bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Deus ex Machina: AI Apocalypticism in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Authors: Bennett Eve
Published: May 2014

This article examines religious themes in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (T:TSCC). These were already present in the film franchise of which the programme is a spin-off, in particular, in parallels drawn between John Connor, the man prophesized to save humankind from destruction by intelligent machines, and the Christian messiah. However, the TV series revises these parallels in such a way that it is now Terminators, the apparent antagonists, who are repeatedly aligned with Christ and even with God. The article suggests that this change has been influenced by a movement which Robert Geraci terms ‘Apocalyptic AI’, the basic tenet of which is a belief in the imminent arrival of the ‘Singularity:’ the point at which artificial intelligence (AI) will surpass that of humans. Geraci argues that AI Apocalypticism, which has become increasingly popularized in recent years, has absorbed many aspects of Judaeo-Christian belief and rhetoric. Its adherents view AI as a quasi-divine entity capable of instigating the apocalypse, but which may also offer salvation, and is therefore an object of both fascination and fear. This, I will argue, is very much the case in T:TSCC, in which the Terminators are still frightening but may be essential to humanity’s survival.
Empathy or entitlement? Humanizing and Othering discourses in Go Back To Where You Came From
Authors: Price Emma
Published: May 2014

Debate over asylum seekers and refugees has continued over several decades in Australia. Terms such as ‘boat people’, ‘illegal immigrants’ and ‘queue jumpers’ have peppered more recent discussions, as well as political party rhetoric such as ‘stopping the boats’ and a network of ‘people smuggling’. In 2011 SBS (Australia) broadcast the first series of a reality TV-type programme entitled Go Back To Where You Came From in which a group of ‘ordinary Australians’ followed a refugee journey in reverse. This ‘alternative’ format for exploring a controversial Australian issue suggests the potential for a more humanitarian perspective and a different kind of engagement with audiences as opposed to news or documentary. This article however examines discourses of the ‘Other’ still present within the programme, including the representation of ‘ordinary Australians’ as potential opportunities for empathy, but also as possible perpetuation of the dominant negative portrayals of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. Utilizing Said and Bhabha’s theories of Orientalism and the Other, this article combines research on media representation of refugees with Hage’s argument about the construction of ‘paranoid nationalism’ through care and worry, to examine the tensions in Go Back To Where You Came From between humanitarian inclusion and exclusion, and between legitimacy and deviance.
Inaugural editorial: Urban cultural studies – a manifesto (Part 1)
Authors: Fraser Benjamin
Published: May 2014

This inaugural editorial launching the first volume of the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies details, in two parts, the need for and significance of an urban cultural studies method, broadly conceived. Part 1 (in Issue 1) culls insights from the work of urban philosopher and cultural studies pioneer Henri Lefebvre (1901–91) as a way of exploring the role of philosophy in urban cultural studies research and examining its key terms: cities, the urban, interdisciplinarity and culture. Overall, urban cultural studies (UCS) foments a dialogue between art and society – between textual/representational (humanities) understandings of culture and anthropological, geographical, sociological (social science) approaches. This is ideally accomplished within a reconfigured urban studies paradigm that continues to embrace its characteristic focus on architecture, built environment, city planning, everyday life, identity formation, landscape, space/place, transportation and more, while venturing further into artistic terrain than ever before – films, literature, music, sequential art, painting, digital humanities approaches and more.
Tokyo, gender and mobility: Tracking fictional characters on real monorails, trains, subways and trams
Authors: Thornbury Barbara E.
Published: May 2014

Multiple strands of early twenty-first-century Tokyo’s gendered narratives find expression in a large body of internationally circulated short stories, novels and films from Japan that figuratively incorporate portions of the city’s actual transportation infrastructure. It is an infrastructure that frames and defines Tokyo – a ‘city of trains’ – as a socially dynamic geographical entity. Urban rail-system-rich texts such as Noboru Tsujihara’s ‘My Slightly Crooked Brooch’ – along with Natsuo Kirino’s Real World, Fuminori Nakamura’s The Thief, Shosuke Murakami’s Train Man, Banana Yoshimoto’s ‘Newlywed’, and Hsiao-Hsien Hou’s Café Lumière – show the illusoriness (especially for women) of the alluring promise of mobility in both life and on the rails. At the same time, they contain hints of newly emerging interventions and choices, along with the possibility of a counter-hegemonic discourse in which women resolutely assert their agency on a rail system built by and mostly for men.
The projection on the wall: What audio-visual architectural mapping says about Catalan identity
Authors: Vilaseca Stephen Luis
Published: May 2014

Audio-visual architectural mapping transforms the façades of buildings into something completely different. Projectors and speakers coordinate computer-controlled images and sound in order to impose a visual and audio remapping of the surface. Through the projection of simulated shadows, fixed architectural elements can be made to appear to move. The practice of superimposing dynamically changing information over city space offers a new way to write and tell stories that inextricably links architecture, technology, public space and urban planning. Drawing on recent studies that have linked urban spectacles, screens and public space, this article explores the relationship between audio-visual architectural mapping and the production of identity in contemporary Catalonia.
Endless party
Authors: Brodar Urška
Published: May 2014

