bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thai Buddhist Accounts of Male Homosexuality and AIDS in the 1980s1
Authors: Jackson Peter Anthony
Published: March 2010

In this paper I consider the scriptural background to homophobic diatribes that emerged in the mid‐1980s as the HIV epidemic slowly gained recognition in Thailand. By scrutiny of references to homosexuality in the Pali canon, I conclude that the scriptures are open to widely divergent interpretations. This doctrinal malleability is expressed in the contrasting views of contemporary Thai Buddhist intellectuals. The ‘traditional’ view claims that homosexuality is the kammic consequence of past sexual misconduct but in itself is not sinful and does not have future kammic consequences. The other, less tolerant view is that homosexuality derives from sexual excesses and, moreover, is the cause of the contemporary AIDS epidemic. Paradoxically it is the reformist Buddhist thinkers who have adopted the latter anti‐homosexual position in that they tend to place less emphasis on kamma and more on individual responsibility for life circumstances.
Whisky, Women and Song: Men, Alcohol and AIDS in Northern Thailand
Authors: Fordham Graham
Published: March 2010

The prevalence of alcohol consumption prior to commercial sex interactions is frequently noted in discussion of Northern Thai men's behaviour. Rather than being simply a functional adjunct to commercial sex, I argue that drinking and drunkenness in Northern Thailand are complex behaviours through which gendered values are negotiated and publicly demonstrated. By exploring local meaning attached to drinking behaviour this paper shows that it is not a uniform practice but instead conforms to a series of scripts and patterned expectations only some of which implicate commercial sex.
‘R Stands For …’: An Extract from a Mabo Diary
Authors: von Sturmer John
Published: March 2010

The following is an extract from a text I call my Mabo Diary. This is maintained spasmodically, as occasion demands or according to whim. I have a predilection for the diary or the epistolary modes of writing because they are open‐ended and negotiable. They may document but their primary intention is not essentially documentary. Recording is one thing; but my main interest is in responding. I read from yesterday's entry. It was written with today's occasion in mind.
Eating Metropolitaneity: Hong Kong Identity in yumcha
Authors: Tam Siumi Maria
Published: March 2010

In Hong Kong, yumcha as a pervasive form of eating in the public has become an institution which epitomises the diversity and inclusiveness that Hong Kong people think are quintessential to the civility and economic achievement of the metropolis. It stands out particularly as a practice that has come to represent both locally and overseas a Hong Kong culture which has previously been characterised as residual of ‘Chinese tradition’ and ‘Western customs’, and hence is virtually non‐existent. This paper looks at the consumption of metropolitaneity and the culturalisation of the heunggongyan or Hong Kong personal identity in the form, content and social relations involved in yumcha. It points to the significance of yumcha as a key to understanding a collective identity which has become more and more apparent as Hong Kong people vehemently try to establish a city with its own culture, first against the colonial grip and then the return of sovereignty to China in 1997.
Book Review Essay
Authors: Christensen Bruin
Published: March 2010

Book reviewed in this article:

Louis Dumont. German Ideology: From France to Germany and Back.
Introduction: Anthro/aesthetics
Authors: Losche Diane
Published: March 2010

Object thing placed before eyes or presented to sense, material thing, thing observed with an optical instrument, or represented in picture. (Concise Oxford Dictionary 1934:780)
A Place Containing Many Places: Museums and the Use of Objects to Represent Place in Melanesia
Authors: Bolton Lissant
Published: March 2010

In this paper I discuss a number of incompatible ways of comprehending object meanings, contrasting western ethnographic museum practice with indigenous, specifically ni‐Vanuatu, understandings. I discuss these differences as a way of looking analytically at some of the practices of museum ethnography and material culture studies. There are several aspects to this contrast: here I concentrate on ideas about place. Place is a centrally important concept in Vanuatu, but is not privileged in relation to objects. Western museums, however, use provenance as any ethnographic object's defining characteristic, and have developed a sophisticated, though largely unexamined, set of principles and practices for the attribution of provenance on stylistic grounds. On the basis of provenance identification, museums attribute meaning to objects. When enshrined as professional museum practice, such approaches pose dilemmas for Melanesian museums, and are the subject of debate among Pacific region museum professionals. For ni‐Vanuatu, the significance of objects on display may represent not places, but the performance of the skills that reveal the maker's place‐based identity.
Introduction
Authors: Henry Rosita , Magowan Fiona , Murray David
Published: March 2010

This introduction contextualises the papers in the Special Issue by briefly reviewing anthropological interest in dance to date, and by providing a challenge to received wisdom regarding the significance of expressive cultural forms. We theorise dance practices as domains of lived experience, and position movement as a performative moment of social interchange that is not merely reflective of prior political, personal, social and cosmological relations, but also constitutive of them. We argue that a renegotiation of the relationship between dance and anthropology is required so that dance is given full recognition as an active, fraught and dynamic force in human social life.
Dragging Drag: The Performance of Gender and Sexuality in the Cook Islands
Authors: Alexeyeff Kalissa
Published: March 2010

