bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Equal transcription rates of productively and nonproductively rearranged immunoglobulin μ heavy chain alleles in a pro-B cell line
Authors: Eberle Andrea B. , Herrmann Kai , Jäck Hans-Martin , Mühlemann Oliver
Published: April 2009

During B cell maturation, immunoglobulin (Ig) genes frequently acquire premature translation-termination codons (PTCs) as a result of the somatic rearrangement of V, D, and J gene segments. However, it is essential for a B lymphocyte to produce only one kind of antibody and therefore to ensure that the heavy and light chain polypeptides are expressed exclusively from the corresponding functional alleles, whereas no protein is made from the nonproductively rearranged alleles. At the post-transcriptional level, a well-studied mRNA quality control mechanism, termed nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), recognizes and degrades PTC-containing mRNAs in a translation-dependent manner. In addition, transcriptional silencing of PTC-containing Ig-μ and Ig-γ heavy chain reporter genes was observed in HeLa cells. To investigate the silencing of nonproductively rearranged Ig genes in a more physiological context, we analyzed a monoclonal line of immortalized murine pro-B cells harboring one productively (PTC−) and one nonproductively (PTC+) rearranged Ig-μ heavy chain allele. We show that the steady-state abundance of PTC+ mRNA was ∼40-fold lower when compared to that of the PTC− mRNA. However, both the PTC+ and PTC− allele seemed to be equally well transcribed since the abundances of PTC+ and PTC− pre-mRNA were very similar and chromatin immunoprecipitations revealed comparable occupancy of RNA polymerase II and acetylated histone H3 on both alleles. Altogether, we found no evidence for transcriptional silencing of the PTC+ allele in this pro-B cell line; hence, the efficient down-regulation of the PTC+ Ig-μ mRNA results entirely from NMD.
Book Reviews
Authors: Lev Benjamin
Published: April 2009

In Book Reviews, we review an extensive and diverse range of books. They cover theory and applications in operations research, statistics, management science, econometrics, mathematics, computers, and information systems. In addition, we include books in other fields that emphasize technical applications. However, we do not review software. To submit a book for review, please send it to me at the above address. Although we cannot review all books because of space limitations, we do list all books that we receive. We commission all book reviews and do not accept unsolicited reviews. To become a reviewer, please send me your name, address, and specific areas of expertise. We encourage readers to suggest books for review or to ask publishers to send copies of such books.

The authors or editors of books we review in this issue are Xi-Ren Cao, Joanna Józefowska, Konstantin Kogan, Charles S. Tapiero, and Jonathan Koomey.
Rejoinder—Robust Prediction and Unrealistic Assumptions
Authors: Tsang Eric W. K.
Published: April 2009

In the response to my commentary on his 2007 editorial entitled “It's the Findings, Stupid, Not the Assumptions,” Steven Shugan raises a number of thought-provoking ideas. In this rejoinder, I focus on three issues that Shugan and I hold the most divergent views.

First, while Shugan uses the terms “realistic” and “realism” in several different meanings, I define the realism of an assumption as the extent to which it corresponds with the real world. Second, Shugan makes a strong claim that predictions can be objectively evaluated whereas assumptions cannot. I refute his claim by arguing that testing predictions and testing assumptions follow the same research process of checking whether the proposition concerned corresponds with reality. Third, Shugan maintains that given predictive accuracy, assumptions need not be realistic. I hold an opposite view for the obvious reason that the same prediction may be generated by completely different mechanisms, which in turn are based on different assumptions. Last but not least, the example of socialist economic planning shows that unrealistic assumptions can generate dangerous theories.
A Weighted kt, t-Free t-Factor Algorithm for Bipartite Graphs
Authors: Takazawa Kenjiro
Published: April 2009

For a simple bipartite graph and an integer t ≥ 2, we consider the problem of finding a minimum-weight kt, t-free t-factor, which is a t-factor containing no complete bipartite graph kt, t as a subgraph. When t = 2, this problem amounts to the square-free 2-factor problem in a bipartite graph. For the unweighted square-free 2-factor problem, a combinatorial algorithm is given by Hartvigsen, and the weighted version of the problem is NP-hard. For general t, Pap designed a combinatorial algorithm for the unweighted version, and Makai gave a dual integral description of kt, t-free t-matchings for a certain case where the weight vector is vertex-induced on any subgraph isomorphic to kt, t. For this class of weight vectors, we propose a strongly polynomial algorithm to find a minimum-weight kt, t-free t-factor. The algorithm adapts the unweighted algorithms of Hartvigsen and Pap and a primal-dual approach to the minimum-cost flow problem. The algorithm is fully combinatorial and thus provides a dual integrality theorem, which is tantamount to Makai's one.
An Information-Based Approximation Scheme for Stochastic Optimization Problems in Continuous Time
Authors: Kuhn Daniel
Published: April 2009