The 2012 season of the HAU theatre in Berlin ended with the 24-hour staging of the novel Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. After nine years, Matthias Lilienthal left his position as artistic director, during which he had positioned HAU onto the map as one of the most important
alternative theatres in Europe. For the very end, he planned a master project, a theatre omnibus par excellence. Twelve artistic groups and individuals responded to the themes posed in the novel with their performances. They addressed the following issues: talent, handicap, fun, alienation,
family, television, violence, religion, art, acting, addiction, suicide, tennis, terrorism, overburdening and the search of the lost subject. All of this took place in original spatial, temporal and collective dimensions.
What is the meaning of potential today?
Authors: Hölscher Stefan
Published: May 2014

This article tries to demonstrate how far in contemporary capitalism, if not to say in capitalist realism, the difference between potentia and potestas has become deeply prone to its own inversion. We are living under circumstances which utilize our potential itself, subsuming it under a world-wide biopolitical calculus, rendering it into finance, and thereby integrating it in a continuously expanding territory that is all the same smooth and striated. Ultimately, there is no clear boundary between potentia and potestas. Our problem is that any clear distinction between constituent acts and already constituted agencies - naturing nature (natura naturans) and natured nature (natura naturata) in Spinoza - respectively, the difference between Multitude and Empire, has almost vanished and cannot be defined that easily.
GILŠ-KODUM (1991-1999) alongside Bauhaus and Black Mountain College Metka Zobec (20 February 1956, Ljubljana-3 February 2013, Ljubljana)
Authors: Vevar Rok
Published: May 2014

Metka Zobec (1956-2013) created the Theatre and Puppet School - Cosmopolitan Workshop of Art (1991-1999) under the former Association of Cultural Organisations of Slovenia (ZKOS) in the beginning of the 1990s. The school pioneered new educational models in the field of performance art in Slovenia and played an important role in making up for the lack of institutional programmes in this field. By choosing original ways of teaching that could today be placed alongside Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, it left a decisive mark on the generations of students and mentors attending and co-creating it.
How to take dance seriously, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Bojana Cvejić, A Choreographer’s Score, Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2012.
Authors: Čičigoj Katja
Published: May 2014

This article tries to rethink the ways in which the bundle of audio–video documentation and written material entitled A Choreographer’s Score approaches the early dance and choreographic practice of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her contemporary dance group Rosas. As I wish to propose, this hybrid bundle, which came about as a dialogical meeting between the aforementioned choreographer and the theoretician Bojana Cvejić, remains ‘faithful' to the materiality of dance by not inscribing it in normative registers of writing on dance and dance-writing, but by attempting the rethinking of the contextual redefinitions of both – and other – dance-specific concepts precisely through the practice of writing on dance.
Choreography of dissonant voices: Parallel Slalom: A Lexicon of Non-Aligned Poetics, Bojana Cvejić and Goran Sergej Pristaš (eds) (2013), Belgrade and Zagreb: Walking Theory – TkH, CDU – Centre for Drama Art
Authors: Arhar Nika
Published: May 2014

With its initial desire to articulate contemporary dance history in Eastern Europe, the collection Parallel Slalom steps directly into the moment of the encounter between history and the present, the East and the West, and it touches upon numerous ideological categories that appear in these encounters as a consequence of the hierarchical matrix of the western narrative. It explores dance in its emancipatory and transformative potential as a constant articulation and re-articulation; it emphasizes the potentiality of heterogeneity of local practices, contexts, principles and criteria; and it directs mental efforts towards the possibilities of creating one's own, specific and potentially rebellious or innovative forms of life and work.
Reversed remediation: A critical display of the workings of media in art
Authors: Maria Korsten Saskia Isabella
Published: May 2014

This article distinguishes between the theories of remediation and reversed remediation and applies this theoretical foundation to Evelien Lohbeck's artwork noteboek (2008). Reversed remediation is an aesthetic strategy that subverts media critics Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin's notion of 'remediation' in their eponymous article, which serves a historical desire for immediacy. Countering media theorist Marshall McLuhan's fear, in Understanding Media ([1964] 2003), of the narcotic state that the user of a medium can enter when becoming a closed system with the medium, reversed remediation creates a state of critical awareness about how media shape one's perception of the world.
Movements in contemporary dance?
Authors: Kraigher Amelia
Published: May 2014

The current editorial board of Maska first raised the issue of the concerns of contemporary dance already in March 2012; almost exactly a year ago, this was followed by the first drafts for the present issue and finally by the decision that the contemporary dance issue should be addressed thoroughly and systematically. The long and highly inspiring discussions with editorial board members gradually provided the focus for our contemplation, understanding and reading of dance through social contexts. We set an ambitious task of drawing the views of contemporary dance from different perspectives: historical, educational, infrastructural, performative, curatorial, production, theoretical, conceptual, interpretational… that are rhizomatically embedded within inter-genre and international transitions. Our broadly defined topic about the movements in contemporary dance will spill over into the next issue of Maska to be published in Spring 2014.
'If You Find One Politician and Convince Him About the Importance of Dance for the Society, You Have Done a Lot': Interview with Ingo Diehl, director of Tanzplan Educational Programme
Authors: Jež Furlan Jedrt
Published: May 2014

