bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Optical properties and energy transfer in InGaAsN quantum well – InAs quantum dots tunnel injection structures for 1.3 μm emission
Authors: Rudno‐Rudziński W. , Sęk G. , Ryczko K. , Syperek M. , Misiewicz J. , Semenova E. S. , Lemaitre A. , Ramdane A.
Published: April 2009

Tunnel injection structure consisting of InAs self assembled quantum dots emitting light at the second telecom window at 1.3 μm and an InGaAsN injector quantum well is investigated by means of optical spectroscopy and the results compared to the injector‐free reference sample. The photoreflectance measurements, supported by calculations, reveal a complex structure of optical transitions in the system of coupled injector, wetting layer and strain reducing layer. The determined energy structure shows that the tunnelling is possible only through the excited states of quantum dots. Photoluminescence excitation proves the carrier transfer (tunnelling) from the injector to the dots at room temperature. The comparison of photoluminescence spectra confirms the tunnelling efficiency, especially at low temperatures. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Linearized orbital‐free embedding potential in self‐consistent calculations
Authors: Dułak Marcin , Kamiński Jakub W. , Wesołowski Tomasz A.
Published: April 2009

Conventionally, solving one‐electron equations for embedded orbitals [Eqs. (20) and (21) in Wesolowski and Warshel, J Phys Chem, 1993, 97, 8050] proceeds by a self‐consistent procedure in which the whole effective potential, including its embedding component, is updated in each iteration. We propose an alternative scheme (splitSCF), which uses the linearized embedding potential in the inner iterative loop and the outer‐loop is used to account for its deviations from linearity. The convergence of the proposed scheme is investigated for a set of weakly bound intermolecular complexes representing typical interactions with the environment. The outer loop is shown to converge very fast. No more than 3–4 iterations are needed. Errors due to skipping the outer loop completely and using the electron density obtained in the absence of the environment in the linearized embedding potential are investigated in detail. It is shown that this computationally attractive simplification, used already in numerical simulations by others, is adequate not only for van der Waals and hydrogen‐bonded complexes but even if the complex comprises charged components, i.e., where strong electronic polarization takes place. In charge‐transfer type of complexes, larger changes of electron of density upon complex formation occur and the above simplification is not recommended. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009
Molecular spinors suitable for four‐component relativistic correlation calculations: Studies of LaF+ and LaF using multiconfigurational quasi‐degenerate perturbation theory
Authors: Moriyama Hiroko , Tatewaki Hiroshi , Watanabe Yoshihiro , Nakano Haruyuki
Published: April 2009

Multiconfigurational second‐order quasidegenerate perturbation theory (MCQDPT) calculations were performed for the LaF+ molecule, with one LaF2+ and four LaF+ Dirac–Fock–Roothaan (DFR) spinor sets. The best spinor set was that of LaF2+, which gave the lowest total energies and also the best excitation energies for any state considered. The MCQDPT calculations with the cation and neutral molecular spinors were also performed for LaF. The MCQDPT with the cation spinors gave the lowest total energies for all states under consideration, and the calculated excitation energies compared best with experiment. We prefer the LaF+ spinor set to those of LaF. These calculations indicate that the DFR spinor set for the (n−1) electron system is adequate for treating the molecular electronic system having n electrons. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009
First‐trimester uterine artery Doppler indices in the prediction of small‐for‐gestational age pregnancy and intrauterine growth restriction
Authors: Melchiorre K. , Leslie K. , Prefumo F. , Bhide A. , Thilaganathan B.
Published: April 2009

Objectives

To assess the relationship of first‐trimester uterine artery Doppler indices with subsequent delivery of small‐for‐gestational age (SGA) neonates or intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).

Methods

This was a prospective study in which uterine artery Doppler assessment was performed at 11–14 weeks in 3010 women with singleton pregnancies. Resistance indices (RI) and incidence of bilateral notching were compared between women with normal pregnancies (n = 2445) and those who delivered: SGA neonates (birth weight < 10th centile) (n = 377); SGA neonates who had been affected by pre‐eclampsia (n = 27); IUGR neonates (birth weight < 10th centile and abnormal Doppler indices) with delivery ≥ 37 weeks (n = 62); and IUGR neonates requiring preterm delivery (delivery < 37 weeks) (n = 36).

Results

The first‐trimester uterine artery mean RI and prevalence of bilateral notching were significantly higher in women destined to deliver SGA neonates than in women with normal pregnancies (median uterine artery RI, 0.74 vs. 0.70, P < 0.001; prevalence of bilateral notches, 56% vs. 43%, P < 0.001). The areas under the receiver–operating characteristics curves for the prediction of SGA without pre‐eclampsia, IUGR, preterm IUGR and SGA with pre‐eclampsia were 0.602, 0.687, 0.776 and 0.708, respectively. There was a statistically significant inverse relationship between mean uterine artery RI and gestational age at delivery in the SGA pregnancies without pre‐eclampsia (R = − 0.329, P = 0.01).

