bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Application of PTFE membrane for ammonia removal in a membrane contactor
Authors: Ahn Y. T. , Hwang Y. H. , Shin H. S.
Published: June 2011

The feasibility of a membrane contactor system for ammonia removal was studied. The mass transfer coefficient was used to quantitatively compare the effect of various operation conditions on ammonia removal efficiency. Effective removal of ammonia was possible with a Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane contactor system at all tested conditions. Among the various operation parameters, contact time and solution pH showed significant effect on the ammonia removal mechanism. The overall ammonia removal rate was not affected by influent suspended solution concentration unlike other pressure driven membrane filtration processes. Also the osmotic distillation phenomena which deteriorate the mass transfer efficiency can be minimized by preheating of influent wastewater. A membrane contactor system can be a possible alternative to treat high strength nitrogen wastewater by optimizing operation conditions such as stripping solution flow rate, influent wastewater temperature, and influent pH.
Effect of pH on nitrate and selenate reduction in flue gas desulfurization brine using the H2-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR)
Authors: Van Ginkel Steven W. , Yang Ziming , Kim Bi-o , Sholin Mark , Rittmann Bruce E.
Published: June 2011

Increased tightening of air regulations is leading more electric utilities to install flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. These systems produce brine containing high concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, and selenate which must be removed before discharge. The H2-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) was shown to consistently remove nitrate, nitrite, and selenate at high efficiencies. The maximum selenate removal flux reached 362 mg Se m−2d−1 and was higher than that observed in earlier research, which shows continual improvement of the biofilm for selenate reduction. A low pH of 6.8 inhibited precipitation when treating actual FGD brine, yet did not inhibit removal. SO42− was not removed and therefore did not compete with nitrate, nitrite, and selenate reduction for the available H2.
Impact of Microcystis aeruginosa on membrane fouling in a biologically treated effluent
Authors: Goh Y. T. , Harris J. L. , Roddick F. A.
Published: June 2011

Microcystis aeruginosa was cultured in biologically treated municipal effluent to simulate blue-green algal bloom conditions in a treatment lagoon. The effect of algae in the early, mid and late phases of growth on membrane fouling, chemical coagulation (alum or aluminium chlorohydrate (ACH)) and hydraulic cleaning on the microfiltration of this effluent was investigated. The effect of M. aeruginosa in the early phase was negligible and gave a similar flux profile and permeate volume to that of effluent alone. The increase in M. aeruginosa concentration for the mid and late phases caused a significant reduction in permeate volume compared with the early phase. Full flux recovery was achieved with an alum dose of 1 mg Al3+ L−1 (early phase) and 10 mg Al3+ L−1 (mid phase), demonstrating that membrane fouling was hydraulically reversible. For the late phase, the highest flux recovery was 89%, which was achieved with an alum dose of 5 mg Al3+ L−1. Higher alum dosages resulted in a reduction in flux recovery. The use of 1.5 µm pre-filtration after alum treatment showed little improvement in water quality but led to a drastic reduction in flux recovery, which was attributed to diminishing the protective layer on the membrane surface, thus enabling internal fouling. The performance of ACH was comparable to alum at low dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and cell concentration, but was not as effective as alum at high DOC and cell concentration due to the formation of more compact ACH flocs, which resulted in a higher cake layer specific resistance, leading to the deterioration of performance.
Removal of hexavalent chromium in soil and groundwater by supported nano zero-valent iron on silica fume
Authors: Li Yongchao , Jin Zhaohui , Li Tielong , Li Shujing
Published: June 2011

Silica fume supported-Fe0 nanoparticles (SF-Fe0) were prepared using commercial silica fume as a support. The feasibility of using this SF-Fe0 for reductive immobilization of Cr(VI) was investigated through batch tests. Compared with unsupported Fe0, SF-Fe0 was significantly more active in Cr(VI) removal especially in 84 wt% silica fume loading. Silica fume had also been found to inhibit the formation of Fe(III)/Cr(III) precipitation on Fe nanoparticles' surface, which was increasing the deactivation resistance of iron. Cr(VI) was removed through physical adsorption of Cr(VI) onto the SF-Fe0 surface and subsequent reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III). The rate of reduction of Cr(VI) could be expressed by pseudo first-order reaction kinetics. The rate constant increased with the increase in iron loading but decreased with the increase in initial Cr(VI) concentration. Furthermore, column tests showed that the SF-Fe0 could be readily transported in model soil.
Gamma radiolysis of ceftriaxone sodium for water treatment: assessments of the activity
Authors: Zhang X. H. , Cao D. M. , Zhao S. Y. , Gong P. , Hei D. Q. , Zhang H. Q.
Published: June 2011