Dancer, choreographer and dance pedagogue Ingo Diehl gives an interview about the network project Tanzplan Deutschland, which, between 2005 and 2010, connected dance schools, universities, academies, artists and local communities. The German Federal Cultural Foundation has approved funds of EUR 12.5 million for the project for a period of five years: the result was the participation of 70 internationally renowned artists, 70 universities, 180 participants. How to address politicians, the broader public and the local community? Ingo Diehl talks about networking, solidarity and the common good. And about how contemporary dance can contribute to all this.
The Australian and New Zealand governments’ responses to Britain’s decline in the 1960s: Identity, geopolitics and the end of Empire
Authors: Doig Jack
Published: May 2014

Until the 1960s, the Australian and New Zealand governments were firmly committed to the British Empire and they framed their countries as British nations on the edge of Asia and the Pacific. Britain’s first attempt to join the European Economic Community in 1961, and its withdrawal
of the vast majority of its military forces from the Asia–Pacific region in 1968, signalled the extent of its decline as a global power. Britain’s decline profoundly challenged the governments of Australia and New Zealand because this threatened the British settler-nationalism
that predominated in each country, which were dependent on British economic and military strength. This development had the potential to radically alter the world-views of the government and cause them to reconsider the way they defined their nations and the policies they used to ensure their
economic and military survival. This article will analyse the two governments’ responses to these events and consider how this affected political rhetoric in Australia and New Zealand and the extent to which it caused them to redefine their geopolitical understandings of the nation.
Coups, constitution-making, unmaking, and remaking in Fiji: Competing visions of citizenship
Authors: Harding Bruce
Published: May 2014

This is a discussion of the major constitutional review of governance in the Fiji Islands conducted in 1995–1996 (the Reeves Report) that was aborted by the 2000 coup d’etat of George Speight. Political instability and dictatorship have ensued in Fiji (especially from 2006 with the Commodore Frank Bainimarama coup), but the Yash Ghai independent Constitution Commission (whose ideas have re-shaped a new transcultural future for Fiji) was clearly significantly inspired by the 1997 Constitution presented to President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara in 1996. This article was written a year before the promulgation of the new democratic document (2013) for Fijian elections in 2014 and it traces the core ideas contesting ethnocracy in the Reeves Report. The article explores the lengthy road of constitutional planning in the Fiji Islands from 1965 to 2013 and, through a focus on that nation’s most robust and modern constitution (its third) before 2012, points to the best way forward for a multi-ethnic republic in the country which hosts the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
Reviews
Authors: Wanhalla Angela , David-Ives Corinne , Wevers Lydia , Lowe John , Russell Khyla , Albisson Gregory , Brunt Peter , Howard Alan , Hancock Kay , Keam Glenda , Shuker Roy , Valle Paola Della , Valle Paola Della
Published: May 2014

The Meeting Place: Maori and Pakeha Encounters, 1642–1840, Vincent O’Malley (2012) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 320 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0594 6 (pbk), NZ$45

Trading Cultures – A History of the Far North, Adrienne Puckey (2012) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 388 pp., ISBN 978 1 8696 9454 8 (pbk), US$35

Far From ‘Home’: The English in New Zealand, Lyndon Fraser and Angela McCarthy (eds) (2012) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 232 pp., ISBN 978 1 8775 7832 8 (pbk), NZ$45

New Zealand’s London: A Colony and its Metropolis, Felicity Barnes (2012) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 344 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0585 4 (pbk), NZ$49.99

New Zealand’s Muslims and Multiculturalism; Muslim Minorities Series, Vol. 9, Erich Kolig (2009) Leiden: Brill, 274 pp., ISBN 978 9 0041 7835 9 (hbk), €125

Indigenous Identity and Resistance: Researching the Diversity of Knowledge, Brendan Hokowhitu, Nathalie Kermoal, Chris Andersen, Anna Petersen, Michael Reilly, Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez and Poia Rewi (eds) (2010)
Dunedin: Otago University Press, 264 pp., ISBN 978 1 8773 7283 4 (pbk), NZ$49.95

Patched – The History of Gangs in New Zealand, Jarrod Gilbert (2013) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 360 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0729 2 (pbk), NZ$49.99

Patterns of the Past: Tattoo Revival in the Cook Islands, Therese Mangos and John Utanga (2011) Wellington: Huia, 224 pp., ISBN 978 0 4731 9377 5 (pbk), NZ$49.99

A History of the Pacific Islands (Second Edition), Steven Roger Fischer (2013) New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 368 pp., ISBN 978 0 2303 6269 7 (pbk), £17.99

I am Five and I go to School: Early Years Schooling in New Zealand, 1900–2010, Helen May (2011) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 320 pp., ISBN 978 1 8773 7286 5 (pbk), NZ$49.95

Piano Forte: Stories and Soundscapes from Colonial New Zealand, Kirstine Moffat (2011) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 280 pp., ISBN 978 1 8773 7279 7 (pbk), NZ$45.00

The ‘Ukulele: A History, Jim Tranquada and John King (2012) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 296 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 3634 4 (pbk), US$20.99