Dynamic stochastic optimization problems with a large (possibly infinite) number of decision stages and high-dimensional state vectors are inherently difficult to solve. In fact, scenario tree-based algorithms are unsuitable for problems with many stages, while dynamic programming-type techniques are unsuitable for problems with many state variables. This paper proposes a stage aggregation scheme for stochastic optimization problems in continuous time, thus having an extremely large (i.e., uncountable) number of decision stages. By perturbing the underlying data and information processes, we construct two approximate problems that provide bounds on the optimal value of the original problem. Moreover, we prove that the gap between the bounds converges to zero as the stage aggregation is refined. If massive aggregation of stages is possible without sacrificing too much accuracy, the aggregate approximate problems can be addressed by means of scenario tree-based methods. The suggested approach applies to problems that exhibit randomness in the objective and the constraints, while the constraint functions are required to be additively separable in the decision variables and random parameters.
Partially Observed Markov Decision Process Multiarmed Bandits—Structural Results
Authors: Krishnamurthy Vikram , Wahlberg Bo
Published: April 2009

This paper considers multiarmed bandit problems involving partially observed Markov decision processes (POMDPs). We show how the Gittins index for the optimal scheduling policy can be computed by a value iteration algorithm on each process, thereby considerably simplifying the computational cost. A suboptimal value iteration algorithm based on Lovejoy's approximation is presented. We then show that for the case of totally positive of order 2 (TP2) transition probability matrices and monotone likelihood ratio (MLR) ordered observation probabilities, the Gittins index is MLR increasing in the information state. Algorithms that exploit this structure are then presented.
Absorbing Games with Compact Action Spaces
Authors: Mertens Jean-François , Neyman Abraham , Rosenberg Dinah
Published: April 2009

We prove that games with absorbing states with compact action sets have a value.
Earliest Arrival Flows with Multiple Sources
Authors: Baumann Nadine , Skutella Martin
Published: April 2009

Earliest arrival flows capture the essence of evacuation planning. Given a network with capacities and transit times on the arcs, a subset of source nodes with supplies and a sink node, the task is to send the given supplies from the sources to the sink “as quickly as possible.” The latter requirement is made more precise by the earliest arrival property, which requires that the total amount of flow that has arrived at the sink is maximal for all points in time simultaneously. It is a classical result from the 1970s that, for the special case of a single source node, earliest arrival flows do exist and can be computed by essentially applying the successive shortest-path algorithm for min-cost flow computations. Although it has previously been observed that an earliest arrival flow still exists for multiple sources, the problem of computing one efficiently has been open for many years. We present an exact algorithm for this problem whose running time is strongly polynomial in the input plus output size of the problem.
The Iranian Scientific Community and its Diaspora after the Islamic Revolution
Authors: Lotfalian Mazyar
Published: April 2009

The Iranian scientific community has gone through several political phases since the Islamic revolution of 1979. In the first moment, the new revolutionary government attempted to Islamize higher education. The second phase commenced at the close of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) and the liberalization of the economy. The third phase, the 1997 election of President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, was marked by political liberalization. The presidential election of 2005 and the surprise win of a conservative candidate, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stimulated a third moment, marked by the politics of nuclear and bio-sciences and new set of interactions among a range of different discourses (e.g., national narratives, and the Shari'a) interact in the post-revolutionary context. Most members of the Iranian scientific community perceive this new era as a setback to social reform. In this article, I show the heterogeneity of both Islamic discourses and scientific practices in a new context that I call a new assemblage for the production of scientific knowledge.
The Blood-Stained Text in Translation: Tattooing, Bodily Writing, and Performance of Chinese Virtue
Authors: Lei Daphne P.
Published: April 2009

This article focuses on bodily writing as a performance of virtue in premodern China. Bodily writing includes inscribing text on the body (tattooing), mutilation, and blood-letter-writing. These "bloody" acts were originally associated with the lowly or marginalized class but coopted by the mainstream society as a means of performing virtue. Virtuous bodily writing is gender-specific, especially as displayed on stage: while male writing surpasses the body, a split has to be inserted between the female body and text to ensure pleasure. The article further addresses the issue of cultural translation in the transnational context, with an analysis of the controversial tattooing scene in Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior.
Mauss Redux: From Warfare's Human Toll to L'homme total
Authors: Garces Chris , Jones Alexander
Published: April 2009

After his 1919 demobilization, yet before writing The Gift (1925), Marcel Mauss developed his concept of the "total human being" ( l'homme total ) as a methodological spur in works such as "L'expression obligatoire des sentiments" (1921). This translation and introduction to "The obligatory expression of feelings" highlights Mauss's post-war transition to psycho-physiological research and the concept of totality. Here, Mauss considers Australian "greeting by tears" as a synchronized performance of mind, body, and soul. We argue that Mauss's post-war concerns had crystallized around the omnipresent threat of loss-of-humanity and his war-survivor's scepticism toward absolute conceptions of individual and collective sovereignty.
Writing the Body: Cosmology, Orthography, and Fragments of Modernity in Northeastern India
Authors: Ray Sohini
Published: April 2009

This article looks at the orthographic debates within Meitei society, and shows how the cultural ideology of the sacred body was the pivotal factor by which the Meitei community made its orthographic choice. The article further elaborates on the importance of the human body image in Manipuri society, and how the body philosophy pervades different areas of life. It also examines how the philosophy of the sacred body is now secularized in children's alphabet books in order to be taught in the modern nation-state.
The Beggar's Play: Poverty, Coercion, and Performance in Shenyang, China
Authors: Henry Eric
Published: April 2009