Kia Orana day is an annual event on the island of Aitutaki. It consists of performances from a number of government departments to an audience of locals and the occasional tourist. The Kia Orana day described here featured a drag show by the Ministry of Outer Islands Development. Drag shows are prevalent in the Cook Islands and they are performed by both ‘heterosexual’ and ‘homosexual’ men. This paper explores some of the reasons for their popularity through an examination of gendered ideologies that structure Cook Islands social life—in particular the ways in which gender is embodied in everyday movement and dance. The examination of forms of sexuality and gender presented in public life are used to explain the comic currency of drag. I present a number of different interpretations of the Kia Orana performance and suggest that although it may have a similar appearance to Western drag, it has different meanings in the Cook Islands. These meanings suggest drag revolves around notions of gender which are not necessarily defined by sexuality. Cook Islands drag, I propose, must be contextualised in terms of Cook Islands notions of personhood.
Dancing into Being: The Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park and the Laura Dance Festival
Authors: Henry Rosita
Published: March 2010

Focusing on the connection between dance performance and the politics of identity, I explore the problem of human agency and interrogate the concept of a dualistic split between mind and body. I interpret dance as a form of corporeal politics and use the example of dance in two tourist arenas—the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park and the Laura Dance and Cultural Festival—to illustrate Aboriginal agency in both participating in and resisting structures of state bureaucratic practice, and representations of cultural authenticity.
Dancing the Main jo'oh: Hma ‘Btsisi’ Celebrate Their Humanity and Religious Identity in a Malaysian World
Authors: Nowak Barbara S.
Published: March 2010

Official government census takers tick the religion box titled ‘none’ when they fill out the forms for most Orang Asli. Yet at weddings and other festivities, the Hma' Btsisi', an indigenous Mon‐Khmer speaking people of Peninsular Malaysia, perform a religious dance and song cycle called the main jo'oh. Today, in Malaysia, the main jo'oh is a government centrepiece for Orang Asli culture. Btsisi' are frequently asked to perform the main jo'oh for the Malaysian public and for tourists. The main jo'oh is displayed as a curious, albeit beautiful and exotic performance by a heathen people who have ‘no’ religion. But this paper points out that the dance is far from being solely an exotic relic. I argue that the meanings embodied in the dance performance form the foundation of Btsisi' beliefs; in other words, their religion. I conclude by discussing the main jo'oh in the modern Btsisi' and national context. In particular, I demonstrate that the main jo'oh is a way for the Btsisi' to identify and distinguish themselves from other Orang Asli communities as well as from the majority Malay population.
Listening to the Call of Dance: Re‐thinking Authenticity and ‘Essentialism’
Authors: Ram Kalpana
Published: March 2010

A sustained and devastating critique has been aimed in recent years at a metaphysics of truth which understands truth and authenticity as essence, as fixed, self‐identical and persistent over time. So successful has this critique been that it is now possible to speak of authenticity only in terms of a certain ‘strategic’ or politically necessary engagement, on the part of subaltern groups, with an essentialist metaphysics. While the critique is a necessary one, taken on its own it has resulted in a reductionist presumption that we are only ever going to encounter versions of truth that we have already understood, for purposes of critique, as so many versions of ‘essentialism’. By contrast, in the ceremonial performances of dance described in this issue of TAJA, across a broad spectrum of cultures, we witness the striking persistence and centrality of references to virtuosity, appropriate ‘feeling’ and to the experience of a kind of integrity, coherence and ‘truth’ in a good performance. The commentary argues that these distinctions rest on traditions that move us quite far from an essentialism both of the spirit and of the body, requiring instead a fresh effort of understanding on our part. Utilising other traditions to develop a better, less reified understanding of truth criteria can help arrest a certain hyper‐expansion of ‘the political’ that threatens to leave no other terms alive with which to inform its own vision of the relation between past, present and future.
A Buddha Kingdom in the Golden Triangle: Buddhist Revivalism and the Charismatic Monk Khruba Bunchum
Authors: Cohen Paul T.
Published: March 2010

Khruba Bunchum Yanasangwaror, despite his youth, has already been proclaimed by many, in the Yuan Buddhist world of the upper Mekong region, to be a ton bun (‘source of merit’). His charismatic reputation derives from his ascetic virtues, his assumed accumulation of merit in past lives and his Bodhisattva‐like compassion for others. His compassion is expressed through dedication to the building of religious monuments that allows the laity to acquire merit by contributing labour and money. Another dimension of the conception of ton bun is that of sacral kingship. In these and other respects Khruba Bunchum's religious career emulates that of Khruba Siwichai, the famous northern Thai monk of the early 20th century. However, Khruba Siwichai's religious activities were confined to northern Thailand, whereas Khruba Bunchum's peregrinations throughout northern Thailand, northern Laos, Sipsongpanna (in China) and northeast Burma mark out a sacred Buddhist space, focused on the heart of the notorious Golden Triangle. I argue in this paper that this imagined sacred space both transcends and challenges the dominant discourse of modern nation‐state.
The Flourishing of Religion in Post‐Mao China and the Anthropological Category of Religion
Authors: Kipnis Andrew B.
Published: March 2010