Dunedin Soundings. Place and Performance, Dan Bendrups and Graeme Downes (eds) (2011) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 176 pp., ISBN 978 1 8775 7822 9 (pbk), NZ$40

The Settler’s Plot: How Stories Take Place in New Zealand, Alex Calder (2011) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 312 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0488 8 (pbk), NZ$45

Striding Both Worlds: Witi Ihimaera and New Zealand’s Literary Tradition, Melissa Kennedy (2011) Amsterdam: Rodopi, 255 pp., ISBN 978 9 0420 3357 3 (pbk), €55
El maltrato a personas mayores: instrumentos para la detección del maltrato institucional
Authors: Rueda Estrada José Daniel , Martín Martín Francisco Javier
Published: May 2014

El objeto de este artículo es el de presentar a profesionales e investigadores un conjunto de instrumentos para la detección del maltrato a personas mayores que viven en centros residenciales. La violencia, especialmente dirigida hacia los sectores de población más vulnerables, como las personas mayores y, particularmente, a quienes tienen limitaciones para llevar una vida autónoma, se está convirtiendo en una de las lacras más execrables de la sociedad. Distintos estudios ponen de manifiesto que las personas mayores empiezan a ser un colectivo tan importante como el de las mujeres o los niños en aspectos de maltrato. Desde esta perspectiva, la Universidad de Valladolid ha realizado un estudio orientado a validar unos instrumentos de investigación que permitan conocer la magnitud del problema del maltrato en el medio institucional. En este artículo se hace un breve resumen de los fundamentos teóricos que han orientado la elaboración de estos instrumentos y su validación, presentándolos como herramientas que puedan ser empleadas o adaptadas para realizar otros estudios y poder comparar resultados.
Asociacionismo, participación ciudadana y políticas locales: planteamiento teórico y una experiencia práctica en Jaén
Authors: Alberich Nistal Tomás , Espadas Alcázar María Ángeles
Published: May 2014

El artículo presenta en primer lugar algunos aspectos teóricos sobre la participación ciudadana y el asociacionismo (relación con las políticas sociales, definiciones conceptuales, tipos y niveles,evolución en España...) para, en segundo lugar, realizar un resumen de la metodología y aspectos más significativos de la investigación llevada a cabo por los autores en la ciudad de Jaén, aplicando técnicas cuantitativas, cualitativas y participativas. Finalmente se recogen los aspectos más relevantes de las conclusiones y algunas recomendaciones para trabajar con asociaciones y promover la participación ciudadana en un municipio.
High performance of amidoxime/amine functionalized polypropylene for uranyl (VI) from aqueous solution
Authors: Chi Fangting , Xiong Jie , Hu Sheng , Hou Jingwei , Gu Mei , Han Jun
Published: May 2014

Amidoxime-based adsorbents are widely investigated as the main adsorbent in the recovery of uranium from seawater. However, the adsorption rate and loading capacity of such adsorbents should be further improved due to the economic viability consideration. In this paper, the adsorption properties of amidoxime-based adsorbent were enhanced through the cografting of amino groups. The acrylonitrile (AN) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) were firstly cografted onto polypropylene fibers by preirradiation grafting technique. Then the cografted fibers were treated with ethylenediamine to convert GMA to amino group, following treated with hydroxylamine to convert AN groups to amidoxime (AO) group. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and contact angle measurement were used to characterize the structure of the adsorbent. The results showed that the amidoxime and amino groups had been successfully grafted onto the polypropylene fibers. For AO fiber, high adsorption rate was observed within the first 30 min and the plateau value of 42.3% uranium loading (0.0904mg/g) was reached at around 30 min. The AO/amine fibers exhibited a higher adsorption rate. The adsorption equilibrium for AO/amine fiber was attained within 20 min, resulting in the adsorption of 93.3% uranium loading (0.191mg/g). Additionally, AO/amine fibers can avoid pH reducing for better adsorption efficiency.
Immune-modulating effects of alpha-1 antitrypsin
Authors: Ehlers Mario R.
Published: May 2014

Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) is a circulating serine protease inhibitor (serpin) that inhibits neutrophil elastase in the lung, and AAT deficiency is associated with early-onset emphysema. AAT is also a liver-derived acute-phase protein that, in vitro and in vivo, reduces production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, inhibits apoptosis, blocks leukocyte degranulation and migration, and modulates local and systemic inflammatory responses. In monocytes, AAT has been shown to increase intracellular cAMP, regulate expression of CD14, and suppress NFκB nuclear translocation. These effects may be mediated by AAT’s serpin activity or by other protein-binding activities. In preclinical models of autoimmunity and transplantation, AAT therapy prevents or reverses autoimmune disease and graft loss, and these effects are accompanied by tolerogenic changes in cytokine and transcriptional profiles and T cell subsets. This review highlights advances in our understanding of the immune-modulating effects of AAT and their potential therapeutic utility.
Experimentally observed responses to humor are related to individual differences in emotion perception and regulation in everyday life
Authors: Papousek Ilona , Schulter Günter , Lackner Helmut K. , Samson Andrea , Freudenthaler H. Harald
Published: May 2014

