bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Searching for History in The Sunjata Epic: The Case of Fakoli
Authors: Conrad David C.
Published: May 2006

That is why, regarding the time between the death of one great king and the rise of another king made famous by God,
If you ask whether in that intervening period there were other kings, Of course there were, But their names are not known.

Some scholars search for historical evidence in the ancient traditions preserved by bards of the Western Sudan, while other writers express doubts that these sources can contain any information of value to historians. A period markedly affected by this question is the early thirteenth century, because it was then that the Mali empire was established, and because most of the evidence for this is derived from the Sunjata tradition, which is an essential part of the repertoire of many Mande bards (also known as “griots” or, in the Mande language, jeliw). A limited amount of information on thirteenth-century Mali is available from Arabic sources, but these were written a century to a century and a half after the reign of Sunjata, and although Ibn Khaldun confirms the existence of the famous mansa and reports that he subdued the Soso (Susu, Sosso), the external writings provide no biographical details about the purported empire-builder. Conversely, some episodes in the internal oral accounts are specifically addressed to the life and times of Sunjata, with elements from other time periods—some of which are identifiable and others not—regularly creeping in and out of the narratives. Some themes are obviously mythical, while others could have a historical basis but cannot be independently confirmed. Thus, any historian addressing thirteenth-century Mali must either accept the severe limitations of the external written sources and say very little indeed about that period, or face the difficulties involved in supplementing these with references to the oral sources.
A. B. C. Sibthorpe: A Tribute
Authors: Fyfe Christopher
Published: May 2006

Aaron Belisarius Cosimo Sibthorpe, a village school teacher who wrote the first history of Sierra Leone, was a man of mystery, a magus. So he seems to have seen himself. The dead, he wrote, have vanished into oblivion,

Except the historian, that monarch of the past, using his noblest privileges, when he takes a survey of his dominions, has only to touch the ruins and dead bodies with his pen, in order to rebuild the palaces, and resuscitate the men. At his voice, like that of the Deity, the dry bones re-unite, the living flesh again covers them, brilliant dresses again clothe them; and in that immense Jehoshaphat (Joel iii, 2, 12), where the children of three thousand years are collected, his own caprice alone regulates his choice, and he has only to announce the names of those Maroons, or those Settlers he requires, to behold them start forth from their tombs, remove the folds of their grave-clothes with their own hands, and answer like Lazarus to our blessed Saviour, ‘Here am I, Lord! what dost thou want with me?’

Here is a powerful, original image. The historian peremptorily calls up the dead from the “immense Jehoshaphat”—the valley where they all lie gathered together to await the judgment of God—choosing anyone he wants, and at his call they are obliged to rise and answer him obediently, as Lazarus answered Jesus. If only for this image Sibthorpe deserves our wonder and gratitude.
In Search of One Word's Meaning:Zamanin Early Twentieth-Century Kano
Authors: Christelow Allan
Published: May 2006

When Caliph Attahiru of Sokoto chose flight over submission to the British in March 1903, it was left to the blind and aging Waziri, Muhammad al-Bukhari, to provide those who remained behind with an explanation of how they could remain good Muslims while accepting infidel rule. Citing a text of the caliphate's founder, Shehu ʿUthman Dan Fodio, he argued that one could befriend the British with the tongue, without befriending them with the heart. It remained for others to develop the vocabulary that their tongues would need for this task.

A particularly intriguing item in the vocabulary that emerged during the turbulent first decade of colonial rule was a new usage ofzaman(time, era) that occurs in the records of the Emir of Kano's judicial council in such terms ashukm al-zaman(rule of the era) and ʿumur al-zaman(things of the era). It is worth noting that the judicial council did not keep written records before being instructed to do so by British Resident C.L. Temple in 1909, so the records might be seen as preserving what was essentially oral discourse—expressions of the tongue. These terms occur uniquely in relation to legal matters in which the British had intervened. Understanding them can shed new light on the religious and political adaptation of northern Nigerian Muslim leaders to life under British rule. To explore their meaning requires a threefold process of examining various usages and understandings ofzamanin non-legal sources; describing how the judicial council used the word; and then analyzing how this usage may have been related to any of a number of influences, ranging from British officials to West African Islamic scholars to Western-educated North Africans passing through the region.
Colonizing Language? Missionaries and Gikuyu Dictionaries, 1904 and 1914
Authors: Peterson Derek
Published: May 2006

Driven by the linguistic and material imperatives of the civilizing mission, early twentieth-century British missionaries sought to reduce Gikuyu, a language spoken in much of central Kenya, to a systematic code of words and phrases. Two of them—A.R. Barlow, a sometime renegade Presbyterian layman, and A.W. MacGregor, a conservative Anglican—produced Gikuyu grammars in what MacGregor described as a “tentative” effort to ameliorate the linguistic difficulties of European settlers and Christian evangelists.

