bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Who Benefits From Combined Tax and Public Expenditure Policies in Cameroon
Authors: Johannes Tabi Atemnkeng , Etoh-Anzah Peter Angyie , Tafah Akwi
Published: May 2009

This paper jointly and separately examines the redistributive and poverty effects of tax and public expenditures (education and health) in Cameroon. The tax system is generally progressive but less so than the benefits of public expenditure. While overall public spending is mostly progressive in rural areas, followed by semi-urban and urban areas, the opposite is true for tax incidence. Tax burden weighs more on the urban, followed by rural and semi-urban population. Putting the two sets of policies together, they are found to mainly reflect fiscal policies in that they are more progressive and poverty-reducing when we use relative poverty lines, in rural areas, followed by semi-urban and urban areas, respectively. Though we also realized a poverty- increasing effect of the net tax system using absolute poverty lines, the poverty impact still remains minimal in the rural areas where poverty is high and inequality actually increased between 1996 and 2001.
Examining the Linkage between Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in India
Authors: Mallick Hrushikesh
Published: May 2009

The paper examines whether energy use drives economic growth or vice versa in the Indian context during 1970–71 to 2004–05. Utilizing Granger causality test, the study suggests that it is the economic growth that fuels more demand for both crude oil and electricity consumption and it is the only growth of coal consumption that drives economic growth. When influence of different components of energy on major two components of economic growth is investigated with the same causality test, none of the energy components found to be significantly influencing the two components of economic growth viz. private consumption and investment. In contrast, the variance decomposition analysis of Vector Autoregression (VAR) suggests that there could be a bidirectional influence between electricity consumption and economic growth, other results remaining unchanged. Therefore, the study yields mixed and contradictory result compared to the previous studies in the Indian context. However, on the basis of application of two econometric tools, the study with little more conviction suggests for reducing crude oil and natural gas consumption at least in the consumption sectors, which don’t directly contribute to production or add to capital formation of the economy, for achieving higher rate of growth in the economy.
Reexamining Asymmetric Effects of Monetary and Government Spending Policies on Economic Growth Using Quantile Regression
Authors: Li Ming-Yuan Leon
Published: May 2009

Macroeconomic data for G7 countries during 1959–2005 were analyzed to examine the asymmetric effects of monetary and government spending policies on economic growth. A key feature of this study is analysis of the changing distribution of real GDP across countries and over time by quantile regression (QR) model and comparison of the results with OLS and LAD estimates. The empirical results of this model differ from those obtained by OLS and LAD estimates since the QR method processes more information from the sample distribution. The nonlinearities derived from conditional QR revealed considerable differences, including differences in sign and in the magnitude of the two government policies on real output across various business cycle stages.
The Gravity Model and the Test for the Regional Integration Effect: The Case of Tanzania
Authors: Darku Alexander B.
Published: May 2009

This paper demonstrates that the appropriate econometric technique of testing for the effect of regional integration on bilateral trade is to augment the standard gravity model with country specific dummies instead of regional integration dummies. Using data on bilateral trade between Tanzania and her 23 trading partners over the period 1980–2004, the paper reports three important results. First, contrary to results from the traditional approach, estimates from the new econometric technique indicate that both the EU and the EAC have had moderate trade creation effects on Tanzania’s bilateral trade. Second, I find that Tanzania’s non-traditional trading partners such as Japan, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA are relatively more opened to Tanzania’s exports. Third, the results also indicate that whereas it is difficult for Tanzania’s exports to penetrate foreign markets, foreign goods easily penetrate Tanzania’s market. The policy implication is that the government should continue with its efforts to strengthen the EAC, and to gain more exports market to the non-traditional trading partners, if the export growth development strategy is to become a reality in Tanzania.
The Positive and Negative Impacts of the Sars Outbreak: A Case of the Taiwan Industries
Authors: Chen Chun-Da , Chen Chin-Chun , Tang Wan-Wei , Huang Bor-Yi
Published: May 2009

In this paper we employ an event study approach with GARCH process to uncover whether there were positive impacts on the Taiwan’s stock market during the SARS outbreak period in 2003. The empirical results indicate that the SARS crisis did bring negative impacts on tourism and the wholesale and retail sectors. This result has been confirmed by many previous studies, but it is most important that the biotechnology sector saw positive shocks from the impacts of the SARS crisis. It is clear that the value effect of SARS outbreak seems to be asymmetrical within our sample firms. Therefore, fund managers and investors at that time were able to buy and hold biotechnology stocks and rearrange their portfolios to obtain investment profits, maintain portfolio returns, or lower investment risks during the SARS outbreak period in Taiwan. The government of Taiwan should support the developments of each industry sufficiently, and then these industries could help to protect the nation’s economy and residents’ health against any possible impact of disease, such as SARS.
Common Features and Stylized Facts in Turkish Macroeconomy
Authors: Payaslıoğlu Cem
Published: May 2009

