bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multispectral Schwarzschild imaging system for the extreme ultraviolet emission measurement of tokamak plasma
Authors: Si Haoxuan , Yi Shengzhen , Ming Tingfeng , Zhang Zhe , Li Gongshun , Hou Shanwei , Jiang Li , Wang Zhanshan , Gao Xiang , Liu XiaoJu , Li Guoqiang
Published: November 2024

A multispectral extreme ultraviolet imaging system based on a separated multichannel Schwarzschild objective was developed for emission measurements of tokamak plasma, with a wide field of view, high spatial resolution, and multispectral resolution. Multiple energy responses were realized by depositing different multilayer coatings on each mirror, targeting the interesting spectral lines of common impurities, such as Ne, C, and W, observed in tokamak experiments. Direct-current magnetron sputtering in conjunction with mask reshaping was employed to fabricate highly uniform multilayers on large-curvature substrates, achieving a thickness control accuracy of ±0.1 nm. Furthermore, this paper proposes an assembly and adjustment scheme that transitions from single-channel centering to multichannel integration, ensuring high-precision alignment across all channels. The design, preparation, and experimental validation of the proposed system are reported. The system was experimentally validated in the Experimental and Advanced Superconducting Tokamak facility, successfully detecting all target spectral lines. The results of the study demonstrate the feasibility of electron temperature measurements using the proposed system.
Contradictions and possibilities for change: Exploring stakeholder perspectives of Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) and their connection to a future for global health
Authors: Chidwick Hanna , Tuyisenge Germaine , DiLiberto Deborah D. , Schwartz Lisa
Published: November 2024

Increasing global inequities have led to ongoing critiques of both the historical roots and current practices in global health. From this literature, questions have emerged about the future of global health and Canada’s role in this future. However, there is little research exploring the role of Canadian policy for global health funding and the experience of stakeholders that currently implement projects with Canadian funding. This study explores stakeholder perspectives of how Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) influences adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) projects and how these perspectives align with calls for change in global health as proposed by Chidwick et al. in the conceptual framework for an imagined future for global health. This study was conducted from February to May 2023 through eight interviews with key informants who were working on ASRH projects, funded through Global Affairs Canada. The study approach included stakeholder analysis and qualitative description. Results highlight the role of Canadian organizations in ASRH projects, importance of partnerships, influence of the FIAP, operational and contextual tensions that arise from implementing FIAP values in ASRH projects outside of Canada, along with stakeholder views on moving forward in global health policy and practice. Findings indicate that the language of the FIAP is aligned with calls for change in global health although there is opportunity for further action towards operationalizing this change. Specifically, findings highlight opportunity to create more flexible funding processes, expand monitoring and evaluation approaches to better include feminist approaches, promote rights-based and dignity-based practices in ASRH, and increase timelines to facilitate greater consultation and partnership building with communities. In conclusion, the FIAP creates an impactful foundation for change towards equity and justice in ASRH projects, although Canadian funding structures and processes need to continue to re-imagine how they support organizations to action these changes.
Identifying the impact of ARHGAP and MAP gene families on autism spectrum disorders
Authors: Gao Tianci , Dang Wenjun , Jiang Zhimei , Jiang Yuwei
Published: November 2024

The rising incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has become a major concern, affecting children’s psychological well-being and placing a significant strain on healthcare systems. Despite its impact, the etiological mechanisms underpinning ASD remain elusive. This study leveraged dorsolateral prefrontal cortex gene data from 452 individuals of European descent, sourced from the CommonMindConsortium, and examined ASD-related gene expression data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database (GSE18123), along with Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) data from the Lundbeck Foundation Integrated Psychiatric Research and Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Expression quantitative trait loci data were sourced from the GTExv8 database. We employed Transcriptome-Wide Association Studies (TWAS) and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) to pinpoint genes within ASD-associated susceptibility gene families (ARHGAP, MAP). Four genes—ARHGAP27, MAPT, ARHGAP19, and MAP1B—were scrutinized, and their biological implications were elucidated through Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses. Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) analysis and conditional analysis within the TWAS framework helped identify pivotal genes (ARHGAP27, MAPT). A subsequent verification phase involving Mendelian Randomization (MR) evaluated the potential causal links between the identified genes and ASD. The findings revealed no causal association between ARHGAP19, MAP1B, and ASD. In contrast, significant causal relationships were established for ARHGAP27 and MAPT, suggesting that ARHGAP27 may elevate ASD risk as a susceptibility gene, whereas MAPT appears to reduce the risk as a protective gene.
Investigating surface area and recovery efficiency of healthcare-associated pathogens to optimize composite environmental sampling
Authors: Chan-Riley Monica Y. , Edwards Jonathan R. , Noble-Wang Judith , Rose Laura
Published: November 2024