This essay is an attempt to read these two dictionaries as historical texts, highlighting the ways in which they embodied the complexities and contingencies built into colonial hegemony. In the first instance, I argue that the dictionaries were functional tools of colonizing power. As John and Jean Comaroff have shown, missionaries' linguistic interventions were an integral part of the classifying project of colonial control: by insisting on rational modes of debate, and by defining the language in which the debate took shape, missionaries coercively imposed a hegemonizing trajectory onto cultural exchange. Following the Comaroffs, I outline the ways in which these grammars worked to colonize the language of Gikuyu subjects by creating and imposing linguistic meaning through the dictionary.

At the same time, I suggest that these dictionaries were more than functional tools of missionary enterprise. The dictionaries sit uncomfortably at the point of contact between missionary linguistic power and Gikuyu discourse: if the dictionary was to be useful for missionary purposes, then its authors were necessarily compelled to enter into the idiomatic lexicon of local conversations over power, property, and wealth.
African Testimony Reported in European Travel Literature: What Did Paul Soleillet and Camille Piétri Hear and Why Does No One Recount It Now?
Authors: Hanson John H.
Published: May 2006

European visitors to Africa frequently report versions of oral narratives in their travel accounts from the precolonial era. Beatrix Heintze cautions against the uncritical use of these narratives, arguing that they are a “special category of source to which one must apply not only all the criteria for the analysis of oral traditions, but also the sort of source criticism specific to written sources.” Her call for textual criticism is appropriate, but her recommendations regarding the oral aspects of the information raise several issues: what criteria should be adopted for the analysis of oral narratives and what insights into the past do these materials provide? Heintze assumes that oral narratives present “concrete historical data” with “literal” meanings which become “more abstract over the course of time.” She sees the principal value of European-mediated accounts as providing access to the factual statements and initial metaphors from which emerged the more abstract historical clichés expressed by informants in contemporary Africa.
Forget the Numbers: The Case of a Madagascar Famine
Authors: Kaufmann Jeffrey C.
Published: May 2006

“Famines gather history around them,” we are told, even more so, it seems, with high numbers of dead. These numbers are treated sometimes like monuments for famines, increasing over time according to utilitarian concerns. Sources for a famine on Madagascar show that though high numbers may be useful in drawing attention to a calamity, people closer to the event may not locate this history or situate their memory via numbers. Emphasizing numbers in lieu of other ways of remembering and also forgetting a calamity appear not to be very good guides to this history.

The killing famine that struck southern Madagascar in 1930–31 attracted substantial written comment among the French. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about this famine, which followed the surprising and dramatic killing of the predominant species of prickly pear cactus by cochineal insects in the late 1920s. A large area, a seventh of the island (approximately a sixth of France), with a population at the time of around a half million people and perhaps two million head of cattle, was effected by the biological war on cactus. “Cactus pastoralists” were suddenly without a very resourceful plant. It had provided thick fences of protection to these herders and their cattle; its fruit and water a mainstay for people; its singed cladodes a critical source of water and sustenance for cattle.

The “furnace of contamination”—the rapidly reproducing cochineal choking to death their cactus hosts—started in 1925 at the southwest provincial center of Toliara and spread to the east, north, and south at a rate of 100 kilometers per year.
The 1858–1859 Gbebe Journal of CMS Missionary James Thomas
Authors: Kolapo Femi J.
Published: May 2006

James Thomas, whose journal is transcribed and appended to this introduction, was a ‘native agent’ of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) at Gbebe and Lokoja at the confluence of the Niger-Benue rivers between 1858 and 1879. A liberated slave who had been converted to Christianity in Sierra Leone, he enlisted in the service of the CMS Niger Mission headed by Rev. Samuel A. Crowther. Thomas was kidnapped around 1832 from Ikudon in northeast Yoruba, near the Niger-Benue confluence. He lived in Sierra Leone for twenty-five years before returning as a missionary to his homeland.

Gbebe was an important mid-nineteenth-century river port on the Lower Niger. It was located on the east bank of the Niger, a mile below its confluence with the Benue, and about 300 miles from the Atlantic. Aboh, Onitsha, Ossomari, Asaba, Idah, and Lokoja were other famous mid-nineteenth century Lower Niger towns. From an 1841 estimated base of about 1,500, its population rose to about 10,000 by 1859. Contemporary exploration and trading reports by W. B. Baikie, S. Crowther, T. Hutchinson, and J. Whitford indicate that the town occupied an important place in the commercial life of the region.

