Academic literature on the topic 'Barbie Savior'

How is volunteer tourism practice portrayed and policed in an online setting? First, this article describes three humanitarian-themed campaigns—Radi-Aid on YouTube, Humanitarians of Tinder on Tumblr, and Barbie Savior on Instagram—to consider the ways edgy humor might be employed to rebuke and resolve problematic humanitarian practices as well as representations of the African “other” and the humanitarian self. Second, through an inspection of repeated semi-structured interviews and visual content uploaded to Facebook, this article shows how a group of UK-based international volunteers took measures to avoid “stereotypical” volunteer photography (embracing children, selfies) when communicating their experiences in Kenya to a public audience, determined to avoid the scrutiny of “in the know” audience members. We consider these counter-narratives in light of Jane’s concept of “digilantism,” an emerging style of networked response to injustice.

This article studies photographic practices in ‘voluntourism’ alongside the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The advent and widespread use of social media platforms today complicates the ethics of photographic practices, as the ease of sharing photographs accentuates and stirs up the unequal relations between the photographer and the photographed. From a conceptual standpoint, the moral and altruistic underpinnings of volunteer work supposedly differentiate voluntourists from their counterparts in mainstream tourism, who are often assumed to be engaged in commoditized and leisure-based activities. However, existing research suggests that voluntourists do participate in conventionally touristic practices, as the pervasiveness of photography illustrates. Using interviews with 16 voluntourists, this article examines the negotiations behind photo-taking and photo-posting in voluntourism. We also consider the case of Barbie Savior, a satirical Instagram account featuring ‘the doll that saved Africa’. The emergence of such online media articles that critique and make fun of voluntourists’ depiction of their Third World experience therefore becomes a self-governing mechanism for how one should behave in encountering the Third World, even as voluntourism itself continues to be seen as a viable way of caring for the Third World.

Abstract Pragmatics aims to give an overview of the politeness principles, to describe and to explain the types and functions of Face Threatening Act (FTA) and Face Saving Act (FSA) use in relation with politeness in the conversation by the characters in Barbie as The Princess and The Pauper movie. The oral utterances are analyzed and interpreted descriptively based on Brown and Levinson’s Face Threatening Acts theory and George Yule’s theory. This research employs descriptive qualitative method and supported by percentage calculation. To collect the data, the researchers use some steps; collecting the conversation by watching it and listening the conversations carefully, use fields note. Finally, the result of the research shows there are two kinds of FTA and FSA that used by the characters, negative FTA and positive FTA and FSA. In Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper movie, the data shows the using of FTA talked by Princess Anneliese is 3,6% and by Preminger is 5% . It shows that Preminger more dominants in using FTA than Princess Anneliese. About FSA, Princess Anneliese is 3,6% and Preminger is 6,8%. Preminger likes to talk in FSA ways and Princess Anneliese as same as in using FTA and FSA.Keywords: Politeness, Face Threatening Act, Face Saving Act, Barbie Movie.

Joda- Barbil region of the Keonjhar District, Odisha is blessed with vast natural resources especially, high-grade iron and manganese ore deposits, due to which it has occupied a vital position in the mineral map of India. Mining of minerals resources is an important commercial activity indispensable for the economic development of a nation. Opencast iron ore mining and other ancillary activities influence the adjoining ecology and environment. Numbers of environmental issues are arising due to unscientific widespread opencast mining activities and have a direct impact on other natural resources like land, water, soil, air, flora and fauna. Ambient air gets severely affected due to the addition of fugitive dust and other pollutants directly or indirectly at every stage of mining activity starting from exploration, exploitation and mineral beneficiation. All forms of pollutants reduce the ambient air quality and enhance the health risk of the people living nearby villages. Increasing air pollution levels in the mining region can have immediate effects on the health of indigenous community and also on flora. A Kriging interpolation method has been applied to monitor the ambient air quality in opencast iron ore mining region of Keonjhar district. This practice is very useful for sustainable and eco-friendly mining as it is cost-effective and time-saving techniques and can interpret the spatial dispersion of pollution levels in un-sampled regions. Kriging interpolation analysis revealed that the ambient air quality level during the year 2005 to 2008 were high around Barbil, Thakurani and Noamundi. Keywords: Ambient Air Pollutants, Opencast Mining, Kriging Interpolation, Keonjhar District

Cette recherche a pour but de décrire les éléments intertextuels sous forme: (1) d’allusion, (2) d’adaptation, (3) d’indication, et (4) de citation dans les trois contes de Bruno de la Salle qui font appel à ceux de Charles Perrault. Cette étude a utilisé la théorie d’intertextualité de Julia Kristeva sur le plan du modèle d’analyse micro-intertextuel.Les objets matériels de cette étude sont trois contes de Bruno de la Salle, à savoir Le Prince Tout Bleui, Le Chat Qui Vient d’On Ne Sait Où, Petit Caillou et Brin de Laine qui ont été écrites en 1995 dans l’anthologie Le Conteur Amoureux, et trois autres contes de Charles Perrault intitulés La Barbe Bleue, Le Maître Chat ou Le Chat Botté, Le Petit Poucet paru en 1697 dans l’anthologie Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé.Cette recherche se sert de la méthode comparative-qualitative. Quant à la technique d’analyse utilisée dans cette recherche est celle de la comparaison intertextuelle.Les résultats de cette recherche sont (1) la relation intertextuelle entre Le Prince Tout Bleui et La Barbe Bleue est marquée par la présence d’éléments intertextuels sous forme de 1 allusion, 2 adaptations, 6 indications, et 2 citations; (2) la relation intertextuelle entre Le Chat Qui Vient d’On Ne Sait Où et Le Maître Chat ou Le Chat Botté est marquée par la présence d’éléments intertextuels sous forme de 2 allusions, 2 adaptations, 3 indications, et 1 citation; et (3) la relation intertextuelle entre Petit Caillou et Brin de Laine et Le Petit Poucet est marquée par la présence d’éléments intertextuels sous forme de 1 allusion, 2 adaptations, 3 indications, et 2 citations.Cette étude est délimitée sur les éléments textuels, notamment sous forme d’allusion, d’adaptation, d’indication, et de citation qui se trouvent dans trois contes de Bruno de la Salle en les reliant à ceux de Charles Perrault. Basée sur cette recherche, le chercheur espère que les lecteurs pouvaient appliquer la théorie de l’intertextualité initiée par Julia Kristeva en utilisant d’autres modèles d’analyses intertextuels sur d’autres genres littérair