Hospital surfaces are known to contribute to the spread of healthcare-associated antimicrobial pathogens. Environmental sampling can help locate reservoirs and determine intervention strategies, although sampling and detection can be labor intensive. Composite approaches may help reduce time and costs associated with sampling and detection. We investigated optimum surface areas for sampling antimicrobial-resistant organisms (AROs) with a single side of cellulose sponge, created theoretical composites (TC) by adding recovery results from multiple optimum areas, then compared the TC to the standard Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sampling method (one sponge using all sides, whole tool; (WT)). Five AROs were evaluated: carbapenemase-producing KPC+ Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC), Acinetobacter baumannii (AB), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE) and Clostridioides difficile spores (CD). Steel coupons comprising four surface areas (323; 645; 1,290 and 2,258 cm2) were inoculated, dried, and sampled with one sampling pass using the larger side (face) or the smaller side (edge) of a pre-moistened cellulose sponge tool. Based on the optimum areas determined for each organism, composite areas were 1,290 cm2 for MRSA and VRE, 1,936 cm2 for AB, 2,580 cm2 for CD spores and 3,870 cm2 for KPC. Total colony forming units (CFU) recovered using a composite approach was greater or comparable than using multiple WT samplings (over the same area as the composite) for MRSA, VRE and AB (130%; 144% and 95%) yet less than if using multiple WT samplings for KP and CD (47% and 66%). We propose a conservative composite sampling strategy if the target organism is unknown; 323 cm2 sampling area for each of the four sides of the sponge, (1290 cm2 total). The conservative composite sampling strategy improved the recovery of KP (from 47% to 85% of multiple WT samplings), while MRSA, VRE, AB and CD (131%; 144%; 97% and 66%) remained within 5% to that of the optimum area TC.
Acceptance of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among the parents of eligible daughters (9–15 years) in Bangladesh: A nationwide study using Health Belief Model
Authors: Hawlader Mohammad Delwer Hossain , Eva Fahima Nasrin , Khan Md. Abdullah Saeed , Islam Tariful , Monisha Umme Kulsum , Chowdhury Irin , Ara Rifat , Meem Nur-E-Safa , Hossain Mohammad Ali , Goutam Arpita , Zerin Tahmina , Alam Nishat , Nath Rima , Sifat Shamma , Sultana Sayla , Sultana Mosammat Sadeka , Saha Sumit Kumar , Sarker Naifa Enam , Nabi Mohammad Hayatun , Rahman Mohammad Lutfor
Published: November 2024

Background

To align with the 2030 vision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure 90% of girls receive the HPV vaccine before turning 15, Bangladesh has recently started the (HPV) vaccine campaign nationwide. Therefore, our study aimed to assess the level of its acceptance among parents of eligible daughters in Bangladesh.

Methods

This nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted among the self-identified parents of daughters in the age group of 9–15 years between June 28 and August 2, 2023. A total of 2,151 parents were conveniently selected from all eight divisions of Bangladesh. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. The Health Belief Model was used to appraise respondents’ beliefs concerning HPV and its vaccination. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with a corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI), and a p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. R Studio (Version 2023.09.0+463) was used as an interface for data analysis, while R (the programming language) was used for statistical computations.

Results

The mean age of the study participants was 38.18 (±5.86) years. The overall acceptance rate of the HPV vaccine was 86.61% (95%CI: 85.09–88.02). The vaccine acceptance level was positively associated with all the domains of the HBM (p<0.001), except in the perceived barrier domain (p = 0.489). After adjustment for other factors, it was found that higher age was associated with a decreased acceptance (AOR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.89–0.95). The urban residents exhibited 42% lower odds of vaccine acceptance than rural (AOR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.36–0.92). Similarly, participants of the middle-income group had 44% lower odds than the lower-income group (AOR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.32–0.97).

Conclusion

Our study found a reasonably good level of acceptance of the HPV vaccine among the parents of eligible daughters. Multiple factors such as younger age, urban residence, belonging to the middle income group, history of regular routine health check-ups, knowledge of cervical cancer, positive perception about benefits of the vaccine, and positive cues to actions were associated with HPV vaccine acceptance.
The role of illness perception in the physical activity domain of health-promoting lifestyle among patients with non-communicable diseases: A systematic review
Authors: Syed Shamsuddin Sharifah Maziah , Ahmad Norfazilah , Radi Mohd Firdaus Mohd , Ibrahim Roszita
Published: November 2024

Background

The global mortality caused by non-communicable diseases is on the rise. Health-promoting lifestyles are among the most effective approaches, yet the physical activity domain consistently scores the lowest. Physical activity is linked to individual behaviour and influenced by numerous factors. Illness has been identified as a key factor in behavioural change. Therefore, the primary purpose of this review was to investigate the role of illness perception in the physical activity domain among patients with non-communicable disease.

Method

This systematic review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines. A literature search was conducted across three scientific databases (Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science), targeting original articles published in English between 2014 and 2024. The quality of the eligible articles was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tools. The findings were synthesised through content analysis.