However, little is known about the town's sociopolitical structures and processes, and still less is known about its relationship with its neighbors. Hence the internal sociopolitical and economic basis for the settlement's economic role in the region is largely unresearched. The reports of James Thomas, Simon Benson Priddy, and Charles Paul, CMS missionaries resident in the town for several years, contain evidence that would be useful for such an endeavor.
Useful Anachronisms: The Rwandan Esoteric Code of Kingship
Authors: Vansina Jan
Published: May 2006

Any mention in a text to something demonstrably more recent than its attributed date of composition is an anachronism. The presence of an anachronism is absolute proof that the purported date given for the redaction of the final the text is wrong and that the real date occurred later than the date implied by the anachronism. In rare cases an anachronism can also occur in reverse, namely, when it can be shown that the anachronism implies the presence of something (an archaism, a practice) which had been replaced or had disappeared by the purported date for the manuscript. Anachronisms can be very useful both to date a document and in some cases to show us something about the dynamics involved in the creation of a text. The detection of anachronisms is common with regard to written documents, but they can also be used for the study of oral documents which have been memorized word by word, especially when only one version of such documents has survived. That is the case for the Rwandan esoteric code of kingship, which yields an excellent example of how a systematic search for anachronisms throws light on such a document and allows a historian to use its contents with much greater confidence than was the case otherwise.

Ubwiiru is the name given in Rwanda to a set of eighteen pieces in prose, called “roads” or “ways,” which vary in length between 74 and 1252 lines and were learned by heart since “immemorial times” by specialists called abiiru.
In the Raw: Some Reflections on Transcribing and Editing Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton's Writings on the Borno Mission of 1822–25
Authors: Lockhart Jamie Bruce
Published: May 2006

In this paper I review the evolution of a nineteenth-century travel diary from the original “remark books” to a polished fair copy version prepared for publication. The journals in question are those kept by Lieut. Hugh Clapperton RN while serving on the Borno Mission in 1822-25. The central issue is how best to reach into and interpret the raw material itself—the author's original observations and thoughts at the time. Each case will have its particularities—in the context of the period and the journey, in the character and interests of the writer, and in the writer's own attitude to the purpose of the journal he or she kept. While the Clapperton material is just one case among many, a review of its internal development—as it proceeded towards publication—allows us to draw some conclusions which may have wider application.
Angola's Eastern Hinterlands in the 1750s: A Text Edition and Translation of Manoel Correia Leitão's “Voyage” (1755–1756)
Authors: Sebestyén Evà , Vansina Jan
Published: May 2006

In 1754 the newly-arrived governor of Angola, António Alvares da Cunha, announced to the court in Lisbon that, inspired by plans his uncle had made in 1725, he had decided to revive the old attempt to find a way overland to link Angola and Mozambique. He was initiating this enterprise by sending, at his own expense, an expedition to the fair of Cassange, the farthest known point eastwards of Luanda, to gather information about the lands between Angola and Mozambique. The governor's envoy was Manoel Correia Leitão— an experienced trader, but one who had never been to Cassange— accompanied by a pilot, António Roiz Grizante, whose task was to fix the latitude of Cassange.

A suspicious reader could conclude with the subsequent governor António de Vasconcelos, that this venture was a slave trading expedition by Leitão to recover some debts. But it was financed by the governor and one suspects that the whole enterprise was in fact a joint business venture, disguised as an exploration, because governors were forbidden to trade. Be that as it may, the reaction from Lisbon to this news was unexpected. The governor was ordered to abandon his plans and to recall his envoys because this enterprise was too “delicate.” Knowledge about it was to be shrouded in absolute secrecy and a report about this was to be treated as top-secret. Whereupon the governor recalled Leitão.
Dust to Dust: a User's Guide to Local Archives in Mali
Authors: Mann Gregory
Published: May 2006

In recent years political changes in Mali have opened up new research opportunities for historians and other social scientists interested in the country's colonial and post-colonial past. With the new government has come a change in administrative attitudes regarding access to local archives, in other words those held at the level of the cercle. Although these archives can be in terrible condition, they contain precious information unique to each cercle. In the course of my own research I have been able to gain access to two such archives in southern Mali, in the summer of 1996 and again in 1998. Using these two archives as an example and drawing on the anecdotal evidence of colleagues, the following comments offer a rough appraisal of the nature of cercle archives in Mali. The paper covers the type of documentation available, the condition of the collections, and my own experiences in using them. Although my experience is limited to southern Mali, local administrations across francophone West Africa are likely to have similar holdings, given the essential uniformity of French administrative structures in colonial West Africa.

In addition to providing otherwise scarce documentary evidence on local events, these archives contain a good deal of correspondence which passed from one commandant de cercle to another, bypassing the central administration in the colony's capital. The information contained in this correspondence is therefore difficult to find in national archives, and I suspect that most of it is absent altogether. The volume of such correspondence is surprising. For example, regarding a religious movement based in one of these towns in the late 1940s, I found fifty-odd letters and telegrams addressed to the local administrator by his colleagues, asking him for information and keeping him abreast of local manifestations of the movement in their own regions. None of these messages had been routed through the central administration, and the commandant had sent his superiors no more than a digest of events in which much detail was suppressed.
Bibliography of Primary Sources of the Pre-Nineteenth Century East African Coast
Authors: Pouwels Randall L.
Published: May 2006

The following bibliography is intended to supplement the excellent one (largely) of secondary sources compiled by Thomas Spear and published inHistory in Africa27(2000). Research for a forthcoming monograph on the East African coast in the ‘middle’ period has taken me in recent years into a number of libraries and archives in India, East Africa, and Europe. There I have been able to build an extensive listing of source material and oral informants interviewed in East Africa. While this compilation includes many of the titles in Spear's list, study carried out in Goa and Lisbon afforded me the opportunity of viewing primary sources not included in Spear's collection. Despite the fact that this is still a work in progress, I submit this supplementary list hoping it might prove useful to other scholars interested in East Africa and the western Indian in the pre- and early-modern period.

