Furnishing the salon: symbolic ethnicity and performative practices in Moroccan‐Dutch domestic interiors

Confronted with traditional‐looking Moroccan furniture in a house where Moroccan migrants or their descendants live, one may interpret this furniture as an ethnic symbol, underlining the Moroccan, North African or Arabic background of the owners. Analysing interviews and discussions on the Internet, this article shows that the furniture has many other significances as well. It not only functions as an ethnic symbol, but also signals affluence and fashionability, and it appeals in different, often emotional ways to the senses of those who experience the furniture by sitting on it while eating, drinking and talking. Apparently the traditional‐looking Moroccan furniture has the capacity to transport people to other worlds. For those who spent their childhood in Morocco, these are often worlds that are part of their embodied memory, while for those who grew up outside Morocco, these are more often worlds that are primarily imagined and appropriated through aesthetic images in glossy magazines and coffee‐table books. In both cases however, traditional‐looking Moroccan furniture appear to respond to an emotional longing for the (re‐)creation of experiences of conviviality. Especially in interviews with first‐generation Moroccan migrants, this emotional longing resonates more strongly than the wish to make a statement about ethnic belonging.     

Material values: A study of some antecedents and consequences

Two studies were conducted to analyze some antecedents and consequences of holding material values among college students from Mexico. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires measuring social comparison orientation, autonomy support, materialism, life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, and job preferences. Results showed that social comparison was a robust predictor of materialism in both studies. Materialism was related to lower levels of positive affect and life satisfaction and to higher levels of negative affect. Materialism was also related to a preference for jobs that pay more money at the expense of working longer hours or doing more routine tasks. The implications of the results were discussed.     

Differences in internal control weaknesses among varying municipal election policies

In a time when regulators and constituents are growing increasingly concerned with municipal fraud, abuse, waste and inefficiencies, developing a well-designed, effective internal control system is key for municipalities to curb these issues. In this study, the relationship between municipal elections and internal control weaknesses is examined. As elections have been shown to improve public officials’ performance via accountability, appropriate use of elections is expected to have a pivotal effect on a municipality, ultimately impacting the operating effectiveness of the internal control system. Two election variables – election of the Finance official and use of term limits for City Council and the mayor – are evaluated to determine if a relationship with the prevalence of internal control weaknesses reported exists. The contribution of this study is the finding that both the use of term limits and election of the Finance official are associated with fewer instances of internal control weaknesses, implying that these election policies have a meaningful effect on governance quality, impacting the effectiveness of internal controls.     

价值链视角下应急物资保障管理机制研究

应急物资保障管理是突发公共事件中实施救助处置的重要支撑和保障,直接影响紧急救援的反应速度和应急成效。然而,应急物资保障管理是一体化、多维度的运行系统,某一环节的缺失或效力不足都会影响到整个体系的运行成效。基于价值链理论视角,结合疫情防控中应急物资保障实践,对应急物资保障管理机制进行深入探究。从决策层、管理层和运行层3个维度建立应急物资保障管理价值链模型,深度剖析我国应急物资管理在协同保障过程中各环节的价值作用。研究发现,外部要素主导指挥的决策驱动系统、辅助要素强力支撑的决策调控系统以及基本要素相互调适的决策核心系统,共同构成完整的应急物资保障管理价值链及决策机制。在此基础上给出相应政策建议,以期为提升应急物资援助效力、完善国家应急物资保障体系提供借鉴。     

周期性有耗介质结构的电磁散射研究

本文介绍一种新的涂层隐身方法:周期涂覆方法,它与均匀涂覆方法相比,能够在不增加散射体厚度的情况下,使用现有单层有耗材料,使目标的隐身特性得以较大改善。本文运用快速傅氏变换和迭代法对一些具体例子进行了计算,并与实验结果进行了比较。     

Connectedness and Worthiness for the Embedded Self: A Material Culture Perspective