Conclusions

There is a significant relationship between first‐trimester uterine artery Doppler RI and the subsequent development of SGA. The sensitivity of first‐trimester uterine artery Doppler is greater for SGA with pre‐eclampsia than it is for IUGR alone. This could be because these two entities may have different underlying placental abnormalities that are detected variably on first‐trimester uterine artery Doppler evaluation. Copyright © 2009 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evaluation of POSSUM for Patients Undergoing Pancreatoduodenectomy
Authors: de Castro S. M. M. , Houwert J. T. , Lagarde S. M. , Reitsma J. B. , Busch O. R. C. , van Gulik T. M. , Obertop H. , Gouma D. J.
Published: April 2009

Background

Comparison of operative morbidity rates after pancreatoduodenectomy between units may be misleading because it does not take into account the physiological variable of the condition of the patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (POSSUM) for pancreatoduodenectomy patients and to look for risk factors associated with morbidity in a high‐volume center.

Methods

Between January 1993 and April 2006, 652 patients underwent a pancreatoduodenectomy, 502 of them for malignant disease. POSSUM performance was evaluated by assessing the “goodness‐of‐fit” with the linear analysis method.

Results

Overall, 332 of the 652 patients (50.9%) had one or more complication after pancreatoduodenectomy, and 9 patients (1.4%) died. POSSUM had a significant lack of fit using goodness‐of‐fit analysis. In multivariate analysis, one statistically significant factor associated with morbidity and not incorporated in POSSUM (P < 0.05) was identified: ampulla of Vater adenocarcinoma (OR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.07–2.80).

Conclusions

Overall, there is a lack of calibration of POSSUM among patients who undergo pancreatoduodenectomy.
Community, Culture and Sustainability in Multilevel Dynamic Systems Intervention Science
Authors: Schensul Jean J.
Published: April 2009

This paper addresses intertwined issues in the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of multilevel dynamic systems intervention science (MDSIS). Interventions are systematically planned, conducted and evaluated social science‐based cultural products intercepting the lives of people and institutions in the context of multiple additional events and processes (which also may be referred to as interventions) that may speed, slow or reduce change towards a desired outcome. Multilevel interventions address change efforts at multiple social levels in the hope that effects at each level will forge synergistic links, facilitating movement toward desired change. This paper utilizes an ecological framework that identifies macro (policy and regulatory institutions), meso (organizations and agencies with resources, and power) and micro (individuals, families and friends living in communities) interacting directly and indirectly. An MDSIS approach hypothesizes that change toward a goal will occur faster and more effectively when synchronized and supported across levels in a social system. MDSIS approaches by definition involve “whole” communities and cannot be implemented without the establishments of working community partnerships This paper takes a dynamic systems approach to science as conducted in communities, and discusses four concepts that are central to MDSIS—science, community, culture, and sustainability. These concepts are important in community based participatory research and to the targeting, refinement, and adaptation of enduring interventions. Consistency in their meaning and use can promote forward movement in the field of MDSIS, and in community‐based prevention science.
Introduction to Multi‐Level Community Based Culturally Situated Interventions
Authors: Schensul Jean J. , Trickett Edison
Published: April 2009

This introduction to a special issue of theAmerican Journal of Community Psychiatryis the result of a symposium at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, 2006, that brought together anthropologists and psychologists involved in community based collaborative intervention studies to examine critically the assumptions, processes and results of their multilevel interventions in local communities with local partners. The papers were an effort to examine context by offering a theoretical framework for the concept of “level” in intervention science, and advocating for “multi‐level” approaches to social/behavioral change. They presented examples of ways in which interventions targeted social “levels” either simultaneously or sequentially by working together with communities across levels, and drawing on and co‐constructing elements of local culture as components of the intervention. The papers raised a number of important issues, for example: (1) How are levels defined and how should collaborators be chosen; (2) does it matter at which level multilevel interventions begin; (3) do multilevel interventions have a greater effect on desired outcomes than level‐specific interventions; (4) are multilevel interventions more sustainable; (5) are multilevel interventions cost effective to run, and evaluate; (6) how can theories of intervention be generated and adapted to each level of a multilevel intervention; (7) how should intervention activities at each level coordinate to facilitate community resident or target population empowerment? Many of these questions were only partially addressed in the papers presented at that time, and are more fully addressed in the theoretical papers, case studies and approach to evaluation included in this collection.
The pharmacological chaperone 1‐deoxygalactonojirimycin increases α‐galactosidase A levels in Fabry patient cell lines
Authors: Benjamin E. R. , Flanagan J. J. , Schilling A. , Chang H. H. , Agarwal L. , Katz E. , Wu X. , Pine C. , Wustman B. , Desnick R. J. , Lockhart D. J. , Valenzano K. J.
Published: April 2009