Readers also will note that I have included some secondary listings not included in Spear's bibliography. This is due to the fact that my ideas concerning what is relevant to coastal history appear to be somewhat broader than Spear's. Consequently, this list includes some titles on southern and central Africa, as well as of coastal literature, which I have found to be useful and apposite to coastal studies. Naturally, I have tried not to duplicate titles found in Spear's list.
The 1805 Forékariah Conference: A Case of Political Intrigue, Economic Advantage, Network Building
Authors: Mouser Bruce L.
Published: May 2006

Palavers, great meetings, grand conferences, “tribal” meetings— these are terms used to describe meetings among peoples in and near Sierra Leone, meetings in which political, diplomatic, and economic questions are discussed and sometimes resolved at the village, intervillage, and occasionally, national levels. These conferences vary in size and importance, depending on dimensions of conflicts or questions to be resolved. This paper focuses on one such conference that convened at Forékariah, the capital of Moria, in 1805 and on circumstances leading to it. It is based largely upon a lengthy first-hand report deposited at the University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago. This paper is presented in two parts: a description of the conference and its placement in Sierra Leone and Morian histories, and the text of the report produced by Sierra Leone observers.

From the earliest records of British officials at Sierra Leone, there are citations to specific “indigenous” meetings and allusions to others that supposedly occurred (indeed they would have had to occur for certain events to follow). One of the earliest large conferences described in detail in these records is one that convened at Forékariah from 24 March to 6 April 1805. The extant contemporary written record of this conference was produced by Alexander Smith, the Sierra Leone Company's and Governor William Day's principal representative at the conference. Other observers from Freetown included William Francis, Andrew Moore, Captain Smith, and Charles Shaw. Alexander Smith did not identify a specific interpreter nor describe what method he used to record the detailed arguments presented by participants. Certainly the filter of language and inter pretation must have influenced the record's content. If one places the conference within the framework of Company and Sierra Leone history, however, and accepts the premise that the Freetown observers were relatively unbiased since they were not principal parties to the palavers resolved, the report can be seen as one of a very few in which Sierra Leone's officials presented themselves in such uninvolved fashion.
It Never Happened: Kinguri's Exodus and its Consequences
Authors: Vansina Jan
Published: May 2006

The later precolonial history of a vast area in west central Africa between the Kwango and the Lubilash rivers starts with—and is dated by—the tradition of exodus of Kinguri and his companions from the heartland of the Lunda commonwealth. For the last two decades, however, several scholars have claimed that this tradition is merely a later addition to the older body of the traditions told by a dozen or so different peoples in west central Africa. Yet so far no one has examined where and when and how the Kinguri exodus tradition could have grafted itself onto the traditions of so many peoples over such a vast area. If true, this claim also requires a radical revision of the accepted history of western Lunda expansion. To examine the claim and its consequences is the aim of this article, which begins with the earliest written report of the Kinguri's exodus story.
The Nazarene Archives in Kansas City, Missouri
Authors: Houle Robert J.
Published: May 2006

One of the joys of archival research is uncovering the occasional gem of information. That letter, or maybe just a few lines within a note, that confirms the validity of your project and lets you utter a brief exclamation (in hushed tones of course) of victory before carrying on. The Nazarene Archives in Kansas City, Missouri elicited such a reaction from me: the thrill of discovery writ large. Here I found an extraordinary amount of information well preserved and organized, with an exceptional staff eager to assist, which has lain largely untapped by African historians. While at first blush it may seem unlikely that this material could hold interest for any outside of those researching into some aspect of Nazarene history, the material cuts across enough geographical/cultural/political trends in African history to make it potentially useful to many more researches then have accessed it to date.
Africana Sources at the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine
Authors: Tuck Michael W.
Published: May 2006

The holdings of the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine (hereafter the Wellcome) contain many items of interest for scholars of Africa. While the Wellcome is known as the premier library for the history of science and medicine, its resources can contribute to a variety of research projects, including topics in social, cultural, labor, and military history. What follows is a brief overview of some of the major holdings, a more detailed description of important sources from Uganda, and some ideas of how these can be used by Africanists.
Coordinate Changes in Plasma Glucose and Pancreatic β-Cell Function in Latino Women at High Risk for Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Xiang Anny H. , Wang Chengwei , Peters Ruth K. , Trigo Enrique , Kjos Siri L. , Buchanan Thomas A.
Published: May 2006