The importance of the common features in macroeconomics particularly in real business cycle studies is by now widely understood and manifests itself in numerous studies. On the other hand, there has been very few works related to developing countries. This paper attempts to fill this gap, at least to some extent, by using quarterly observations on major macroeconomic aggregates, namely consumption, investment and output in Turkey to investigate both the stylized facts and the common features. The methodology is based on the multivariate structural time series which allows explicit representation and estimation of the components of economic time series such as trend, slope, cycle and irregular. Empirical results indicate that these aggregates do not share a common cycle; however, a common slope with smooth trend restriction is not rejected indicating that the series are linked with a cointegration of type CI (2,2). The findings imply that in spite of the existence of a long-run relation among them, countercyclical policies targeting any of these variables may not be successfully transmitted to the others in the short run.
Does Simultaneous Implementation of Import-Substitution and Export-Promotion Neutralize Each Other?
Authors: Subasat Turan
Published: May 2009

After clarifying the widespread terminological confusion regarding ‘import-substitution’, ‘export-promotion’ and ‘free trade’, this article focuses on an interesting debate about their complementarities. Particular attention will be paid to whether the simultaneous implementation of import-substitution and export-promotion neutralises each other and leads to free trade results. It will be argued that although this debate is stimulating, it has a number of important limitations and has very little bearing to actual trade policy implementation.
Interest Rate Reforms, Financial Deepening and Economic Growth in Kenya: An Empirical Investigation
Authors: Odhiambo Nicholas M.
Published: May 2009

This paper examines the impact of interest rate reforms on financial deepening and economic growth in Kenya, using two models: the financial deepening model and the dynamic Granger causality model. The study attempts to answer two critical questions: Does interest rate liberalization in Kenya have any positive influence on financial deepening? Does the financial depth which results from interest rate liberalization lead to economic growth? Using cointegration and error-correction models, the study finds strong support for the positive impact of interest rate liberalization on financial deepening in Kenya - although the strength and clarity of its efficacy is sensitive to the level of the dependency ratio. The study also finds financial depth to Granger cause economic growth in Kenya. The study, therefore, concludes that the interest rate liberalization in Kenya has succeeded in increasing economic growth through its influence on financial depth. This applies irrespective of whether the models are estimated in a static long-run formulation (cointegration model) or in the dynamic formulation (error-correction model).
Testing the Sustainability of Current Account Deficits in Developing Economies: Evidence from Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia
Authors: Yol Marial A.
Published: May 2009

Sustaining balanced current accounts is a tremendous challenge that faces many developing countries. The growing gap between burgeoning imports for domestic consumption and investment needs and exports from uncompetitive export sectors in many of these countries usually generate current account deficits. This paper tests the long-run sustainability of current account deficits in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia using the bounds testing approach to cointegration. While the bounds test detects cointegration between exports and imports in three countries, the estimated coefficients of imports variables are correctly signed and statistically significant only in cases of Egypt and Tunisia. Additionally, the null hypothesis of unity coefficient of imports variable is strongly rejected in cases of Egypt and Morocco, suggesting that current account deficits are unsustainable in these two countries. The implication is that countries that violate their long-run intertemporal budget constraints may face painful adjustments in their economies that can result either in sudden exchange rate crisis or foreign debt accumulation.
The Determinants of Labor Market Earnings in a Small Caribbean Island: The Case of Dominica
Authors: Reilly Barry , Bellony Annelle
Published: May 2009

This paper uses the Labor Force Survey (LFS) from 1999 to investigate the labor market earnings determination process in the small Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica. Given the interval coded nature of the earnings data reported for the LFS, an interval regression model estimated by maximum likelihood techniques is used. A key empirical finding is that the Dominica labor market places a relatively high valuation on formally acquired post-primary human capital assets. We also find that the ceteris paribus public sector pay premium is relatively large and suggests public sector workers are securing a high rent through employment in this sector. A gender pay gap of approximately 20 percent is detected and there is also evidence of a sizeable ethnic pay disadvantage for male members of the island’s indigenous population.
Government Size and Unemployment: Evidence from Developing Countries
Authors: Feldmann Horst
Published: May 2009

Using data from 58 countries and the period 1980 to 2003, this paper analyzes how the size of government affects unemployment in developing countries. According to the regression results, a large government sector is likely to increase unemployment. A large share of government consumption in total consumption and a large share of transfers and subsidies in GDP most clearly appear to have a detrimental effect. By contrast, we do not find evidence that dominant state-owned enterprises and a large share of public investment in total investment affect unemployment, neither for bad nor for good. The results are robust to variations in specification and estimation method.
Estimating the Impact of Migration and Remittances on Agricultural Technology
Authors: Quinn Michael A.
Published: May 2009