Fabry disease is an X‐linked lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the gene encoding α‐galactosidase A (α‐Gal A), with consequent accumulation of its major glycosphingolipid substrate, globotriaosylceramide (GL‐3). Over 500 Fabry mutations have been reported; approximately 60% are missense. The iminosugar 1‐deoxygalactonojirimycin (DGJ, migalastat hydrochloride, AT1001) is a pharmacological chaperone that selectively binds α‐Gal A, increasing physical stability, lysosomal trafficking, and cellular activity. To identify DGJ‐responsive mutant forms of α‐Gal A, the effect of DGJ incubation on α‐Gal A levels was assessed in cultured lymphoblasts from males with Fabry disease representing 75 different missense mutations, one insertion, and one splice‐site mutation. Baseline α‐Gal A levels ranged from 0 to 52% of normal. Increases in α‐Gal A levels (1.5‐ to 28‐fold) after continuous DGJ incubation for 5 days were seen for 49 different missense mutant forms with varying EC50 values (820 nmol/L to >1 mmol/L). Amino acid substitutions in responsive forms were located throughout both structural domains of the enzyme. Half of the missense mutant forms associated with classic (early‐onset) Fabry disease and a majority (90%) associated with later‐onset Fabry disease were responsive. In cultured fibroblasts from males with Fabry disease, the responses to DGJ were comparable to those of lymphoblasts with the same mutation. Importantly, elevated GL‐3 levels in responsive Fabry fibroblasts were reduced after DGJ incubation, indicating that increased mutant α‐Gal A levels can reduce accumulated substrate. These data indicate that DGJ merits further evaluation as a treatment for patients with Fabry disease with various missense mutations.
How to Measure and Explain Achievement Change in Large-Scale Assessments: A Rejoinder
Authors: Hickendorff Marian , Heiser Willem J. , van Putten Cornelis M. , Verhelst Norman D.
Published: April 2009

In this rejoinder, we discuss substantive and methodological validity issues of large-scale assessments of trends in student achievement, commenting on the discussion paper by Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, Robitzsch, Treffers, and Köller (2009). We focus on methodological challenges in deciding what to measure, how to measure it, and how to foster stability. Next, we discuss what to do with trends that are found. Finally, we reflect on how the research findings were received.
Anti‐Rancidity Effects of Sesame and Rice Bran Oils on Canola Oil During Deep Frying
Authors: Farhoosh Reza , Esmaeilzadeh Kenari Reza
Published: April 2009

In this study, the effect of sesame oil (SEO) and rice bran oil (RBO) on the rancidity of canola oil (CAO) during the process of frying potato pieces at 180 °C was investigated. The SEO and RBO were added to the CAO at levels of 3 and 6%. Frying stability of the oil samples during the frying process was measured on the basis of total polar compounds (TPC) content, conjugated diene value (CDV), acid value (AV), and carbonyl value (CV). In general, frying stability of the CAO significantly (P < 0.05) improved in the presence of the SEO and RBO. The positive effect of the SEO on the stability of the CAO was more than that of the RBO. Increasing the amounts of SEO and RBO from 3 to 6% led to decreases in the TPC and AV, and increases in the CDV and CV of the CAO during the frying process. The best frying performance for the CAO was obtained by use of 3% of both SEO and RBO together (CAO/SEO/RBO, 94:3:3 w/w/w).
Gelatin sponge insertion into tympanostomy tubes: An in‐vitro study to evaluate postoperative obstruction
Authors: Secor Chad P. , Wilson Robert E. , Spring Paul M. , Haydon Richard C.
Published: April 2009

Objective

To analyze the efficacy of gelatin sponge insertion into lumens of tympanostomy tubes to prevent obstruction in the presence of blood.

Study Design

In vitro model.

Methods

Absorbable gelatin sponge wicks were placed in the lumen of Ultrasil Collar Button ventilation tubes and Shepherd Grommet ventilation tubes. One half of each group was covered with blood, the other left untreated. Each tube was treated with ofloxacin solution three times daily for seven days. After treatment, the tubes were inspected. Reinspection was performed after brief suctioning. Numerical scores were given based on degree of obstruction.