In his provocative critique of Geertz's 1966 definition of religion, Talal Asad (1993) suggests that the very project of defining the category of religion is rooted in the historical rise of Western secularism in societies formerly dominated by Christianity. In post‐Mao China, there has been an explosion of activities that might be categorised as religious in the Geertzian sense, including church attendance, temple building, qi gong practice, pilgrimage, and geomancy. This paper examines two such activities, the participation of women in a Protestant church in rural Shandong and the recent protest by members of the Fa Lun Gong (Buddhist Law Qi Gong) society in Beijing, and asks what their emergence in a post‐Maoist communist state tells us about the historical processes that frame the possibility of defining religion. Working with theories of religious participation from Geertz, Asad, Tambiah, and Feuchtwang, the paper develops a conception of ‘symbolic participation’ to illuminate the flourishing of religious practice in post‐Mao China.
Alternative Cultural Heterotopia and the Liminoid Body: Beyond Turner at ConFest
Authors: John Graham
Published: March 2010

This article takes issue with Victor Turner's influential, yet essentialist, category of the limen. While acknowledging Turner's continuing significance in the analysis of public events, I draw upon detailed ethnography of one of Australia's contemporary pilgrimage centres, the alternative lifestyle event ConFest, to reconfigure his project. Although ConFest may prove to be an exemplary field of liminality, as a decidedly contested and sensuous landscape, it demands re‐evaluation of the implicitly consensual and non‐carnal limen. I offer the concepts of alternative cultural heterotopia and liminoid embodiment, with the purpose of fashioning new directions in the study of alternative lifestyle, and other public events. Attending to contemporary pilgrimage research, spatial analysis and applying the ideas of Michel Maffesoli and Hakim Bey, this is a post‐structuralist contribution to the anthropology of public events.
Introduction
Authors: Magowan Fiona , Gordon John
Published: March 2010

Syncretism has a long and fractured history within the anthropological study of religions. This edition of TAJA offers readers a critical reanalysis of the enduring anthropological enchantment with syncretism as contributors reassess the value of this theoretical concept in their own work in Melanesia, Aboriginal Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. The authors examine a range of cultural contexts in which syncretism occurs and outline the theoretical possibilities and limitations when the concept is recast and taken beyond existing paradigms. In this broadened sense, syncretism may today be viewed as an indication of indigenous creativity, agency and autonomy, a view far removed from its earlier association with cultural inauthenticity, pollution and even debasement.
Religion, Cultural Identity, and Kelantan's Dikir Barat
Authors: Brennan Carolyn
Published: March 2010

This paper is a descriptive account of what appears to be a divergence between existing cultural values in the State of Kelantan, Malaysia, and a more internationally oriented Islamic identity which is currently being promoted by the State Government. The State is rich in musical and cultural traditions: some of these, like mak yong dance drama and wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre have been actively discouraged by the Government because of their links with Hinduism and animism. Other performing arts, like dikir barat, appear to be a useful means of representing the religious doctrine promoted by the government. Using articles from the New Straits Times newspaper, I will highlight the complexities of this situation and suggest that the debate over cultural and religious identities may have implications for the performing arts in Kelantan.
Great Expectations: Hindu Revival Movements in Java
Authors: Reuter Thomas
Published: March 2010

Based on preliminary ethnographic research in five Javanese communities with major Hindu temples, I explore the political history and social dynamics of Hindu revivalism. I reject formalist approaches to the study of religion, including the notion of ‘syncretism’ and instead, treat the Hindu revival movements as an illustration of how social agents employ religious or secular concepts and values in their strategic responses to the particular challenges and crises they may face in a specific cultural, social, political and historical setting.

Expectations of a great crisis at the dawn of a new golden age among followers of the Javanese Hindu revival movement are an expression of utopian prophesies and political hopes more widely shared among contemporary Indonesians. These expectations are set to shape the prospects of Indonesia's fledgling democracy. The paper reflects on the historical conditions under which these and similar utopian expectations and associated social movements may either incite violent conflict or serve a positive role in the creation or maintenance of a fair society.
Mystical Styles of Expression among North Indian Faq?r: Nara as a Manifestation of Hukm
Authors: Saniotis Arthur
Published: March 2010

