bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Language Endangerment and Resilience Linguistics: Case Studies of Gong and Lisu
Authors: Bradley David
Published: March 2011

Resilience thinking is a new approach to the understanding of complex ecological and social interactions and changes that is also relevant for our response to the processes of change that occur in language endangerment. Many communities around the world are in or approaching a tip phase of language endangerment, involving drastic changes in language ability, structure, and use, as well as the loss of a great deal of other traditional knowledge. A resilience approach, empowering the community and giving it the respect, control, and resources to document and use its traditional knowledge and make its own decisions about language, may allow many groups to achieve a new stability in the face of linguistic and cultural globalization and top-down language policies. Case studies from the Gong community in Thailand and the Lisu community in China, Burma, Thailand, and India illustrate the processes involved. Local initiative, with support from linguists and local authorities, appropriate training and facilitation, and provision of appropriate materials, can stabilize or even reverse an apparently terminal situation.
Take Care of the Poets! Verbal Art Performances as Key Factors in the Preservation of Kalasha Language and Culture
Authors: Di Carlo Pierpaolo
Published: March 2011

Unlike all the neighboring societies within the Hindu Kush region, the Kalasha still practice a pre-Islamic religion of Vedic origin. The process of culture maintenance finds in the ancestral language an irreplaceable symbolic resource for identity purposes. This, in turn, determines that those Kalasha who convert to Islam are inclined to repudiate their fathers’ language. Culture and language maintenance are clearly interdependent processes; hence, it is important to identify the loci of reproduction of Kalasha culture. Ritual and verbal art performances occupy a central role in this perspective. This unsurprising result is accompanied by a much less predictable suggestion—a contrastive analysis of topic coding devices in ordinary and poetic discourses indicates that it is during verbal art performances that Kalasha poets reframe their traditional eschatology, thus providing an essential motivation for an endangered enclave to continue bearing the burden of being unique.
Recollecting Words and Expressions in Aasá, a Dead Language in Tanzania
Authors: Petrollino Sara , Mous Maarten
Published: March 2011

Aasá, a Cushitic language, was formerly spoken by a hunter-gatherer community that constitutes a servant group to the Maasai in northern Tanzania. Given that none of the ethnic Aasá surveyed in this study had ever spoken this language, their memory of it is remarkable and raises questions about how it is remembered. In this article, we consider what our corpus of collected data reveals about the patterns of recollection of Aasá and compare these patterns with similar instances of lexical retrieval in second-language attrition. The divergent recollection patterns identified in our study can be explained within the context of the historical reconstruction of language shift from Aasá to Maasai. We conclude that the data collected represent the vestiges of a stage of the shift at which Aasá was no longer a full-fledged language.
Traces of War: Memory, Trauma, and the Archive in Joseph Cedar's Beaufort
Authors: Yosef Raz
Published: March 2011

One of the most striking phenomena in contemporary Israeli cinema is the number of films that explore repressed traumatic events from the First Lebanon War—events that have been denied entry into the shared national past. This essay analyzes Joseph Cedar's film Beaufort (2007), arguing that the film exposes a traumatic rupture between history and memory. Yet at the same time, Beaufort nostalgically expresses an impossible yearning for lost archival collective national memory.
Hollywood Gossip as Public Sphere: Hedda Hopper, Reader-Respondents, and the Red Scare, 1947–1965
Authors: Frost Jennifer
Published: March 2011

"Golden Age" Hollywood gossip columnist and political conservative Hedda Hopper used her journalistic platform to promote anticommunist campaigns during the cold war. Analysis of letters to Hopper demonstrates her success in mobilizing her readers to participate and how, together, they made her column part of the public sphere in the United States.
How Bridget Was Framed: The Irish Domestic in Early American Cinema, 1895–1917
Authors: Flynn Peter
Published: March 2011

This article explores the form and function of the Bridget stereotype in pre-classical American cinema. It argues that the character of the unruly Irish maid—a grotesque inversion of nineteenth-century domestic and feminine norms—was a cipher for underlying tensions at the heart of the new urban middle-class family.
Homer on the Range
Authors: Haas Robert
Published: March 2011

This article discusses Harry Brown’s The Stars in Their Courses , a well-crafted novel that recasts Homer’s Iliad in the form of a Western. (For instance, the book’s climax is a gunfight between Arch Eastmere [= Achilles] and Hallock [= Hector].) The novel can be a useful supplement in teaching, not only because of its dozens of plot and character parallels to Homer (tabulated in the article), but also because of its attractive “multimedia” features, which include photography, poetry, and nature writing that sets up nature as a modern equivalent for the Olympian gods.
The Role of Cato the Younger in Caesar’s Bellum Civile
Authors: Yates David C.
Published: March 2011