This study aimed to investigate the relevance of an individual's typical emotion perception and emotion regulation behavior to his or her responsiveness to humor. This was studied behaviorally by examining responses to different types of humorous stimuli in an experimental paradigm, in a sample of n = 54 participants aged between 18 to 41 years (29 women, 25 men). Individual differences in emotion perception and regulation were assessed by relevant subscales of an established self-report instrument. Higher scores on emotion perception were related to higher amusement ratings in response to the humorous stimuli. Higher scores on emotion regulation were associated with shorter response latencies for the amusement ratings, particularly when it was important to mentalize with the characters in the cartoons in order to understand the humor. The cognitive understanding of the humor was unaffected. The findings suggest that good emotion perception and emotion regulation skills may contribute to greater humor responsiveness in everyday life, which may be an adaptive trait promoting successful functioning and resilience.
A New Harmonic Mitigation Scheme for MMC – An Experimental Approach
Authors: Madichetty S. , Dasgupta A. , Jinka S.
Published: May 2014

A multilevel converter has been brought into limelight in this article, however, particular attention has been provided to the form and function of modular multilevel converter (MMC) with new design, control and harmonic mitigation schemes. A new controller scheme has been proposed to mitigate the lower and higher order harmonics. The proposed scheme shows its effectiveness by theoretical calculations, verified by simulation and experimental results. Till date, research in this field is very limited with circulating currents and harmonics as the major problem. This article effectively addresses the problem with prototype 1 kVA implementation and attempts to make a detailed analysis with their functions in comprehensive manner with high-voltage DC application under different conditions. Also, the applicability of zero voltage switching at turn ON and zero current transition at turn OFF has been verified experimentally. The strategic conclusions on MMC have been made in order to make the system more robust in operation, less complexity in design and control.
The Living Well Lab: a community-based HIV/AIDS research initiative
Authors: Mulkins Andrea L. , Ibáñez-Carrasco Francisco , Boyack Dave , Verhoef Marja J.
Published: May 2014

Background: Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is becoming a pillar in the rehabilitative efforts for many living with HIV/AIDS. A community-based research program called the Living Well Lab (LWL) was established in 2007, operating out of Friends For Life (FFL), a non-profit wellness center in Vancouver, Canada offering free CAM therapies to people living with HIV/AIDS. Therapies range from naturopathy to yoga. The LWL partnered with academic and community organizations to evaluate CAM use and changes in health and quality of life outcomes of FFL’s HIV+ members.

Methods: A longitudinal, combined methods approach assessed the health- and quality-of-life-related outcomes and experiences of CAM users. Participants completed outcome packages (5 time points) over 18 months, which focused on changes in physical and emotional states, satisfaction with services and social support. Interviews were conducted at baseline, 9- and 18-month time points. Quantitative analyses were descriptive while content analysis and thematic coding were used in the qualitative analysis.

Results: Two hundred and seven members enrolled in the LWL. Quantitative data demonstrated improvement in mental and physical wellbeing, social support and patient satisfaction specifically: SF-12, Arizona Integrative Outcomes Scale and three visual analog scales (stress, pain and energy). Participants felt several factors contributed to these changes such as managing anxiety, accepting their illness, learning to relax, an increased capacity for self-care and social support.

Conclusions: CAM use may be associated with changes to physical, social and mental wellbeing. Issues throughout the study provided important lessons for future research.
Visualizing the Art of Dying in Early Protestant Scandinavia: A Reading of a Late Sixteenth-Century Tapestry from Leksvik, Norway
Authors: Aavitsland Kristin B.
Published: May 2014

The article offers a close reading of a remarkable late 16-th century tapestry from Leksvik Church in Norway. Abounding with biblical quotations in Danish, the tapestry represents a dying man surrounded by personifications of virtues. The author considers this artifact a visualized ars moriendi, and shows how the tapestry’s iconography draws on standard metaphors from contemporary consolatory literature. Furthermore, the tapestry’s visual rhetoric alludes to, interplays with, and, at times, contradicts the late medieval conventions for visualizing the good death. By modulating a long-established deathbed iconography, the visual language of the Leksvik tapestry subtly steer towards a new, Protestant interpretation on the ideal death.
The Ever-Present Death Behind the Church Door: On the Funeral Bier and Its Emblematic Qualities
Authors: Wangsgaard Jürgensen Martin
Published: May 2014

This article takes its point of departure in the precautions taken by the early modern Lutheran Church in order to insure that, at least in principle, all parishioners had a chance to face death, once the end was approaching, prepared. More explicitly, the article addresses how the early modern parishioner faced death each time he or she entered the local church. A specific item – the funeral bier – is to be the focal point and the lens through which the manner of the Church’s preparation of parishioners for death is discussed.
The semiotics of undesirable bodies: Transnationalism, race culture, abjection
Authors: Goh Robbie B. H.
Published: May 2014