This paper explores the mystical complex of North Indian ‘holy men’ commonly known as faqir and their relationship to mainstream Indian Islam. It is based on research done at the thirteenth century Indo‐Muslim shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi, India. Many faqir beliefs and practices diverge from Islamic orthodoxy by emphasising a mystical relationship with the saints. While faqir are Muslims, their emphasis on mystical expressions demarcates them from orthodox styles of Indian Islam. Two of these expressions are hukm, the mystical bond between a faqir and Muslim saint, and nara, a series of expletives used to communicate with the saint when in a euphoric state. Hukm and nara are pivotal to a faqir's mystical complex and are creative sources of his spiritual life. Prompted by a paucity of critical analyses into the area of North Indian faqir mysticism and ritual performance, this paper argues that the interplay between hukm and nara generates a form of creative expression for the faqir that is related to, but independent of, Indo‐Muslim orthodox practices and constitutes an alternative style of religious expression within Indian Islam.
Shown but not Shared, Presented but not Proffered: Redefining Ritual Identity among Warlpiri Ritual Performers, 1990–2000
Authors: Dussart Françoise
Published: March 2010

Little has been written on the construction and projection of indigenous social identity in public (‘non‐restricted’) ritual among Aboriginal Australians. Elsewhere, I have analysed nearly half a century of such public rituals (1946–1990) among the Warlpiri of Yuendumu in Central Australia, concentrating on the shifting forces of gender and kinship. This paper focuses on the key moments motivating senior Warlpiri women, since the 1990s, to reconfigure their ritual participation and roles in inter‐indigenous ceremonial events. I analyse how these women participate in inter‐Aboriginal performances, exhibiting the iconic and sensory virtues of the Dreaming and weaving new forms of political identity, shaped by the pressures of neo‐colonialism, with female ambassadors of other Aboriginal groups. I argue that in this performative process women are reconfiguring the meanings of Aboriginalities and rearticulating their connectedness to one another, a connectedness rooted in their beliefs and responsibilities towards the Dreaming.
Islamic Radicalism Online: The Moluccan Mission of the Laskar Jihad in Cyberspace
Authors: Bräuchler Birgit
Published: March 2010

The Internet has become an important instrument for the information politics of radical Muslim groups. This paper focuses on one of the Islamist groups that have emerged in Indonesia recently—the Communication Forum of the Followers of the Sunnah and the Community of the Prophet (FKAWJ). The FKAWJ sent its fighters, the so‐called Laskar Jihad or Jihad troop/fighters, to Ambon in April 2000 to help their Muslim brothers against the ‘Christian attackers’ in the Moluccan conflict—a conflict that was also extended into cyberspace by several actors. Describing the Internet presence of the Laskar Jihad, I give an example of how Islamism is being transferred into cyberspace. The position of the FKAWJ concerning the situation in the Moluccas is outlined as well as other (online) strategies used. Through these strategies the cyber actors create an image and construct an identity that is congruent with their offline philosophy but extends its reach. It is evident that the online level is highly interconnected with the offline level. When analysing contemporary Islamism it is essential to take both levels into account.
Refusing to Sing: Gender, Kinship and Patriliny in Macedonia
Authors: Schubert Violeta
Published: March 2010

The issue of whether formal kinship structures and sentiments reflect the reality of social relations was of particular concern to specialists at the height of the kinship debates in the 1960s and 1970s, as it continues to be in some contemporary studies. So too, the classifications ‘patrilineal’ or ‘matrilineal’ have clearly been shown to be problematic given that there are multiple levels of discourse and relational and ideational realities in any given society. For many contemporary kinship specialists in fact no simple correlation can be made between type of descent system and actual social relations, especially relations between men and women. However, some anthropologists continue to argue that patrilineal kinship systems are somehow indicative of control or domination by men or, put inversely, of women's lack of power and authority. It is argued in this paper that even where the formal kinship structures and ideological discourses are dominated by agnation as appears to be the case in south Slav societies generally, and Macedonian in particular, this is not automatically mirrored in gender relations between men and women. In short, there is a long leap from patriliny to patriarchy.
Paths of Relationship, Spirals of Exchange: Imag(in)ing North Pentecost Kinship
Authors: Taylor John
Published: March 2010

In Stone Men of Malekula: Vao (1942), a text that was published more than twenty‐five years after he carried out long‐term fieldwork in Vanuatu, John Layard introduced a new technique for rendering kinship data in diagrammatic form. Inspired in part by Gregory Bateson, his ‘circular technique’ was derived from diagrams drawn up according to the genealogical method, and was designed to overcome certain structural problems identified within these. One important implication of the ‘circular technique’ that is not made explicit in Layard's analysis is a resonance with many of the idioms and metaphors that ni‐Vanuatu evoke in talking about relationships of exchange and kinship. Where processes of birth, death, marriage and exchange are conceptualised in terms of a broad flow of departures and returns across discernible trajectories, images incorporating circles and spirals are utilised as key metaphors for understanding social relationships through space and time. Focusing on the Raga‐speaking district of North Pentecost, Vanuatu, this article explores such idioms while presenting a revision of Layard's circular technique.
Regulation of Virulence of Entamoeba histolytica by the URE3-BP Transcription Factor
Authors: Gilchrist Carol A. , Moore Ellyn S. , Zhang Yan , Bousquet Christina B. , Lannigan Joanne A. , Mann Barbara J. , Petri William A.
Published: March 2010