The rapid growth of international migration and remittances has led to a wealth of research examining these trends. One of these lines of research attempts to determine the relationship between migration, remittances and the adoption of “Green Revolution” high yield variety (HYV) seeds. This literature proposes that migration and remittances may increase HYV use by reducing household risk and credit constraints. Given the large scale of both migration and remittances, getting an accurate measurement of these impacts is crucial to designing and implementing policies in rural areas. This paper examines the relationship between migration, remittances and agricultural technology. The credit and risk hypotheses are tested using data from the Mexican Migration Project. The main focus of the paper is examining the issue of endogeneity with respect to migration and remittances. When the probit approach is tested, evidence of endogeneity bias with respect to migration and remittances is found. The risk and credit hypotheses are then tested with two-stage and three-stage analyses, in order to address the problem of endogeneity. The results are found to be significantly different when methodologies are employed to deal with endogeneity; suggesting this is an issue that needs to be addressed. Overall, the results find some evidence to support both the credit and risk hypotheses; although the results for the risk hypothesis are more mixed.
The Urban-Rural Disparity: A Demand Side Analysis
Authors: Shen Ling
Published: May 2009

The urban-rural disparity is a common phenomenon in most developing economies. In particular, this disparity is strengthened by the household registration (Hukou) system in China. Chinese economy, as well as its income inequality, rose dramatically in last decades. Most researches show that urban-rural disparity is an important source of income inequality. In this paper we study the impact of this disparity on innovation through the demand for quality goods. For simplicity, we assume that there are two types of consumers: rich people living in the urban and poor people living in the rural area. The income distribution is measured by the population share of the poor and the relative income of the poor. The larger the income difference between the rural and the urban area, the more individuals migrate to the city in order to improve their income. Firms first invent quality goods, and then produce them in an oligopolistic market. Rich consumers have a higher willingness to pay for the better quality than the poor. Hence, the firms’ profit depends on the income distribution of consumers. We focus on the separating equilibrium, where goods of different qualities are sold to different consumers. In this equilibrium, a lower relative income of the poor is good for innovation, while a larger population share of the poor is bad.
A Paradox of the World Population Stabilization Policy
Authors: Alam Md. Mahmudul , Molla Rafiqul Islam , Rahman Khondaker Mizanur , Murad Md. Wahid
Published: May 2009

Population explosion of the last century necessitated adoption of a population stabilization policy internationally but without due consideration of its paradoxical impacts on future world economic and environmental sustainability and progress of civilization. Population stabilization policy makes world fertility level (projected) to fall below the replacement level by 2043. This will result in a declining work-age population endangering economic and environmental sustainability particularly during 2050 and beyond. This study has made an attempt to highlight this paradox of population stabilization policy in terms of its impacts on economic and environmental sustainability. It analyses the catch of the need for a declining population in order to maintain a stable population. It also analyses the time taking process of changing fertility habit of the human community under the concepts of ‘child bearing habitual gap’ and ‘work-age formation gap’. It argues that for a progressive and sustainable world economy a greater and rising work-age population is required and observes that world needs to maintain population growth at a rate balanced in terms of countries and earth’s absorption capacity.
Akdamut: History, Folklore, and Meaning
Authors: Hoffman Jeffrey
Published: May 2009

Akdamut, an introductory hymn to the Aramaic translation of the Torah reading in the Ashkenazic rite for the first day of Shavuot, has outlived all other such hymns, and, it has
outlived – by many centuries – the custom of chanting the Aramaic translation itself on Shavuot – its erstwhile raison d’etre! Why should such a lengthy (90 lines) literary creation in
a language not understood by most Jews, introducing a translation of the Torah reading not used by these Jews for a thousand years, continue to be so popular that it is included
in all traditional versions of the Ashkenazic festival prayer book? This essay proposes that regardless of the author’s original intention for this prayer, it came to be read in a way
that the author could not have foreseen. The piyyut’s major theme of the loyalty of Israel to the Covenant in the face of the nations’ enticements and persecutions helped to position
the poem to address the needs of European Jewry following the Crusades. But the key role in securing a new and enduring career in Jewish liturgy for this poem was played by a
medieval Yiddish tale. This is a case in which the study of a Yiddish folktale against its historical background yields a resolution of the problem of the surprising popularity and persis
Talmudic Methodology and Aristotelian Logic: David ibn Bilia's Commentary on the Thirteen Hermeneutic Principles
Authors: Ravitsky Aviram
Published: May 2009