Contemporary transnational migration has given rise to a new ideology and semiotics of the foreign body – one that draws on the cognitive field of the primitive, marked, and abjected body. This foreign body is carefully differentiated from both the sphere of the local/national, and the “expatriate” professional who by virtue of economic and cultural capital is desired and assimilated into the local sphere. An aspiring cosmopolitan and global city-state like Singapore shows this semiotic differentiation to quite a marked degree, in the policies and discourses of barely-tolerated and abjected foreign workers whose racially-marked bodies are highlighted by typologies of violence, disease, sexuality (particularly in aberrant or promiscuous form), and mob assemblies. The semiotics of the foreign body in Singapore is also evident in other racial-cultural fissures elsewhere, including in countries with multicultural reputations such as Australia, and countries like the U.S., U.K. and France that are struggling to cope with large migrant communities of Middle-Eastern and South Asian peoples.
The History of the AutoChemist®: From Vision to Reality
Authors: Peterson H. E. , Jungner I.
Published: May 2014

Objectives: This paper discusses the early history and development of a clinical analyser system in Sweden (AutoChemist, 1965). It highlights the importance of such high capacity system both for clinical use and health care screening. The device was developed to assure the quality of results and to automatically handle the orders, store the results in digital form for later statistical analyses and distribute the results to the patients’ physicians by using the computer used for the analyser.

Results: The most important result of the construction of an analyser able to produce analytical results on a mass scale was the development of a mechanical multi-channel analyser for clinical laboratories that handled discrete sample technology and could prevent carry-over to the next test samples while incorporating computer technology to improve the quality of test results. The AutoChemist could handle 135 samples per hour in an 8-hour shift and up to 24 possible analyses channels resulting in 3,200 results per hour. Later versions would double this capacity. Some customers used the equipment 24 hours per day.

Conclusions: With a capacity of 3,000 to 6,000 analyses per hour, pneumatic driven pipettes, special units for corrosive liquids or special activities, and an integrated computer, the AutoChemist system was unique and the largest of its kind for many years. Its follower – The AutoChemist PRISMA (PRogrammable Individually Selective Modular Analyzer) – was smaller in size but had a higher capacity. Both analysers established new standards of operation for clinical laboratories and encouraged others to use new technologies for building new analysers.
miR-135a-5p inhibits 3T3-L1 adipogenesis through activation of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling
Authors: Chen Chen , Peng Yongdong , Peng Yinglin , Peng Jian , Jiang Siwen
Published: May 2014

MicroRNAs are endogenous, conserved, and non-coding small RNAs that function as post-transcriptional regulators of fat development and adipogenesis. Adipogenic marker genes, such as CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α (Cebpa), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (Pparg), adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (Ap2), and fatty acid synthase (Fas), are regarded as the essential transcriptional regulators of preadipocyte differentiation and lipid storage in mature adipocytes. Canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling is recognized as a negative molecular switch during adipogenesis. In the present work we found that miR-135a-5p is markedly downregulated during the process of 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation. Overexpression of miR-135a-5p impairs the expressions of adipogenic marker genes as well as lipid droplet accumulation and triglyceride content, indicating the importance of miR-135a-5p for adipogenic differentiation and adipogenesis. Further studies show that miR-135a-5p directly targets adenomatous polyposis coli (Apc), contributes to the translocation of β-catenin from cytoplasm to nucleus, and then activates the expressions of cyclin D1 (Ccnd1) and Cmyc, indicating the induction of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling. In addition, inhibition of APC with siRNA exhibits the same effects as overexpression of miR-135a-5p. Our findings demonstrate that miR-135a-5p suppresses 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation and adipogenesis through the activation of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling by directly targeting Apc. Taken together, these results offer profound insights into the adipogenesis mechanism and the development of adipose tissue.
Genome Properties and Prospects of Genomic Prediction of Hybrid Performance in a Breeding Program of Maize
Authors: Technow Frank , Schrag Tobias A , Schipprack Wolfgang , Bauer Eva , Simianer Henner , Melchinger Albrecht E
Published: May 2014

Maize (Zea mays L.) serves as model plant for heterosis research and is the crop where hybrid breeding was pioneered. We analyzed genomic and phenotypic data of 1254 hybrids of a typical maize hybrid breeding program based on the important Dent × Flint heterotic pattern. Our main objectives were to investigate genome properties of the parental lines (e.g., allele frequencies, linkage disequilibrium, and phases) and examine the prospects of genomic prediction of hybrid performance. We found high consistency of linkage phases and large differences in allele frequencies between the Dent and Flint heterotic groups in pericentromeric regions. These results can be explained by the Hill–Robertson effect and support the hypothesis of differential fixation of alleles due to pseudo-overdominance in these regions. In pericentromeric regions we also found indications for consistent marker–QTL linkage between heterotic groups. With prediction methods GBLUP and BayesB, the cross-validation prediction accuracy ranged from 0.75 to 0.92 for grain yield and from 0.59 to 0.95 for grain moisture. The prediction accuracy of untested hybrids was highest, if both parents were parents of other hybrids in the training set, and lowest, if none of them were involved in any training set hybrid. Optimizing the composition of the training set in terms of number of lines and hybrids per line could further increase prediction accuracy. We conclude that genomic prediction facilitates a paradigm shift in hybrid breeding by focusing on the performance of experimental hybrids rather than the performance of parental lines in testcrosses.
Reducing the cost of inter- and intrastate conflict over water in the Jordan river basin
Authors: Phillips David J.H.
Published: May 2014