It is not understood why only some infections withEntamoeba histolyticaresult in disease. The calcium-regulated transcription factor upstream regulatory element 3-binding protein (URE3-BP) was initially identified by virtue of its role in regulating the expression of two amebic virulence genes, the Gal/GalNac lectin and ferredoxin. Here we tested whether this transcription factor has a broader role in regulating virulence. A comparison ofin vivotoin vitroparasite gene expression demonstrated that 39% ofin vivoregulated transcripts contained the URE3 motif recognized by URE3-BP, compared to 23% of all promoters (P< 0.0001). Amebae induced to express a dominant positive mutant form of URE3-BP had an increase in an elongated morphology (30% ± 6% versus 14% ± 5%;P= 0.001), a 2-fold competitive advantage at invading the intestinal epithelium (P= 0.017), and a 3-fold increase in liver abscess size (0.1 ± 0.1 g versus 0.036 ± 0.1 g;P= 0.03). These results support a role for URE3-BP in virulence regulation.

IMPORTANCEAmebic dysentery and liver abscess are caused byEntamoeba histolytica. Amebae colonize the colon and cause disease by invading the intestinal epithelium. However, only one in fiveE. histolyticainfections leads to disease. The factors that govern the transition from colonization to invasion are not understood. The transcription factor upstream regulatory element 3-binding protein (URE3-BP) is a calcium-responding regulator of theE. histolyticaGal/GalNAc lectin and ferredoxin genes, both implicated in virulence. Here we discovered that inducible expression of URE3-BP changed trophozoite morphology and promoted parasite invasion in the colon and liver. These results indicate that one determinant of virulence is transcriptional regulation by URE3-BP.
Microwave synthesis of new biologically important 1,4-dihydropyridines containing benzothiazole moiety
Authors: Mithlesh  , Pareek Pawan K. , Chippa Hemraj , Ravikant  , Ojha Krishan G.
Published: March 2010

2,3,5,6-Tetrasubstituted-4-aryl-1-(6-ethoxybenzothiazol-2-yl)-1,4-dihydropyridines were synthesized by the reaction of 2-amino-6-ethoxybenzothiazole, an aromatic aldehyde and an active methylene compound in methanol by conventional or microwave irradiation method (solvent-free or with solid support). All compounds were tested for antibacterial and antifungal activities and the results were compared with standard drugs. Their acaricidal and antifeedant activities were also tested.
Distribution functions of the hard heteronuclear dumbbells and of their mixtures with hard spheres near a hard wall
Authors: Boublík Tomáš
Published: March 2010

The recently proposed method to determine the hard body distribution function on the basis of values of the residual chemical potentials of a pair of hard molecules and that of the corresponding combined body is applied to describe behavior of the inhomogeneous systems of pure heteronuclear hard dumbbells or a mixture of heteronuclear dumbbells with hard spheres near a hard wall. Two variants of the main orientation of the dumbbells – i.e. the perpendicular orientation with respect to the hard planar wall – are studied and several values of the packing fraction are considered. The used simple method yields a fair prediction of the slices of the distribution function or average correlation function for the heteronuclear dumbbell (composed of two hard spheres with rather different diameters (σ2/σ1 = 0.5) and site–site separation (l/σ1 = 0.625)) near a wall; in the case of mixtures of hard spheres and hard heteronuclear dumbbells the hard sphere diameter σhs = σ1.
Juridical and ethical peculiarities in doping policy
Authors: McNamee Mike J , Tarasti Lauri
Published: March 2010

Criticisms of the ethical justification of antidoping legislation are not uncommon in the literatures of medical ethics, sports ethics and sports medicine. Critics of antidoping point to inconsistencies of principle in the application of legislation and the unjustifiability of ethical postures enshrined in the World Anti-Doping Code, a new version of which came into effect in January 2009. This article explores the arguments concerning the apparent legal peculiarities of antidoping legislation and their ethically salient features in terms of: notions of culpability, liability and guilt; aspects of potential duplication of punishments and the limitations of athlete privacy in antidoping practice and policy. It is noted that tensions still exist between legal and ethical principles and norms that require further critical attention.
Dignity: not such a useless concept
Authors: Killmister Suzy
Published: March 2010

In her 2003 article in theBritish Medical Journal, Ruth Macklin provocatively declared dignity to be a useless concept: either a vague restatement of other more precise values, such as autonomy or respect for persons, or an empty slogan. A recent response to Macklin has challenged this claim. Doris Schroeder attempts to rescue dignity by positing four distinct concepts that fall under the one umbrella term. She argues that much of the confusion surrounding dignity is due to the lack of disambiguation among these four concepts, but that once we understand the different values in question dignity becomes a powerful tool in the fields of human rights and bioethics. It is the goal of this paper to build upon Schroeder's insights by reconnecting the multiple strands of dignity she identifies. It will be argued that the usefulness of dignity as a guiding principle in medical ethics can be much improved by identifying the single conceptual link that ties together the various values flying under its banner. That conceptual link is provided by understanding dignity as the capacity to live by one's standards and principles.
Quality improvement in general practice: enabling general practitioners to judge ethical dilemmas
Authors: Tapp Laura , Edwards Adrian , Elwyn Glyn , Holm Soren , Eriksson Tina
Published: March 2010