Results

A statistically significant difference in degree of obstruction (P < 0.0001) was seen between all tubes with wicks alone versus those with blood added. After re‐evaluation, there remained a statistically significant difference between tubes with wicks alone and tubes with wicks and blood (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions

Gelatin sponge insertion does not prevent, and may in fact, enhance, obstruction of pressure equalization tube lumens in the presence of blood.
Stonehenge excavations 2008
Authors: Darvill Timothy , Wainwright Geoffrey
Published: April 2009

The following paper is the first published account of an excavation that took place at Stonehenge during April 2008. As this was the first excavation to take place within the stone circle for some forty years, the excavation has attracted an uncommon degree of interest, hence its publication in the Antiquaries Journal as an interim account of work in progress, in the form of an edited transcript of a paper first given at the Ordinary Meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 9 October 2008. The paper explains that the 2008 excavation set out to date the construction of the Double Bluestone Circle at Stonehenge and to chart the subsequent history of the bluestones and their use at the monument. Evidence is presented for a provisional working date of around 2300 bc for the construction of the Double Bluestone Circle, while it is argued that the history of the site is far more complex than has been allowed for in existing interpretations, with a multiplicity of overlapping and intercutting (though not continuous) events, including substantial late Roman, medieval and early modern activity. The excavated material, and the evidence from the surviving stones, supports the suggestion that bluestones were brought to the site because of their perceived special qualities, perhaps for their supposed healing properties, and that some knowledge of those qualities remained current in later times with the result that in excess of two-thirds of the original bluestone volume has now disappeared.
Christopher Hawkes: his archive and networks in British and European archaeology
Authors: Díaz-Andreu Margarita , Price Megan , Gosden Chris
Published: April 2009

This paper reviews the contribution of Professor Christopher Hawkes, FSA, to the development of Bronze and Iron Age studies in the decades before and – more especially – after World Warii. It also provides an overview and analysis of the Hawkes Papers, kept in the Bodleian Library, and particularly of the general correspondence section, with a view to assessing the potential of this documentation for the study of the development of British prehistoric archaeology within its European context. Examination of the first thirty-one boxes of the archive situates Hawkes at the interface between several networks of individuals and communities of interest, including amateurs, professional archaeologists and his own students.
The Maliki Family Endowment: Legal Norms and Social Practices
Authors: Powers David S.
Published: April 2009

Historians of Muslim societies have observed that, in principle, the strict application of the Islamic rules of inheritance would result in the progressive fragmentation of capital. Although technically correct, the observation fails to take into account the fact that the Islamic inheritance rules are but part of a larger and flexible Islamic inheritance system that also includes bequests, gifts inter vivos, family endowments, dowries, fictitious sales, and other modes for the devolution of property. This larger system has served Muslims, rich and poor, for over 1,400 years, although it operates differently in different places. The most important component of the Islamic inheritance system arguably has been the family endowment, known among the Malikis as ḥabs (popularly, habous) and elsewhere as waqf ahlī. This institution came into existence in the first Islamic century, in part because the Islamic inheritance rules proved too constraining, and soon became an integral component of the Islamic legal system. It allows a proprietor to transform immovable property such as a house or field into a perpetual endowment for one or more beneficiaries and subsequent generations of descendants; the property thereafter may not be bought, sold, or inherited. The founder designates the initial beneficiaries and defines the strategy according to which usufructory rights pass from one generation to the next. Thus, the founder may control the devolution ofendowment revenues for many generations after his or her death.
The Political Economy of Population Counts in Ottoman Palestine: Nablus, circa 1850
Authors: Doumani Beshara B.
Published: April 2009

New evidence, culled from the Nablus advisory council (majlis al-shūrā) records and based on an actual Ottoman population count taken in December 1849, indicates that the city's population at that time numbered at least 20,000 people, more than twice the frequently cited figure of 8,000–9,000. This revision raises serious doubts about the veracity of hitherto commonly accepted population figures, most of them based on contemporary estimates by Western observers, for the various regions of Palestine during the first three-quarters of the 19th century. Moreover, when compared to available data for Nablus from the 16th and the late 19th centuries, it seems that the pattern of Nablus's demographic development differs from what the proponents of Ottoman decline and modernization theses have argued.2 Instead of decreasing during the so-called dark ages of Ottoman decline in the 17th and 18th centuries, Nablus's population increased significantly; and instead of growing robustly during the so-called period of modernization in the second half of the 19th century, it appears to have leveled off.
Economic Growth and Structural Change in Turkey 1960–88
Authors: Çeçen A. Aydin , Doğruel A. Suut , Doğruel Fatma
Published: April 2009

After almost five decades of industrialization—characterized, on the one hand, by considerable state intervention and, on the other, by protectionist import-substituting policies in domestic capital formation—in the early 1980s Turkey ostensibly entered a new era of export-led economic growth. Since 1960, the Turkish democracy has experienced a series of crises with astonishingly regular ten-year cycles of recurrence. The 1980 military intervention, however, brought about a radical attempt to restructure the economy, hardly comparable with the rather gradual changes in its recent economic history. Its ten years of experimentation with economic liberalization and structural adjustment provide us today with an adequate record to identify and discuss at least the salient features of this period by comparing the performance of the economy in different years.
Pigs and Their Prohibition
Authors: Lobban Richard A.
Published: April 2009