This paper demonstrates that Caesar treats Cato with much more restraint in his Bellum Civile than is commonly thought. Cato appears only three times and, although the overall portrayal is far from positive, Caesar consistently shields him from much worse. The reason for this relatively mild presentation has less to do with Cato than Pompey. Caesar, despite his personal animosity toward Cato, decides to use his implacable foe to voice a devastating rebuke of Pompey from within his own faction. Treating Cato with greater restraint ultimately serves to add weight and credibility to his condemnation of Pompey.
On the “Hiccuping Episode” in Plato’s Symposium
Authors: O’Mahoney Paul
Published: March 2011

This article argues for a design in the famous episode of Aristophanes’s hiccups in the Symposium ; its purpose is, via the interactions it causes, to contrive the skipping of Aristodemus in the order of speeches. A careful reading of these interactions reveals a different order of seating than that usually assumed, which shows us how Aristodemus comes to be overlooked. We further enquire as to the implications of this ‘missing’ of the person who obviously conforms to the image of philosophical Eros in Socrates’s speech; and conclude that it points us toward a shortcoming in the adequacy of philosophical investigation.
Family Nomenclature and Same-Name Divinities in Roman Religion and Mythology
Authors: Holland Lora
Published: March 2011

A cultural response to language can be detected in the mythology concerning three pairs of male and female deities in Roman religion: Liber/Libera, Faunus/Fauna, and Janus/Jana. Their same-name status usually invokes the familial relationships of the agnatic nomenclatural system, that is, brother/sister and father/daughter. The interpretation of Liber/Libera and Faunus/Fauna as husband-wife pairs in some authors could be understood in terms of the same-name status of agnatic cousins; but such marriages are rarely attested. The unusual or even scandalous treatments of these same-name divine spouses in Latin literature are best understood in light of contemporary issues in Roman culture.
The State of the Social Safety Net in the Post-Welfare Reform Era
Authors: Bitler Marianne P. , Hoynes Hilary W.
Published: March 2011

The 1996 welfare reform led to sweeping changes to the central cash safety net program for families with children. Along with other changes, the reform imposed lifetime time limits for receipt of cash welfare, effectively ending its entitlement nature for these families. Despite dire predictions, previous research has shown that program caseloads declined and employment increased, with no detectible increase in poverty or worsening of child well-being. We reevaluate these results in light of the severe 2007-09 recession. In particular, we examine how welfare reform has altered the cyclicality of the response of caseloads and family well-being. We find that use of food stamps and noncash safety net program participation have become significantly more responsive to the economic cycle after welfare reform, rising more when unemployment increases. By contrast, we find no evidence that cash welfare for families with children is more responsive, and some evidence that it might be less so. We find some evidence that poverty increases more with increases in the unemployment rate after reform, and none that it increases less. We find no significant effects of reform on the cyclical responsiveness of food consumption, food insecurity, health insurance, household crowding, or health.
The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Students, Teachers, and Schools
Authors: Dee Thomas S. , Jacob Brian A.
Published: March 2011

The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) brought test-based school accountability to scale across the United States. This study draws together results from multiple data sources to identify how the new accountability systems developed in response to NCLB have influenced student achievement, school-district finances, and measures of school and teacher practices. Our results indicate that NCLB brought about targeted gains in the mathematics achievement of younger students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, we find no evidence that NCLB improved student achievement in reading. School-district expenditure increased significantly in response to NCLB, and these increases were not matched by federal revenue. Our results suggest that NCLB led to increases in teacher compensation and the share of teachers with graduate degrees. We find evidence that NCLB shifted the allocation of instructional time toward math and reading, the subjects targeted by the new accountability systems.
How Useful Are Estimated DSGE Model Forecasts for Central Bankers?
Authors: Edge Rochelle M. , Gürkaynak Refet S.
Published: March 2011

Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models are a prominent tool for forecasting at central banks, and the competitive forecasting performance of these models relative to alternatives, including official forecasts, has been documented. When evaluating DSGE models on an absolute basis, however, we find that the benchmark estimated medium-scale DSGE model forecasts inflation and GDP growth very poorly, although statistical and judgmental forecasts do equally poorly. Our finding is the DSGE model analogue of the literature documenting the recent poor performance of macroeconomic forecasts relative to simple naive forecasts since the onset of the Great Moderation. Although this finding is broadly consistent with the DSGE model we employ—the model itself implies that especially under strong monetary policy, inflation deviations should be unpredictable—a "wrong" model may also have the same implication. We therefore argue that forecasting ability during the Great Moderation is not a good metric by which to judge models.
What, Where, When, and Sometimes Why: Data Mining Two Decades of Women’s History Abstracts
Authors: Block Sharon , Newman David
Published: March 2011