This article analyzes the commentary of R. David Ibn Bilia (Portugal, first half of the fourteenth century) on the Thirteen Hermeneutic Principles enumerated in the introduction to
the Sifra. The commentary’s originality lies in its comprehensive and consistent application of Aristotelian logic to the realm of Talmudic-rabbinic methodology. Ibn Bilia’s project can
be considered a Maimonidean interpretation of Jewish sources, although it deviates from the Maimonidean line by applying allegorical interpretation to the realm of the law. It is
most likely that Ibn Bilia’s goal in his commentary was to defend the authority of the Talmud against the critique of contemporary radical rationalists, by demonstrating the affinities
between Talmudic methods and Aristotelian principles of logic, and also to show that logic and philosophy were indispensable for the proper understanding of Jewish law. In the
context of the controversy concerning the relationship between wisdom and tradition, Ibn Bilia’s commentary should be seen as voicing a middle position between two warring
camps.
From a hermeneutical point of view Ibn Bilia seems to have regarded Talmudic sources as having two layers of meaning – the plain-outer and the philosophical-inner. The first layer
This article analyzes the historical and cultural significance of Ibn Bilia’s commentary, its sources in the Talmudic and Aristotelian literature, and its hermeneutical methods.
A Small Town in Germany: Leah Goldberg and German Orientalism in 1932
Authors: Weiss Yfaat
Published: May 2009

Lea Goldberg, (1911–1970) who was and still is one of the best-known literary figures in Israel, spent the years between 1930 and 1933 studying in Germany. These years of
Goldberg's apprenticeship, however, do not constitute an important period in her creative career, and have thus not received scholarly attention. Moreover, during the years she
spent in Germany she specialized in a field that she abandoned totally upon immigrating to Palestine, namely that of Semitic philology. This was an area regarded as irrelevant to
Goldberg's work in general and to her literary endeavor in particular.
This article seeks to shed light on the traces of these years to be found in Leah Goldberg's writing in general, and to reveal the stamp of her experiences while studying Semitic
philology in Germany on her creative writing in particular. The article does not claim that these years influenced Goldberg's entire literary opus, and focuses primarily on works
written in the 1930s. Its focus on the first decade of Goldberg's writing serves to illuminate the origins of Goldberg's dissident individualistic approach within the collectivist
discourse of contemporary Hebrew literature. Seeking to go beyond a mere additional, primarily biographical layer in the study of Goldberg's work, this article employs representatio
Do American Jews Speak a "Jewish Language"?: A Model of Jewish Linguistic Distinctiveness
Authors: Benor Sarah Bunin
Published: May 2009

This paper is a comparative analysis of Jewish languages that began in medieval times and the language used in one
post-Emancipation Jewish community: the English-speaking Jews of the United States. Using the notion of a
distinctively Jewish linguistic repertoire, this paper presents a broad understanding of the scope of Jewish linguistic
studies. A comparative analysis shows that American Jewish language includes most of eleven features common
among diaspora Jewish languages. And an overview of sociolinguistic variation shows that American Jews differ
linguistically not only from non-Jews but also among themselves, especially according to levels of religiosity and
textual knowledge. Finally, this paper demonstrates that studying a contemporary Jewish community can enhance
our understanding of the past.
A Diagram of the Open Land of the Levite Cities in Nahmanides' Commentary on the Torah
Authors: Ofer Yosef
Published: May 2009

The article discusses a diagram that Nahmanides (Ramban) included in his commentary on the Torah. The diagram
relates to the Levite cities and the open land attached to them, as described in Numbers 35, and it illustrates the
original interpretation proposed by Ramban in keeping with the literal meaning of the text (“al derekh ha-peshat”).
Recent editions of Ramban’s commentary and commentators who have addressed Ramban’s view have not included
the diagram, nor do they mention its existence in the manuscripts.
The diagram appears in fifteen manuscripts - about a half of the known complete manuscripts of Ramban’s
commentary on the Torah. The article includes a photocopy of the diagram as it appears in one of the manuscripts, as
well as my own sketch showing how I believe the original diagram to have looked. The details of the diagram are
discussed, along with the issue of its authenticity.
Coloring Universal History: Robert Benjamin Lewis's Light and Truth (1843) and William Wells Brown's The Black Man (1863)
Authors: Hughes-Warrington Marnie
Published: May 2009

The idea of universal history is conventionally associated with nineteenth-century writers and the project of imperialism. This article presents an expanded definition of universal history, one that covers unified histories of the known world or universe, histories that aim to illuminate universal principles, histories of the world unified by the workings of a single mind, and histories of the world that have passed down through unbroken lines of transmission. Encompassed in the broader range of this definition are works by authors who are conventionally seen as marginalized by nineteenth-century historiography. Using the works of two African American authors—Robert Benjamin Lewis and William Wells Brown—as a case study, this article highlights the complexities and cross currents of universal history writing by those on the margins, and the importance of voluntary associations in the production and circulation of their texts.
Atlantic Republicanism in Nineteenth-Century Colombia: Spanish America's Challenge to the Contours of Atlantic History
Authors: Sanders James E.
Published: May 2009