Little is more central to the study of the modern Middle East than religion. Amidst the differences between the Judaic and Islamic traditions, both are unified about the religious prohibition of swine as a source of food. This taboo is one of the more significant common markers of their ethnicity and religious code. Indeed, violations or poor adherence to the taboo can be considered as grave religious insults or cultural transgressions. In India, the meat of swine has been thrown on mosque steps and has provoked major intercommunal rioting. Even as one flies to the Middle East in modern, high-technology European airlines, the companies commonly inform all passengers that the meals contain no pork. In Spain, the ritual public slaughter of pigs, thematanza, has come to symbolize the resistance of Christians to the Muslim occupation. Thematanzaritual has come to be a modern element in the formation of Spanish religious and cultural identity (Castaner 1988). Yet, the debate about the origins of this modern taboo is unresolved and still continues.
The Origins of Modern Banking in the Levant: The Branch Network of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, 1890–1914
Authors: Clay Christopher
Published: April 2009

Historically, the development of modern banking has been an important component of economic change, but it has not always been so clear whether it has been a factor in the genesis of growth or a response to and a consequence of it. In the case of the Ottoman Empire, corporate banks—wholly or partly financed with Western capital—had established themselves in strength in Istanbul after the Crimean War, especially in the decade 1863–72 when no less than eight opened there. All, however, concentrated to varying degrees on meeting the financial needs of the government at a time when the Porte was borrowing almost continuously, both short-term and long-term, a fact that explains the eclipse of several of them around the time of the bankruptcy of 1875.
Stereotypes and Political Styles: Islamists and Tribesfolk in Yemen
Authors: Dresch Paul , Haykel Bernard
Published: April 2009

An outbreak of fighting in May 1994 put Yemen in the world's headlines when, from one point of view, the unity of Yemen proclaimed in May four years earlier was confirmed by force. One topic which straddles that period has been Islah, an Islamist party of unusual form. The present article explores the rhetorical axes that defined Islah. Briefly put, a supposedly “fundamentalist,” even “radical,” party, was in fact more a party of the establishment center. Its public identity, however, depends on terms and arguments that are centered elsewhere than Yemen, and they misrepresent, to many Yemenis as to others, what is happening. The problem is not resolved by such standard academic moves as avoiding “stereotypes” or sticking to “local terms.” The terms at issue are widely shared among Yemenis and foreigners alike.
Joint Family Households and Rural Notables in 19th-Century Egypt
Authors: Cuno Kenneth M.
Published: April 2009

During the past thirty years, the study of the family in European history has developed with a strong comparative emphasis. In contrast, the study of the family in Middle East history has hardly begun, even though the family is assumed to have had a major role in “the structuring of economic, political, and social relations,” as Judith Tucker has noted. This article takes up the theme of the family in the economic, political, and social context of 19th-century rural Egypt. Its purpose is, first of all, to explicate the prevailing joint household formation system in relation to the system of landholding, drawing upon fatwas and supporting evidence. Second, it argues that rural notable families in particular had a tendency to form large joint households and that this was related to the reproduction and enhancement of their economic and political status. Specifically, the maintenance of a joint household appears to have been a way of avoiding the fragmentation of land through inheritance. After the middle of the 19th century, when it appeared that the coherence and durability of the joint family household were threatened, the notables sought to strengthen it through legislation. Their involvement in the law reform process contradicts the progressive, linear model of social and legal change that is often applied in 19th-century Egyptian history.
Edward William Lane's “Description of Egypt”
Authors: Thompson Jason
Published: April 2009

Few Western students of the Arab world are as well known as the 19th-century British scholar Edward William Lane (1801–76). During his long career, Lane produced a number of highly influential works:An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians(1836), a translation ofThe Thousand and One Nights(1839–41),Selections from the Ḳur-án(1843), and theArabic–English Lexicon(1863–93). TheArabic–English Lexiconremains a pre-eminent work of its kind, andManners and Customs of the Modern Egyptiansis still a basic text for both Arab and Western students. Through his published work, Lane contributed substantially to the prevailing Western picture of the Arab world.
War Making and State Power in the Contemporary Middle East
Authors: Gongora Thierry
Published: April 2009

It is now a familiar theme in the literature on the emergence and development of the state in the Western world to refer to war and war preparation—in short, war making—as an important contributing factor to the development of the modern state. As Charles Tilly succinctly put it, “War made the state, and the state made war.” We know, however, little about the relation between war making and the development of the state in the contemporary Middle East. This is rather surprising considering the importance of war and war preparation in the history of many states in the region and the current wave of academic interest in the study of state formation in the Middle East. A review of the literature would show that war is usually integrated as a contingent factor, but not as a systematic process that can influence state development. For instance, accounts of state development in Egypt mention the impact ofthe 1956 and 1967 wars on the capacity of the state to intervene in the economy and society; yet until recently no one had systematically studied the impact of war preparation on state formation in Egypt.
Shariʿa and State in the Modern Muslim Middle East
Authors: Brown Nathan J.
Published: April 2009