“What, Where, When and Sometimes Why” provides a quantitative overview of post-c.1450 women’s history publications by data mining a half million abstracts from two widely used article databases. We assess changes in the field and track the relationship between women’s history as a subfield and history as a whole. Among many other findings, we argue against two popular beliefs about women’s history: that women’s historians are overly-focused on recent history and that women’s and gender history is an ever increasing proportion of the profession. We trace publication shifts from 1985–2005, showing, for example, an increasing focus on various non-Western and nineteenth-century histories. Our case study on the history of sexuality finds minimal attention to reproduction and same-sex sexuality, and more thematic similarities across time periods than regions. We conclude by suggesting areas for future research, including the expansion of quantitative studies, of non-Western histories, and of professional activism as means to further develop women’s history scholarship.
Clerical “Concubines” in Northern Italy During the Fourteenth Century
Authors: Cossar Roisin
Published: March 2011

This essay reconstructs the lives of a neglected group of women in the Christian church during the later Middle Ages. So-called clerical “concubines” were well-known in their communities, but their lived experience has been largely ignored by modern historians. Yet studying clerical concubines sheds light not only on the women themselves, but also on the social organization of the medieval Christian church. Drawing on information gathered from notarial acts across the northern Italian peninsula, I argue that concubines were not a unitary group. Their experiences varied instead according to their status and the regions they inhabited. For instance, while laywomen who became priests’ concubines moved into their lovers’ homes, nuns retained cells in their religious houses during these relationships. Furthermore, concubines in cities such as Treviso could openly live with their lovers and share their property, while in other places, such as Bergamo, severe legal restrictions on concubines made them a particularly vulnerable group.
“Half as Much as a Man”?: Gender Ideology and Practice in Medieval Flanders
Authors: Kittell Ellen E.
Published: March 2011

In his account of 18 September 1379, the bailiff of the Vier Ambachten, a rural circumscription in Flanders, noted that a woman was to be fined “only half as much as a man.” This assertion “of half value,” however, was the first of its kind. An examination of early fourteenth-century Flemish accounts indicates that the “half-value” principle never found expression in practice. Over the course of the fourteenth century, changes took place in both social and economic practices that correlated with a growing constriction of female economic and social agency. The present argument is in line with other scholarship that makes claims for such a constriction within the late-medieval and early-modern period.
Women’s Agency and the Historical Record: Reflections on Female Activists in Nineteenth-Century Japan
Authors: Anderson Marnie S.
Published: March 2011

This article examines the small body of Japanese-language historiography on women’s activism in late nineteenth-century Japan. The era saw a sharp rise in the number of female activists, and yet the activities of these women have usually been interpreted as the result of male initiative. Only women who left a clear record in their own hand—demonstrating what I call “literacy agency”—are seen as full agents. I suggest that such understandings are insufficient by presenting four cases of women’s activism, including local women’s groups, geisha activists, a petitioner, and several writers. It turns out that female activists who displayed “literary agency” had important connections with male activists; at the same time, women who did not leave historical records were not necessarily passive appendages of men. I conclude by reflecting on some of the alternate ways we might conceptualize of women’s activism and its relationship to larger social networks.
Jane Austen and the History of England
Authors: Spongberg Mary
Published: March 2011

This article examines Jane Austen’s History of England from the reign of Henry the 4 th to the death of Charles I , by a partial, prejudiced and ignorant historian . Written when she was just fifteen, the History has recently been the subject of interest among historians. Understood as a satire upon Oliver Goldsmith’s History of England (1764), Austen’s History has not been read against the tumultuous politics of the 1790s. This article will suggest that Austen was not merely satirizing Goldsmith but, like Catherine Sawbridge Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft, was staking her claim in the vigorous debate around English history that emerged in the wake of Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France . While Austen’s politics were Jacobite not Jacobin, this article situates the History along side other satires refuting Burke’s spurious account of English history and as an early example of her engagement with the “feminine past.”
Competencies in Premedical and Medical Education: The AAMC–HHMI Report
Authors: Alpern Robert J. , Belitsky Richard , Long Sharon
Published: March 2011

One hundred years ago, Flexner emphasized the importance of science in medicine and medical education. Over the subsequent years, science education in the premedical and medical curricula has changed little, in spite of the vast changes in the biomedical sciences. The National Research Council, in their report Bio 2010 , noted that the premedical curriculum caused many students to lose interest in medicine and in the biological sciences in general. Many medical students and physicians have come to view the premedical curriculum as of limited relevance to medicine and designed more as a screening mechanism for medical school admission. To address this, the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute formed a committee to evaluate the premedical and medical school science curricula. The committee made a number of recommendations that are summarized in this essay. Most important were that competencies replace course requirements and that the physical sciences and mathematics be better integrated with the biological sciences and medicine. The goal is that all physicians possess a strong scientific knowledge base and come to appreciate the importance of this to the practice of medicine. While science education needs to evolve, Flexner's vision is as relevant today as it was 100 years ago.
Flexner Redux
Authors: Nachman Ralph L. , Marzuk Peter M.
Published: March 2011