Results

A total of 17 studies were included, identifying both the direct and indirect effects of illness perception variables as a whole or in their respective dimensions. The illness perception variable has demonstrated a significant positive and negative relationships with the physical activity domain.

Limitation

The majority of the included studies had a cross-sectional design. Therefore, the evidence quality was relatively low and exhibited a high risk of bias. Furthermore, there was language bias as only English-language publications were selected.

Conclusion

The findings of this review will serve as a guide for healthcare providers in enhancing physical activity adherence among patients with non-communicable diseases through an illness perception approach. This approach can be integrated into clinic consultations and intervention programmes. Future studies are warranted to evaluate the effectiveness of the illness perception approach in promoting physical activity adherence.
Trade liberalization and total factor productivity in Brazil: A vecm modeling
Authors: Oliveira de Almeida Edivo , Cateia Julio Vicente , Barbosa William , Ataides de Freitas Clailton
Published: November 2024

This paper aims to investigate trade openness’s effects on total factor productivity (TFP) using monthly data from December 1991 to March 2024. The analysis also incorporated absorptive capacity to examine the behavior of TFP components. Our findings from a multivariate VECM model indicated that absorptive capacity did not significantly impact TFP, even in the short term. Conversely, the increase in openness contributes to raising TFP by about 26 and 0.16 percentage points in the short and long term, respectively. Additionally, absorptive capacity and trade openness Granger-Cause short- and long-term components of TFP. These results are statistically significant at conventional significance levels. Policymakers should consider the dynamic effects of their policy actions on other sectors of the economy that were not initially the focus of the policy. Policymakers should develop concrete policies that improve the efficient use of resources in production chains to potentialize the productive impact of trade liberalization, including investment in human capital, ICT, and research and development.
Multi-organ gene expression analysis and network modeling reveal regulatory control cascades during the development of hypertension in female spontaneously hypertensive rat
Authors: Hornung Eden , Achanta Sirisha , Moss Alison , Schwaber James S. , Vadigepalli Rajanikanth
Published: November 2024

Hypertension is a multifactorial disease with stage-specific gene expression changes occurring in multiple organs over time. The temporal sequence and the extent of gene regulatory network changes occurring across organs during the development of hypertension remain unresolved. In this study, female spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats were used to analyze expression patterns of 96 genes spanning inflammatory, metabolic, sympathetic, fibrotic, and renin-angiotensin (RAS) pathways in five organs, at five time points from the onset to established hypertension. We analyzed this multi-dimensional dataset containing ~15,000 data points and developed a data-driven dynamic network model that accounts for gene regulatory influences within and across visceral organs and multiple brainstem autonomic control regions. We integrated the data from female SHR and WKY with published multiorgan gene expression data from male SHR and WKY. In female SHR, catecholaminergic processes in the adrenal gland showed the earliest gene expression changes prior to inflammation-related gene expression changes in the kidney and liver. Hypertension pathogenesis in male SHR instead manifested early as catecholaminergic gene expression changes in brainstem and kidney, followed by an upregulation of inflammation-related genes in liver. RAS-related gene expression from the kidney-liver-lung axis was downregulated and intra-adrenal RAS was upregulated in female SHR, whereas the opposite pattern of gene regulation was observed in male SHR. We identified disease-specific and sex-specific differences in regulatory interactions within and across organs. The inferred multi-organ network model suggests a diminished influence of central autonomic neural circuits over multi-organ gene expression changes in female SHR. Our results point to the gene regulatory influence of the adrenal gland on spleen in female SHR, as compared to brainstem influence on kidney in male SHR. Our integrated molecular profiling and network modeling identified a stage-specific, sex-dependent, multi-organ cascade of gene regulation during the development of hypertension.
Health experiences of pregnant and women with chagas disease in the Atacama, Tarapaca, and Metropolitan regions of Chile. Mistreatment as an indicator of healthcare barriers
Authors: Avaria Andrea , Plaza Camila
Published: November 2024

Introduction

Congenital transmission is one of the most significant forms of Trypanosoma cruzi transmission worldwide. Migrant women, in particular, often face barriers to accessing the healthcare system; one such barrier being that their health rights are not recognised. The situation in Chile is a reality that can be extrapolated to historical territories affected by Chagas disease and that is characterized by migrant populations. This article explores the healthcare experiences of pregnant and women living with Chagas disease, both nationals and migrants, and residents of three regions of Chile.

Methodology

The qualitative research study analyzed the experiences and meanings around the problem of Chagas based on 54 in-depth interviews with women in pregnancy and women who were diagnosed with the disease. The information was processed following the Grounded Theory tenets through the constant encoding feedback procedure, which allowed us to describe and comprehensively understand the phenomenon.