Quality improvement (QI) is fundamental to maintaining high standards of health care. Significant debate exists concerning the necessity for an ethical approval system for those QI projects that push the boundaries, appearing more similar to research than QI. The authors discuss this issue identifying the core ethical issues in family medicine (FM), drawing upon the fundamental principles of medical ethics, including principles of autonomy, utility, justice and non-maleficence. Recent debate concerning the application of QI ethics boards is discussed with relevance to primary care and issues such as general practitioner (GP) intentions, the impact of QI on patients and the use of confidential patient data and the impact of dissemination. The authors conclude that a system of QI ethical approval leaves many issues unresolved and potentially creates several barriers to implementing QI. To ensure ethical QI work is generated within FM it is essential for GPs to learn about and engage in more ethical reflection so that they can better judge and resolve these issues.
Evolution of hospital clinical ethics committees in Canada
Authors: Gaudine Alice , Thorne Linda , LeFort Sandra M , Lamb Marianne
Published: March 2010

To investigate the current status of hospital clinical ethics committees (CEC) and how they have evolved in Canada over the past 20 years, this paper presents an overview of the findings from a 2008 survey and compares these findings with two previous Canadian surveys conducted in 1989 and 1984. All Canadian hospitals over 100 beds, of which at least some were acute care, were surveyed to determine the structure of CEC, how they function, the perceived achievements of these committees and opinions about areas with which CEC should be involved. The percentage of hospitals with CEC in our sample was found to be 85% compared with 58% and 18% in 1989 and 1984, respectively. The wide variation in the size of committees and the composition of their membership has continued. Meetings of CEC have become more regularised and formalised over time. CEC continue to be predominately advisory in their nature, and by 2008 there was a shift in the priority of the activities of CEC to meeting ethics education needs and providing counselling and support with less emphasis on advising about policy and procedures. More research is needed on how best to define what the scope of activities of CEC should be in order to meet the needs of hospitals in Canada and elsewhere. More research also is needed on the actual outcomes to patients, families, health professionals and organisations from the work of these committees in order to support the considerable time committee members devote to this endeavour.
Advance commitment: an alternative approach to the family veto problem in organ procurement
Authors: De Wispelaere Jurgen , Stirton Lindsay
Published: March 2010

This article tackles the current deficit in the supply of cadaveric organs by addressing the family veto in organ donation. The authors believe that the family veto matters—ethically as well as practically—and that policies that completely disregard the views of the family in this decision are likely to be counterproductive. Instead, this paper proposes to engage directly with the most important reasons why families often object to the removal of the organs of a loved one who has signed up to the donor registry—notably a failure to understand fully and deliberate on the information and a reluctance to deal with this sort of decision at an emotionally distressing time. To accommodate these concerns it is proposed to separate radically the process of information, deliberation and agreement about the harvesting of a potential donor's organs from the event of death and bereavement through a scheme of advance commitment. This paper briefly sets out the proposal and discusses in some detail its design as well as what is believed to be the main advantages compared with the leading alternatives.
The cost of autonomy: estimates from recent advances in living donor kidney transplantation
Authors: Diamandis Phedias
Published: March 2010

Autonomy, an individual's right to make personal decisions regarding his/her own health, represents one of the major ethical principles of medicine. While there are many examples citing the benefits this right provides for the individual, the impact that personal healthcare decisions have on others is often neglected. Here, evidence from end-stage renal disease is reviewed to hypothesise the creation of a universal kidney donation programme that although provides unparalleled benefits to its citizens, relies on the participation of a large proportion of the society. Given that this essay also addresses the public's major concerns regarding kidney donation, one of the only remaining implementation barriers is the individuals' right not to participate. Therefore, irrespective of the humane and complex emotionally laden reasons for not enrolling in such programmes, this essay provides some estimates of the significant resource and quality of life costs associated with autonomy. Assuming humans are competent to make informed personal healthcare choices, similar to recent efforts to increase awareness about the negative impact of certain lifestyle choices on global warming, citizens should also be better informed about the medical costs their autonomy has on society.
Seasonal pattern of matric suctions in highway subgrades
Authors: Nguyen Quan , Fredlund Delwyn G. , Samarasekera Lal , Marjerison Brent L.
Published: March 2010