As large quantities of antibiotics have been misused in human and veterinary medicine, many different classes of antibiotics with low concentration have been detected in the environmental water. This existence may cause severe ecosystem alterations. Ceftriaxone sodium was employed as the targeted antibiotic to evaluate gamma radiolysis of antibiotics based on the primary elimination test and activity assay. The decomposition percentage of ceftriaxone sodium (20 µg/ml) in purified water increases with increasing doses and reaches 98% under 5 kGy of gamma radiation. The residual activity after gamma radiation does not follow the corresponding decomposition percentage of ceftriaxone sodium. Liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was subsequently employed to analyze possible structures of radiolytic products relating to the activity. Different degrees of the residual activity may attribute to different cleavage pathways of ceftriaxone sodium produced by radiation with different doses. The results indicate that the radiolytic treatment is a highly-effective means for degradation of ceftriaxone sodium, and the activity status of ceftriaxone sodium after primary elimination should be taken into consideration for selecting a degrading dose. Three kGy is the appropriate dose for radiolysis of ceftriaxone sodium in purified water.
Evaluation of the pollution load discharged at an upstream industry – Egypt – and methods for its reduction
Authors: El-Dars F. M. S. E. , Mohammed H. A. , Farag A. B.
Published: June 2011

Oil exploration in Egypt is a major contributor to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With 50–65% of the oil resources located in the Gulf of Suez (GoS) region, the impact of such activity upon the region's water environment and its quality cannot be overlooked because of the volume of effluent generated. The objective of this study (September 2000–September 2001) was to assess the impact of a 650,000 barrels/day (bl/d) (100,000 m3/d) effluent arising from a major oil exploration site located south of GoS upon the local water environment. Another objective was to identify the pollutant contents amenable for reduction relative to the new Egyptian regulations. This was achieved by the characterization of the main contributing streams and the identification of the final effluent parameter constraints relative to the type of injection waters used. Subsequent investigations for the reduction of these contents were conducted on site and the results obtained are reviewed herewith.
Screening optimisation for indirect potable reuse
Authors: Hatt J. W. , Judd S. J. , Germain E.
Published: June 2011

An automatic backflush pre-filter used for pre-treatment for secondary wastewater re-use was evaluated and optimised at two different mesh sizes over an 18 month period. The filter was initially run with a 500 μm rating mesh size, as recommended by the supplier of the downstream membrane filtration process, and then at 100 μm to investigate any change in water quality produced and associated improved membrane performance. With the 500 μm mesh in place, the filter fouling rate was low and a backflush was initiated every 3.5 h. For the 100 μm mesh the fouling rate was extremely rapid. Fouling was found to be caused by reverse side blockage of the pre-filter due to biofilm growth, and not by improved solids capture; there was no improvement in water quality with the smaller mesh size, since particle unloading from the biofilm took place. The pre-filter fouling rate was found to be related to turbidity. At a turbidity of 5 NTU the filter backflushed around 200 times per day, while at 10 NTU this increased to over 300 times. Further analysis enabled the backflush water volume to be decreased by reducing the backflush duration and increasing the backflush cycle time (i.e. the time between backflushes).
The dissolution characteristics of calcium sulfide and utilization as a precipitation agent in acidic wastewater effluent treatment
Authors: Zvimba J. N. , Mulopo J. , De Beer M. , Bologo L. , Mashego M.
Published: June 2011

The dissolution characteristics of CaS in the presence of CO2 has been investigated by monitoring sulfide speciation, solution conductivity and pH during dissolution. The sulfide speciation associated with CaS dissolution was utilized for metal precipitation from acidic wastewater effluents. The mechanism involved in the dissolution process was observed to be pH-dependent, characterized by increased solution conductivity as the HS− species becomes dominant in solution in the form of the Ca(HS)2 complex. The replacement of HS− by CO32− in the Ca(HS)2 complex triggered CaCO3 precipitation and H2S stripping and this was characterized by decreased solution pH and conductivity. The sulfide to total metal molar ratio was observed to have an effect on the pH and therefore sulfide speciation as well as extent of metal removal. The utilization of CaS in the treatment of acidic wastewater effluents demonstrated complete metal removal, with the potential of a pH-controlled selective metal removal and recovery.
Uncoupling of Proliferation and Cytokines From Suppression Within the CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T–Cell Compartment in the 1st Year of Human Type 1 Diabetes
Authors: Hughson Angela , Bromberg Irina , Johnson Barbara , Quataert Sally , Jospe Nicholas , Fowell Deborah J.
Published: June 2011

OBJECTIVE

The mechanistic basis for the breakdown of T-cell tolerance in type 1 diabetes is unclear and could result from a gain of effector function and/or loss of regulatory function. In humans, the CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T–cell compartment contains both effector and regulatory T cells, and it is not known how their relative proportions vary in disease states.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We performed a longitudinal study of CD4+CD25+ T–cell function in children with type 1 diabetes at onset and throughout the 1st year of disease. Function was assessed using single-cell assays of proliferation, cytokine production, and suppression. Type 1 diabetic individuals were compared with age-matched control subjects, and suppression was directly assessed by coculture with control T–cell targets.

RESULTS

We identify novel functional changes within the type 1 diabetes CD4+CD25+ compartment. Type 1 diabetic CD4+CD25+ cells exhibited a striking increase in proliferative capacity in coculture with CD4 T cells that was present at onset and stable 9–12 months from diagnosis. Elevated type 1 diabetes CD4+CD25+ cell proliferation correlated with increased inflammatory cytokines interleukin 17 and tumor necrosis factor-α but not γ-interferon. Type 1 diabetes CD4+CD25+ cytokine production occurred coincident with suppression of the same cytokines in the control targets. Indeed, enhanced proliferation/cytokines by CD4+CD25+ cells was uncoupled from their suppressive ability. Longitudinally, we observed a transient defect in type 1 diabetes CD4+CD25+ suppression that unexpectedly correlated with measures of improved metabolic function.

