学校人力资源的个体差异性、需要差别性、价值取向不同性,决定了激励艺术性。学校人力资源激励应与贡献挂钩、与需要联系、与个性符合、与发展一致,应以灵活性的激励手段、多样化的激励方法、弹性化的激励方式、具体化的激励措施,达到高效化的激励效果。     

An Evaluation of Pre-Kyoto Differentiation Proposals for National Greenhouse Gas Abatement Targets

Although the Kyoto Protocol has set a precedent for future climate negotiations, particularly with respect to differentiation of targets between countries, the current approach is likely to be insufficient as a foundation for future targets. A more systematic approach is deemed necessary to meet the challenges of negotiating new targets after 2012 as well as involving the USA and perhaps developing countries. We argue that better negotiation tools can be helpful in this regard. We thus present an overview of more systematic differentiation methods for national greenhouse gas reduction targets. We draw from the proposals that were submitted in the climate negotiations from 1995 to 1997 leading up to the Kyoto Protocol, the EU's Triptique approach for internal differentiation of targets, and three proposals discussed in the literature on fairness principles. The most promising and helpful proposals for future negotiations are given particular attention: the second proposal by Japan, the French proposal, the Norwegian proposal, the Brazilian proposal, and Triptique. A numerical illustration of the former three together with the Sovereignty, Egalitarian, and Ability to Pay fairness principles is provided. Using resemblance to the Kyoto Protocol to measure political feasibility, we find that the proposals rank in the order; (1) the second Japanese; (2) the French; (3) the Norwegian; (4) the Sovereignty; (5) the Ability to Pay; and (6) the Egalitarian, the last being particularly infeasible.     

中学生网络成瘾与成就动机相互关系的探讨

目的：探讨中学生网络成瘾程度与成就动机的特点和相互关系，为干预中学生网络成瘾提供依据。方法：采用青少年网络行为调查问卷和成就动机量表对344名中学生进行测验，然后利用统计软件SPSS13．0对所收集的数据进行分析。结果：1）性别对网络成瘾程度的主效应显著，男性网络成瘾程度高于女性；性别对成就动机的主效应显著，男性的成就动机水平高于女性；2）是否独生对成就动机的主效应显著，独生被试的成就动机水平高于非独生被试。3）网络成瘾程度和成就动机之间存在显著负相关；4）通过回归分析发现，成就动机的学习、控制2个因素对网络成瘾程度有显著的预测作用。结论：中学生的网络成瘾程度与成就动机之间存在一定的相互关系，可以通过成就动机水平预测其网络成瘾程度。     

Baselines for Clean Development Mechanism Projects: The Marrakesh Accords and Beyond

The Marrakesh Accords at the seventh meeting of Conference of Parties (COP-7) finally set the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) wheel moving by establishing a CDM Board and providing some broad guidelines on baselines for the CDM projects. The broad guidelines provide flexibility to develop baselines, which gives rise to prospect of more than one baseline for a project. This has been illustrated with a case study of Zafarana, a wind farm power project. seven possible baselines emerge when applying the broad guidelines included in the Accords indicating the need for detailed guidelines. In the current scenario, a project developer may have to work-out the best course of action considering criteria such as level of complexity and available expertise to develop the baseline, availability of data, expected return etc.