Cet article présente les aspects de la recherche menée par des enseignants d’art de la municipalité de Camaçari, Bahia, dans le cadre de la maîtrise, et révèle les préoccupations qui ont émergé au cours de ce processus, à savoir: Comment la relation de plaisir et de déplaisir dans l'enseignement peut-elle affecter le travail quotidien de l'éducateur? Quelles dimensions de la subjectivité de l'éducateur sont liées à l'acte d'éduquer? Ainsi, l'objectif de ce travail est d'étudier comment la relation de plaisir et de déplaisir de l’enseignants d’art, ainsi que leurs histoires de vie en formation, peuvent résonner dans la vie quotidienne de l'école. Certains théoriciens étaient invités à cette discussion: Delory-Momberger, Barbier, Souza, Galvão, entre autres. La présente étude a un caractère qualitatif et la lumière de la recherche biographique est développée, car elle permet l'expérience de lui-même, revisitant ses origines, le sujet peut ressentir ses relations avec lui-même, avec l'autre et avec le monde. Ainsi, il cherche à connaître la réalité, sans lui imposer aucune interposition de valeurs, motivée par la conviction selon laquelle l’espace académique se concrétise comme le lieu privilégié du débat d’idées, exempt de préjugés et de prosélytisme, vers une formation professionnelle engagée avec une discussion large et réflexive sur l'éducation contemporaine.

Cette recherche a pour but de décrire les éléments intertextuels sous forme: (1) d’allusion, (2) d’adaptation, (3) d’indication, et (4) de citation dans les trois contes de Bruno de la Salle qui font appel à ceux de Charles Perrault. Cette étude a utilisé la théorie d’intertextualité de Julia Kristeva sur le plan du modèle d’analyse micro-intertextuel. Les objets matériels de cette étude sont trois contes de Bruno de la Salle, à savoir Le Prince Tout Bleui, Le Chat Qui Vient d’On Ne Sait Où, Petit Caillou et Brin de Laine qui ont été écrites en 1995 dans l’anthologie Le Conteur Amoureux, et trois autres contes de Charles Perrault intitulés La Barbe Bleue, Le Maître Chat ou Le Chat Botté, Le Petit Poucet paru en 1697 dans l’anthologie Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé. Cette recherche se sert de la méthode comparative-qualitative. Quant à la technique d’analyse utilisée dans cette recherche est celle de la comparaison intertextuelle. Les résultats de cette recherche sont (1) la relation intertextuelle entre Le Prince Tout Bleui et La Barbe Bleue est marquée par la présence d’éléments intertextuels sous forme de 1 allusion, 2 adaptations, 6 indications, et 2 citations; (2) la relation intertextuelle entre Le Chat Qui Vient d’On Ne Sait Où et Le Maître Chat ou Le Chat Botté est marquée par la présence d’éléments intertextuels sous forme de 2 allusions, 2 adaptations, 3 indications, et 1 citation; et (3) la relation intertextuelle entre Petit Caillou et Brin de Laine et Le Petit Poucet est marquée par la présence d’éléments intertextuels sous forme de 1 allusion, 2 adaptations, 3 indications, et 2 citations. Cette étude est délimitée sur les éléments textuels, notamment sous forme d’allusion, d’adaptation, d’indication, et de citation qui se trouvent dans trois contes de Bruno de la Salle en les reliant à ceux de Charles Perrault. Basée sur cette recherche, le chercheur espère que les lecteurs pouvaient appliquer la théorie de l’intertextualité initiée par Julia Kristeva en utilisant d’autres modèles d’analyses intertextuels sur d’autres genres littéraires tels que le roman, la poésie, et le théâtre.