CONCLUSIONS

Type 1 diabetes onset, and its subsequent remission period, is associated with two independent functional changes within the CD4+CD25+ T–cell compartment: a stable increase in effector function and a transient decrease in regulatory T–cell suppression.
Prevalence of Diabetes in New York City, 2002–2008
Authors: Gupta Leena S. , Wu Charles C. , Young Stephanie , Perlman Sharon E.
Published: June 2011

OBJECTIVE

To describe diabetes prevalence in New York City by race/ethnicity and nativity.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Data were from the New York City 2002–2008 Community Health Surveys. Respondents were categorized on the basis of self-reported race/ethnicity and birth country: foreign-born South Asian (Indian subcontinent), foreign-born other Asian, U.S.-born non-Hispanic black, U.S.-born non-Hispanic white, and U.S.-born Hispanic. Diabetes status was defined by self-reported provider diagnosis. Multivariable models examined diabetes prevalence by race/ethnicity and birth country.

RESULTS

Prevalence among foreign-born South Asians was nearly twice that of foreign-born other Asians (13.6 vs. 7.4%, P = 0.001). In multivariable analyses, normal-BMI foreign-born South Asians had nearly five times the diabetes prevalence of comparable U.S.-born non-Hispanic whites (14.1 vs. 2.9%, P < 0.001) and 2.5 times higher prevalence than foreign-born other Asians (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Evaluating Asians as one group masks the higher diabetes burden among South Asians. Researchers and clinicians should be aware of differences in this population.
Nuts as a Replacement for Carbohydrates in the Diabetic Diet
Authors: Jenkins David J.A. , Kendall Cyril W.C. , Banach Monica S. , Srichaikul Korbua , Vidgen Edward , Mitchell Sandy , Parker Tina , Nishi Stephanie , Bashyam Balachandran , de Souza Russell , Ireland Christopher , Josse Robert G.
Published: June 2011

OBJECTIVE

Fat intake, especially monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), has been liberalized in diabetic diets to preserve HDL cholesterol and improve glycemic control, yet the exact sources have not been clearly defined. Therefore, we assessed the effect of mixed nut consumption as a source of vegetable fat on serum lipids and HbA1c in type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

A total of 117 type 2 diabetic subjects were randomized to one of three treatments for 3 months. Supplements were provided at 475 kcal per 2,000-kcal diet as mixed nuts (75 g/day), muffins, or half portions of both. The primary outcome was change in HbA1c.

RESULTS

The relative increase in MUFAs was 8.7% energy on the full-nut dose compared with muffins. Using an intention-to-treat analysis (n = 117), full-nut dose (mean intake 73 g/day) reduced HbA1c (−0.21% absolute HbA1c units, 95% CI −0.30 to −0.11, P < 0.001) with no change after half-nut dose or muffin. Full-nut dose was significantly different from half-nut dose (P = 0.004) and muffin (P = 0.001), but no difference was seen between half-nut dose and muffins. LDL cholesterol also decreased significantly after full-nut dose compared with muffin. The LDL cholesterol reduction after half-nut dose was intermediate and not significantly different from the other treatments. Apolipoprotein (apo) B and the apoB:apoA1 ratio behaved similarly. Nut intake related negatively to changes in HbA1c (r = −0.20, P = 0.033) and LDL cholesterol (r = −0.24, P = 0.011).

CONCLUSIONS

Two ounces of nuts daily as a replacement for carbohydrate foods improved both glycemic control and serum lipids in type 2 diabetes.
A new case of rare proximal 3q13 interstitial deletion
Authors: Lovrecic Luca , Rudolf Gorazd , Veble Alenka , Peterlin Borut
Published: June 2011

We present the case of a 20-year-old man referred to the clinical geneticist because of mental retardation and dysmorphic features because of concerns about hereditability when his older, healthy brother was expecting a child. Deletion of proximal 3q arm was found with standard G-banding, and array comparative genomic hybridisation (array-CGH) was used to further locate the breakpoints. A unique interstitial deletion del 3q13.11q13.33 was confirmed. The first clinical symptoms in the 20-year-old were described at the age of 4 months when the pediatrician reported muscle hypertonia of the lower limbs, which later evolved into hypotonia. Later clinical observations revealed that the patient’s psychomotor development was delayed: he exhibited craniofacial abnormalities, cryptorchidism, thoracic kyphosis, and tapering fingers. Interstitial deletions of the proximal long arm of chromosome 3 have rarely been reported:; there are only 12 previously reported cases. The breakpoints and sizes of described deletions vary greatly, which makes definite genotype-phenotype conclusions impossible at this time. Developmental delay is one of the common features described in the majority of reported cases. The BTB-zinc finger gene ZBTB20 might be a potential candidate gene: it was shown in the mouse hippocampus to be expressed during the important period of neurogenesis of pyramidal neurons. Also, four of patients reported to date had agenesis of the corpus callosum and one, holoprosencephaly. We suggest that the GAP43 gene is involved in the development of structural neurological abnormalities in patients with 3q deletion.
Withdrawal related adverse effects of antipsychotic medication in a patient with first-episode schizophrenia
Authors: Barteček Richard , Kašpárek Tomáš , Češková Eva
Published: June 2011