The Islamic shariʿa is central to Islam in the minds of most Muslims and non-Muslim scholars. In many ways, the centrality of the Islamic shariʿa has increased in recent decades. Yet despite—or perhaps because of—this centrality, the precise, even the general, role of the shariʿa in Islamic societies is the subject of contentious debate among Muslims. Outside of and underlying such debates are more subtle and rarely articulated differences about the meaning of the Islamic shariʿa. In this essay, I will put forward a general intellectual map for those varying meanings. More critically, I will suggest that important shifts in the meaning of the Islamic shariʿa have taken place in the Muslim world, and that these shifts are closely connected to the nature and viability of legal and educational institutions associated with the Islamic shariʿa in the past. As the Islamic shariʿa has become disconnected from these institutions, its meaning has changed in some fundamental ways. Most important, the shariʿa is approached less for its process than for its content. And because the shift in institutions and understanding has received much less attention from Muslims, widespread attempts to re-create older relationships (particularly involving the relationship between the Islamic shariʿa and the state) in fact involve a deepening rather than a counteracting of the transformation in the Islamic shariʿa.
The Dialectic in Contemporary Egyptian Social Thought: The Scripturalist and Modernist Discourses of Sayyid Qutb and Hasan Hanafi
Authors: Akhavi Shahrough
Published: April 2009

One of the most important arenas of the ferment in contemporary Arab social thought is Egypt. Egyptian writers have been contributing to a rapidly growing body of literature on state and society. Its themes include methodological issues, the nature of the ideal Islamic society; the elite–mass gap; the state's role in public life; the appropriate model for socioeconomic development; and the social bases of Islamist movements.
Iranian Women's Literature: From Pre-Revolutionary Social Discourse to Post-Revolutionary Feminism
Authors: Talattof Kamran
Published: April 2009

The literary works produced by Iranian women writers after the 1979 revolution, despite their diversity in artistic value and quality of narrative, commonly manifest a remarkable sensitivity toward women's issues and gender relations. The overall theme tying these works together seems to be the problematic of gender hierarchy and women's suffering expressed in a figurative language, transcending the extant male-dominated literary discourse. In these works, women's personal and private experiences become public. Their narratives articulate their protests against sexual oppression and reflect their struggle for identity. This phenomenon is noteworthy not simply because this is a literature produced by women about women, but also because this body of work displays a contrast with the literary works produced by women in the decades preceding the revolution. Pre-revolutionary works, under the sway of the dominant literary discourse, did not give rise to a feminist literary movement, for they emphasized sociopolitical issues more than specific gender issues. To be sure, there were themes related to women, but they were often presented in the context of socially conscious yet male-dominated committed literature. Women's literary paradigms before and after the revolution thus represent different literary discourses, and the Iranian Revolution of 1979 appears to be the major historical event that separates these two discourses and may well be responsible for the shift. In a strict sense, gender is socially constituted, and gender issues are in fact a type of social issue.
The State, the Clergy, and British Imperial Policy in Afghanistan during the 19th and Early 20th Centuries
Authors: Nawid Senzil
Published: April 2009

The political and dynastic history of Afghanistan during the 19th and the early 20th centuries is well known. So is British imperial policy toward Afghanistan. However, very little attention has been paid to the role of the clergy, the guardians of the Islamic order and the representatives of the civil society in Afghanistan. They played a major role in domestic politics and in Afghanistan's challenges with foreign powers. This paper attempts to fill the gap in information about the ulama by detailing their role in defending Afghanistan's territorial integrity and by examining the conflict over jihad between the ulama and Afghanistan's rulers, a conflict that adversely affected the legitimacy of successive regimes.
“Imagined Identities, Imagined Nationalisms: Print Culture and Egyptian Nationalism in Light of Recent Scholarship.” A Review Essay of Israel Gershoni and James P. Jankowski,Redefining the Egyptian Nation, 1930–1945, Cambridge Middle East Studies (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995). Pp. 297
Authors: Charles D. Smith
Published: April 2009

Anthony D. Smith has argued that the idea of the “nation-state” conflates two historical and ideological processes that, even with Western European history serving as the paradigm, were often distinct. Nor was there any uniform evolution in these processes from one stage to the other. For Smith this has meant that “Eastern Europe and the Third World have all been trying to imitate a rather singular model whose ethnic homogeneity, like its parliamentary institutions, simply cannot be transplanted. They have been pursuing a Western mirage … [where] even in the West, the much soughtafter marriage of state and ethnie has not turned out to be all that happy and enduring.” Smith assumes that true nations are based onethnie, meaning a shared memory of culture, language, and history identified with specific territory stretching into the past that creates both a bond within the group, the precursor to nationhood, and a sense of distinction against other such groups. Here he opposes those whom he calls the “modernists,” who may argue with one another about what constitutes nationalism but agree that it reflects the development of nationhood in the modern era and is not an inevitable extension of ancient historical and cultural bonds.
Segregation or Integration of the Israeli Arabs: Two Concepts in Mapai
Authors: Kafkafi Eyal
Published: April 2009