(francuski) Dans l'?glise de Ravanica les faces frontales des deux pilastres flanquant l'abside centrale et marquant la limite de la proth?se, respectivement du diaconicon, accueillent deux personnages v?t?rotestamentaires, chacun s?par? de la sc?ne de la Communion des ap?tres par la figure d'un archipr?tre. Sur le pilastre nord se tient Melchis?dek, et sur celui situ? au sud, un homme aux cheveux courts et ? la barbe arrondie, v?tu d'un chiton et d'un hymation, qui tient en mains un objet de forme ronde orn? d'une repr?sentation en buste de la Vierge ? l'Enfant, et ? c?t? duquel subsistent les traces d'une inscription (fig. 1)Selon l'Ancien Testament et l'Ep?tre aux H?breux, le juste Melchis?dek ?tait le sacrificateur du Dieu Tr?s-Haut et sup?rieur aux sacrificateurs l?vitiques. C'est lui qui offre en sacrifice le pain et le vin, et plus tard le Christ lui-m?me est devenu "sacrificateur pour toujours, selon l'ordre de Melchis?dek". Sur le pilastre sud, les restes d'inscription o? l'on reconna?t le d?but d'un nom montre que le personnage ici repr?sent? pourrait ?tre le juste Betsaleel qui est mentionn? ? plusieurs reprises dans l'Exode en tant que fils d'Uri de la tribu de Juda etque Dieu a choisi en lui accordant la sagesse, l'intelligence et le savoir pour toutes sortes d'ouvrages afin qu'il p?t construire l'Arche du t?moignage.Ce personnage biblique n'est pas c?l?br? par le Calendrier de l'Eglise constan-tinopolitaine et, pour autant qu'on le sache, n'est repr?sent? que dans quatre manuscrits: la Sacra parallela (Paris gr. 923), du IX?me si?cle; le psaultier n? 61 du monast?re athonite du Pantocrator, du IX?me si?cle; l'ochtateuque de la Biblioth?que du Vatican gr. 747, du Xl?me si?cle; et l'ochtateuque d'Istanbul Seraglio cod. 8, du Xll?me si?cle, o? il appara?t figur? de diff?rentes fa?ons. Dans le manuscrit la Sacra parallela il a les traits d'un vieillard, dans le psaultier d'un homme d'?ge moyen ? la barbe arrondie et aux cheveux longs, alors que dans les ochtateuques il porte les cheveux courts, lisses et drus, avec la raie sur le c?t?. De toute ?vidence, les peintres avaient toute libert? lors de la repr?sentation de ce juste, et il importe donc, en premier lieu, de rechercher les raisons de la pr?sence ici de ce saint si rarement figur?. En tant que constructeur du Tabernacle, sa place dans le sanctuaire d'une ?glise est tout ? fait justifi?e, puisque on rencontre aussi des repr?sentations du Tabernacle dans le narthex, et plus souvent encore dans l'espace du sanctuaire. Dans ce second espace la pr?sence du Tabernacle est notamment justifi?e par les diff?rents niveaux de sa symbolique puisque les plus anciennes interpr?tations et commentaires le per?oivent comme une pr?figuration du Tabernacle c?leste, comme le sanctuaire dans lequel le Christ se sacrifie et proc?de au sacrifice, puis il est ?galement devenu le symbole de la Vierge, alors que plus tard sont apparues des interpr?tations qui l'ont rattach? au contexte liturgique. Betsaleel n'a pas fait l'objet d'une attention particuli?re de la part de la science et l'on ne peut qu'indiquer la direction dans laquelle est all?e la pens?e th?ologique ? son sujet. A en juger par une observation sommaire des textes, et nonobstant, son ?vocation par les textes philosophiques pr?coces, il n'est que tr?s rarement mentionn? (Philon d'Alexandrie, premi?re moiti? du 1er si?cle, Orig?ne, vers 185-254, Cyrille de J?rusalem, vers 315-386, Basile le Grand, vers 330-379, Th?odoret de Cyr, vers 393 vers 458, Cosmas Indicopleust?s, milieu du Vl?me si?cle). Tous ces ?crits le montrent comme un mod?le d'artisan auquel Dieu, conform?ment au texte biblique de l'Exode, a donn? la sagesse, l'intelligence, le savoir pour toutes sortes d'ouvrages et qu'il a d?sign? pour ?tre le constructeur du Tabernacle, en soulignant toujours le fait que Dieu est celui dont viennent toutes ces vertus. Dans toutes ces interpr?tations il reste dans l'ombre de Dieu en tant que Cr?ateur supr?me. De m?me, Betsaleel est rarement mentionn? dans les autres sources ?crites et, lorsque cela est le cas, il y est d'ordinaire pr?sent? comme un constructeur, comme un mod?le pour les b?tisseurs d'?glises qui sont compar?s ? lui (Eus?be de C?sar?e, vers 260-339; l'hymne syriaque "Sogitha" consacr? ? la sanctification de l'?glise Sainte-Sophie ? Edesse apr?s sa reconstruction en 553/554; la Vie de saint Sim?on le Stylite le Jeune (?592) du diacre St?phane; la pri?re prononc?e par le patriarche lors de la cons?cration de l'?glise et de la sainte table, d'apr?s le plus ancien euchologion enti?rement conserv? de l'?glise Sainte-Sophie de Constantinople, Barb. gr. 336, milieu du VHI?me si?cle; la comm?moraison de la tr?s pieuse imp?ratrice Ir?ne, femmede Jean Comn?ne (1118-1143), dans le Synaxaire de l'Eglise constantinopolitaine; l'inscription m?trique de fondation de l'?glise saint-Nicolas pr?s du village de Place dans la p?ninsule de Mani au sud du P?lopon?se, de 1337/38). A Ravanica Betsaleel ne porte pas le mod?le du tabernacle, mais un objet de forme ronde orn? d'un buste de la Vierge ? l'Enfant (semblable ? l'image de la sainte table dans le sanctuaire de la Chapelle de Mo?se au Sina?). Betsaleel ?tant lou? comme le constructeur du Tabernacle et les cantiques eccl?siastiques c?l?brant la M?re de Dieu comme ?tant elle-m?me le Tabernacle; son image, tenant le Christ dans ses bras, sur l'objet que porte Betsaleel s'en trouve tout ? fait justifi?e, comme sur de nombreuses repr?sentations de la Tente d'assignation o? elle appara?t en m?daillon sur le voile recouvrant l'autel et sur les objets pos?s sur celui-ci. On doit se demander pourquoi le choix du d?corateur s'est ici port? pr?cis?ment sur Melchis?dek et Betsaleel. Le premier, en tant que sacrificateur v?t?rotesta-mentaire sur le mod?le duquel le Christ est lui-m?me devenu sacrificateur, avait d?j? ?t? figur? dans les sanctuaires des premi?res ?glises chr?tiennes, alors que l'image de Betsaleel, pour autant que nous sachions, constitue un exemple unique. Melchis?dek se tient ? proximit? de la partie septentrionale, et c?leste, de la composition de la Communion des ap?tres, o? la communion par le pain est donn?e par un ange-pr?tre, alors que Betsaleel, au sud, c?toie la partie terrestre, montrant un pr?tre, debout dans le sanctuaire, qui tend un calice. Le constructeur du Tabernacle se trouve ainsi ? c?t? d'un l'?v?nement qui se d?roule dans l'?glise, alors que le pr?tre v?t?rotestamentaire se tient ? c?t? de l'?glise c?leste et spirituelle. L'existence d'un fort lien avec la liturgie est ?galement confirm?e par les deux ?v?ques qui se tiennent aux c?t?s de ces justes et les d?signent de la main droite (fig. 2). Leurs inscriptions ont ?t? d?truites, mais leurs tenues, diff?rentes des tenues habituelles d'?v?ques, autorisent ? reconna?tre en eux les premiers ?v?ques de J?rusalem auxquels la haute dignit? d'archi-pr?tre a ?t? transmise, d'apr?s la tradition, par le Christ en personne. En observant les donn?es provenant de la Bible, les ?crits des P?res de l'Eglise et certaines mentions relatives aux constructeurs d'?glises, il est donc possible de supposer que ce juste repr?sent? ? Ravanica est Betsaleel, le constructeur v?t?rotestamentaire du Tabernacle. L'?troit lien le rattachant ? la liturgie justifie pleinement sa pr?sence dans l'espace du sanctuaire. L'hypoth?se ici avanc?e est ?galement confirm?e par l'existence de rapports avec la figure du juste Melchis?dek et celles des premiers ?v?ques de l'Eglise de Sion, ainsi qu'avec la repr?sentation, unique par son iconographique, de la Communion dans l'abside. .