This article argues that the Age of Revolution and the abolition of slavery do not adequately mark the termination of the Atlantic world's political processes, at least concerning Latin America. Employing archival evidence from Colombia as a case study (as well as evidence from Mexico and Uruguay), the article explores how during the nineteenth century in Spain's former colonies, subalterns, especially popular liberals, and elites debated the meanings of nation, citizen, and democracy. These struggles over visions of republicanism and democracy that racked the region throughout most of the nineteenth century cannot be understood outside of an Atlantic context, nor can the full history of the Atlantic Age of Revolution be complete without taking into account the democratic and republican developments of mid nineteenth-century Spanish America.
Frontier Discourse and China's Maritime Frontier: China's Frontiers and the Encounter with the Sea through Early Imperial History
Authors: Clark Hugh R.
Published: May 2009

This article provides a model for the analysis of China's land and maritime frontiers through early imperial history (through the first millennium C.E. ), arguing that three basic types of frontier existed: the "static continental frontier," the "expanding continental frontier," and the "maritime frontier." Through his definition of "frontier" and a comparative discussion of the dynamics of all three frontier types, and with reference to the better known analyses of frontiers in the histories of Europe and North America, the author approaches all frontiers as zones of conflict between civilization and barbarism.
The Chinos in New Spain: A Corrective Lens for a Distorted Image
Authors: Slack Edward R.
Published: May 2009

The study of Asian migration to colonial Mexico via the Manila galleons has been languishing in academic oblivion. By exploring contemporary archival and visual records of the chino , this article reveals the ambiguous status of Asians in a race-based caste system imposed by Castilians on the inhabitants of New Spain. It also probes the reasons behind widespread social amnesia in the mid to late eighteenth century with respect to Mexico's Asian heritage. Furthermore, this article contests accepted scholarly definitions of mestizaje that emphasize a purely Atlantic pedigree. Reconstructing colonial Mexico's chino identity is imperative for "reorienting" its social history and chronologically repositioning studies on Asian diasporas in the Americas.
Overlapping Histories: Writing Prison and Penal Practices in Late Imperial and Early Republican China
Authors: Tsin Michael
Published: May 2009

It has often been said that the Chinese prison and penal reform in the early twentieth century was part of a global circulation of Western institutions and practices and signified China's entry into the modern era. The process has also been described as an example of how the local (China) interacted with the global (the West). By moving back in time to locate some fragments of the histories of penal practices and their representation from earlier periods, the objective of this article is to trace the trajectory in which the histories of prison and penal practices became intertwined with the politics of European expansion, and to suggest that the "modernity" of the reform was as much about the reframing of the multifarious histories of the past as a new history of difference as it was about the adoption of Western institutions and practices. In doing so, it also seeks to demonstrate how the global and the local can best be conceptualized as historical temporalities rather than specific locales.
Displaced: The Memoir of Eliezer Gruenbaum, Kapo at Birkenau—Translation and Commentary
Authors: Glasner-Heled Galia , Bar-On Dan
Published: May 2009

Eliezer Gruenbaum, the communist son of Yitzhak Gruenbaum, who was a prominent leader of Polish Jewry between the two world wars and Israel’s first interior minister, was a kapo in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Eliezer survived only to die fighting in the war for Israeli independence. His story is captivating not only for its biographical appeal but also for the unique “statement of defense” memoir he has left behind.This paper will expose the English-speaking reader to excerpts of this singular text for the first time. It will also offer a careful analysis and interpretation of Eliezer Gruenbaum’s psychological struggle to work through his controversial past. We will frame his narrative as wavering between two perhaps contradicting identifications—with his readers and with the victims—with neither of whom he can fully identify.The same activist stance that urged him to write, appealing to his reader’s acquittal, prevented him from truly understanding the total helplessness of the real victims.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Were Walking on the Way: El Caballero Andante and the Book of Radiance ( Sefer HaZohar )
Authors: Wolski Nathan
Published: May 2009

That Miguel de Cervantes was quite likely a converso and that his masterpiece Don Quixot e explores quintessential converso concerns is now widely accepted. This article extends the converso hypothesis through an examination of literary and phenomenological similarities between Don Quixote and the kabbalistic classic, the Zohar . Rather than claim direct historical influence, I offer an analysis of some shared themes, motifs, and literary strategies. In particular, I highlight the centrality of the journey motif and the high degree of self-reflexivity and self-consciousness which lie at the heart of both the Zohar and Don Quixote . I conclude with an admittedly more speculative reading of the famous scene from the Cave of Montesinos, which I suggest may well be a quixotic parody of mystical experience. The Zohar deserves a place in the literary prehistory of Don Quixote , and aspects of both works are clarified and enhanced when viewed against one another.
“And G-d Said”: Language, Translation, and Scripture in Two Works by Walter Benjamin
Authors: Smerick Christina M.
Published: May 2009