The five riparians of the Jordan river basin share a number of transboundary watercourses. These include the surface waters of the Jordan river itself; several other smaller surface waters; and a number of aquifers. Interstate conflict between the riparians is well documented and has been ongoing for the last 60 years, with tensions over access to fresh waters being considered a significant contributory factor. But much less has been published to date on intrastate conflicts relating to access to the same watercourses, and these are reviewed here. The financial costs of continuing conflicts in the region are documented to far outweigh those pertaining to the resolution of the regional water deficiencies, which would rely on increased levels of desalination and wastewater reuse, plus the possible importation of bulk water supplies from elsewhere. Such a resolution of the water-related conflicts would lead to improved intra and interstate relationships, and could be an important trigger for a much broader peace initiative for the region.
In Search of an Islamic Leader: Malay Perceptions of Ibn Sa’ūd Triumph and the Domination of the Waḥḥābīs in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Othman Mohammad Redzuan
Published: May 2014

Since becoming Muslim, the Malays have highly revered Hijaz and its 'ulama', and have seen them as a source of religious and political authority when the need for an authoritative decision arises. Even though historically Hijaz was exceptionally meaningful to the Malays, even for elucidating political questions, in Malaya there was no indication that the people were concerned with doctrinal or political developments with regard to the rise of Ibn Sa'ud's family and the early domination of the Wahhabis in the region, until the outbreak of the rivalry between Sharif Husayn and 'Abd al-Aziz Ibn Sa'ud after Worid War I.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v11i2.602
Islamic Militant Movements in Indonesia: A Preliminary Study Accounts for its Socio-Religious and Political Aspects
Authors: Effendy Bahtiar
Published: May 2014

This essay attempts to look at the nature or character of Islamic militancy as reflected in the reemergence of a number of Islamic parties as well as socio-religious organizations of Islamic origins. Circumstance following the downfall of the Soeharto government and the aftermath it has created will be used to put the issue in perspective. Based on the actual strength of both Islamic parties and the newly established socio-religious organizations, this essay also examines the sustainability of such perceived Islamic militancy.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v11i3.594
Pluralism and Identity in the Indonesian-Malay World: The Isrā’ Mi’rāj as a token of both
Authors: Meij Dick van der
Published: May 2014

This article would like to have o look at one particular piece of literature, the story of Isra' Mi'raj, to explore whether it is possible to say something about identity and plurality in the Indonesian-Malay world. It will propose that the story of the Isra' Mi'raj is a token of both the plural aspect of the Indonesian-Malay world as well as constituting a vital element of the shared identity of the inhabitants of this Southeast Asian region. It will do so by presenting thirteen examples of Isra' Mi'raj material available in, or originating from, the Indonesian-Malay world and present some attractive examples of the pluralism found in the stories. Subsequently it will propose that the Isra' Mi'raj functions as token of identity in this area.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v11i3.595
The Jamaah Tabligh Movement in Indonesia: Peaceful Fundamentalist
Authors: Aziz Abdul
Published: May 2014

The birth of Jamaah Tabligh was in fact a direct reaction to the emergence of aggressive Hindu proselytization movement, such as the Shuddhi (Purifying) and Sangathan (Consolidation) movement, which made wide-reaching attempt in the early 20th century to "return" to Hinduism those who had "left" the religion and converted to Islam during the period of Muslim political power in India. The main target of these right-wing Hindu movements were those they called "borderline Muslims" who still maintained many beliefs and cultural habit that had come from Hinuism. Maulana Muhammad Ilyas, founder of Jamaah Tabligh, believed that only a grass-roots Islamic movement could challenge the effort of Shuddhi and Sangathan, thought "purifying" these "borderline" Muslims and educating them about basic faith and worship in order to save them from the process of Hindunisation.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v11i3.596
An Indonesian Islamic University: How is it Possible
Authors: Jabali Fuad
Published: May 2014

This document explains about the transformation from IAIN (Institut Agama Islam Negeri, State Institute for Islamic Studies) into UIN which has many significant consequences. First, academically; while in IAIN only Islamic Studies (such as theology, Islamic jurisprudence and exegesis) are developed, in UIN the scope of studies broadens to include 'secular' sciences. Second, while most of students of IAIN are mainly from madrasah/pesantren/rural communities. UIN, with its secular faculties, attracts a wider variety of students from a more heterogeneous background.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v11i3.600
Javanese Stories of Jesus
Authors: Wasim Alef Theria , Steenbrink Karel
Published: May 2014

The Jesus-section of the Javanese Serat Anbiya starts at the end of the story of the People of the Cave, the Muslim version of the Christian legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesos, who fled persecution under Emperor Decius (249-251) and disappeared, until they were found and rose up again. In most versions of this series, this story is told after the Jesus section (in Tha'labi, Rabghuzi, Mirkhond, but not in Kisai), but here it precedes the Jesus-story.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v12i2.589
Circumlocutory Imperialism: Watan in the Thoughts of Syed Shaykh bin Ahmad al-Hady
Authors: Alatas Ismail F.
Published: May 2014