Withdrawal-emergent adverse effects of antipsychotics are an infrequently identified condition which can appear during antipsychotic dose reduction and medication change. In this paper, we present the case of severe extrapyramidal symptoms after a dose reduction of risperidone is presented. A patient, 23 years of age, was admitted to a health care facility due to an unexpected change in his behavior, with paranoid delusions, incoherent thinking, and significant anxiety. An initial risperidone treatment was soon changed to zuclopenhixol. Subsequently, severe extrapyramidal symptoms appeared, after which the medication was switched back to resperidone. Following this treatment, the patient left the health care facility and stopped the medication of his own volition. Psychotic symptoms and massive extrapyramidal symptoms again occurred. These symptoms subsided only slowly during a subsequent treatment with olanzapine.

The development of adverse neurological effects together with a worsening of productive psychotic symptomatology may be explained by withdrawal of antipsychotic medication. These symptoms are often attributed to new medications, which are prematurely discontinued after the appearance of an adverse effect, but which are potentially beneficial to a patient, provided that enough time for a spontaneous subsidence of withdrawal-emergent effects is given. Any change in antipsychotic treatment should be carefully considered and thoroughly planned.
Crustal Deformation due to Atmospheric Pressure Loading in New Zealand
Authors: Gladkikh Vladislav , Tenzer Robert , Denys Paul
Published: June 2011

Crustal Deformation due to Atmospheric Pressure Loading in New Zealand

We investigate atmospheric pressure loading displacements in New Zealand using global and regional air-pressure data collected over a period of 50 years (1960-2009). The elastic response of the Earth to atmospheric loading is calculated by adopting mass loading Love numbers based on the parameters of the Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM). The ocean response to atmospheric loading is computed utilising a modified inverted barometer theory. The results reveal that the atmospheric loading vertical displacements are typically smallest along coastal regions, while gradually increasing inland with the maximum peak-to-peak displacement of 13.1 mm for this study period. In contrast, the largest horizontal displacements are found along coastal regions, where the maximum peak-to-peak displacement reaches 2.7 mm. The vertical displacements have a high spatial correlation, whereas the spatial correlation of the horizontal displacement components is much smaller. A spectral decomposition of the atmospheric loading time series shows that the signal is a broad band with most energy between 1 week and annual periods, and with a couple of peaks corresponding to approximately annual forcing and its overtones. The largest amplitudes in the atmospheric loading time series have an annual and semi-annual period.
Research in Text and the Uses of Coh-Metrix
Authors: Elfenbein Andrew
Published: June 2011

Graesser, McNamara, and Kulikowich (2011) describe the value of the Coh-Metrix system for providing multilevel analyses of textual difficulty. This comment article discusses the broader usefulness of Coh-Metrix for text researchers in providing information about multiple variables in textual features. Coh-Metrix may encourage researchers to develop a greater variety of texts because it highlights where texts may vary. It also is free and easy to use. Its most useful contribution may be allowing researchers to discern which textual features are most critical to comprehension for different populations at different moments in development.
A Conceptual Model of Academic Success for Student–Athletes
Authors: Comeaux Eddie , Harrison C. Keith
Published: June 2011

Concern over the academic talent development of Division I student–athletes has led to increased research to explain variations in their academic performance. Although a substantial amount of attention has been given to the relationship between student–athletes and their levels of academic success, there remain critical theoretical and analytical gaps. The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual model to understand and explain the cumulative processes and characteristics—as a whole and in stages—that influence academic success for Division I student–athletes. Research on student–athletes and academic success is reviewed and synthesized to provide a rationale for the basic elements of the conceptual model.
Factors Associated with Length of Stay and the Risk of Readmission in an Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Facility: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Zhang Jianyi , Harvey Carol , Andrew Carol
Published: June 2011

Objective: This study was to investigate factors influencing the length of stay and predictors for the risk of readmission at an acute psychiatric inpatient unit.

Method: Two comparative studies were embedded in a retrospective cross-sectional clinical file audit. A randomly selected 226 episodes of admissions including 178 patients during a twelve-month period were reviewed. A total of 286 variables were collected and analysed. A case control study was employed in the study of length of stay. A retrospective cohort study was used to investigate the predictors for the risk of readmission.

Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that 10 variables were associated with length of stay. Seclusion during the index admission, accommodation problems and living in an area lacking community services predicted longer stay. During the follow-up period 82 patients (46%) were readmitted. Cox regression analyses showed 9 variables were related to the risk of readmission. Six of these variables increased the risk of readmission, including history of previous frequent admission, risk to others at the time of the index admission and alcohol intoxication. More active and assertive treatment in the community post-discharge decreased the risk of readmission.