The purpose of this study was to examine longitudinally the relationship among glucose levels, pancreatic β-cell function, and insulin resistance in women at high risk for type 2 diabetes. Oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) and intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTTs) were performed at 15-month intervals for up to 5 years or until fasting plasma glucose exceeded 140 mg/dl in Hispanic women with recent gestational diabetes. Data were analyzed 1) to compare changes in insulin sensitivity, β-cell function, and glucose levels between women who had diabetes at one or more visits and women who remained diabetes free and 2) to determine longitudinal patterns of change in glucose levels and acute β-cell compensation for insulin resistance. Seventy-one women provided data from a total of 280 paired OGTTs and IVGTTs during a median follow-up of 46 months. Compared with the 47 women who remained free of diabetes, the 24 who either had diabetes (n = 9) or developed it during follow-up (n = 15) had higher baseline glucose levels and lower acute β-cell compensation for insulin resistance. Baseline insulin sensitivity was low in both groups and did not change significantly during follow-up. Fasting and 2-h glucose levels increased more rapidly in the diabetic group despite a decline in acute β-cell compensation that was significantly slower than the decline in women who did not develop diabetes. This paradox was explained by an accelerated rise in glucose levels for any decline in β-cell compensation when β-cell compensation reached ∼10% of normal, a level that was reached in the women who had or developed diabetes but not in the women who remained diabetes free. These findings define a pathogenesis for type 2 diabetes in one high-risk group that is characterized by a relatively long-term decline in acute β-cell compensation for chronic insulin resistance that is attended by slowly rising glucose levels. Only relatively late in this process do glucose levels rise rapidly and into the diabetic range.
Experimental and Theoretical Study of 2,6‐Difluorophenylnitrene, Its Radical Cation, and Their Rearrangement Products in Argon Matrices
Authors: Carra Claudio , Nussbaum Rafael , Bally Thomas
Published: May 2006

2,6‐Difluorophenylnitrene was reinvestigated both experimentally, in Ar matrices at 10 K, and computationally, by DFT and CASSCF/CASPT2 calculations. Almost‐pure samples of both neutral rearrangement products (the bicyclic azirine and the cyclic ketenimine) of a phenylnitrene were prepared and characterized for the first time. These samples were then subjected to X‐irradiation in the presence of CH2Cl2 as an electron scavenger, which led to ionization of the neutral intermediates. Thereby, it was shown that only the phenylnitrene and the cyclic ketenimine yield stable radical cations, whereas the bicyclic azirine decays to both of these compounds on ionization. The cyclic ketenimine yields a novel aromatic azatropylium‐type radical cation. The electronic structure of the title compound is discussed in detail, and its relation to those of the iso‐π‐electronic benzyl radical and phenylcarbene is traced.
Promoter methylation in circadian genes of endometrial cancers detected by methylation‐specific PCR
Authors: Shih Mu‐Chin , Yeh Kun‐Tu , Tang Kai‐Ping , Chen Jui‐Chang , Chang Jan‐Gowth
Published: May 2006

Methylation of CpG dinucleotides in the promoter sequence of a gene can lead to deregulated and suppressed gene expression. In this study, we have developed procedures for methylation‐specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) and sequencing analysis to determine CpG methylation status of the promoter sequences of nine circadian genes in 35 endometrial cancers (EC) and paired noncancerous endometrial tissues. DNA methylation was found in the promoter sequences of PER1, PER2, and CRY1, but not of other six circadian genes in the ECs and normal tissues examined. Eleven of the 35 EC tissues showed CpG methylation in the promoter sequences of PER1, PER2, or CRY1. Of these 11 cases, 1 had promoter methylation in all the three genes, 1 in PER1 and PER2, 3 in PER1 and CRY1, and 6 in PER1, respectively. In comparison, promoter CpG methylation of PER1, PER2, or CRY1 was found in only 7 of 35 paired noncancerous tissues including 2 in PER1 and PER2, 2 in PER1, and 3 in CRY1. In summary, promoter methylation in the PER1, PER2, or CRY1 circadian genes was detected in about one‐third of EC and one‐fifth of noncancerous endometrial tissues of 35 paired specimens indicating possible disruption of the circadian clock in the development of EC. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Near‐real‐time loss estimation for instrumented buildings
Authors: Porter Keith , Mitrani‐Reiser Judith , Beck James L.
Published: May 2006