Results

The findings indicate that managing information is a sensitive aspect in evaluating healthcare experiences, with the potential to either positively or negatively impact the acceptance of diagnosis and treatment planning. The negative impact is determined by the communicative dimension and how healthcare teams deliver information. Poor attention, poor treatment, and lack of empathy lead patients to reject or distance themseves from the healthcare system. The positive aspects are related to a sensitive, personalized, and highly empathetic treatment. In historically endemic areas, these factors are essential for ensuring continuity in healthcare processes. There is an evident need to understand and value the settings, means, and contents within Chagas´s healthcare contexts.

Conclusion

Communication is crucial during diagnostic processes as it determines the assessment, credibility, and trust in the health system, thereby influencing the continuity of treatment, especially in highly sensitive moments such as pregnancy. Therefore, it is necessary to articulate strategies considering information magement with greater empathy and emotional support.
Transplante renal e pandemia de COVID-19: síntese da literatura de procedimentos realizados no Brasil
Authors: Makenze Mariana , Nascimento Maria Isabel do , Saad Maria Auxiliadora Nogueira
Published: November 2024

O transplante é a alternativa mais eficiente para tratar a insuficiência funcional terminal dos rins. Para sintetizar a literatura no tema, esta revisão sistemática buscou recuperar evidências que analisaram empiricamente a frequência de transplante renal no Brasil, relacionando com a pandemia de COVID-19.  As bases de dados PUBMED, LILACS e SCIELO foram consultadas usando os descritores: “Transplantation”, “Kidney”, “COVID-19”, e “Brazil”. Assim, 146 estudos foram recuperados e apenas seis foram incluídos na revisão. A revisão mostrou que a pandemia de COVID-19 impactou negativamente no número de transplantes de rim, aumentou a lista de espera por transplante, reduziu o número de doadores, além de haver relatos de infecções e mortes entre pacientes em tratamento renal e receptores de transplante durante a pandemia. Esses achados enfatizam a necessidade de mais pesquisas para direcionar a atenção na área de transplante renal e dirimir o efeito de crises sanitárias similares a COVID-19.
Board Composition and Firm Performance: Evidence from Bangladesh
Authors: Rashid Afzalur , De Zoysa Anura , Lodh Sudhir , Rudkin Kathy
Published: November 2024

This study examines the influence of corporate board composition in the form of representation of outside independent directors on firm economic performance in Bangladesh. Two hypotheses are developed to examine the relationship among composition of board memberships including independent directors and firm performance. An observation of 274 Bangladeshi firm-years is used in the study. A linear regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. Results reveal that the outside (independent) directors cannot add potential value to the firm’s economic performance in Bangladesh. The idea of the introduction of independent directors may have benefits for greater transparency, but the non-consideration of the underlying institutional and cultural differences in an emerging economy such as Bangladesh may not result in economic value addition to the firm. The findings provide an insight to the regulators in their quest for harmonization of international corporate governance practices.
The Road Less Travelled: An Overview and Example of Constructivist Research in Accounting
Authors: Bisman Jayne , Highfield Charmayne
Published: November 2024

This article provides a discussion of the nature of constructivism as a research paradigm within the context of accounting and presents a detailed example of a research study to demonstrate the application of this paradigm. The commentary features a particular emphasis on how the practicalities involved in designing and conducting the research meshed with the philosophy of the research paradigm. The illustrative research project concerns an investigation of organisational justice in the context of fairness in the workplace in public accounting firms. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data, and textual transcriptions were interpreted using thematic methods and discourse analysis. The aim of the discussion and exemplar is to render constructivist approaches to research in accounting more accessible and apprehensible for researchers unfamiliar with, or new to, this field of qualitative inquiry.
Dark Tourism
Authors: Brook H.
Published: November 2024

The phrase ‘dark tourism’ was coined by Lennon and Foley (2000) to describe a relatively new kind of sight-seeing; one that attends sites of death, disaster and despair. This essay intertwines personal memoir and scholarly critique to reflect on prisons as places for dark tourism, and imprisonment more generally. Its fundamental contention is that as tourist attractions, former prisons have complex histories that resist easy digestion. More than 20 years ago, the author was a regular visitor to a now defunct South Australian gaol, and recently revisited the place in its current incarnation as a tourist attraction. This experience informs her argument that stories told in and by prison museums are both easily trivialised and dangerously partial. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are respectfully advised that this essay includes some discussion of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and mentions the names and circumstances of several Aboriginal men’s deaths (as they were reported in the RCIACID).
Encountering Auschwitz: A Personal Rumination on the Possibilities and Limitations of Witnessing/Remembering Trauma in Memorial Space
Authors: Dalton D.
Published: November 2024