With the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of British rule in Palestine, the nascent Zionist labor movement, shortly to become the backbone of the Zionist undertaking in Palestine, found itself confronted by a series of fundamental questions. The purpose of this paper is to show that there was never a consensus within the Zionist labor movement; that the leadership was divided on vital issues; that Israel's leader, David Ben-Gurion, represented only one approach within labor Zionism, and that even after his approach had prevailed, following drawn-out disputes, and he had risen to a position of commanding authority, his policies continued to be challenged by successive leaders during the decades preceding and following the establishment of the State of Israel.
Firm Characteristics, Relative Efficiency, and Equity Returns
Authors: Nguyen Giao X. , Swanson Peggy E.
Published: April 2009

This study uses a stochastic frontier approach to evaluate firm efficiency. The resulting efficiency score, based on firm characteristics, is the input for performance evaluation. The portfolio composed of highly efficient firms significantly underperforms the portfolio composed of inefficient firms even after adjustment for firm characteristics and risk factors, suggesting a required premium for the inefficient firms. The difference in performance between the two portfolios remains for at least five years after the portfolio formation year. In addition, firm efficiency exhibits significant explanatory power for average equity returns in cross-sectional analysis.
Institutional Investors, Past Performance, and Dynamic Loss Aversion
Authors: O’Connell Paul G. J. , Teo Melvyn
Published: April 2009

Using a proprietary database of currency trades, this paper explores the effects of trading gains and losses on risk-taking among large institutional investors. We find that institutional investors, unlike individuals, are not prone to the disposition effect. Instead, institutions aggressively reduce risk following losses and mildly increase risk following gains. This asymmetry is more pronounced later in the calendar year and among older and more experienced funds. We show that such performance dependence is consistent with dynamic loss aversion (Barberis, Huang, and Santos (2001)) and overconfidence. In addition, prior institutional gains and losses have palpable implications for future prices.
The Determinants of Credit Default Swap Premia
Authors: Ericsson Jan , Jacobs Kris , Oviedo Rodolfo
Published: April 2009

Variables that in theory determine credit spreads have limited explanatory power in existing empirical work on corporate bond data. We investigate the linear relationship between theoretical determinants of default risk and default swap spreads. We find that estimated coefficients for a minimal set of theoretical determinants of default risk are consistent with theory and are significant statistically and economically. Volatility and leverage have substantial explanatory power in univariate and multivariate regressions. A principal component analysis of residuals and spreads indicates limited evidence for a residual common factor, confirming that the theoretical variables explain a significant amount of the variation in the data.
Three misuses of Dionysius for comparative theology
Authors: KNEPPER TIMOTHY D.
Published: April 2009

In his 2000Religious Studiesarticle ‘Ineffability’, John Hick calls upon the Dionysian corpus to bear witness to the ‘transcategorality’ of God and thereby corroborate his comparative theology of pluralism. Hick's Dionysius avows God's transcendence of categories by negating God's names, while at the same time maintaining that such names are metaphorically useful means of uplifting humans to God. But herein reside three common misunderstandings of the Dionysian corpus: (1) the divine names are mere metaphors; (2) the divine names are therefore negated of God; and (3) the negation of divine names is the means by which humans return to and unite with God.
How “weak” mindreaders inherited the earth
Authors: Buckner Cameron , Shriver Adam , Crowley Stephen , Allen Colin
Published: April 2009

Carruthers argues that an integrated faculty of metarepresentation evolved for mindreading and was later exapted for metacognition. A more consistent application of his approach would regard metarepresentation in mindreading with the same skeptical rigor, concluding that the “faculty” may have been entirely exapted. Given this result, the usefulness of Carruthers' line-drawing exercise is called into question.
How we know our conscious minds: Introspective access to conscious thoughts
Authors: Frankish Keith
Published: April 2009

Carruthers considers and rejects a mixed position according to which we have interpretative access to unconscious thoughts, but introspective access to conscious ones. I argue that this is too hasty. Given a two-level view of the mind, we can, and should, accept the mixed position, and we can do so without positing additional introspective mechanisms beyond those Carruthers already recognizes.
Unsymbolized thinking, sensory awareness, and mindreading
Authors: Hurlburt Russell T.
Published: April 2009