Medical education in the 20th century has been vastly influenced by the Carnegie Foundation Flexner Report. The basic tenets of the modern four-year medical curriculum and the dominant role of the associated university teaching hospital were cemented into place and have remained the paradigm of the present-day medical educational process. The Flexner Report contributed importantly to the development of the modern health-care system. Despite enormous success, a number of current problems have been identified in today's medical educational curricula and have catalyzed the generation of a new Carnegie Foundation report that emphasizes the building of strong bridges across the artificial divide that separates the basic science and clinical years and lays the foundation for the growth and development of translational medicine. In addition, the report raises crucial issues regarding a national medical workforce policy.
Medical Education in an Era of Health-Care Reform
Authors: Cohen Jordan J.
Published: March 2011

Medical educators are facing a challenge today that is quite analogous to that addressed by Abraham Flexner, namely how to transform a legacy system of education that is no longer preparing future physicians adequately to meet contemporary expectations and responsibilities. In facing up this challenge, however, today's educators not only must equip students to deal effectively with the rapidly changing paradigms in health care and medical practice, they also must adapt their curricula and pedagogical methods to the demanding new paradigms of medical education. Their success in addressing these dual imperatives will determine whether the educational transformations currently underway will have as momentous an effect on the public's health as did those stimulated by Flexner a century ago.
Abraham Flexner and Medical Education
Authors: Ludmerer Kenneth M.
Published: March 2011

The Flexner Report had its roots in the recognition in the mid-19th century that medical knowledge is not something fixed but something that grows and evolves. This new view of medical knowledge led to a recasting of the goal of medical education as that of instilling the proper techniques of acquiring and evaluating information rather than merely inculcating facts through rote memorization. Abraham Flexner, a brilliant educator, had the background to understand and popularize the meaning of this new view of education, and he took the unprecedented step of relating the developments in medical education to the ideas of John Dewey and the progressive education movement. Although the Flexner Report is typically viewed as a historical document—due to an understandable tendency to refer only to the second half of the report, where Flexner provides his famous critiques of the medical schools that existed at the time—this article argues that the Flexner Report is actually a living educational document of as much significance to medical educators today as in Flexner's time. The article analyzes Flexner's discussion of medical education and shows that his message—the importance of academic excellence, professional leadership, proper financial support, and service and altruism—is timeless, as applicable to the proper education of physicians today and tomorrow as in the past.
Medical Decision Making and Medical Education: Challenges and Opportunities
Authors: Schwartz Alan
Published: March 2011

The Flexner Report highlighted the importance of teaching medical students to reason about uncertainty. The science of medical decision making seeks to explain how medical judgments and decisions ought ideally to be made, how they are actually made in practice, and how they can be improved, given the constraints of medical practice. The field considers both clinical decisions by or for individual patients and societal decisions designed to benefit the public. Despite the relevance of decision making to medical practice, it currently receives little formal attention in the U.S. medical school curriculum. This article suggests three roles for medical decision making in medical education. First, basic decision science would be a valuable prerequisite to medical training. Second, several decision-related competencies would be important outcomes of medical education; these include the physician's own decision skills, the ability to guide patients in shared decisions, and knowledge of health policy decisions at the societal level. Finally, decision making could serve as a unifying principle in the design of the medical curriculum, integrating other curricular content around the need to create physicians who are competent and caring decision makers.
A Century of Premedical Education
Authors: Chambers Donald A. , Cohen Rhonna L. , Girotti Jorge
Published: March 2011

The Flexner Report established guidelines for medical education and made the university the obligate home for medical education. Flexner mandated specific elements necessary for university-based premedical education. With the exception of the MCAT, much less attention has been paid to premedical education and its integration into the scope of medical education than to education within the confines of the medical school. This article reviews the history of premedical education, describes some recent critiques of premedical education, discusses a newer program for premedical education evolving at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and offers some suggestions for the future.
Evolutionary Biology: A Basic Science for Medicine in the 21st Century
Authors: Perlman Robert L.
Published: March 2011

Evolutionary biology was a poorly developed discipline at the time of the Flexner Report and was not included in Flexner's recommendations for premedical or medical education. Since that time, however, the value of an evolutionary approach to medicine has become increasingly recognized. There are several ways in which an evolutionary perspective can enrich medical education and improve medical practice. Evolutionary considerations rationalize our continued susceptibility or vulnerability to disease; they call attention to the idea that the signs and symptoms of disease may be adaptations that prevent or limit the severity of disease; they help us understand the ways in which our interventions may affect the evolution of microbial pathogens and of cancer cells; and they provide a framework for thinking about population variation and risk factors for disease. Evolutionary biology should become a foundational science for the medical education of the future.
Flexner at 100: A Brief View from Oxford
Authors: Fleming Kenneth A.
Published: March 2011