In the works “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man” and the better- known “The Task of the Translator,” Benjamin explores the relationships between languages, and between language and human beings. In this essay, I work first to articulate Benjamin’s theory of language in a more coherent manner, and then to draw attention to the theological underpinnings of this theory. After exploring Benjamin’s understanding of language as metaphysically formative for all creation, I turn to his work on translation in order to demonstrate how such a theologically driven understanding of language impacts how we are to speak and write now.
The Making and Re-making of Jewish-American Literary History
Authors: Zierler Wendy
Published: May 2009

Until ten to fifteen years ago, Jewish American literary history was construed and described in overwhelmingly mid-twentieth-century masculine terms. As a corrective to this longstanding trend, this essay undertakes to “remake” Jewish American literary history in feminist terms. First, in an act of feminist “readerly resistance,” it surveys recent efforts to remake the canon to include women writers and to reflect the experiences of women readers. Then it applies a variety of second-and third-wave feminist interpretive methodologies to readings of both classic and lesser-known works of Jewish American literature, including Henry Roth’s Call it Sleep , Philip Roth’s The Ghost Writer , Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus,” Anzia Yezierska’s “The Lost Beautifulness,” Cynthia Ozick’s “Puttermesser and Xanthippe,” Jo Sinclair’s, The Changelings , and Dara Horn’s In The Image .
Jews Dreaming of Acceptance: From the Brill Building to Suburbia with Love
Authors: Stratton Jon
Published: May 2009

The Brill Building sound refers to the music produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s by composers of popular music associated with 1619 and 1650 Broadway. The vast majority of these writers were Jewish. I argue that the romance in the lyrics of these songs can be understood in terms of the whitening and suburbanization of American Jews—that these songs of love express a Jewish utopian fantasy. As Jews, and whites, became disillusioned with suburban life, so the Brill Building sound lost its popularity. I argue that the songs recorded by the Shangri-Las, a Jewish girl group singing songs of familial death and destruction mostly written by Brill Building writers, are an expression of this disillusionment.
Blood Debt: Reparations in Langston Hughes’s Mulatto
Authors: Elam Harry J. , Elam Michele
Published: May 2009

Framed around contemporary legal efforts for and theories of political reparations, the essay analyzes how Langston Hughes's Mulatto , written in 1930 and first produced in 1935, functions as a call for racial remuneration. Set in the post–World War I South, Mulatto , the longest-running black-authored play on Broadway before Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun in 1959, focuses on the revolutionary figure of Robert, the son of a white landowner, Colonel Tom Norwood, and his black housekeeper cum common-law wife, Cora. Robert returns from schooling in the North to challenge the household's status quo and in particular his father, who refuses to recognize him as his own. Seeking access to the rights of white privilege as well as redress for his father's psychic abandonment, the headstrong Robert serves as a complicated agent of redress. Colonel Norwood's refusal to acknowledge his son represent not just an individual betrayal; it reflects the refusal of the state's culpability in racial disenfranchisement. Consequently, the blood debt is not simply what is owed Robert and Cora, but what is due to African Americans. Hughes is not after payment, not even back-pay, but payback —payback in the form of symbolic reordering of the social and political hierarchy.
Between Umat and Rakyat : Islam and Nationalism in Indonesian Modern Theatre
Authors: Winet Evan Darwin
Published: May 2009

This essay investigates the surprising fact that the predominantly Muslim teater (modern theatre) artists of indonesia generally dissociate their theatrical work from their religious identities. this is in stark contrast to neighboring Malaysia, where Islam plays an overt role in the national theatre culture. Despite this reticence, Islam has indeed mattered to the development and practice of teater modern theatre in Indonesia more than nationalist and materialist histories have acknowledged. Neither Islamic iconoclastic indictments against figural representation nor Clifford Geertz’s distinction between santri (devout) and abangan (nominal) Javanese provide sufficient explanations. Conservative censorship (on iconoclastic or ethical grounds) has rarely prevailed in Indonesian history, yet not all the positions taken by Muslim artists can be explained simply by abangan syncretism. A few Indonesian dramatists, such as Mohammed Diponegoro, have viewed their work as a form of dakwah (proselytization); others, however, such as Abu Hanifah (El Hakim) and Emha Ainun Nadjib, have used teater to explore Islamic contexts and experiences of faith, yet make no claims to dakwah . These artists have preferred to subsume aspects of Islamic discourse and imagery in their work to the outer framework of secular local and national politics. This should be understood as a tactic in relation to the cultural politics of Islam in postcolonial Indonesia, and not an indication that Islam is merely an incidental source of inspiration. Rather, Islam and its disparate genealogies enter national discourse from a different angle than colonialism, producing distinct associations. For artists such as Hanifah, Diponegoro, and Roestam Effendi, the umat (the Islamic community) ultimately precedes the rakyat (the nationalized people); for others such as Nadjib, Arifin C. Noer, and Ratna Sarumpaet, religion provides vocabularies for contesting injustice as well as for challenging official state discourses of nativism and Indonesian identity, but dakwah seems too much the polarizing tool of the orthodox ulama , and the image of “ insan kamil ” (genuine, perfect, real men) colors the search for truth with too much of the absolute. For these Muslim artists, Islam must be softened and individualized so that it may transcend both locality in favor of a national discourse, and nationalism in favor of a global discourse.
Genocide Unbound: Erik Ehn, Rwanda, and an Aesthetics of Discomfort
Authors: Edmondson Laura
Published: May 2009