A technique is developed to model instrumented buildings with a second‐generation performance‐based earthquake engineering approach, producing a damage and loss estimate shortly after the cessation of strong motion. It estimates the likely locations of damage (including concealed structural damage), potentially saving the owner time and money by focusing post‐earthquake safety and repair inspections. It provides a rapid estimate of repair costs, allowing the owner quickly to apply for recovery funds or an insurance claim. The method uses basement accelerograms, a stochastic structural model, and nonlinear time‐history structural analysis to estimate probabilistic engineering demands (structural response). Structural response is input to fragility functions for each damageable assembly to estimate probabilistic physical damage on a component‐by‐component basis. Probabilistic repair costs for each assembly are calculated and summed, and contractor overhead and profit are added to produce a probability distribution of total repair cost. A simple Bayesian‐updating technique employs upper‐story accelerograms to refine the stochastic structural model. It is found in application that using the upper‐story accelerograms produces only a modest change in the distributions of damage and repair cost, because most of the uncertainty in repair cost results from the uncertainty in the fragility functions and cost distributions, not from uncertainty in the structural model. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Indigenous peoples as international political actors: presenting the INDIPO project
Authors: Tennberg Monica
Published: May 2006

Indigenous peoples have emerged as active participants in international relations. They claim the right to participation and to consultation in international political decision-making and to represent their interests based on principles of self-determination. Indigenous peoples' organizations in the Arctic have been in the forefront of the political mobilization of indigenous peoples in different international forums. The aim of the INDIPO project is to study the dynamics of interactions between states, international organizations, and indigenous peoples. This research project draws on theories and practices in international politics and international law in order to analyse how ‘indigenousness’ is used politically as a claim to self-determination and sovereignty in the international system and what the political consequences of this claim will be. The research objective consists in seeking answers to two interrelated questions. Firstly, how relations between states, international organizations and indigenous peoples have been and are currently constructed as legal and political practices? Secondly, how indigenous peoples, through different strategies, construct political agencies to further their political interest? The research project advances knowledge about the construction of the political agency of indigenous peoples and their participation in international policy-making. The researchers seek to establish a constructive dialogue with the representatives of major stakeholders and to organise two workshops with them in order to discuss the objectives and results of the project. The first one was held in Inari, Finland in January 2006.
Case-based reasoning-inspired approaches to education
Authors: KOLODNER JANET L. , COX MICHAEL T. , GONZÁLEZ-CALERO PEDRO A.
Published: May 2006

This commentary briefly reviews work on the application of case-based reasoning (CBR) to the design and construction of educational approaches and computer-based teaching systems. The CBR cognitive model is at the core of constructivist learning approaches such as Goal-based Scenarios and Learning by Design. Case libraries can play roles as intelligent resources while learning and frameworks for articulating one's understanding. More recently, CBR techniques have been applied to design and construction of simulation-based learning systems and serious games. The main ideas of CBR are explained and pointers to relevant references are provided, both for finished work and on-going research.
To Spend or Not to Spend – Improving the Evaluation
of Capital Expenditures
Authors: Sokol Reuben J. , Lipson William
Published: May 2006

The evaluation process for capital expenditures has become
increasingly challenging in an increasingly international marketplace
and amidst rapid technological change. Key recommendations for improving
the evaluation process are outlined. It is argued that, from the
company′s strategic plan, one should develop a common set of planning
assumptions, on the basis of which projects are first selected. A formal
manual should be prepared, setting standards for the evaluation process.
Financial approaches can help quantify the many risks associated with a
project. Protection against such risks can be sought through
international diversification, purchase of insurance, or even hedging in
financial markets. The impact of international competition in local
markets is a key risk which should be considered. Possible strategies to
avoid rapid obsolescence are a quick review process, continuous
upgrades, refusal to be stampeded by equipment manufacturers, and the
option of buying new technology. Wherever possible, projects should be
implemented using a phased approach.
Marketing of Financial Services in a Developing Country:
The Malaysian Experience
Authors: Shanmugam Bala
Published: May 2006

The focus here is on marketing techniques employed by banks in
developing countries with special emphasis on Malaysia. It is observed
that the banks use highly specialised forms of marketing techniques.
They have generally expanded their operations to previously
“unbanked” areas and have sought to extend and improve the
banking habits of the people. Overall, the marketing activities have
been rather successful, as the growth of deposits and loans has been
rapid.
Individual versus Subjective Values
Authors: Machan Tibor R.
Published: May 2006

The objective of this essay is to recast the familiar subjective
value theory underlying neo‐classical (including Austrian) economics as
more of an objectivist albeit individual value theory. The body of
scientific economics remains intact, as well as the political economic
implication of value diversity (which the price system of the
marketplace alone can fully accommodate). What changes is the view that
economic science must assume the meta‐ethical position of subjectivism
and non‐cognitivism, a position that certainly has no place within
economics proper and one that aside from facing many philosophical
difficulties is also incredible from the viewpoint of common sense (thus
posing as an obstacle to the plausibility of neo‐classical economics
when introduced into ordinary political discourse and evaluated
comparatively (e.g. vis‐à‐vis varieties of Marxist
economics).
Improving Vocational Training
Authors: Fowler Graham
Published: May 2006

The new vocationalist policies, exemplified by YTS, do virtually
nothing to foster economic development. Such moves are very different to
the vocational training of apprenticeships. However, a simple return to
apprenticeships is not appropriate. The future of training should be
less specific and more general, thereby reflecting and promoting future
demands: relearning, and flexibility. Industry and education should
point to the errors of current government policy and seek this
economically relevant training.
Quality and Control in Logistics
Authors: Novack Robert A.
Published: May 2006