Of all the principles set out by Flexner in 1910, the most fundamental, that of academic and scientific excellence, is more relevant to medical education in the United Kingdom today than ever before. To realize this, undergraduate medical education (UGME) at Oxford has evolved to incorporate the tutorial method of teaching to promote independent and critical thought. Coupled with the usual didactic experiences, each medical student is also required to complete a 26-week research experience before going on to clinical study. Outcome measures reveal that Oxford graduates have consistently achieved highest marks in the U.K. equivalent of the United States Medical Licensing Examination. In contrast to UGME in the United Kingdom, postgraduate medical education (PGME) occurs largely outside the academy and often emphasizes the practical at the expense of the underlying Flexnarian principles of academic excellence. A reassertion of Flexner's belief that universities and medical schools should be the center for all medical education would greatly benefit PGME in the United Kingdom and be a tribute to Flexner's enduring legacy.
The Non-Meaning of Incest or, How Natural Culture Is
Authors: Ramadanovic Petar
Published: March 2011

Using the theory of kinship as an example, this essay argues that the dominant understanding of cultural construction is inadequate. The author argues that recent cultural theory lacks an account of the unconscious, that recent psychoanalytic thought lacks a theory of kinship, and that both are in fact necessary for a post-structuralist understanding of the proposition that all social norms are culturally constructed.
Lovecraft through Deleuzio-Guattarian Gates
Authors: MacCormack Patricia
Published: March 2011

This essay picks up on Deleuze and Guattari's brief invocation of the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Deleuze and Guattari's project to develop a philosophy of sorcery as a mode of thought that gestures toward becoming-imperceptible is considered by reading examples in Lovecraft's "cosmic horror" of the terrors and revolutions available through the becomings of his protagonists. Contextualising his work outside of traditional genres of fantasy and science fiction, this essay offers the reading of Lovecraft's writings as a passing through gates. This liberating practice produces encounters with abstract alterity, beginning with the ethical consideration of the preliminary otherness of women and the animal in Deleuze and Guattari's work, via becoming-monstrous, to an infinite territory beyond representation, signification, and perception itself.
Coloring Between the Lines of Punk and Hardcore: From Absence to Black Punk Power
Authors: Ensminger David
Published: March 2011

For three decades, African Americans have often been depicted in the popular press and in independent media as embodying the legacy of a hip hop nation, which the media would signify as an urban, misogynist, and materialistic musical genre and lifestyle. Such representation diminishes or negates, through absence or scant coverage, African American participation in punk and rock'n'roll. In doing so, the media perpetuates hegemonic notions of African Americans as a homogeneous community without nuance and individuation. This essay interrogates the misconception that punk is essentially a white (or Anglo) Do-it-Yourself participatory subculture, and argues that the neglect of a mixed, diverse, and inclusive punk history demonstrates that African American punk cultural productions are undervalued, absent, or deleted. Such interrogation leads to what Stuart Hall has termed "making stereotypes uninhabitable" in his lecture, "Representation and Media" (1997). The essay reclaims the roles of people of color in punk, thus undermining fixed, normative assumptions about race in American pop culture, rendering them unstable and arbitrary. Rewriting punk music as a transhistorical, crosscultural, and synergistic negotiation between African American and Anglo music cultures creates new potentials for meaning and a mode of empowerment for a generation previously unaware of punk's truly democratic ethos.
Faculty Sense of Agency in Decisions about Work and Family
Authors: O'Meara KerryAnn , Campbell Corbin M.
Published: March 2011

Over the last decade, many research universities have adopted policies and support mechanisms to help academic parents balance work and family. This study sought to understand what facilitates faculty agency in making decisions about work and family, including parental leave. We conducted 20 interviews with 5 men and 15 women at a research university that had initiated a parental-leave policy for academic parents. Factors influencing faculty sense of agency included the presence or lack of role models, departmental norms, university standards for working at home, the amount of capital that faculty felt they had acquired in departments, and parental-leave policies themselves.
"Starting from Ground Zero:" Constraints and Experiences of Adult Women Returning to College
Authors: Deutsch Nancy L. , Schmertz Barbara
Published: March 2011

Women adult students face particular constraints when pursuing degrees. This paper uses focus group data to explore the educational pathways, barriers, and supports of women students. Women's educations are shaped by personal and structural gendered forces, including family, economic, and workplace issues. Women report conflict over short-term sacrifices versus long-term gain for their families and experience stress from the competing demands of family and school roles. They also rely on families for support. When families and academic communities value the student role, women are better able to balance their roles and cope with the stress of returning to school.
Absorptive Capacity at the Individual Level: Linking Creativity to Innovation in Academia
Authors: Da Silva Nancy , Davis Ashley R.
Published: March 2011

The absorptive capacity construct has been examined across various country, interorganization, and organizational level phenomena. This paper presents a framework that adopts the absorptive capacity framework to explain the relationship between creative and innovative performance at the individual level. The framework is illustrated by predicting research scholarship among university faculty.
Minority Politics and Group-Differentiated Curricula at Minority-Serving Colleges
Authors: Cole Wade M.
Published: March 2011