I remember the first time I saw a dead body. I spawned just before dawn; around me engines were clattering into life, the dim silhouettes of tanks beginning to move out in a steady grinding rumble. I could dimly make out a few other people, the anonymity of their shadowy outlines belied by the names hanging over their heads in a comforting blue. Suddenly, a stream of tracers arced across the sky; explosions sounded nearby, then closer still; a tank ahead of me stopped, turned sluggishly, and fired off a couple of rounds, rocking slightly against the recoil. The radio was filled with talk of Germans in the town, but I couldn’t even see the town. I ran toward what looked like the shattered hulk of a building and dived into what I hoped was a doorway. It was already occupied by another Tommy and together we waited for it to get lighter, listening to the rattle of machine guns, the sharp ping as shells ricocheted off steel, the sickening, indescribable, but immediately recognisable sound when they didn’t. Eventually, the other soldier moved out, but I waited for the sun to peek over the nearby hills. Once I was able to see where I was going, I made straight for the command post on the edge of town, and came across a group of allied soldiers standing in a circle. In the centre of the circle lay a dead German soldier, face up. “Well I’ll be damned,” I said aloud; no one else said anything, and the body abruptly faded. I remember the first time I killed someone. I had barely got the Spit V up to 4000 feet when out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something below me. I dropped the left wing and saw a Stuka making a bee-line for the base. I made a hash of the turn, almost stalling, but he obviously had no idea I was there. I saddled-up on his six, dropping down low to avoid fire from his gunner, and opened up on him. I must have hit him at perfect convergence because he disintegrated, pieces of dismembered airframe raining down on the field below. I circled the field, putting all my concentration into making the landing that would make the kill count, then switched off the engine and sat in the cockpit for a moment, heart pounding. As you can tell, I’ve been in the wars lately. The first example is drawn from the launch of Cornered Rat Software’s WWII Online: Blitzkrieg (2001) while the second is based on a short stint playing Warbirds 3 (2002). Both games are examples of one of the most interesting recent developments in computer and video gaming: the increasing popularity and range of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs); other notable examples of historical combat simulation MMOGs include HiTech Creations Aces High (2002) and Jaleco Entertainment’s Fighter Ace 3.5 (2002). For a variety of technical reasons, most popular multiplayer games—particularly first-person shooter (FPS) games such as Doom, Quake, and more recently Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002) and Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001)—are played on player-organised servers that are usually limited to 32 or fewer players; terrain maps are small and rotated every couple of hours on average. MMOGs, by contrast, feature anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of players hosted on a handful of company-run servers. The shared virtual geography of these worlds is huge, extending across tens of thousands of square miles; these worlds are also persistent in that they respond dynamically to the actions of players and continue to do so while individual players are offline. As my opening anecdotes demonstrate, the experience of dealing and receiving virtual death is central to massively multiplayer simulations as it is to so many forms of computer games. Yet for an experience is that is so ubiquitous in computer games (and, some would say, even constitutes their experiential core) death is under-theorised. Mainstream culture tends to see computer and console game mayhem according to a rigid desensitisation argument: the experience of repeatedly killing other players online leads to a gradual erosion of the individual moral sense which makes players more likely to countenance killing people in the real world. Nowhere was this argument more in evidence that in the wake of the murder of fifteen students by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999. The discovery that the two boys were enthusiastic players of Id Software’s Doom and Quake resulted in an avalanche of hysterical news stories that charged computer games with a number of evils: eroding kids’ ability to distinguish fantasy from reality, encouraging them to imitate the actions represented in the games, and immuring them to the real-world consequences of violence. These claims were hardly new, and had in fact been directed at any number of violent popular entertainment genres over the years. What was new was the claim that the interactive nature of FPS games rendered them a form of simulated weapons training. What was also striking about the discourse surrounding the Littleton shooting was just how little the journalists covering the story knew about computer, console and arcade games. Nevertheless, their approach to the issue encouraged readers to see games as having real life analogs. Media discussion of the event also reinforced the notion of a connection with military training techniques, making extensive use of Lt. Col. (ret) David Grossman, a former Army ranger and psychologist who led the charge in claiming that games were “mass-murder simulators” (Gittrich, AA06). This controversy over the role of violent computer games in the Columbine murders is part of a larger cultural discourse that adopts the logical fallacy characteristic of moral panics: coincidence equals causation. Yet the impoverished discussion of online death and destruction is also due in no small measure to an entrenched hostility toward popular entertainment as a whole, a hostility that is evident even in the work of some academic critics who study popular culture. Andrew Darley, for example, argues that, never has the flattening of meaning or depth in the traditional aesthetic sense of these words been so pronounced as in the action-simulation genres of the computer game: here, aesthetic experience is tied directly to the purely sensational and allied to tests of physical dexterity (143). In this view, the repeated experience of death is merely a part of the overall texture of a form characterised not so much by narrative as by compulsive repetition. More generally, computer games are seen by many critics as the pernicious, paradigmatic instance of the colonisation of individual consciousness by cultural spectacle. According to this Frankfurt school-influenced critique (most frequently associated with the work of Guy Debord), spectacle serves both to mystify and pacify its audience: The more the technology opens up narrative possibilities, the less there is for the audience to do. [. . .]. When the spectacle conceals the practice of the artists who create it, it [announces]…itself as an expression of a universe beyond human volition and effort (Filewood 24). In supposedly sapping its audience’s critical faculties by bombarding them with a technological assault whose only purpose is to instantiate a deterministic worldview, spectacle is seen by its critics as exemplifying the work of capitalist ideology which teaches people not to question the world around them by establishing, in Althusser’s famous phrase, an “imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of their existence” (162). The desensitisation thesis is thus part of a larger discourse that considers computer games paradoxically to be both escapist and as having real-world effects. With regard to online death, neo-Marxism meets neo-Freudianism: players are seen as hooked on the thrill not only of destroying others but also of self-destruction. Death is thus considered the terminus of all narrative possibility, and the participation of individuals in fantasy-death and mayhem is seen to lead inevitably to several kinds of cultural death: the death of “family values,” the death of community, the death of individual responsibility, and—given the characterisation of FPS games in particular as lacking in plot and characterisation—the death of storytelling. However, it is less productive to approach computer, arcade and console games as vehicles for force-feeding content with pre-determined cultural effects than it is to understand them as venues within and around which players stage a variety of theatrical performances. Thus even the bêtes noire of the mainstream media, first-person shooters, serve as vehicles for a variety of interactions ranging from the design of new sounds, graphics and levels, new “skins” for player characters, the formation of “tribes” or “clans” that fight and socialise together, and the creation of elaborate fan fictions. This idea that narrative does not simply “happen” within the immediate experience of playing the game, but is in fact produced by a dynamic interplay of interactions for which the game serves as a focus, also suggests a very different way of looking at the role of death online. Far from being the logical endpoint, the inevitable terminus of all narrative possibility, death becomes the indispensable starting point for narrative. In single-player games, for example, the existence of the simple “save game” function—differing from simply putting the game board to one side in that the save function allows the preservation of the game world in multiple temporal states—generates much of the narrative and dramatic range of computer games. Generally a player saves the game because he or she is facing an obstacle that may result in death; saving the game at