A Process Model During the last five years, American businesses
have increasingly accepted the notion that product quality is necessary
for them to compete in today′s world markets. Product quality, in the
context here, can be defined by an agreed set of standards and tolerance
limits between the firm and its customers. Quality is achieved through
the successful creation of form, possession, time, place, and quantity
utilities for the firm′s products. Control must be implemented in order
to ensure that these utilities are created to meet the standards and
tolerance limits agreed upon by the firm and its customers. The purpose
of exercising control is to ensure that desired results are attained
from an activity or process. As such, it is important to exercise
control over the logistics activities to make sure that time, place, and
quantity utilities are created in accordance with customer needs. The
purpose of this monograph is to present a rather comprehensive
discussion of the concept of control. Specific control concepts
presented include a discussion of the link between control and quality,
the development of the characteristics of control and levels of
sophistication of control, the presentation of an eclectic process
control model, and suggestions to managers on how to implement the
control process over logistics activities.
Principia Methodologica 1: A Bridge from Economics to all
Other Natural Sciences Towards a Methodological Unification of all
Sciences
Authors: Rugina Anghel N.
Published: May 2006

There is a double crisis in modern science and in particular in
physics and mechanics. Among others Einstein and Stephane Lupasco, in
the 1930s, warned about this crisis. The Quantum Theory cannot be
reconciled with the Relativity Theory. Specifically there is a gap
(cleavage) between micro – and macro‐physics and mechanics.
Parallel or beneath there is also a second crisis derived from a
discontinuity (again a cleavage) between classical and modern science,
that is between two previous revolutions. A new research programme of a
simultaneous equilibrium versus disequilibrium approach, initially
applied in economics has now been extended to include natural sciences.
It is the question of a new, more comprehensive methodology which is
actually a sui generis synthesis between classical and modern
heritage. The rigorous application of the new research programme leads
to the organisation of an Orientation Table, that is, a methodological
map of all possible combinations (systems). The Table shows, without any
exaggeration, a few revolutionary results. For instance, with the help
of the Table, modern science or the second revolution (Einstein, Bohr,
Heisenberg) does not appear contradictory but rather
complementary to classical science or the first revolution (Newton,
Lavoisier). The Kuhnian thesis to the contrary is disproved and the
second crisis is solved. With the help of the Universal Hypothesis of
Duality (the basis of the Orientation Table), matter and energy, at the
micro – and macro‐level, appear in a double form (the Principle of
Duality): stable (equilibrium) particles and unstable (disequilibrium)
waves. The strong interactions from modern physics are associated with
the law of gravitation (attraction) or stable equilibrium which
governs stable matter and energy. The weak interactions are associated
with the law of disgravitation (dispersion or repulsion)
including entropy or unstable equilibrium which governs unstable matter
and energy. In this way the first crisis is also solved.
Strategies for Innate and Adoptive Exporters: Lessons from
Israel′s Case
Authors: Ganitsky Joseph
Published: May 2006

This article contrasts corporations established expressly to serve
foreign markets (innate exporters) with those that first served
domestic markets and later broadened their scope to foreign markets (adoptive exporters). It examines their respective reasons for export
involvement, managerial attitudes and practices, risk profiles,
strategic postures in four competitive scenarios, and key distinctive
success factors. Issues raised in this article are examined from the
perspective of Israel. Its conclusions proposing strategic
recommendations to exploit further the potential of innate exporters,
however, extend to other environments.
Rites of Passage: A Case Study of Teacher Preparation
Authors: Hale Lorraine , Starratt Robert J.
Published: May 2006

This case study was stimulated by involvement in a
teacher‐internship programme in which the induction of beginning
teachers into the profession was very inadequately guided. Their easy
acceptance of simplistic approaches to teaching, with minimal
accountability for results led the researchers to an appraisal of the
process of teacher preparation from the vantage point of cultural
induction, known to anthropologists as rites of passage. The study
concluded that the inadequacies as well as the possibilities for
improving teacher induction were highlighted by such a frame of
reference.
Occupational Stress: Perceptions of Teachers in Catholic
Schools
Authors: Solman Robert , Feld Melinda
Published: May 2006

A large sample (n = 437) of teachers in Catholic schools in
New South Wales, Australia, completed a questionnaire on perceptions of
job‐related stress. Six stress factors were isolated (namely poor school
tone, pupil recalcitrance, curriculum demands, community antagonism,
time demands and poor working environment). The pattern of responses was
similar to that previously obtained from samples of teachers in state
schools, but the levels of reported stress were generally lower. This
was particularly obvious in the case of pupil recalcitrance, and the
Catholic school teachers also reported lower absenteeism than their
state school colleagues. As in the state schools, one in three teachers
reported high levels of minor neurotic disturbance, and poor school tone
contributed significantly both to this measure of well‐being and to the
reported number of days absent. It was concluded that occupational
stress is prevalent in both Catholic and state schools.
Creating the marketing receptive environment: overcoming
the two year hatchet limit for a firm′s first marketing director
Authors: Rogers Martha , Buchanan Richard W.
Published: May 2006