The performance of “thin membrane surface” (TMS) highways is largely controlled by the strength of the subgrade soil, which in turn is a function of matric suction. Thermal conductivity matric suction sensors were used to indirectly measure in situ matric suctions. In September 2000, 32 thermal conductivity sensors were installed under TMS highways at two locations; namely, Bethune and Torquay, Saskatchewan, Canada, to monitor matric suction and temperature changes with time. This paper presents and interprets the variations in matric suctions measured between the years 2000 and 2005 at the Torquay site. The readings in the field showed a clearly seasonal pattern of matric suction changes that bore a relationship to rainfall near the test sites. Relatively constant equilibrium matric suctions that ranged from 20 to 60 kPa throughout the years were measured under the driving lanes. Conversely, matric suctions under the side slopes were found to vary widely with time and depth, ranging from 100 to 1500 kPa over the years. The greatest variation in matric suction from one location to another location occurred during the month of April. The matric suctions showed low variability during June, whereas larger variations were observed from July to October.
Evaluation of dielectric-based probes for expansive soils: application to Regina clay
Authors: Hu Yafei , Vu Hung Q. , Hubble David W.
Published: March 2010

Much experience has been gained with the use of the dielectric methods in granular or fine-grained soil with low to medium plasticity. Empirical equations were proposed to describe the relationship between water content and measured bulk dielectric constant of the soils. However, the proposed empirical equations are generally not considered applicable for highly plastic, expansive soils due to factors such as bound water and high electric conductivity. This paper presents calibration equations for various commercially available dielectric-based probes. The calibration curves have been determined through laboratory calibration using compacted specimens. The differences between the calibration curves and those predicted by the empirical equations, as well as those provided by the manufacturer, are assessed and discussed. The effect of temperature on the response of the probes was also studied.
Compensated piled rafts in clayey soils: behaviour, measurements, and predictions
Authors: Sales Maurício M. , Small John C. , Poulos Harry G.
Published: March 2010

This paper presents a method of analysis of the behaviour of piled rafts in clayey soils, in which a deep excavation was necessary for buildings with two or more basements. In these cases, the piled raft foundations are called a “compensated piled raft.” The soil stresses reduce due to excavation, and the reloading of the soil should be taken into account for this kind of foundation. Many important factors that are required to achieve a satisfactory comparison of “measurement versus prediction” are pointed out, and they are grouped in a proposed simplified method of analysing compensated piled rafts using numerical tools that can consider the raft–soil–pile interaction. Finally, two well-known cases of compensated piled rafts (Hyde Park Barracks in London and the Messeturm building in Frankfurt) and a newer building (the Skyper Tower, Frankfurt) are analyzed using the presented approach and the computed and measured time–settlement behaviours are compared.
Assessment of deep compaction of the Péribonka dam foundation using “modal analysis of surface waves” (MASW)
Authors: Karray Mourad , Lefebvre Guy , Ethier Yannic , Bigras Annick
Published: March 2010

The construction of the Péribonka dam has involved deep compaction of its foundation using vibroflotation and dynamic compaction. Due to the presence of gravel and cobble-size particles, surface wave testing was used in addition to classical tests (cone penetration tests (CPTs) and standard penetration tests) for the assessment of compaction. More than 900 shear wave velocity (Vs) profiles down to bedrock or to a maximum depth of 50 m were determined using “modal analysis of surface waves” (MASW). The large number of Vsprofiles, before and after compaction, has allowed a good evaluation of the compaction performance and offered, at the same time, a unique opportunity to demonstrate the potential of surface waves in geotechnical investigations.
EFFECTS OF BOUNDARY-LAYER THICKNESS ON FLOW OSCILLATIONS INSIDE OPEN CAVITIES AT SUPERSONIC SPEEDS
Authors: YANG DANG-GUO , FAN ZHAO-LIN , LI JIANG-QIANG , YAO DAN
Published: March 2010

An experiment was conducted in a wind-tunnel to study the internal acoustic field and flow oscillations inside rectangular-box cavities. The length-to-depth ratio of the cavities was 8. The data presented herein was obtained over a Mach number of 1.5 at a Reynolds number of 2.26×107 per meter with different boundary-layer thicknesses of approximately 24 mm and 5.5 mm. The experimental angle of attack, yawing and rolling angles were 0°. The rules were revealed as governing the effects of boundary-layer thickness on flow oscillations and unsteady characteristics by comparing the experimental results with flow oscillation modes predicated by Rossiter's and Heller's modified equation. The results indicate that a decrease in the ratio of boundary-layer thickness to cavity-depth (δ/D) induces flow oscillations amplification, peak oscillation frequency splitting and shifting phenomena of open cavity tones in the low-frequency region.
Use of Factory-Waste Shingles and Cement Kiln Dust to Enhance the Performance of Soil Used in Road Works
Authors: Ahmed Aly , Shehata Medhat , Easa Said
Published: March 2010

An experimental work was conducted to study the use of factory-waste roof shingles to enhance the properties of fine-grained soil used in road works. Cement kiln dust (CKD), a cogenerated product of Portland cement manufacturing, was used as a stabilizing agent while the processed shingles were added to enhance the soil tensile strength. The effects of shingles on strength and stability were evaluated using the unconfined compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests. The results showed that the use of CKD alone resulted in a considerable increase in the unconfined compressive strength but had a small effect on the tensile strength. The addition of shingles substantially improved the tensile strength of the stabilized soil. A significant reduction in the capillary rise and a slight decrease in the permeability were obtained as a result of shingle addition. An optimal shingle content of 10% is recommended to stabilize the soil.
On Potential Energy Models for EA-based Ab Initio Protein Structure Prediction
Authors: Mijajlovic Milan , Biggs Mark J. , Djurdjevic Dusan P.
Published: March 2010