that point allows the player to investigate alternatives. Thus, the ever-present possibility of death in the game world becomes the origin of all narratives based on forward investigation. In multiplayer and MMOG environments, where the players have no control over the save game state, it is nevertheless the possibility of a mode of forward projection that gives the experience its dramatic intensity. Flight simulation games in particular are notoriously difficult to master; the experience of serial death, therefore, becomes the necessary condition for honing your flying skills, trying out different tactics in a variety of combat situations, trying similar tactics in different aircraft, and so on. The experience of online death creates a powerful narrative impulse, and not only in those situations where death is serialised and guaranteed. A sizable proportion of the flight sim communities of both Warbirds and Aces High participate in specially designed scenario events that replicate a specific historical air combat event (the Battle of Britain, the Coral Sea, USAAF bomber operations in Europe, etc.) as closely as possible. What makes these scenarios so compelling for many players is that they are generally “one life” events: once the player is dead, they are out for the rest of the event and this creates an intense experience that is completely unlike flying in the everyday free-for-all arenas. The desensitisation thesis notwithstanding, there is little evidence that this narrative investment in death produces a more casual attitude toward real-life death amongst MMOG players. For example, when real-world death intrudes, simulation players often reach for the same rituals of comfort and acknowledgement that are employed offline. Recently, when an Aces High player died unexpectedly of heart failure at the age of 35, his squadron held an elaborate memorial event in his honor. Over a hundred players bailed out over an aerodrome—bailing out is the only way that a player in Aces High can acquire a virtual human body—and lined the edges of the runway as members of the dead player’s squad flew the missing man formation overhead (GrimmCAF). The insistence upon bodily presence in the context of a classic military ceremony marking irrecoverable absence suggests the way in which the connections between real and virtual worlds are experienced by players: as tensions, but also as points where identities are negotiated. This example does not seem to indicate that everyday familiarity with virtual death has dulled the players’ sensibilities to the sorrow and loss accompanying death in the real world. I began this article talking about death in simulation MMOGs for a number of reasons. In the first place, MMOGs are more commonly identified with their role-playing examples (MMORPGs) such as Ultima Online and Everquest, games that focus on virtual community-building and exploration in addition to violence and conquest. By contrast, simulation games tend to be seen as having more in common with first-person shooters like Quake, in the way in which they foreground the experience of serial death. Secondly, it is precisely the connection between simulation and death that makes games in general (as I demonstrated in relation to the media coverage of the Columbine murders) so problematic. In response, I would argue that one of the most interesting aspects of computer games recently has been the degree to which generic distinctions have been breaking down. MMORPGs, which had their roots in the Dungeons and Dragons gaming world, and the text-based world of MUDs and MOOs have since developed sophisticated third-person and even first-person representational styles to facilitate both peaceful character interactions and combat. Likewise, first-person shooters have begun to add role-playing elements (see, for example, Looking Glass Studios’ superb System Shock 2 (1999) or Lucasarts' Jedi Knight series). This trend has also been incorporated into simulation MMOGs: World War II Online includes a rudimentary set of character-tracking features, and Aces High has just announced a more ambitious expansion whose major focus will be the incorporation of role-playing elements. I feel that MMOGs in particular are all evolving towards a state that I would describe as “simulance:” simulations that, while they may be associated with a nominal representational reality, are increasingly about exploring the narrative possibilities, the mechanisms of theatrical engagement for self and community of simulation itself. Increasingly, none of the terms "simulation,” "role-playing" or indeed “game” quite captures the texture of these evolving experiences. In their complex engagement with both scripted and extemporaneous narrative, the players have more in common with period re-enactors; the immersive power of a well-designed flight simulator scenario produces a feeling in players akin to the “period rush” experienced by battlefield re-enactors, the frisson between awareness of playing a role and surrendering completely to the momentary power of its illusory reality. What troubles critics about simulations (and what also blinds them to the narrative complexity in other forms of computer games) is that they are indeed not simply examples of re-enactment —a re-staging of supposedly real events—but a generative form of narrative enactment. Computer games, particularly large-scale online games, provide a powerful set of theatrical tools with which players and player communities can help shape narratives and deepen their own narrative investment. Obviously, they are not isolated from real-world cultural factors that shape and constrain narrative possibility. However, we are starting to see the way in which the games use the idea of virtual death as the generative force for new storytelling frameworks based, in Filewood’s terms, on forward investigation. As games begin to move out of their incunabular state, they may contribute to the re-shaping of culture and consciousness, as other narrative platforms have done. Far from causing the downfall of civilisation, game-based narratives may bring with them a greater cultural awareness of simultaneous narrative possibility, of the past as sets of contingent phenomena, and a greater attention to practical, hands-on experimental problem-solving. It would be ironic, but no great surprise, if a form built around the creative possibilities inherent in serial death in fact made us more attentive to the rich alternative possibilities of living. Works Cited Aces High. HiTech Creations, 2002. http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes Toward an Investigation).” Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. By Louis Althusser, trans. Ben Brewster. New York, 1971. 127-86. Barry, Ellen. “Games Feared as Youths’ Basic Training; Industry, Valued as Aid to Soldiers, on Defensive.” The Boston Globe 29 Apr 1999: A1. LexisNexis. Feb. 7, 2003. Cornered Rat Software. World War II Online: Blitzkrieg. Strategy First, 2001. http://www.wwiionline.com/ Darley, Andrew. Visual Digital Culture: Surface Play and Spectacle in New Media Genres. London: Routledge, 2000. Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. Donald Nicholson-Smith. New York: Zone Books, 1994. 1967. Der Derian, James. “The Simulation Syndrome: From War Games to Game Wars.” Social Text 8.2 (1990): 187-92. Filewood, Alan. “C:\Games\Dramaturgy: The Cybertheatre of Computer Games.” Canadian Theatre Review 81 (Winter 1994): 24-28. Gittrich, Greg. “Expert Differs with Kids over Video Game Effects.” The Denver Post 27 Apr 1999: AA-06. LexisNexis. Feb. 7 2003. GrimmCAF. “MojoCAF’s Memorial Flight.” Aces High BB, 13 Dec. 2002. http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/sh... IEntertainment Network. Warbirds III. Simon and Schuster Interactive, 2002.http://www.totalsims.com/index.php?url=w... Jenkins, Henry, comp. “Voices from the Combat Zone: Game Grrlz Talk Back.” From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. Ed. Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT P, 1998. 328-41. Lieberman, Joseph I. “The Social Impact of Music Violence.” Statement Before the Governmental Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Oversight, 1997. http://www.senate.gov/member/ct/lieberma... Feb. 7 2003. Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. New York: Free, 1997. Poole, Steven. Trigger Happy: Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2000. Pyro. “AH2 FAQ.” Aces High BB, 29 Jan. 2003. Internet. http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/sh... Feb. 8 2003. Links http://www.wwiionline.com/ http://www.idsoftware.com/games/doom/ http://www.hitechcreations.com/ http://www.totalsims.com/index.php?url=wbiii/content_home.php http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;threadid=77265 http://www.senate.gov/member/ct/lieberman/releases/r110697c.html http://www.idsoftware.com/games/wolfenstein http://www.idsoftware.com/games/quake/ http://www.ea.com/eagames/official/moh_alliedassault/home.jsp http://www.jaleco.com/fighterace/index.html http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;threadid=72560 Citation reference for this article Substitute your date of access for Dn Month Year etc... MLA Style Mullen, Mark. "It Was Not Death for I Stood Up…and Fragged the Dumb-Ass MoFo Who'd Wasted Me" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 6.1 (2003). Dn Month Year < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0302/03-itwasnotdeath.php>. APA Style Mullen, M., (2003, Feb 26). It Was Not Death for I Stood Up…and Fragged the Dumb-Ass MoFo Who'd Wasted Me. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 6,(1). Retrieved Month Dn, Year, from http://www.media-culture.org.au/0302/03-itwasnotdeath.html