Drawing on the personal experience of a three-day tour of the concentration camp complex of Auschwitz-Birkenau and grounded in themes of dark tourism (thanatourism), this article questions the role that the remnants of Auschwitz play in animating our imagination and comprehension of the crimes committed there. Auschwitz-Birkenau confronts the visitor with a disquieting mix of original, restored and replicated physical elements. The museum prescribes some exhibits with the formal classification ‘material evidence of crime’ (formalised displays in cabinets), but as this article explores, this notion belies the fact that the entire camp complex constitutes ‘evidence’ of crime. This article situates the materiality of Auschwitz-Birkenau as something tangible that interacts with ones’ knowledge of the crimes committed here to produce a powerful affective response in the visitor. Additionally, the article pauses to consider the vital role that film plays in both shaping and delimiting expectations of precisely what one will see upon encountering Auschwitz-Birkenau. And with survivor numbers dwindling, the role of the dark tourist as proxy witness to the Holocaust will become more important with each passing year. Finally, the article documents the vital role of memorial practices performed by dark tourists who, having visited the camps, leave something behind.
Damage control : Media representation and responses to police deviance
Authors: Chan J.
Published: November 2024

This paper examines the processes and outcomes of the negotiation of public discourse between the police and the media when police organisations are called to account in public scandals. Using the 1992 television documentary Cop It Sweet as a case study, the paper describes the problems of police/Aborigines relations exposed in the film, the reaction within the police hierarchy, the attempt at damage control and the subsequent repair work carried out in tenns of improving police/minority relations. The role of the media as an agent of criminal justice reform and a mechanism for demanding police accountability is discussed in this context. It will be argued that scandals force police organisations to provide a credible account that deviance is under control. The consequences of scandals depend on the nature of the police organisation and its commitment to reform. Public discourse in relation to police deviance may provide an opportunity for police reformers to further their reform agenda, but in an organisation less committed to change, there is a danger that scapegoating, band-aid repair work and cosmetic changes may substitute for meaningful reform. The irony of police reform is that commitment to openness and accountability does not necessarily lead to a positive police image, but continual damage-control work by upper management in relation to scandals may lead to further cynicism and a hardening of the 'street cop' culture.
Dementia, discourse, difference and denial : "who did I become?"
Authors: Stirling J.
Published: November 2024

If I am no longer a woman, why do I still feel I'm one? If no longer worth holding, why do I crave it? If no longer sensual, why do I still enjoy the soft texture of satin and silk against my skin? If no longer sensitive, why do moving song lyrics strike a responsive chord in me? My every molecule seems to scream out that I do, indeed, exist, and that existence must be valued by someone!
Western medicine's fascination with the human brain and its workings is still marked by blurred boundaries between the mappings of neuro-anatomy and culturally inflected interpretations of neuro-psychology. This essay attempts to trace some of the intersections and overlaps between biomedical discourse and cultural politics as they come together in constructing the figure of the dementia body.
Rape, consumption, and the "Sarajevo war cookbook" : a review of the forum on war, women and rape
Authors: Dervisovki V.
Published: November 2024

Multicultural bellies, full of tacos, felafel, and chow mein, are sometimes accompanied by monocultural minds. Unthinking Eurocentrism
The cluster of issues examined in this paper have to do with the Western responses to and representations of the issue of 'rape camps' in Bosnia, within the wider context of the representation of war in the 'fonner Yugoslavia' , as a site of age-old ethnic hatreds. Within this framework the mainstream feminist response to the 'rape camps' exposes the ethnocentrism and racism that underpins a particular vision of international sisterhood and the depoliticization of the war by the way the category of gender is mobilised in those discussions.
On March 8 of this year, Budinski's theatre in Carlton, Melbourne began its series 'Classroom IlIA', which was staged readings of a testimony by Amira. S, a Bosnian nurse held in a 'rape camp'. The readings were to be performed by various feminist luminaries amongst them Blanche D'Alpuget, Joan Kirner, Jocelynne Scutt and Justine Sanders, each of whom, along with others read the same text day after day.
Non-English speaking witnesses in the Australian legal context : the War Crimes Prosecution as a case study
Authors: Stern L.
Published: November 2024

This paper has its origin in a request from the Director of Public Prosecutions of South Australia to provide a linguistic report to be tendered in court during the 1992 committal hearing of Heinrich Vaguer, a defendant in one of the Australian War Crimes cases. The need for such a report emerged shortly after the commencement of the committal heanng of Ivan Polyukhovich, the first man charged with War Crimes in Australia, at which witnesses from Russia and Ukraine began to give their evidence in April 1992. It was felt by the court that there were serious communication problems between the legal profession on the one hand, and the Soviet witnesses on the other, and the author was asked to identify these problems and explain the reason for their occurrence. Although not a sociolinguist, the author was approached as someone who had an understanding of the languages used by the witnesses and of their socio-cultural background, as well as experience in the area of interpreting and translating. It was hoped that the report would help to prevent some of the communication problems in subsequent cases involving Soviet witnesses.
Multicultural histories and paternal genealogies : babes and bastards at the Global Cultural Diversity Conference
Authors: Perera S. , Pugliese J.
Published: November 2024