This paper analyzes whether ethnocentric curricula, defined as courses that focus exclusively on particular racial/ethnic groups, are more prevalent at minority-serving colleges than at mainstream institutions. Using original curricular data for a sample of tribal, Black, Hispanic, and mainstream colleges, the author found that ethnocentric content tends to be more extensive at tribal and Puerto Rican institutions than at institutions catering to African Americans and mainland Hispanics. This finding can be attributed to the exceptional quasisovereign political status of Indian tribes and Puerto Rico and are confirmed with an analysis of female-centric curricula at women's colleges.
The Sentimental Politics of Language: Ralph Waldo Emerson's and José María Sánchez's Texan Stories
Authors: López Marissa
Published: March 2011

In 1828, Mexican President Guadalupe Victoria assigned General Manuel de Mier y Terán to survey the Texan boundary between Mexico and the United States and to assess the situation of Anglo-American settlers in the territory. Traveling with Terán was Lieutenant José María Sánchez, whose diary of the expedition has long been recognized as an important source document for histories of the period and region. This article asserts the literary value of Sánchez’s diary for a hemispheric study of American Romanticism. In his description of landscape as spiritual experience and his emphasis on language as creative political force, Sánchez enacts the core tenets of an Emersonian Transcendental subject, an artistic sensibility at variance with the Byronic Romantic hero of Mexican and Latin American literature of the period. This article investigates the Mexican political tensions such a Romantic position evokes while exploring the inter-American potential of a hemispheric Romanticism.
Clean Hands and an Iron Face: Frontier Masculinity and Boston Manliness in The Rise of Silas Lapham
Authors: Lavin Matthew J.
Published: March 2011

"Clean Hands and an Iron Face: Frontier Masculinity and Boston Manliness in The Rise of Silas Lapham" traces William Dean Howells's depiction of frontier, workplace, and drawing-room masculinities against the backdrop of a cultural conversation that framed masculinity in geographical, bodily, and social terms. Lavin argues that The Rise of Silas Lapham is deeply invested in questioning and reinventing the ideal man based on gentrified notions of morality and frontier toughness. At the center of this analysis is an appreciation for the narrative structure of the novel, for Howells first establishes central characters rooted firmly in competing paradigms of masculinity and then, across the rising action, climax, and resolution of the plot, reconciles those seemingly incompatible masculinities into a tentative but coherent identity.
Low dose of gamma irradiation enhanced drought tolerance in soybean
Authors: Moussa H.
Published: March 2011

Drought stress is the main limiting factor in soybean production. However, no work has been done on how the application of a low dose of gamma rays could help to overcome water deficits during critical stages of soybean development. Gamma rays at a dose of 20 Gray (Gy) were applied to dry seeds of soybean before planting. Two levels of soil moisture (80% field capacity for well-watered control and 35% for drought-stressed treatment) were applied at pod initiation. Gamma irradiation increased biomass accumulation and seed yield in both treatments. It also increased the chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity (14CO2fixation) and leaf water potential and enhanced the enzyme activities of RuBPCase and PEPCase of control plants compared with drought-stressed plants. Gamma irradiation (20 Gy) increased the soluble sugars, protein and proline content and the activities of peroxidase and superoxide dismutase in drought-stressed soybean leaves. It also increased the chloroplast size, which was reduced by drought treatment, and rebuilt, to some extent, the chloroplast ultrastructure. However, it decreased the malondialdehyde concentration and the electrical conductivity of the leaves under drought stress. Overall, the results indicated that pre-treatment with gamma rays (20 Gy) to dry seeds of soybean before planting could be used to enhance drought tolerance and minimize the yield loss caused by water deficit.
Water demand and water use efficiency of winter barley in Hungary
Authors: Varga-Haszonits Z. , Enzsölné Gerencsér E. , Lantos Z. , Varga Z.
Published: March 2011

The temporal and spatial variability of soil moisture, evapotranspiration and water use were investigated for winter barley. Evaluations were carried out on a database containing meteorological and yield data from 15 stations. The spatial distribution of soil moisture, evapotranspiration and water use efficiency (WUE) was evaluated from 1951 to 2000 and the moisture conditions during the growth period of winter barley were investigated. The water supply was found to be favourable, since the average values of soil moisture remained above the lower limit of favourable water content throughout the growth period, except for September–December and May–June. The actual evapotranspiration tended to be close to the potential evapotranspiration, so the water supplies were favourable throughout the vegetation period. The calculated values of WUE showed an increasing trend from 1960 to 1990, but the lower level of agricultural inputs caused a decline after 1990. The average values of WUE varied between 0.87 and 1.09 g/kg in different counties, with higher values in the northern part of the Great Hungarian Plain. The potential yield of winter barley can be calculated from the maximum value of WUE. Except in the cooler northern and western parts of the country, the potential yield of winter barley, based on the water supply, could exceed 10 t/ha.
Regional analysis of winter wheat yields under different ecological conditions in Hungary and Croatia
Authors: Pepó P. , Kovačević V.
Published: March 2011