This article is based on a study of intergenerational transfers of contaminated objects, colloquially referred to as “heirlooms.” Motivations and processes are described within the central dialectic of an individual actor seeking positive affect through the pursuit of connectedness and worthiness and in the context of the larger social order. Object symbolism is examined from the perspectives of the individual actor, society, and culture. The family is conceptualized as a special case of the “other.” A theoretical framework is developed that draws extensively on Walter Goldschmidt’s notion of “The Culturally Embedded Self” in The Human Career: The Self in a Symbolic World (1990) and on Sidney Levy’s work as presented in Brands, Consumers, Symbols, and Research (1999). This framework is referred to with the acronym MOSES for Motivations, Object Symbolism, and the Embedded Self.     

Growth in global materials use, GDP and population during the 20th century

The growing industrial metabolism is a major driver of global environmental change. We present an assessment of the global use of materials since the beginning of the 20th century based on the conceptual and methodological principles of material flow accounting (MFA). On the grounds of published statistical data, data compilations and estimation procedures for material flows not covered by international statistical sources, we compiled a quantitative estimate of annual global extraction of biomass, fossil energy carriers, metal ores, industrial minerals and construction minerals for the period 1900 to 2005. This period covers important phases of global industrialisation and economic growth. The paper analyses the observed changes in the overall size and composition of global material flows in relation to the global economy, population growth and primary energy consumption. We show that during the last century, global materials use increased 8-fold. Humanity currently uses almost 60 billion tons (Gt) of materials per year. In particular, the period after WWII was characterized by rapid physical growth, driven by both population and economic growth. Within this period there was a shift from the dominance of renewable biomass towards mineral materials. Materials use increased at a slower pace than the global economy, but faster than world population. As a consequence, material intensity (i.e. the amount of materials required per unit of GDP) declined, while materials use per capita doubled from 4.6 to 10.3 t/cap/yr. The main material groups show different trajectories. While biomass use hardly keeps up with population growth, the mineral fractions grow at a rapid pace. We show that increases in material productivity are mostly due to the slow growth of biomass use, while they are much less pronounced for the mineral fractions. So far there is no evidence that growth of global materials use is slowing down or might eventually decline and our results indicate that an increase in material productivity is a general feature of economic development.     

‘Presence’ and ‘absence’ in themed heritage

We take the case of an industrial museum portraying the Victorian period and investigate the commercial staging of history. We argue that this re-enchants the past through the culmination of a series of factors, including: ‘the spatial and temporal organization of material history’; ‘the material ‘re’-production of history’ and; the ‘politics of absence’. We posit that absence is not simply a case of what is not there. Rather, absence can be experienced, it can be felt and it can be evoked through the medium of heritage. Absence also has agency and can be political in that it can conceal or render invisible, alternative, subaltern or excluded narratives to those of the master discourse. This in turn has consequences for how the past is experienced and understood.     

应用价值工程 推进冲压材料国产化

运用价值工程的原理及方法,分析零件对钢材的性能要求,按材料的性能指标选择合适的加工零件;结合工艺攻关、质量改进,降低材料的成本.推进冲压材料国产化.     

新疆生物柴油产业发展研究

新疆生物柴油产业发展虽然具有诸多有利条件：资源禀赋较好、能源农业（文冠果）的研发有一定的基础、生物柴油的研发呈现良好局面、生物柴油产业获得新疆相关方面的重视,但在发展过程中还存在已立项项目大都没有实质性展开、实际投产的项目遭到失败、拟开展的项目推进困难等诸多问题,使人们对新疆生物柴油产业发展的期望与现实形成巨大反差。究其原因：一是缺乏能源农业的切实支持;二是产学研结合不紧密,科研成果转化能力不强;三是对棉籽废油作为重要原料的夸大;四是对地沟油作为生物柴油原料的误判;五是生物柴油供应链协调乏力。因此,本文认为新疆生物柴油产业未来应合理布局并谨慎推进。