Australia's unique biodiversity is under threat from a rapidly changing climate. The effects of climate change are already discernible at all levels of biodiversity – genes, species, communities and ecosystems. Many of Australia's most valued and iconic natural areas – the Great Barrier Reef, south-western Australia, the Kakadu wetlands and the Australian Alps – are among the most vulnerable. But much more is at stake than saving iconic species or ecosystems. Australia's biodiversity is fundamental to the country's national identity, economy and quality of life. In the face of uncertainty about specific climate scenarios, ecological and management principles provide a sound basis for maximising opportunities for species to adapt, communities to reorganise and ecosystems to transform while maintaining basic functions critical to human society. This innovative approach to biodiversity conservation under a changing climate leads to new challenges for management, policy development and institutional design. This book explores these challenges, building on a detailed analysis of the interactions between a changing climate and Australia's rich but threatened biodiversity. Australia's Biodiversity and Climate Change is an important reference for policy makers, researchers, educators, students, journalists, environmental and conservation NGOs, NRM managers, and private landholders with an interest in biodiversity conservation in a rapidly changing world.

Chapter 5 concludes with a call to action to fix the crisis in the news media. The First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech and free press presupposes the existence of an independent press. That predicate is now in jeopardy. Changes in the news industry threaten the project of democracy and obligate the government to act. The First Amendment is not a barrier but instead a basis for such action.

The State is no more than a gag for making harmless this carnivorous animal that is man, and giving him the aspect of an herbivorous creature. Man, internally, is a savage animal, a beast. If that is the case, the State represents a barrier that stops man from harming himself and others. In such a view, the State is a blessing, a savior. When the aim is protecting the people, dictating values, suspending representativeness and intervening into the markets tend to be viable options in order as to accomplish homogeneity and increase security.

This chapter explores the enormously influential feminist and queer discourse on laughter inaugurated by Hélène Cixous’s 1975 essay “The Laugh of the Medusa” and continued in different forms by Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler, Jack Halberstam, and others. This discourse challenges men’s historical monopoly on laughter by conceiving of laughter as an experience that is uniquely capable of undermining patriarchy and heteronormativity. For all this discourse’s merits, its view of laughter as naturally emancipatory obscures how laughter participates in sex and gender politics beyond and oftentimes in tension with its subversive power. Butler’s Herculine Barbin, Sigmund Freud’s The Joke, and Hannah Gadsby’s 2018 Netflix special Nanetteprovide the basis for a re-politicised feminist/queer account of laughter that attends to how laughter produces and sustains conventional conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The chapter concludes that laughter is neither the nemesis nor savior of feminist and queer politics, but a privileged site of political contestation over sex and gender itself.

The main financial barrier of large scale implementation of green building retrofitting investments is due to the relatively large investment volume needed, compared to the future flow of yearly energy savings or/and yearly estimated differences of incomes collected, if the building is a commercial building (commercial center, office building, hotel or even residential rental building). The uncertainty implicitly involved in this estimation, both for the future savings and for the yearly differences of incomes, which are usually not very large, both make these investments apparently not so attractive for private investors, especially for owners of residential buildings, with limited self-financing power. Nevertheless, from the society point of view, the benefits created by saving the energy and consequently reducing the carbon foot print, can be very attractive. That is why the public support is often used as an “impulse solution” for implementation of these investments. The Cost Benefit Analysis methodology, particularized for these investments, is presented in this chapter.

The article aims at providing a deep understanding of electronic marketing practices and investigating the current status of e-marketing (benefits, tools, and barriers) in Jordanian tourism agencies. Methodologically, the article adopts a qualitative design to achieve its objectives. In-depth interviews are employed to generate data. The purposive sample is used to choose the target interviewees. Eight executives from different tourism agencies have been selected to conduct the interviews. The qualitative data of each interview have been analyzed using the thematic and textual analysis. Based on a holistic view of the study, the interviews themes have been extracted. The article concludes that cost minimization and time saving are the most important advantages for e-marketing. Moreover, promotional offers information is the most important type of information provided by e-marketing system. Social media and e-mail marketing are the common tools for e-marketing in tourism agencies. However, privacy issues barrier is the major challenge which is encountered by e-marketing practices.

With the advent of an IoT branch known as the internet of medical things (IoMT) systems, healthcare systems are one of the applications that have been altered by IoT. Patients with chronic conditions can be monitored remotely using IoMT systems. As a result, it can provide patients with fast diagnosis, perhaps saving their lives in an emergency. Security of these vital systems, on the other hand, is a substantial barrier to wider adoption. The IOMT is assisting in the improvement of electronic device accuracy, reliability, and productivity in the healthcare business. By integrating existing medical resources and healthcare services, researchers are contributing to the development of a computerized healthcare system. Despite the fact that IoT encompasses a wide range of fields, this chapter focuses on IoT's research contribution in the healthcare field. This chapter of addresses the contributions of people to IoT in the healthcare domain, as well as the architecture, applications, and future difficulties of IoT in the context of medical services in healthcare.

The main financial barrier of large scale implementation of green building retrofitting investments is due to the relatively large investment volume needed, compared to the future flow of yearly energy savings or/and yearly estimated differences of incomes collected, if the building is a commercial building (commercial center, office building, hotel or even residential rental building). The uncertainty implicitly involved in this estimation, both for the future savings and for the yearly differences of incomes, which are usually not very large, both make these investments apparently not so attractive for private investors, especially for owners of residential buildings, with limited self-financing power. Nevertheless, from the society point of view, the benefits created by saving the energy and consequently reducing the carbon foot print, can be very attractive. That is why the public support is often used as an “impulse solution” for implementation of these investments. The Cost Benefit Analysis methodology, particularized for these investments, is presented in this chapter.