Wheat is the second most important field crop on arable lands in Hungary and Croatia. Yield variations between years are high in both countries. In the short term these variations are mainly the result of the weather parameters specific to individual growing seasons. The aim of this study was to compare variations in winter wheat yields over years in four counties in Hungary and five in Croatia, with the emphasis on the impact of rainfall and mean air temperature regimes. The results showed that rainfall in spring was most decisive for winter wheat yields. The highest winter wheat yields were obtained when the rainfall in the winter half-year ranged from 230–260 mm and the spring rainfall from 180–230 mm. The precipitation in the growing season is much higher in eastern Croatia than in eastern Hungary, so water shortage is a more pronounced environmental problem for wheat in Hungary. This is probably why wheat yields were lower in eastern Hungary than in eastern Croatia in the period tested. Pearson correlation analysis on the yields and meteorological data between 1990 and 2009 revealed a positive correlation between spring rainfall and the yield, and a negative correlation between spring temperature and the yield. The results proved that yields were determined not only by weather conditions, but by many other factors (crop rotation, tillage, fertilization, variety, crop protection, etc.).
Analysis of the effect of n fertilisation on the growth dynamics of winter wheat varieties using the hunt-parsons model
Authors: Sugár E. , Berzsenyi Z.
Published: March 2011

The effect of nitrogen (N) fertilisation on the growth of winter wheat varieties was examined in three diverse years using the functional method of growth analysis. The main plot in the two-factorial, split-plot experiment was the N treatment and the subplot the variety. The wheat varieties Mv Toborzó (extra-early), Mv Palotás (early) and Mv Verbunkos (mid-early) were treated with N rates of 0, 80, 160 and 240 kg N ha−1 (N0, N80, N160, N240). The Hunt-Parsons (HP) program fitted a third-degree exponential function to the dry matter and leaf area data. In 2007 and 2008 dry matter accumulation continued up to the N240 rate and in 2009 to the N160 rate. In all three years the highest value was recorded for Mv Verbunkos (4.62 g plant−1 in 2007, 4.63 g in 2008 and 4.51 g in 2009). The highest value of maximum leaf area (237.5 cm2) was found for Mv Verbunkos in the N240 treatment. The maximum values of leaf area in each N treatment, averaged over years and varieties (cm2 plant−1), were as follows: N0: 86.2; N80: 141.0; N160: 164.0; N240: 173.1. The parameter AGRmean exhibited the highest value (8.04 g day−1 102) in the N160 treatment, while among the varieties Mv Verbunkos had the highest mean value (7.18 g day−1 102). The highest value of RGRmean was achieved by Mv Toborzó in the N160 treatment in 2009 (3.94 g g−1 day−1 102). The value of NARmean increased up to fertiliser rates of N160 and N240, with mean values (g m−1 day−1) of N0: 2.35, N80: 2.44, N160: 2.53 and N240: 2.47. The highest value of NAR (3.29 g m−1 day−1) was obtained for Mv Palotás in the N160 treatment in 2008. On average the greatest value of LARmax was recorded in the N160 treatment (172.8 cm2 g−1), while the highest absolute value (213.6 cm2 g−1) was achieved by Mv Toborzó in 2008. The unfavourable effect of the drought in 2007 was clearly reflected in the values of the growth parameters.
Evaluation of forage quality of Lathyrus L. Species based on histological characteristics
Authors: Zoric L. , Merkulov L. , Lukovic J. , Boza P. , Krstic B.
Published: March 2011

One of the most important characteristics that determines the quality of forages is their digestibility. Certain structural characteristics of the vegetative organs, such as a high percentage of cells with lignified walls, might limit digestibility. Leaf and stem histological characteristics related to digestibility were examined for nine wild Lathyrus species closely related to cultivated species. The recommended characteristics for plants that could be used as forage on their own are: a small number of stem vascular bundles, a relatively small proportion of stem sclerenchyma and sclerenchymatous parenchyma tissue, thin leaflet cuticle, a small number of leaf vascular bundles, and large mesophyll and epidermal cells. According to the results of the analyses, species with favourable histological characteristics were L. palustris, L. sphaericus and L. aphaca, while the species with the highest proportion of thick-walled cells, unsuitable for use as forage, were L. pratensis, L. niger and L. tuberosus.
Genetic correlation and coheritability between F1 and F2 generations for quantitative traits in some crosses of green gram (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek)
Authors: Chakraborty S. , Borah H. , Borah B. , Pathak D. , Zaman A. , Baruah B. , Kalita H. , Barman B.
Published: March 2011