Conclusions: Length of stay is multifactorially determined. Behavioural manifestations of illness and lack of social support structures predicted prolonged length of stay. Good clinical practice did not necessarily translate to a shorter length of stay. Therefore, length of stay is predictable, but not readily modifiable within the clinical domain. Good clinical practice within the community following discharge likely reduces the risk of readmission. Quality of inpatient care does not influence the risk of readmission, which therefore raises a question about the validity of using the rate of readmission as an outcome measure of psychiatric inpatient care.
Impact of Mental Health First aid Training on Pharmacy Students' Knowledge, Attitudes and Self-Reported Behaviour: A Controlled Trial
Authors: O'Reilly Claire L. , Bell J. Simon , Kelly Patrick J. , Chen Timothy F.
Published: June 2011

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of delivering Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training for pharmacy students on their mental health literacy and stigma towards mental illness.

Methods: A non-randomized controlled design was used, with all third year pharmacy students at the University of Sydney (n = 272) in 2009 invited to participate in one of two MHFA training courses, each of 12 hours duration. Of these, 174 students applied for MHFA training, of whom 60 were randomly selected and offered MHFA training. Outcome measures that were completed by all participants in the MHFA and non-MHFA groups before and after the MHFA training included an evaluation of mental health literacy, the 7-item social distance scale, and 16 items related to self-reported behaviour.

Results: The survey instrument was completed by 258 participants at baseline (59 MHFA and 199 non-MHFA) and 223 participants at follow up (53 MHFA and 170 non-MHFA). The MHFA training improved the participants’ ability to correctly identify a mental illness (p = 0.004). There was a significant mean decrease in total social distance of 2.18 (SD 3.35) p <0.001 for the MHFA group, indicating less stigmatizing attitudes. There were improvements in recognition of helpful interventions with participants’ views becoming more concordant with health professional views about treatments for depression (p = 0.009) and schizophrenia (p = 0.08), and participants were significantly more confident (p < 0.01) to provide pharmaceutical services to consumers with a mental illness following the training.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that MHFA training can reduce pharmacy students’ mental health stigma, improve recognition of mental disorders and improve confidence in providing services to consumers with a mental illness in the pharmacy setting.
Risk Assessment: Predicting Physical Aggression in Child Psychiatric Inpatient Units
Authors: Phillips Natalie Lynette , Stargatt Robyn , Fisher Leeanne
Published: June 2011

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the predictive validity of unstructured clinical risk assessment and associated risk factors for aggression in predicting physical aggression in children admitted to an Australian psychiatric inpatient facility.

Method: A retrospective review of patient records was conducted at the State Wide Child Inpatient Unit during late 2009 for the period September 2006-July 2009. Children between the ages of 8 and 13 were included in analyses. Information collected included admission risk assessment ratings, critical incident reports, patient diagnoses and history of aggression and trauma.

Results: A total of 127 children (aged 8–13 years) were included in retrospective analyses. Higher aggression risk rankings were predictive of the frequency but not the severity of aggression. A diagnosis of a disruptive behaviour disorder and a history of being a victim of trauma were also predictive of engagement in aggression; however, were not as predictive as the risk assessment. A high risk assessment rating for aggression was better able to predict engagement in aggressive behaviour than a history of physical aggression alone.

Conclusions: Based on professional expertise, prior experience and intuition, clinicians were able to successfully predict engagement in aggressive behaviour during patient admission to a child psychiatric inpatient units.
The Last Chess Game: Computers, Media Events, and the Production of Spectacular Intelligence
Authors: Hamilton Sheryl N.
Published: June 2011

If you win, you win in one of two ways. Some make their final move, throw “check-mate” in their opponent’s face, laugh. Some say nothing, show nothing, simply sit and watch as the other player discovers just exactly what has happened. Some win the first way, others the second. So, it’s okay to laugh at the loss of another, and it’s okay to show nothing at all, but what you must never do is look pleased with yourself. Because this implies that there might have been some doubt, some question of the other prevailing. —Murray Logan (71)
Acadiensis, 1901 and 1999
Authors: Frank David
Published: June 2011

“The name is short, concise, significant and phonetic” (Jack, “Salutatory” 3). With these words—though some of us think the last word should have read “pro­phetic”—an ambitious amateur historian by the name of David Russell Jack (1864–1913) launched the original Acadiensis in Saint John, New Brunswick, in January 1901. The name was an invented one, derived from the historical and sci­entific name for the territory of “Acadia”—a geographic region including the pre­sent-day Maritime Provinces and adjacent areas to the north around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and to the south in northern New England.
From Desk Set to The Net: Women and Computing Technology in Hollywood Films
Authors: Colatrella Carol
Published: June 2011