Abstract Traditional evaluation of behind-casing cement bond quality prior to cement plug placement involves removal, storage, transportation, and disposal of the tubing completion string. This paper presents an innovative approach to verifying cement bond and subsequent cement plug placement. This method involves cutting and retrieving part of the completion string and deploying acoustic logging tools into the casing, followed by using the tubing as a cement stinger. The procedure described in this paper first involves plugging and cutting the tubing, followed by partial retrieval of the completion to expose the abandonment horizon, which may be an impermeable shale or salt layer. A radial cement bond log tool is conveyed on wireline out of the tubing cut in order to evaluate the cement bond behind the exposed casing section. The existing cement sheath is assessed in accordance to a cement evaluation criteria to determine suitability as a barrier. A balanced cement plug is pumped utilising the existing completion string rather than a dedicated stinger. The permanent barrier is then verified appropriately based on satisfying key metrics in the pumping operation before hanging off the completion tubing in-hole and progressing with the rest of the abandonment programme. In the case study presented here, the tool string design considered the need to pass completion restrictions, convey through production tubing, and remain centralised with up to 50-degree deviation. Analysis of cement bond log data indicated that bond quality was good and suitable to place an internal cement plug across the abandonment horizon. This satisfied a minimum of 200-ft coverage across the zone of interest. The existing deep-set mechanical plug placed in the tubing prior to tubing cut was utilised as a base for the cement barrier. A 2,000-ft balanced cement plug was successfully set across the zone of interest. The completion tubing was used as a conduit for cement slurry placement, eliminating the usage of a dedicated work string. At the end of displacement, the tubing string was pulled out of hole safely to approximately 500-ft above the top of the cement with the help of controlled-gel progression properties incorporated in the slurry design. Due to existing completion accessories, setting a through-tubing cement plug and tubing rotation is not an option. Expandable cement was pumped to mitigate natural shrinkage and enhance post-set cement expansion to ensure a competent barrier. The cement job objectives were achieved by meeting the cementation execution criteria with no requirement to wait on cement. This provides additional time saving to the well abandonment. The discussed approach has successfully realised a significant rig-time saving of approximately two days on each well. Going forward, the methodology has effectively been applied to multiple wells across the Southern North Sea (SNS).

Abstract Effective properties of TBCs may be quantified thanks to different measurement techniques. Image-based analysis represents an alternative method for predicting these effective properties. During the last 10 years, 2D modelling was intensively applied to estimate the thermal conductivity from coating cross-sectional images. However, real coatings present a complex 3D architecture so that the use of 2D computations based on cross-sections has to be validated. In the recent decade, 3D imaging approaches were applied for capturing 3D images of thermal spray coatings with relatively high resolution (up to 1 micrometer). Nevertheless, high resolution brings very large computational systems for which finite-element (FE) methods seem to be unsuitable due to high requirements in terms of computer memory (RAM) capacity. In the present study, a three-dimensional finite-difference-based heat transfer model was developed for analyzing the heat transfer mechanisms through a porous structure by saving RAM usage. An artificial 3D coating image, containing 300×300×300 voxels, was generated from microstructural information measured for a real coating cross-sectional image. In particular, this 3D artificial pore network was generated so that calculations performed on its cross-sections present similar results in comparison with those concerning SEM images of real coating cross-sections. Then, the results computed for the 3D image were compared with those obtained from 2D computations performed on cross-sections of the same 3D image, revealing the differences between 2D and 3D image-based analyses. Finally, the results were then compared with those computed by FE packages (OOF2 and ANSYS).

Abstract BP operates Khazzan & Ghazeer fields in the Sultanate of Oman with the aim to deliver safe, reliable and efficient wells. Efficiencies within drilling fluids design form part of a greater continuous improvement cycle to well delivery cost. With fluids spend contributing to a significant portion of the executed well cost (typically 15 % in Oman), fluids design changes hold the potential to yield positive cost savings (where well performance is maintained). This paper presents the areas of fluids design which were explored to reduce fluids spend as part of the continuous improvement cycle. Combined, the changes to fluids design evolved to reduce the fluids cost of Barik vertical wells to 6% of total well cost. All avenues of fluids design and the costs associated with the fluids operation in Oman were viewed as being in scope for change to maintain overbalance hydrostatic pressure on fluids spend. The methodology employed to reduce fluids spend can be described in four steps as per continuous improvement roadmaps; identify the cost saving project, the key enablers which allow the cost saving to be realized, risk/reward analysis where low risk/high reward projects were accelerated as priority and placed to the front of the queue for field trial and where a trial outcome is positive, the change is introduced permanently to the operation. This process worked well in continuously pushing fluid performance and reducing the fluids spend in Oman. The scope of change to fluids design was wide, with each ‘value adding project’ providing its own cumulative cost benefit. The projects which contributed to significantly reducing the overall fluids spend in Oman focused on personnel, fluid type selection, fluids formulation optimization, wellbore strengthening, fluid consumption and recycling, drilling fluids practice and brine selection. Reductions in fluids spend were accompanied with an improved well performance. Well delivery times being continuously observed to improve throughout the campaign (63 days vs 42 days). Whilst the fluids design is not directly responsible for this outcome, it does highlight that the changes made to fluids design positively influenced the improved well delivery performance. The drilling fluids optimization initiatives resulted in significant time and cost saving thus reduction in overall Barik vertical well drilling cost. Drilling fluids cost is reduced by over 55% without impact on safety and drilling performance.

The eBario project has won the eAsia Award and the Mondialogo Engineering Award in 2004 and 2005 respectively for it’s successful implementation of an Information and Telecommunications Technology Center (ICT) and solar renewable energy-incentive rural community project at the Bario Highland of Sarawak, East Malaysia, Borneo (http://www.unimas.my/ebario/). Although solar photovoltaic (PV) energy has been opted for power generation at the ICT Telecenter for the past five years, there is still a need to investigate the cost-effectiveness of the current energy setup as well as to conduct sustainability study taking into account factors such as system efficiency, weather, costs of fuel, operating costs, as well as to explore the feasibility of implementing alternative energy resources for the rural ICT Telecenter. Recent theoretical study conducted has shown that renewable combined power systems are more sustainable in terms of supplying electricity to the ICT Telecenter, and in a more cost-effective way compared to a standalone PV system which is subject to the cloud and the recent dense haze problems. For that purpose, two combined power systems are being put into consideration namely PV-Hydro and PV-Hydro-Fuel Cell, where the total simulated annualized cost for these two system configurations are US$10,847 and US$76,010 respectively as far as the present location is concerned. The PVHydro-Fuel Cell produces electrical energy at the amount of 3,577 kWh/yr while the annual energy consumption is 3,203 kWhr/yr. On the other hand, PV-Hydro produces 3,789 kWhr/yr of electricity annually load which consumes energy at 3,209 kWhr/yr. Results thus obtained has shown that the PVHydro scheme is expected to have advantages over the existing PV standalone system. Firstly, it is more cost-effective. Secondly, it provides the best outcomes for the local indigenous community and the natural highland environments both for now and the future. Thirdly, it also able to relate the continuity of both economic and social aspects of the local society as a whole. As the combined PV-Hydro system had been chosen, plus for completeness purposes, the present paper also discussed the custom design and construction of a small waterwheel breast-shot hydro-generator, suited to the local location and existing water energy resources. Energy saving design calculations and Sankey diagram showing the energy flows for the new combined system are also given herein. Finally, the energy system performance equations and the performance curves introduced in this study provide a new simple method of evaluating renewable energy systems.