Examines the problem of selecting new marketing directors and the
high failure rate among new marketing personnel. Contends that the
failure of first‐time marketing directors is not automatic; identifies
the problems involved in hiring first‐time directors and offers specific
steps that a first‐time marketing director can take and that a firm can
support to increase the possibility of success for the new marketing
executive, as well as the firm′s overall marketing effort. Concludes
that first time marketing executives are not doomed to fail.
Effect of stealthy liposomal topotecan plus amlodipine on the multidrug‐resistant leukaemia cells in vitro and xenograft in mice
Authors: Li X. , Lu W. L. , Liang G. W. , Ruan G. R. , Hong H. Y. , Long C. , Zhang Y. T. , Liu Y. , Wang J. C. , Zhang X. , Zhang Q.
Published: May 2006

Background  Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major obstacle to successful cancer chemotherapy as the over‐expressed MDR protein acts as an efflux pump, which leads to a reduction in the uptake of the anticancer agent by tumour cells. We combined topotecan and amlodipine together into the stealthy liposomes, in which amlodipine was applied as a MDR reversing agent to overcome the resistance.

Materials and methods  Cytotoxicity, apoptosis and the signalling pathway assays were performed on human chronic myelogenous leukaemia K562, promyelocytic leukaemia HL‐60 and MDR HL‐60 cells, respectively. Pharmacokinetics and antitumour activity studies were performed on normal Kunming mice and female BALB/c nude mice with MDR HL‐60 xenografts, respectively.

Results  Topotecan alone was effective in inhibiting the growth of non‐resistant leukaemia cells, K562 and HL‐60 cells but not the growth of MDR HL‐60 cells. The resistance of topotecan in MDR HL‐60 cells was potently reversed by the addition of amlodipine. Moreover, amlodipine enhanced the apoptosis‐inducing effect of topotecan synergistically. Apoptosis was through activating caspases in a cascade: first, the initiator caspase 8 and then effectors caspase 3/7 (total activity of caspases 3 and 7) were activated. Being encapsulated into the stealthy liposmes with an acidic internal medium, topotecan existed dominantly in an active lactone species, which was reversibly changed from an inactive carboxylate form via a pH‐dependent reaction. After administration of stealthy liposomes to mice, the blood exposure of the lactone form was evidently increased and extended. The antitumour effects in the MDR HL‐60 xenografted tumour were stealthy liposomal topotecan (SLT) plus amlodipine > SLT > un‐encapsulated topotecan > blank control.

Conclusions  The enhanced antitumour activity in the MDR HL‐60 cells by the SLT plus amlodipine could be owing to multiple reasons: (a) synergistic apoptosis inducing effect, (b) reversing MDR by amlodipine and (c) increasing the availability of active lactone of topotecan by the stealthy liposomes. The apoptosis induced by amlodipine is through caspase 8 and then the 3/7 signalling pathway.
Characteristic alterations of quantity and quality of soil organic matter caused by forest fires in continental Mediterranean ecosystems: a solid‐state 13C NMR study
Authors: Knicker H. , Almendros G. , González‐Vila F. J. , González‐Pérez J. A. , Polvillo O.
Published: May 2006

The variable effect of different types of forest fires on the quantity and quality of soil organic matter (SOM) was analysed by comparing burnt and unburnt soils from six forest ecosystems in central Spain by organic elemental analysis and solid‐state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Whole soil samples were collected 1 to 2 years after the fires and included one site affected by two fires within 2 years. The fire‐affected soils showed no common pattern with respect to the amount of additional carbon (Cadd) but at all sites, the fire enhanced the aromatic‐C content. The weakest fire intensity resulted in the greatest aromatic‐C enrichment factor, EFI(aromatic C) indicating the greatest local accumulation of char. The respective Cadd disclosed an EFI(aromatic C) to EFI(alkyl C) ratio, Bchar, of c.1, which supports a small degree of charring. Extensive combustion and volatilization at stronger fire intensities yielded a decrease of EFI(aromatic C) and an increase in Bchar. These trends are in good agreement with fire intensity and forest fuel combustibility in the various sites and therefore these indices could be used to elucidate the quality and quantity of char input that occurs during and after forest fires. No 13C NMR evidence for substantial inputs from non‐charred plant necromass was found for any of the single‐burn soils. The large carboxyl‐C content of Cadd is evidence of the occurrence of oxidation reactions very shortly after the fire. In comparing the single and double‐burn sites, no additional char input was observed for the double‐burn site, possibly because of complete combustion of young shrubs and char remains during the second fire. The large O‐alkyl‐C portion found in Cadd of the double‐burn soil is best explained by decreased litter degradation.