Like a number of Hollywood producers who have received grants from the Sloan Foundation “to encourage more thoughtful treatment of science,” I am interested in looking closely at representations of scientists and scientific discovery (Pollack). As the National Science Foundation documents, science and technology hold important places in our lives, but public understanding of science continues to lag (Hill; Olson; National Science Foundation [NSF], “Overview”). Politicians and educators frequently argue that US students need to improve their standing in world rankings of student understanding of math and science. One economic reason to educate children and the general public is clear: the transformation from a cold war culture that contributed money to the scientific infrastructure via defence research to a world power eager to expand trade in world markets via electronic means and premier medical research. In the 1990s, defence research shrank while health and telecommunications research received increased support in the federal budget.
“Holler if Ya Hear Me”: Black Men, (Bad) Raps, and Resistance
Authors: Tucker Linda
Published: June 2011

This essay borrows its title from Tupac Shakur’s song “Holler if Ya Hear Me” (Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.). Both the song and this essay address what Houston Baker characterizes as African American males’ struggles to be heard, as opposed to being rendered silent participants in the “scene” of American violence. I coun­ter critics’ misrepresentations and efforts to malign rap music and artists by locat­ing rap music within a frontier-like, resistant space in the United States. I liken rap-related projects of resistance to what Foucault calls effective histories. The first part of the essay reads Rodney King’s silence about his 1991 beating by Los Angeles police officers, his subsequent investments in the rap music industry, and Ice Cube’s song “Who got the Camera?” in relation to Baker’s argument and African American males’ roles as effective historians. The remaining part of the essay focuses specifically on Tupac Shakur. By way of close readings of some of his songs and his THUG LIFE and EXODUS 1811 tattoos, I argue that Tupac’s work was that of an effective historian and that his particular brand of praxis was informed by specific African American religious and cultural traditions. Finally, I locate the debates about rap music within a theory of performance that enables us to understand the complex dynamic between power and resistance to which crit­ics’ responses to rap music and artists call attention.
Pleasure and Politics in Disney’s Utopia
Authors: Villmoar Adelaide H. , Stillman Peter G.
Published: June 2011

I: IntroductionTraditional notions of liberal, democratic politics1 and freedoms fostered in the United States and found in documents like the “Declaration of Independence” and “Constitution” have relied on the ideas of an open, rich marketplace of politi­cal ideas, individual assertions of rights, energetic public spaces and dialogue, and clear limitations of governmental powers. As American as Walt Disney World (WDW) is, it smoothly suppresses these ideas, even where it presents uto­pian visions of the country’s past, present, and future.2 Visitors to WDW bask in the feeling of being “freed up” from the demands of their daily lives3 as they move through a highly controlled and controlling environment. Public spaces here are really private, corporate avenues to a limited variety of rides, food, shows, stories; they also serve as stages for carefully orchestrated performances by “cast members.“ Individuals readily fall into lines, rarely move their conversa­tions beyond their own family or group, and take photos at the anointed “Kodak Picture Spots“ around EPCOT (Klugman 15). The pleasure here lies largely in the clean, organized, commercial lack of freedom.
A Taste for the Wild: Some Nietzschean Themes in Thoreau1
Authors: Box Ian
Published: June 2011

At first blush, it seems far-fetched, even perverse, to suggest an affinity between Thoreau and Nietzsche. Although a neighbour is said to have described Thoreau as a “dirty little atheist” (Harding, Handbook 141), in general there is little trace of the Antichrist in New England transcenden­talism. Yet, it was the American critic Joseph Wood Krutch, writing in the 1940s, who first commented on the striking similarities between the extreme vitality of Thoreau’s prose, which represents nature as beyond moral considerations, and Nietzsche’s more uncompromising vision of life beyond good and evil.2 Krutch’s observations suggest some merit in reading Thoreau with the more philosophically acute observations of his German contemporary in mind. Not only do Nietzsche’s writings explain some of the difficulties in Thoreau’s work, most notably this tension between the wild and the good in his view of nature, they also show Tho­reau to be on the same philosophical road as Nietzsche, rejecting the dec­adence of his nervous and bustling nineteenth century in favour of an individualistic ideal of health and vitality that requires, in Nietzsche’s words, “good teeth” and a “strong stomach” (Gay Science 63).
“You Must Never Be a Misrepresented People”: Spike Lee’s Bamboozled
Authors: Barlowe Jamie
Published: June 2011

You’ve been hoodwinked. You’ve been had. You’ve been took. You’ve been led astray, led amok. You’ve been bamboozled. Malcolm XAs the means by which to examine some of the residual psychological and social effects of colonialism in the current social interactions between the dominant white culture and black culture in the United States, I will argue in this essay that Spike Lee’s fifteenth film Bamboozled (released in October 2000) confronts its audi­ences with the continuing but unacknowledged consequences of minstrelsy and mimicry in the United States as a postcolonialist slave society. My argument will precede from Tania Modleski who asks, Is it not the case that the threat of monstrosity – that is, of black monstrosity – has been present all along in ... film as a consequence of the decision to make it an allegory rather than to treat the situation of blacks directly? And has not the tendency of films from the very early days of cinema to cast white people in black face served a similar function – i.e., to suggest that blackness may be so monstrous it can only be signified but not directly represented? (118) Modleski argues that we need to examine “the function of mimicry on the part of the colonized people,” as well as “the function of minstrelsy” in the “life and art of the colonizer” (119). Toni Morrison has also called for studies that examine “the impact of racism on those who perpetuate it” (11). Minstrelsy, as a manifestation of a colonialist slave system and its racist aftermath, is “a method by which [whites] may disavow – acknowledge and at the same time deny – difference at the level of the body; as a process of fetishism, it seeks ... to restore the wholeness and unity threatened by the sight of difference ... The concept of fetishism enables us to understand why minstrelsy has never really died out” (119). Moreover, as Luce Irigaray has argued about gender – an argument that is also applicable to race – “the fetish is precisely the means whereby [the] ‘lack’” that is both the cause and effect of the (mis)recognition of difference allows for the perpetua­tion of what she calls a “‘multiple belief’[that] serves to support the wildly divergent stereotypical associations that accrue around the fet­ishized body” (Modleski 119–20).
Raising Minstrelsy: Humour, Satire and the Stereotype in The Birth of a Nation and Bamboozled
Authors: Epp Michael H.
Published: June 2011