Abstract Objectives/Scope Well integrity monitoring is one of the critical processes in oil and gas wells to prevent unintended fluid movement or loss of containment to the environment. In this case study, there was continuous gas leakage to surface at high pressure through annulus "B" of an oil well in East Kuwait area. The detection and securing of the gas leak in this well was essential not only for securing the well and restoring production, but also for environmental considerations due to the sensitive geographical location. This paper presents an innovative logging combination for total well integrity assessment, including spectral noise, high-resolution temperature, multi-barrier corrosion evaluation, and fluid type identification for downhole gas leak detection. The paper also presents remedial actions taken to secure well integrity after assessing and evaluating diagnostic logs at each stage with a workover rig. Methods, Procedures, Process Innovative combination of different measurements for total well integrity assessment including spectral noise, high-resolution temperature, multi-barrier corrosion evaluation, and fluid type identification logs have been used to detect the downhole source(s) of this gas leak. Multiple cement squeezing across single and multiple casings were designed and performed based on the logging results to stop the leak and secure the well. After completing each cement squeezing job, surface pressure in annulus "B" was being monitored and downhole logging surveys were being performed to check if there was still downhole gas flow. Results, Observations, Conclusions The different logging results showed strong indications for multiple sources of this gas flow in annulus "B" across different formations around the well. The poor primary cementing job allowed formation fluids (e.g. gas, oil and water) to migrate to shallow reservoirs and surface. The remedial cement squeezing jobs have been successfully performed and achieved a solid hydraulic vertical barrier to stop the gas flow activity. The gas flow stopped, surface pressure in annulus "B" disappeared and restored production of 700 bopd from the well. It is a case story of a successful well integrity workover in a very challenging well that ended by fixing the gas leak, restoring the well production, protecting the surrounding wells and environment, and saving the cost of either sidetracking the well or P&A (plug and abandonment). Novel/Additive Information The innovative well integrity logs in combination with conventional cementing remedial jobs, allowed us to achieve complete well integrity. The use of advanced well integrity logs (e.g. spectral noise, high-resolution temperature, multi-barrier corrosion evaluation, and fluid type identification) were beneficial to determine the exact depths of the leak points and determine the exact location of the remedial jobs (e.g. remedial cement jobs) to stop the migration of gas from the formation to shallow reservoirs and surface.

Abstract After fracturing, it is common practice to leave offshore wells shut-in from days to weeks for operational purposes. During the recent historic decline of demand for global crude, a trend has been witnessed to shut in even newly fractured wells under design for an extended period. The cause of these extended shut-ins can be attributed to various factors including operational logistics as well as economic factors. The shut-in extension brings some unique scaling challenges for well designs. In this paper, an integrated scale inhibitor (SI)/fracturing fluid package is presented with detailed laboratory prerequisites data to validate its efficacy for long-term scale protection during the extended shut-in. Utilizing seawater in offshore fracturing can provide significant cost savings to an operation. Unfortunately, in regions with barium-rich formations, the use of seawater brings tremendous barite scaling risk. In order to solve this challenge, the investigation focused on the selection of the most effective inhibitors for long-term barite inhibition under the simulated reservoir conditions. Along with the scale inhibitor selection, the crosslinked gel had to be carefully optimized to eliminate any potential negative interference the gel additives could impart to the performance of the inhibitor. Furthermore, the inhibitor was tested in the crosslinking system to meet optimum rheology requirements. Utilizing the broken gel containing the designed inhibitor package, barite precipitation could be prevented for months under the simulated testing conditions. Due to high levels of sulfate from seawater and the barium originating from the formation, barite scale formed immediately upon mixing of the two types of water in absence of the appropriate scale inhibitors. Solid scale products featuring slow releasing of the inhibitor ingredients was proven insufficient for this application. With extensive laboratory screening, the candidate chemistry demonstrated great brine-calcium tolerance, superior scale inhibition performance for both sulfate and carbonate scales, and the minimum interferences for the crosslinking engineering to meet necessary proppant carrying capacity. To mimic the gel-breaking process and heterogeneous bleeding from the formation water, the inhibitor was crosslinked with the gel at various loading rates (1 gpt to 10 gpt) and broken at the elevated reservoir temperature, then mixed with the different ratios of the formation water. Reliable scale inhibition performance was achieved for an extended period of time for up to six weeks. Incorporating SI into the fracturing stimulation package is a convenient method for operators to include a scale-control program into well-defined fracturing designs with minimal adjustment and also add significant cost-saving for offshore logistics and rig time (Fitzgerald, et al., 2008). The scale inhibitor product presented in this paper shows a superior solution to protect assets from scale deposition for an extended shut-in period.

Participating in the exemplar landscapes of the Developing and Promoting Market-Based Agroforestry and Forest Rehabilitation Options for Northwest Vietnam project has had positive impacts on ethnic women, such as increasing their networks and decision-making and public speaking skills. However, the rate of female farmers accessing and using project extension material or participating in project nurseries and applying agroforestry techniques was limited. This requires understanding of the real needs and interests grounded in the socio-cultural contexts of the ethnic groups living in the Northern Mountain Region in Viet Nam, who have unique social and cultural norms and values. The case studies show that agricultural activities are highly gendered: men and women play specific roles and have different, particular constraints and interests. Women are highly constrained by gender norms, access to resources, decision-making power and a prevailing positive-feedback loop of time poverty, especially in the Hmong community. A holistic, timesaving approach to addressing women’s daily activities could reduce the effects of time poverty and increase project participation. As women were highly willing to share project information, the project’s impacts would be more successful with increased participation by women through utilizing informal channels of communication and knowledge dissemination. Extension material designed for ethnic women should have less text and more visuals. Access to information is a critical constraint that perpetuates the norm that men are decision-makers, thereby, enhancing their perceived ownership, whereas women have limited access to information and so leave final decisions to men, especially in Hmong families. Older Hmong women have a Vietnamese (Kinh) language barrier, which further prevents them from accessing the project’s material. Further research into an adaptive framework that can be applied in a variety of contexts is recommended. This framework should prioritize time-saving activities for women and include material highlighting key considerations to maintain accountability among the project’s support staff.