As an institutional, legal and cultural construct the family unit functions to demarcate limits: to legitimate, include, authorise and enfold, even as it outlaws, excludes, prohibits, disowns and disallows. Representations of the nation as a multicultural family, as a diverse-but-united collectivity in pursuit of corporate aims, enact identical manoeuvres of inclusion and exclusion; simultaneously they endorse the hierarchies and the asymmetrical and coercive power relations by which the family is ongoingly constituted. To interrogate the complacent narrative of the happy multicultural family is to begin to construct alternative models and representations for understanding the heterogeneous, troublesome and unfinished stories of Australian multiculturalism.
Naked peoples: rules and regulations
Authors: Watson I.
Published: November 2024

I am writing about the law of this country now called Australia. Kaldowinyeri [the creation time or the dreamtime], in the beginning, the ancestors come to know law. The law is naked like the land and its people, it is raw. Raw law is unlike the colonial legal system which comprises of layer upon layer of rules and regulations. The law is raw. Law is birthed by the creation. And like the birthing of the people, the law was born naked. All law was at Kaldowinyeri naked. The law is filled with the spirit of creation. It is a law of the land for the peoples to know and to live by as the ancestors have.
'Helen' ; 'Antigone' ; 'Epicaste' ; 'eva' ; 'deka' ; 'ekato': Dangling Virgins, 1996
Authors: Raskopoulos E.
Published: November 2024

'Helen' ; 'Antigone' ; 'Epicaste' ; 'eva' ; 'deka' ; 'ekato'
Dangling Virgins, 1996
gelatin silver print
Ambiguities Of mourning law, custom, literature and women before South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission
Authors: Sanders M.
Published: November 2024

Currently winding down its work of hearing testimony to human rights abuses of the apartheid era, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is an ambitious undertaking. A counterpart to the Reconstruction and Development Programme, a long-term scheme for the creation of housing, infrastructure and jobs, the Truth Commission is part of a vast effort at nation-building in post-apartheid South Africa. By asking South Africans to remember, the Truth Commission seeks to come to terms, not only with the crimes of the apartheid era, but with a 350-year history of white domination. In the words of Justice Richard Goldstone, former UN Chief Prosecutor for War Crimes Tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, (One of the most important advantages of the TRC [is] that it w[ill] write the past forever into South Africa's history' (Pretoria News August 18 1997). The Truth Commission aims at what no program of reconstruction and development could achieve by material means alone. In the minds of its proponents, it aims at nothing less than the 'deans[ing], and 'moral and cultural reconstruction' of a society (Chikane 1995: 99, Sachs 1995: 106). It has as its goal the 'healing of a nation' socially and psychically sundered into fragments by apartheid (see Boraine and Levy 1995).
Exhibit C273 - Pathology Report
Authors: Rule Latoya Aroha
Published: November 2024

A poem
The Kangaroo and Emu Between Legal Worlds: Unsettling the Recognition of Difference
Authors: Aston Rhys , Wilson Kristopher
Published: November 2024

This article examines the complex interplay between colonial legal systems and Indigenous laws, using the legal challenges faced by Arabunna Elder Kevin Buzzacott as a focal point. Buzzacott's 2004 conviction for the reclamation of a bronze Australian coat of arms, an act he deemed a fulfillment of his legal obligations under Arabunna Law, underscores the colonial legal system's refusal to acknowledge Aboriginal laws and ways of being. The authors argue that the colonial legal framework operates as a ‘nomocidal’ regime, perpetuating physical and conceptual violence against Indigenous peoples by asserting a singular legal authority that erases ontological difference. Through analysis of the Buzzacott case, the article further exposes the colonial legal system's preoccupation with Eurocentric notions of justice, which undermine Indigenous law-ways by eschewing engagement with ontological difference in favour of a universalist claim to authority. By exploring alternative legal worlds and ontologies, the authors advocate for a decolonial approach to justice that acknowledges and respects the multiplicity of legal realities. This shift requires a re-evaluation of the legal system to accommodate ontological pluralism, moving towards a more inclusive and just legal landscape that provides space for Indigenous laws and ways of being. The article is a tribute to Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, highlighting his struggle for recognition and justice as emblematic of the broader challenges faced by Indigenous peoples in colonial legal contexts.
Utopia as “No-Place”: Utopias, Colonialism and International Law
Authors: Houghton Ruth , O'Donoghue Aoife
Published: November 2024