This article seeks to examine such transition. Specifically, it focuses on the concept of watan(Ar. Watan or homeland) in the view of an early 20th century Muslim modernist, Syed Shaikh bin Ahmad al-Hady. Watan - as proclaimed by al-Hady - had a modern and secular connotation, posing a challenge to the prevalent worldview of the Malays and kerajaan(kingdom). The conceptualization of watan was new for most Malays. Identity was constructed predominantly in relation to the particular state in which a person resided. The significance of al-Hady's contribution was that he conceptualized watan in the sense of patrie which consequently became the pivotal basis for the construction of a modern nation-state.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v12i2.590
The Rupture of Young Muslim Intelligentsia in the Modernization of Indonesia
Authors: Latif Yudi
Published: May 2014

In March 1966, Army Chief of Staff Soeharto rose to power, taking control of the Indonesian Government. Soeharto's 'New Order' regime inherited a plethora of economic, political and social problems. The New Order came to the conclusion that these crises had evolved as a result of the previous regime's neglect of the economy and lack of concern for social welfare. Economic recovery was viewed as a priority by the new regime for it would tum the attention of the people from politics to the economy thus changing the national outlook from 'politik-sebagai-panglinta'(politics as commander) - as practiced during the Old Order - to 'ekonomi-sebagai-panglima' (economy as commander).DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v12i3.581
Media and Islamism in Post-New Order Indonesia: The Case of Sabili
Authors: Rijal Syamsul
Published: May 2014

This article examines the Islamist issues presented by the Sabili magazine in post-New Order Indonesia from 1998 to 2004. This study is mainly inspired by the resurgence of Islamism as a consequence of political liberalization that resulted from the fall of Soeharto in May 1998. The press freedom permitted by president Habibie has given Islamic media such as the Sabili magazine the opportunity to operate relatively freely, unlike the restrictions faced during the New Order era. Sabili magazine, as the object of this study, has for sometime been a popular Islamic magazine among Muslim readers in Indonesia.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v12i3.582
Darut Tauhid: Modernizing a Pesantren Tradition
Authors: Nur'aeni Zaki
Published: May 2014

This study presents a case study of the Daarut Tauhiid Pesantren in Bandung, West Java, which represents an emerging trend in recent years in Indonesia, that is, the growing popularity of what we refer to here as the 'virtual pesantren'. Employing such a term in relation to the pesantren tradition - a tradition that has existed in Indonesia for many centuries - palpably indicates the changing nature of the tradition.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v12i3.583
Ketika Nasionalisme Membusuk
Authors: Jahroni Jajang
Published: May 2014

Book Review: Jacques Bertrand, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, 278 + xxiii pp.When the New Order replaced the Old Order in the 1960s, a number of social, economic, political, and religious issues required the immediate attention of the new ruling regime. However, instead of dealing with these issues in a manner suitable of their severity, the New Order regime merely tried to simplify the complexities of the problems by promoting national unity through the introduction of its own concept of nationalism.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v12i3.586
Dissemination of Religious Authority in 20th Century Indonesia
Authors: Jabali Fuad
Published: May 2014

The diversification of religious authority in Indonesia reflects not only the variety of Islamic orientation of religious communities in Indonesia but also shows the inability of the old religious authority to respond the increasing problems that the Indonesian Muslims communities have to deal with. Radical Muslims including Imam Samudra clearly does not show any respect to scholars/ulama such as the NU ulama, because, to him, they are unable to properly respond the suffering of the Muslims community in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. To him, the only authoritative ulama, whom Muslims should follow, are the ulama in the frontier (ulama mujahid).DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v13i1.580
Religious Violence in Indonesian Muslim Society
Authors: Burhanudin Jajat
Published: May 2014

Acts of violence in the name of religion have frequently in lndonesia in recent times, a country in zuhich most of its inhabitants are Muslim. Acts of violence are usually a result of efforts, for example, to eradicate sinful acts in society, wipe out shirk (idolatry), and defend God's name. Yet, this phenomenon of violence is indeed aery complex. It appears in a number of forms and involves a large variety of factors.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v13i2.573
Meaning Revealed: Grebeg Besar in Demak, Central Java
Authors: Muawanah Siti
Published: May 2014

This article examines a Javanese Muslim celebration known as Grebeg Besar, a celebration which maintains cultural heritage, disseminates Islam and raises the regional income of the people of Demak. Demak was established by Raden Fatah.6 According to Babad Tanah Jawa, Raden Fatah was a descendant of the last Majapahit king, Kertabhumi Brawijaya V, from a Chinese prince who was given to his favorite boy, a governor of Palembang, Arya Damar or Joko Dillah. Together with his younger brother, Raden Husen,e Raden Fatah went to Java to devote his life to the King Brawijaya V,10 by joining a ship of a trader. After landing on the coast of Java, these two brothers went their separate ways. Raden Husen continued his journey to Majapahit and became an Adipati of Terung, while Raden Fatah felt reluctant to serve a kafir (infidel) king and preferred to learn Islam under the tutelage of Sunan Ampel.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v13i3.558