Among the mounting pile of plays that address the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Erik Ehn’s play Maria Kizito stands out for its systematic dismantling of boundaries between nightmare and reality, poetry and fact, the quotidian and the extreme. Although the play itself has received only one production to date, this essay positions the text of Maria Kizito within a larger metatext that Ehn is scripting through a series of cultural exchanges and conferences devoted to examining the genocide and post-genocide efforts at reconciliation. The essay suggests that the play’s unique discourse of violence provides a roadmap through the charged landscape of post-1994 Rwanda, in which the determination of context can be a deeply political act.
Scenes of Self-Recruitment: Ron Vawter’s Entry into The Performance Group
Authors: Smalec Theresa K.
Published: May 2009

Many people know the legend of Ron Vawter’s inadvertent entry into theatre via the US Army. However, few scholars realize that he began acting in high school, or that he was a performer long before he arrived in Manhattan in 1972. This essay explores Vawter’s early encounters with The Performance Group (TPG). When a mysterious army figure began showing up several times a week at TPG’s The Tooth of Crime (1973), company members failed to grasp that Vawter wanted to join them as an actor; instead, they viewed him as a nonperformer and eventually hired him as an administrator. Vawter’s military demeanor and ensuing job as TPG’s business manager became the foundations of his onstage persona in the group’s production of Mother Courage (1974–76); phrased another way, Vawter became a character by virtue of who he already seemed to be. The essay examines the influence of Vawter’s ostensibly self-based performance persona on the group’s incipient self-referential and presentational aesthetics.
How to Do Things with Demons: Conjuring Performatives in Doctor Faustus
Authors: Sofer Andrew
Published: May 2009

What did it mean for an Elizabethan actor to perform black magic on the early modern stage? What characterized the extraordinary “symbolic utterances” that constituted black magic, at least in the Elizabethan popular imagination? Viewing Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus through J. L. Austin’s theories of performative speech, this essay investigates the fascination conjuring held for Elizabethan audiences, tracing its unnerving performative potential. In Doctor Faustus, conjuring models a performative speech act that threatens to blur the distinction between theatre and magic. The play’s power in performance relied on keeping the ontological stakes of black magic deliberately uncertain. Far from dismissing black magic as mere charlatanism, Doctor Faustus equated conjuring with the dangerous verbal magic of performativity itself. It was precisely the potential for inadvertent magic on the part of the players that thrilled and alarmed Elizabethan audiences, causing them to see devils that were not literally there. Doctor Faustus at once enacts and critiques performative speech, challenging Austin’s distinction between “efficacious” (successful) performatives and “hollow” (unsuccessful) theatrical quotations of them.
Glycosylation- and phosphorylation-dependent intracellular transport of lysosomal hydrolases
Authors: Pohl Sandra , Marschner Katrin , Storch Stephan , Braulke Thomas
Published: May 2009

Lysosomes contain more than 50 soluble hydrolases that are targeted to lysosomes in a mannose 6-phosphate (Man6P)-dependent manner. The phosphorylation of man- nose residues on high mannose-type oligosaccharides of newly synthesized lysosomal enzymes is catalyzed by two multimeric enzymes, GlcNAc-1-phosphotransferase and GlcNAc-1-phosphodiester-α-N-acetylglucosaminidase, allowing the binding to two distinct Man6P receptors in the Golgi apparatus. Inherited defects in the GlcNAc-1-phosphotransferase complex result in missorting and cellular loss of lysosomal enzymes, and the subsequent lysosomal dysfunction causes the lysosomal storage disorders mucolipidosis types II and III. Biosynthetic studies and the availability of Man6P receptor-deficient mouse models have provided new insights into the structural requirements for preferential binding of subsets of lysosomal enzymes to Man6P receptors as well as the identification of alternative targeting pathways.
Brain development needs sugar: the role of polysialic acid in controlling NCAM functions
Authors: Mühlenhoff Martina , Oltmann-Norden Imke , Weinhold Birgit , Hildebrandt Herbert , Gerardy-Schahn Rita
Published: May 2009