Utopia, etymologically, is both the no-place (ou-topos) and the good-place (eu-topos). For Thomas More, his no-place was a ‘New Island’, an imaginary location in the “New World”. Yet, More’s no-place is inhabited. More’s utopian construction begins with the displacement of indigenous communities. From the 17th to 19th century, across much of Western utopian literature, no-places were constructed through colonial exploits. Through ideas of “discovery” alongside the displacement of indigenous communities, regulating women’s bodies (the literal putting of people in their place), the invocation of science and ideas of civilisation, colonial utopias were created. Strikingly, these narratives bare unmistakable similarities with the colonial discourses of international law. International law supplied the basis for creating no-place. It made fine distinctions based on “proper” land use that led to mass violence against indigenous populations. Intersecting with scholarship that traces the role of utopian literature in colonialism, this article explores how white western patriarchal utopian projects – the “canonical” utopian texts - influenced and were influenced by international law. This paper assembles a taxonomy of no-place within Western utopian literature, using feminist and post-colonial utopian critiques to problematise the construing of Terra Incognita Australis as no-place. Reading utopian literature from feminist and post-colonial perspectives highlights tensions around the idea of no-place and offers a basis to begin imagining a decolonised law. For there is no “no-place”, just as the lands (and seas) in the fictional utopias were (generally) inhabited, colonised lands are indigenous people’s places, their homes, their communities, and their lives.
Freewheeling Democracy as an Impossible Figure in Jacques Derrida
Authors: Andronico Alberto
Published: November 2024

September 11th, 2001. It is difficult to doubt that on that day something happened that was destined, in all likelihood, to determine a change of epoch, a shift of paradigm: ‘And so, the twenty–first century finally begins’ (Auster 2003: 88). Yet, actually, it is not easy to explain why: it is as if, still today, we could not find the right words to give sense to that horror, in real time, before our eyes. All right, for the first time, since 1812, the United States were under attack on their territory; for the first time the barbarians managed to strike at the heart of the Empire (Chomsky 2001). But certainly this is not sufficient to explain the ‘terror’. And least of all, the numbers of deaths occurred on that day: all things considered, those numbers are few if compared to the children that every day starve, also - in some sense - before our eyes. The question is different: on that morning, together with the Twin Towers, something else fell – once forever. What?
Acta et Arcana: Latency Management and the Law
Authors: Haverkamp Anselm
Published: November 2024

Archive Fever is a memorable title, used on the occasion of a memory conference (a most fashionable topic at the time) almost precisely 24 years ago in London, June 5th 1994, by the late Jacques Derrida. In retrospect, 24 years later, the thematic switch from memory to archive has become an evident move. Evidently, archives offer what may be called the literal, material groundwork for memories in many ways. The simplest, if somewhat metaphorical instance is the box, for example the shoe-box, in which we keep family photographs or tax receipts. In a different metaphorical vain, of generalisation instead of specification, a storage of electronically available items in so-called computer files exemplifies the literal, material meaning of the word archive in its historically most pertinent, for some time undervalued, but by now all of a sudden urgent role.
Rose Valland Institute
Authors: Eichhorn Maria
Published: November 2024

The Rose Valland Institute is an independent interdisciplinary artistic project. It researches and documents the expropriation of property formerly owned by Europe’s Jewish population and the ongoing impact of those confiscations. The Institute is named after art historian Rose Valland, who secretly recorded details of Nazi looting during the German occupation of Paris. After the war, she worked for the Commission de Récupération Artistique (Commission for the Recovery of Works of Art) and played a decisive role in the restitution of Nazi-looted artworks. Building on insights gained from Maria Eichhorn’s previous exhibition projects Restitutionspolitik / Politics of Restitution (2003) and In den Zelten … (2015), the Rose Valland Institute is devoted to the issue of unresolved property and ownership relationships from 1933 through to the present. The Institute investigates fundamental questions concerning the ownership of artworks, land, real estate, financial assets, businesses, movable objects and artifacts, libraries, academic work and patents that were stolen from Jewish owners in Germany and occupied territories
Krazy Kat (review)
Authors: Llewellyn K N
Published: November 2024

Artists have from time to time over the years found the sure knowledge that law and lawyers are an essential part of human life. But mostly they have worked without understanding. Thus, Daumier and Rowland and Hogarth bite, and when we grow stale or slow on our great tasks it is good, though unpleasant, to get such strong teeth sunk into our legs. Dickens bit, too, and bit with effect. Dreiser bit deeper, but he bit with less skill and so with less effect. And there was a French dramatist who I read when I was young who used inexorable Law as a modern substitute for the Fate of Greek drama. He also had no effect.
Lawyer, Lawyer: Albert Venn Dicey, Joe Ma, and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong
Authors: Wan Marco
Published: November 2024

Joe Ma’s Lawyer, Lawyer, a film about a lawyer’s attempt to rescue his former servant from a false accusation of murder in the colonial courts of Hong Kong, was released in 1997, the pivotal year of Hong Kong’s retrocession to China and a time when anxieties about the rule of law were very much in the air. A quintessentially ‘Hong Kong’ movie, it casts the comedian Stephen Chau – one of the most iconic figures in Hong Kong cinema – as the lawyer. The film’s box-office success can to a great extent be traced to its clever use of puns and conventions in Cantonese, the dialect spoken in Hong Kong. Moreover, as a film with a specifically legal focus, it resonated with audiences by raising relevant questions about the legal construction of Hong Kong identity, the place of English law in a former colony, and the future of the rule of law in the city after its return to China. This article attempts to establish a dialogue between law and film by arguing that Lawyer Lawyer can be understood as a post-colonial critique of the notion of the rule of law. It will take the work of the English jurist Albert Venn Dicey as its focus, for Dicey’s seminal writings on the English constitution is widely regarded as the key to the popularisation of the term ‘rule of law’ in the common law world. This article therefore builds on the existing literature on ‘law and film’ studies, especially works on the relationship between legal theory and film studies, and extends their frame of analysis to the ways in which the genre of film responds to the dissemination of English constitutional ideas to former colonies in East Asia.
A note about ‘Two Systems’
Authors: Howe Sarah
Published: November 2024