Quantitative data were collected and analysed on 10 metric characters from F1s and F2s of sixteen green gram (Vigna radiataL. Wilczek) hybrids, developed from ten genetically diverse parents, to obtain information on variability, heritability, coheritability, and genotypic and phenotypic correlations. The increased genetic variability of F2over F1was observed for plant height, number of primary branches, pods/cluster, pods/plant, pod length and harvest index, suggesting the greater segregation and recombination of genes governing these characters. The high broad-sense heritability coupled with high genetic advance for plant height, days to 50% flowering and pod length in both F1s and F2s indicated the predominant role of additive gene action in their expression. The genotypic and phenotypic correlations between F1and F2were significant and positive for seven characters. The coheritability estimates between F1and F2had values of over 0.25 and were positive for six characters, but not for seed yield/plant, days to 50% flowering, clusters/plant or pods/plant. Within the F1and F2generations, seed yield/plant showed significant positive genotypic and phenotypic correlations with eight characters. The seed yield in green gram could be easily enhanced by practising selection on plant height, number of primary branches, pods/cluster, pod length and harvest index.
Indirect shoot regeneration of Iranian purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea L.) from cotyledon and hypocotyl explants
Authors: Zebarjadi A. , Motamedi J. , Ismaili A.
Published: March 2011

In vitro plant regeneration was optimized for Iranian purple coneflower via organogenesis from callus cultures derived from cotyledon and hypocotyl tissues by placing them on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of BAP and NAA. The experiment was laid out as a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement with three replications. The results indicated that the mean callus induction was influenced by explant type, with a significant difference between cotyledon (77.81%) and hypocotyl (65.33%) explants at the 0.01 probability level. In relation with the regeneration rate, no significant differences were observed between the two types of explants. For both cotyledons and hypocotyls the optimum shoot regeneration frequency (31.5% and 32.5%, respectively) and number of shoots per explant (5.2 and 5.3, respectively) were achieved using medium supplemented with 0.4 mg l−1 BAP. Proliferated shoots were elongated in hormone-free MS medium and well-developed shoots were rooted on MS medium, both with and without the addition of 2 mg l−1 IBA. All the plantlets survived acclimatization, producing normal plants under controlled conditions. This study revealed that cotyledon and hypocotyl explants of E. purpurea have relatively good potential for callus induction and shoot formation. Furthermore, a beneficial method has been established for the micropropagation of this valuable medicinal species.
Effect of digested distillery spent wash on nodulation, nutrient uptake and photosynthetic activity in chickpea (Cicer arietinum)
Authors: Gahlot D. , Kukreja K. , Suneja S. , Dudeja S.
Published: March 2011

This work investigated the effect of graded doses and methods of application of digested spent wash on seed germination, nodulation, photosynthetic activity and nutrient uptake in chickpea and on soil properties. Under laboratory conditions, lower concentrations of digested spent wash were not inhibitory to seed germination, whereas higher concentrations led to poor seedling growth and delayed seed germination. However, under greenhouse conditions, seed germination was slightly better at higher concentrations. Increased concentrations of digested spent wash affected the nodulation of chickpea. Irrigation with digested spent wash in pots had an adverse effect on nodulation as compared to its soil application. Lower concentrations of digested spent wash had no detrimental effect on plant growth (shoot length, root length and their weight). The photosynthetic activity of chickpea plants, measured as chlorophyll a fluorescence, was maximum at 10% and 100 m3 ha−1 of digested spent wash, while a decrease was observed at higher concentrations. With an increase in the concentration of digested spent wash, there was a decrease in N and P uptake by chickpea plants. No significant difference was observed in soil pH, but the EC, organic carbon and total N and P contents of post-harvest soil increased with an increase in the concentration of digested spent wash.
Combining ability and heterosis studies across environments in linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.)
Authors: Sood S. , Kalia N. , Bhateria S.
Published: March 2011

Combining ability and heterosis were calculated for fourteen lines of linseed in a line × tester mating design using twelve lines and two diverse testers in two different environments. The hybrids and parental lines were raised in a completely randomized block design with three replications to investigate seed and fibre yield and their component traits. Genetic variation was significant for most of the traits over environments. Combining ability studies revealed that the lines KL-221 and LCK-9826 were good general combiners for seed yield and most of its components, whereas LMH-62 and LC-2323 were good general combiners for yield components only. Moreover, KL-221 was also a good general combiner for fibre yield. Similarly, B-509 and Ariane were good general combiners for fibre yield and most of its components. Among the specific cross combinations, B-509 × Flak-1 was outstanding for seed yield per plant and B-509 × KL-187 and LC-2323 × LCK-9826 for fibre yield per plant, with high SCA effects. In general, the hybrids excelled their respective parents and the standard checks for most of the characters studied. Based on the comparison of mean performance, SCA effects and the extent of heterosis, the hybrids LC-2323 × LCK-9826 and B-509 × KL-221 appeared to be the most promising for both seed and fibre yield. Other promising combinations were LC-2323 × KL-210 and B-509 × Ariane for seed and fibre yield, respectively. The superiority of LC-2323, LCK-9826, KL-221, B-509 and Ariane as good general combiners was further confirmed by the involvement of these parents in the desirable cross combinations.