How much does blackface minstrelsy – the first form of American mass culture – share in modern depictions of blackness in popular television and cinema? What (if anything) can be done about the form’s disturbing legacy? Scholarly criticism over the past decade has grappled with these questions to uncertain effect and with limited success, sometimes attempting to recover a lost minstrelsy that might again produce performances that resist racist hegemony, sometimes reas­serting minstrelsy’s intrinsic racism and consigning its potential for the present to the scholarly practice of history. Importantly, Spike Lee’s recent film Bamboozled, motivated partly by American film’s albatross, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, addresses these same questions by cinematically staging American mass entertainment’s history of discrimination and intimate association with humiliat­ing minstrel stereotypes. Bamboozled, however, seems to embody the theoretical impasse in the scholarly debates, if only because the film enacts the very restaging of minstrelsy it apparently condemns.
Between a Frock and a Hard Place: Camp Aesthetics and Children’s Culture
Authors: Malla Kerry , McGillis Roderick
Published: June 2011

Camp is associated with a particular kind of performance in which the overt meaning of what is performed is subverted or inverted by drawing attention to the fact that it is a performance, and thus a kind of lie (drag being a perfect example). Thomas 103 French: Se Camper.To Posture or Flaunt In exploring camp and children’s culture, we raise the following contrasting viewpoints. The conventionally accepted view, derived from Susan Sontag’s Notes on Camp, is that ‘‘camp’’ is a style or a sensibility (275–7). More recent queer accounts of camp see it as an oppositional critique (of gender and sexuality) embodied in a ‘‘queer’’ performative identity (Butler 233–6). Camp is also a social practice for many, and a style and an identity performed in many types of entertainment (for example: film, cabaret, and pantomime). In this respect, it is indicative of the competing and conflicting cultural elements within Western societies. Such conflict heightens the visibility of ‘‘difference’’ particularly with respect to queer com­munities, and the blurring of gender/sexual identity as a singular, homogenous entity. In other words, camp sensibility and camp performance embrace difference while they also gather performers into communities we might label ‘‘queer.’’ Queer communities differ from non-queer communities and defer any notion of stabi­lity. Both queer and camp are outside notions of stability; they are border activities.
Violence as an Option for Free Blacks in Nineteenth-Century America
Authors: Adeleke Tunde
Published: June 2011

Introduction In August 1846, twelve Blacks from the states of Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Tennessee assembled in St. Louis, Missouri to launch a revolutionary organization dedicated to the violent overthrow of slavery. Called the Twelve Knights of Tabor, the members were sworn to secrecy, and they dedicated their lives to the bloody and violent overthrow of slavery (Dickson 19). The group has been described as ‘‘one of the strongest and most secret of any organization ever formed by men,’’ and it remained secret until 1891(Aptheker 378). Then one of its founding members, the Rev. Moses Dickson of St. Louis, decided to immortalize memories of the founders by publishing a manual detailing its origins and structure (378). A minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Dickson hailed originally from Ohio, where he immersed himself in civil rights efforts and in post-Civil War politics. He was also a founding member of the Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri (now Lincoln University). In 1856, according to Dickson, the movement changed its name to the Order of Twelve. By this time it boasted a membership of about 47,000 ‘‘knights of liberty’’ all dedicated to, ‘‘aiding in breaking the bonds of our slavery.’’ The Order also became very active in the Underground Railroad, helping spirit slaves to freedom, while, at the same time, preparing for the ultimate assault against slavery (378–9).
‘‘The Other White Meat’’: Princess Superstar, Irony, Sexuality, and Whiteness in Hip Hop
Authors: Diner Robyn
Published: June 2011

Abstract: This text takes you on a theoretical romp through Concetta Kirschner’s hip-hop persona, Princess Superstar. To begin, I draw on Kim Nicolini’s work regarding the ways in which one can perform the slut while calling both the category and the good girl / bad girl binary that grounds and surrounds it into question. I also elaborate on how such performances rely heavily and hopefully on irony. In order to flesh out these ideas, I re-present snatches of three specific Princess Superstar tracks: ‘‘NYC Cunt,’’ ‘‘Kool Keith’s Ass,’’ and ‘‘Bad Babysitter.’’ Then I pause to reflect on the highly positive media coverage associated with Princess Superstar. In many of these journalistic texts, whiteness as an identity category takes centre stage. As Richard Dyer suggests, when whiteness becomes visible—remarkable—ideally it ceases to become the norm. However, in the case of Princess Superstar, I will show how although whiteness gets highlighted; Kirschner’s socio-cultural and economic capital which is inseparable from her white privilege remains problematically unmarked.
Considering the Connoisseur: Probing the Language of Taste
Authors: Elliott Charlene
Published: June 2011