Ab initio protein structure prediction involves determination of the three-dimensional (3D) conformation of proteins on the basis of their amino acid sequence, a potential energy (PE) model that captures the physics of the interatomic interactions, and a method to search for and identify the global minimum in the PE (or free energy) surface such as an evolutionary algorithm (EA). Many PE models have been proposed over the past three decades and more. There is currently no understanding of how the behavior of an EA is affected by the PE model used. The study reported here shows that the EA behavior can be profoundly affected: the EA performance obtained when using the ECEPP PE model is significantly worse than that obtained when using the Amber, OPLS, and CVFF PE models, and the optimal EA control parameter values for the ECEPP model also differ significantly from those associated with the other models.
Bloat Control Operators and Diversity in Genetic Programming: A Comparative Study
Authors: Alfaro-Cid E. , Merelo J. J. , de Vega F. Fernández , Esparcia-Alcázar A. I. , Sharman K.
Published: March 2010

This paper reports a comparison of several bloat control methods and also evaluates a recent proposal for limiting the size of the individuals: a genetic operator called prune and plant. The aim of this work is to test the adequacy of this method. Since a preliminary study of the method has already shown promising results, we have performed a thorough study in a set of benchmark problems aiming at demonstrating the utility of the new approach. Prune and plant has obtained results that maintain the quality of the final solutions in terms of fitness while achieving a substantial reduction of the mean tree size in all four problem domains considered. In addition, in one of these problem domains, prune and plant has demonstrated to be better in terms of fitness, size reduction, and time consumption than any of the other bloat control techniques under comparison. The experimental part of the study presents a comparison of performance in terms of phenotypic and genotypic diversity. This comparison study can provide the practitioner with some relevant clues as to which bloat control method is better suited to a particular problem and whether the advantage of a method does or does not derive from its influence on the genetic pool diversity.
From dreams to discontent
Authors: Cross Jamie
Published: March 2010

India’s free trade zones are imagined by politicians, planners and business elites as ‘engines of growth’ and ‘vehicles of social mobility’. Building upon a body of recent scholarship concerned with ‘post-educational landscapes’ in South Asia I challenge these visions by exploring how investments and achievements in education ‘pay off’ for a new generation of zone workers. Drawing on the biographies of young Telugu men with secondary-level technical qualifications, who are employed to cut and polish diamonds at the Vishakhapatnam Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Andhra Pradesh, I show how the zone is a space in which young men are confronted with the devaluation of their education, their failure to realise local visions of masculine success, and the prospects of their future marginality. These experiences have important implications for the everyday politics of labour, shaping both consent and discontent in the terms and conditions of work.
Vascular Lesions in Pigs Experimentally Infected With Porcine Circovirus Type 2 Serogroup B
Authors: Langohr I. M. , Stevenson G. W. , Nelson E. A. , Lenz S. D. , HogenEsch H. , Wei H. , Pogranichniy R. M.
Published: March 2010

Vasculitis is a hallmark lesion of the severe form of systemic porcine circovirus–associated disease (PCVAD). In 2 experimental studies with porcine circovirus type 2 serogroup b (PCV2b), 2 pigs developed fatal PCVAD with acute vasculitis, and 5 related pigs developed chronic lymphohistiocytic and plasmacytic peri- and endarteritis. Five of these pigs (1 with acute vasculitis and 4 with chronic vasculitis) had also been inoculated with bovine viral diarrhea virus type 1 (BVDV1) or BVDV1-like virus. Vascular lesions were similar, independent of whether pigs had been inoculated singly with PCV2b or dually with PCV2b and BVDV1 or BVDV1-like virus. The acute vasculitis was accompanied by marked pulmonary and mesenteric edema and pleural effusion. In situ hybridization demonstrated abundant intracytoplasmic porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) nucleic acid in endothelial, smooth muscle–like, and inflammatory cells within and around affected arteries. The pigs with lymphohistiocytic and plasmacytic vasculitis had lesions of systemic PCVAD, including multisystemic lymphoplasmacytic and histiocytic or granulomatous inflammation. PCV2 nucleic acid was detected in renal tubule epithelial cells, mononuclear inflammatory cells, and rare endothelial cells in noninflamed vessels in multiple tissues of these animals. The 2 pigs with acute vasculitis had no PCV2-specific antibodies (or a low titer of), whereas the pigs with lymphohistiocytic and plasmacytic vasculitis developed high antibody titers against this virus. These observations suggest that (1) acute vasculitis observed in the current studies is directly caused by PCV2b, (2) chronic vasculitis may in part be mediated by the subsequent immune response, and (3) host factors and viral strain may both contribute to vasculitis in animals infected with PCV2b.