The poem’s title refers to ‘one country, two systems’, the principle that Hong Kong’s capitalist way of life should remain unchanged for 50 years following its return to China on 1 July, 1997. The former British colony is currently a third of the way through this limbo-like phase, in which it supposedly enjoys a ‘high degree of autonomy’ from China’s socialist system, as the countdown ticks ever closer to 2047. In the early summer of 2014, just as I was working on this poem, Beijing released a white paper that aroused widespread concern in Hong Kong. Many there interpreted it as yet another sign of the mainland seeking to interfere in the SAR’s domestic affairs – including, for example, the suggestion that its judges should show fealty to Beijing.
Theatre and the Drama of Law: A ‘Theatrical History’ of the Eichmann Trial
Authors: Bachmann Michael
Published: November 2024

In his seminal study, The Seventh Million, historian Tom Segev (1993) examines how the changing perceptions of the Holocaust relates to the ways in which Israelis understand themselves, their state, and its connection to the Diaspora. Segev’s cultural history begins with a phone call he describes as if it were a direct link to the past. The call, made in 1987, is to writer and Holocaust survivor Yehiel De-Nur, who answers in a ‘hushed, choked voice’ (Segev 1993: 3). Segev wants to ask him for an interview. Upon hearing his voice, however, Segev is instantly taken back, as it were, to the moment twenty-six years ago when he first heard the Holocaust survivor speak. In 1961, De-Nur was one of the witnesses at the trial against Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. His testimony has become famous for the fact that he could utter a mere few sentences before fainting.
A Moving Theory: Remembering the Office of Scholar
Authors: Barr Olivia
Published: November 2024

‘May it please the Court, I appear for the State.’ As a legal practitioner and government solicitor, this phrase was part of my former everyday. Known as making an appearance, this formal phrase communicates the action of presenting oneself in court. To appear, it must be remembered, is an action of coming forward into view: an act of becoming visible. This is a movement into visibility. In this formal appearance, the movement into visibility is a movement mediated by office. For it was through the office of government solicitor that I spoke for and performed for the state. More than just performance, however, the duties and responsibilities of office constructed an environment where I could not speak of law in ways I wanted to. For me, this meant I was limited in my ability to speak of Aboriginal sovereignty, which was consistently framed as a challenge to the authority of the state. The role required by this particular office seemingly meant that this was an inappropriate issue. In effect, my speech was restricted. It was as if my performance for the state, through the office of government solicitor, had somehow rendered me inarticulate.
Chamber Theatre
Authors: Walton Karen
Published: November 2024

A child of a defendant is called to his defence. As the child begins to murmur his evidence the judge orders him to speak up. The child looks across at the defendant, his father, the man who is meant to be his protector. But now the father, speaking through words of his defence barrister, accuses the child. The child looks to see if he is saying the right script to exculpate his father, and thereby betrays his innocence to the theatre of the courtroom. The jury, the judge, the defence barrister see this exchange and at this point the case is proved and a truth is decided upon. In a trial such as this, where allegations of a sexual nature are made, the story is played in intimate, yet clinical detail, in front of a room full of strangers.
Protocols of the elders of feminism
Authors: Paretsky S.
Published: November 2024

In 1905 a Russian named Sergei Nilus published the Protocols of the Leamed Elders of Zion. The book claimed to be a Russian translation of minutes, or protocols, from secret meetings of leaders of the international Jewish conspiracy. The Protocols is a strange, incoherent mish-mash. Its first-person narrator froths at the mouth as he boasts of Jewish responsibility for every evil of western civilization, from "liberal" political philosophies endorsing equality, to the break-up of Gentile families.
Clearing the air - eighteen views of Capitol Hill
Authors: Christianse Y.
Published: November 2024

It was the McCarthy hearings which really boosted politics into the arena of electronic media entertainment - 'arena' in the sense that, in keeping with the majority of tele-movies and series, this entertaimnent is grounded in a combative system in which one adversary must triumph over another in a display of strength and wit (in that order, for most) which provides the entertainment. With the addition of discourses of myth and institutional power, the entertaining spectacle ofgood vs bad took on urgency in the 1950s hearings. They did again in 1991 in what was variously called the Hill vs Thomas spectacle, travesty, and cultural event, with its narratives of success over impoverished beginnings, female hysteria, male vulnerability, and, foremost and most obscuring, race, race, race.