Abstract: This article provides a brief, exploratory probe into how theories of taste might be used to inform a very specific practice of taste—that of connoisseurship—in contemporary democratic culture. The focus is on the role of language in this practice, which takes centre stage as a means of both configuring taste and performing connoisseurship. The rise of specialty coffee and the popularization of wine are examined as two cases in which the language of the connoisseur plays a significant role.
Introduction
Authors: Cuthbert David
Published: June 2011

The essays collected in this issue emerged out of the Canadian Association for American Studies conference held in Winnipeg in October 2003. The conference’s program was organized around the topics ‘‘Authenticity and Contention’’ because, at the time of issuing the call for papers, we could not help but recognize the renewed urgency these notions had taken on following the United States government’s response to the events of September 11, 2001. The declaration of a war on terrorism, the founding of the Department of Homeland Security, the passage of the first Patriot Act, the identifying of a so-called ‘‘axis of evil,’’ and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq had already registered a dra­matic shift in the American government’s approach towards both its geopolitical role in the world and the regulation and monitoring of its own population. Concerns about national security demanded more intensive internal scrutiny of the origins, identities, and beliefs of American citizens, landed immigrants, and visitors, while potential external threats to the United States were identified as targets for pre-emptive aggression. In the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and throughout the planning and execution of the military actions that followed, the legitimacy of certain models of national citizenship and political dissent were measured against a coercive ideal of patriotism, which mobilized appeals to an authentically American identity or ‘‘American way of life’’ in order to suppress or disqualify the possibility of critical debate. Any view contesting the policies of the White House administration left itself open to the charge of being inherently ‘‘un-American,’’ or even ‘‘anti-American.’’
Becoming Documentary: Edward Curtis’s In the Land of the Headhunters and the Politics of Archival Reconstruction
Authors: Wakeham Pauline
Published: June 2011

Abstract: In 1914, Edward Curtis produced In the Land of the Headhunters, a sensationalistic film that, in the mode of salvage ethnography, sought to erase the traces of colonial contact and reconstruct so-called Native authenticity in the image of white fantasies of primitive alterity. Comparing archival footage of Curtis’s original 1914 text with the 1973 reconstruction of this film—the only version currently in widespread circulation—this article argues that the reconstruction engages in a second fantasy of authenticity by attempting to recuperate a highly manipulated melodrama as an ostensibly sober ethnographic document. In so doing, the 1973 version reinscribes the romance underpinning salvage ethnography itself: the fantasy of maintaining detachment and scientific objectivity in the very process of fetishistically recuperating a glimpse of supposedly pure and authentic Native lifeways.
From General’s Daughter to Coal Miner’s Daughter: Spinning and Counter-Spinning
Authors: Lync Jessica , Tucke Bruce , Walton Priscilla L.
Published: June 2011

Abstract: In March 2003, Iraqi soldiers captured Pfc. Jessica Lynch, and one week later, American soldiers rescued her in a dramatic, filmed operation. From the moment of her capture, both the American government and the media used Lynch’s story as a template for narratives that went far beyond the life of an American soldier to engage questions about war, race, gender, and nation. Journalists debated such issues as women in the military and Lynch as a feminist icon and even revisited the Great Society programs of the 1960s to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of government intervention in Appalachia, Lynch’s region of origin. The spinning and counter-spinning of Lynch’s story moved the traditional captivity narrative into a new form of imperial myth making, obliterating hierarchies of race, gender, and class at home, while setting Lynch in a foreign land where she was threatened by male, Arabic soldiers. This narrative sought to contain political opposition to the war, resolve the systemic blocking of opportunity in Appalachia, and bring Iraq fully into the orbit of American Empire.
Women and the adoption of charters in Scotland north of Forth, c. 1150–1286
Authors: Hammond Matthew H.
Published: June 2011

This article traces the adoption of charters by women in Scotia, the core region of the kingdom of the Scots north of the Firth of Forth, in the twelfth century, and the developments in charter diplomatic employed primarily by monastic beneficiaries over the course of the following century. Initially, charters were produced in the name of countesses making donations of churches and lands to religious houses, and monastic scribes developed idiosyncratic methods of ‘strengthening’ these gifts through the confirmation of a husband or male relative. In the thirteenth century, charters in the name of women became more plentiful, especially in the case of widows, and more standard formulas emphasising the ‘lawful power of widowhood’ were employed widely. Charters also increasingly recorded donations and other acts by married women across the social scale, either on their own or jointly with their husbands. Moreover, gifts by men of lands which came to them de jure uxoris included standard diplomatic phraseology recording the consent of the wife. This article examines these trends broadly as well as through several case studies. The appendix lists 160 documents relating to women during this period.