Carruthers views unsymbolized thinking as “purely propositional” and, therefore, as a potential threat to his mindreading-is-prior position. I argue that unsymbolized thinking may involve (non-symbolic) sensory aspects; it is therefore not purely propositional, and therefore poses no threat to mindreading-is-prior. Furthermore, Descriptive Experience Sampling lends empirical support to the view that access to our own propositional attitudes is interpretative, not introspective.
What neuroimaging and perceptions of self-other similarity can tell us about the mechanism underlying mentalizing
Authors: Lombardo Michael V. , Chakrabarti Bhismadev , Baron-Cohen Simon
Published: April 2009

Carruthers' “mindreading is prior” model postulates one unitary mindreading mechanism working identically for self and other. While we agree about shared mindreading mechanisms, there is also evidence from neuroimaging and mentalizing about dissimilar others that suggest factors that differentially affect self-versus-other mentalizing. Such dissociations suggest greater complexity than the mindreading is prior model allows.
Guilt by dissociation: Why mindreading may not be prior to metacognition after all
Authors: Robbins Philip
Published: April 2009

Carruthers argues that there is no developmental or clinical evidence that metacognition is dissociable from mindreading, and hence there is no reason to think that metacognition is prior to mindreading. A closer look at the evidence, however, reveals that these conclusions are premature at best.
The truth and value of theories of associative learning
Authors: Beckers Tom , Vervliet Bram
Published: April 2009

In this commentary, we assess the propositional approach to associative learning not only in terms of veridicality and falsifiability, but also in heuristic value. We remark that it has furthered our knowledge and understanding of human, as well as animal, associative learning. At the same time, we maintain that models developed from the association formation tradition continue to bear great heuristic value as well.
What's reason got to do with it? Affect as the foundation of learning
Authors: Bliss-Moreau Eliza , Barrett Lisa Feldman
Published: April 2009

We propose that learning has a top-down component, but not in the propositional terms described by Mitchell et al. Specifically, we propose that a host of learning processes, including associative learning, serve to imbue the representation of the conditioned stimulus (CS) with affective meaning.
Rational models of conditioning
Authors: Chater Nick
Published: April 2009

Mitchell et al. argue that conditioning phenomena may be better explained by high-level, rational processes, rather than by non-cognitive associative mechanisms. This commentary argues that this viewpoint is compatible with neuroscientific data, may extend to nonhuman animals, and casts computational models of reinforcement learning in a new light.
Operating principles versus operating conditions in the distinction between associative and propositional processes
Authors: Gawronski Bertram , Bodenhausen Galen V.
Published: April 2009

Drawing on our Associative-Propositional Evaluation (APE) Model, we argue for the usefulness of distinguishing between basic operating principles of learning processes (associative linking vs. propositional reasoning) and secondary features pertaining to the conditions of their operation (automatic vs. controlled). We review empirical evidence that supports the joint operation of associative and propositional processes in the formation of new associations.
Rational constructivism: A new way to bridge rationalism and empiricism
Authors: Gopnik Alison
Published: April 2009

Recent work in rational probabilistic modeling suggests that a kind of propositional reasoning is ubiquitous in cognition and especially in cognitive development. However, there is no reason to believe that this type of computation is necessarily conscious or resource-intensive.
Learning in simple systems
Authors: Hall Geoffrey
Published: April 2009

Studies of conditioning in simple systems are best interpreted in terms of the formation of excitatory links. The mechanisms responsible for such conditioning contribute to the associative learning effects shown by more complex systems. If a dual-system approach is to be avoided, the best hope lies in developing standard associative theory to deal with phenomena said to show propositional learning.
Trace conditioning, awareness, and the propositional nature of associative learning
Authors: Li Nanxin
Published: April 2009

The propositional nature of human associative learning is strongly supported by studies of trace eyeblink and fear conditioning, in which awareness of the contingency of a conditioned stimulus upon an unconditioned stimulus is a prerequisite for successful learning. Studies of animal lesion and human imaging suggest that the hippocampus is critical for establishing functional connections between awareness and trace conditioning.
Propositional encodings are a subset of organization theory
Authors: Mandler George
Published: April 2009

The notion that human associative learning is a usually conscious, higher-order process is one of the tenets of organization theory, developed over the past century. Propositional/sequential encoding is one of the possible types of organizational structures, but learning may also involve other structures.
What is the link between propositions and memories?
Authors: Newell Ben R.
Published: April 2009

Mitchell et al. present a lucid and provocative challenge to the claim that links between mental representations are formed automatically. However, the propositional approach they offer requires clearer specification, especially with regard to how propositions and memories interact. A definition of a system would also clarify the debate, as might an alternative technique for assessing task “dissociations.”
Automatic (spontaneous) propositional and associative learning of first impressions
Authors: Uleman James S.
Published: April 2009

Contrary to the target article's claims, social cognition research shows considerable learning (about other people) that is relatively automatic. Some of this learning is propositional (spontaneous trait inferences) and some is associative (spontaneous trait transference). Other dichotomies – for example, between learning explicit and implicit attitudes – are also important. However conceived, human conditioning is not synonymous with human learning.