Polysialic acid (polySia) is a major regulator of cell-cell interactions in the developing nervous system and a key factor in maintaining neural plasticity. As a polyanionic molecule with high water binding capacity, polySia increases the intercellular space and creates conditions that are permissive for cellular plasticity. While the prevailing model highlights polySia as a non-specific regulator of cell-cell contacts, this review concentrates on recent studies in knockout mice indicating that a crucial function of polySia resides in controlling interactions mediated by its predominant protein carrier, the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM.
Speech Recognition in Younger and Older Adults: A Dependency on Low-Level Auditory Cortex
Authors: Harris Kelly C. , Dubno Judy R. , Keren Noam I. , Ahlstrom Jayne B. , Eckert Mark A.
Published: May 2009

A common complaint of older adults is difficulty understanding speech, especially in challenging listening environments. In addition to well known declines in the peripheral auditory system that reduce audibility, age-related changes in central auditory and attention-related systems are hypothesized to have additive negative effects on speech recognition. We examined the extent to which functional and structural differences in speech- and attention-related cortex predicted differences in word recognition between 18 younger adults (19–39 years) and 18 older adults (61–79 years). Subjects performed a word recognition task in an MRI scanner where the intelligibility of words was parametrically varied. Older adults exhibited significantly poorer word recognition in a challenging listening condition compared with younger adults. An anteromedial Heschl's gyrus/superior temporal gyrus (HG/STG) region, engaged by the word recognition task, exhibited age group differences in gray matter volume and predicted word recognition in younger and older adults. Age group differences in anterior cingulate (ACC) activation were also observed. The association between HG gray matter volume, word recognition, and ACC activation was present after controlling for hearing loss. In younger and older adults, causal path modeling analyses demonstrated that individual variation in left HG/STG morphology affected word recognition performance, which was reflected by error monitoring activity in the dorsal ACC. These results have clinical implications for rehabilitation and suggest that some of the perceptual difficulties experienced by older adults are due to structural changes in HG/STG. More broadly, the results suggest the possibility that aging may exaggerate developmental limitations on the ability to recognize speech.
Psychometric Properties of the Social Comparison Motives Scale
Authors: Tigges Beth Baldwin
Published: May 2009

This article describes the 19-item Social Comparison Motive Scale [SCMS], a measure of adolescents’ motives for social comparison related to pregnancy. Dimensions and items were developed based on adolescent focus groups. The instrument was reviewed for content validity, pilot tested, and administered to 431 adolescents aged 14–18 years. Principal axis factor analysis with oblique rotation supported five dimensions. Convergent and discriminant validity were demonstrated by moderate correlations (r = .50) between the SCMS and the Iowa–Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure and low correlations (r = .15) between the SCMS and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Cronbach’s alphas were .91 overall and .71 to .85 for the subscales. The SCMS demonstrated reliability and validity as a measure of adolescents’ motives for comparing themselves with others about pregnancy.
Pore Network Modeling of Saudi Aramco Rocks: A Comparative Study
Authors: Suicmez Sander , Funk James , Cinar Yildiray , Knackstedt Mark
Published: May 2009

3D imaging and pore network modeling is a potential breakthrough reservoir engineering tool that allows the prediction of petrophysical properties of a reservoir from small sample sizes not suited for laboratory testing (e.g, drill cuttings, sidewall core or damaged core). If a reasonable sample size (5mm-1cm) can be obtained, micro-CT scanning can be undertaken at resolutions of 2-4 microns. Using advanced image analysis techniques the pore structure and an equivalent pore network model of the rock can be extracted. This model retains key properties of the pore space of the rock sample in 3D. We then conduct flow simulations to predict key petrophysical properties such as porosity, permeability, formation factor, capillary pressure and resistivity.

In this work, a number of Saudi Aramco core plugs were chosen. A series of experimental measurements were also undertaken on the plugs. Smaller pieces of rocks (8mm diameter) were cut from the plugs and CT scanned at 4 microns resolution. Corresponding topologically equivalent networks were then constructed. Petrophysical properties were analyzed directly on the images and the pore network models.

The numerical results are compared with experimental counterparts. While porosity and resistivity data is in agreement, the predictions of capillary pressure and permeability can be significantly different. Reasons for the differences are explored. A key observation is that the modeling and experimental data may not match when comparing measurements at varying length scales — core scale heterogeneity should be accounted for. The need for incorporation of spatial information at varying length scales is discussed. An example of data integration on multiple scales is given. Necessary improvements to pore scale modeling techniques are discussed to address improved reliability in carbonate samples.