This article examines begging in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang as a form of street theater rather than as simply a sign of poverty. Begging performances play upon key cultural scripts and anxieties to unsettle and disturb potential donors, thus increasing the size of the gift. Using the story of an encounter between a street beggar and a foreign English teacher, the article argues that for ordinary Chinese urban residents, begging is an uncomfortable reminder of the costs of development and modernization.
Islam, Fatalism, and Medical Intervention: Lessons from Egypt on the Cultivation of Forbearance ( Sabr ) and Reliance on God ( Tawakkul )
Authors: Hamdy Sherine F.
Published: April 2009

One of the most fundamental ways that religious devotion is held to be "antibiotechnology" is in its emphasis on submission to divine will. This article seeks to re-orient discussions of religious "fatalism" through ethnographic analysis of terminally-ill dialysis patients in Egypt who argue that they would rather "accept God's will" than pursue kidney transplantation. I argue against the presumptions that this is a religious constraint on a potentially beneficial treatment, or that this reaction is merely a "comfort mechanism" to appease those without access to treatment. I argue that we should not think of people's perceptions of the amount of control they can exert over their lives in terms that would place analyses of social benefit and religious belief in opposing or even in discretely separate categories. I also demonstrate that, far from being passive, the disposition of accepting God's will must be actively cultivated through work on the self.
African "Soul Brothers" in the 'Hood: Immigration, Islam, and the Black Encounter
Authors: Abdullah Zain
Published: April 2009

A recent influx of 100,000 West African immigrants is creating an enclave which Harlem residents now call, "Little Africa." Most miss the crucial role religion plays in this urban transformation, and residents pay little attention to the Muslim identity of these Black immigrants. Their African restaurants, mosques, and the annual Bamba Day parade allow them to redefine their Black, African, and Muslim identities on their own terms, marking important distinctions between them and their Black American neighbors. Most importantly, West African Muslims construct Islamic practices that help them cope with the stigma of blackness in the U.S.
Malaysian Modernities: Cultural Politics and the Construction of Muslim Technoscientific Identities
Authors: Furlow Christopher A.
Published: April 2009

Malaysia is in the midst of enormous societal transformations, and Malay identity is a key locus for these transformations. Malaysians are asking themselves two questions—What does it mean to be Malaysian? And what does it mean to be Malay? The Malaysian government has a goal of becoming a fully developed nation by the year 2020. This national plan, known as "Vision 2020," is developing within the context of highly contested local/global debates about Islam, science, and modernity. I argue that these debates are best conceptualized as competing projects for reconstructing Malaysian economy, society, and identity and thus represent alternative constructions of Malaysian modernity.
Crip Walk, Villain Dance, Pueblo Stroll: The Embodiment of Writing in African American Gang Dance
Authors: Phillips Susan A.
Published: April 2009

The African American gang practice of writing while dancing is part of a non-standard gang written tradition that crosscuts multiple expressive media. In dance, feet become primary media of written production as gang members spell out affiliations, nicknames, enemies, and memorials to the dead. Because gang members integrate writing with ephemeral expression, gang literacy expands scholarly constructs of writing that rely on materiality, durable form, and a lack of sociality or context. In such performative media, gang members thus provide a novel frame for questioning how literacy constructs impact racial politics in the United States.
The Ruse of Engagement: Black Masculinity and the Cinema of Policing
Authors: Sexton Jared
Published: April 2009

This article seeks to contribute to a discussion of the peculiar place of commercial black filmmaking in the cultural politics of the post-civil rights era United States. It argues that a recrudescence of antiblackness in popular culture has accompanied the growing clamor about "blacks in officialdom" that both liberal and conservative variants of multiculturalism have amplified over the last several decades, a clamor that reached fever pitch with the recent presidential election cycle. It considers whether setting this contradictory logic of representation alongside the continuing conditions of segregation that characterize black existence in the United States over the same period does not undermine too easy assertions about contemporary black inroads in state and civil society. More to the point, it suggests that such convergence complicates current thinking about an institutionalized black complicity with the structures of white supremacy, especially in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The various guises of black empowerment, particularly images of black masculinity as state authority, should not be simply contrasted with the associations of illegitimacy, dispossession, and violence that otherwise monopolize the signification of racial blackness, but rather the former should be understood as an extension of the latter. Director Antoine Fuqua's collaboration with Denzel Washington in Training Day (2001) provides a case study for the discussion, and Fuqua's professional ascent more generally articulates some of the political, economic, and cultural conditions for a popular and lucrative antiblack black visibility on a global scale.
Domesticating the Aliens Within: Sentimental Benevolence in Late-Nineteenth-Century California Magazines
Authors: Cho Yu-Fang
Published: April 2009

This essay analyzes the workings of romantic love and its legal institution, marriage, as signs of universal humanity in fictional representation of Chinese immigrant women in two important California magazines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Overland Monthly and the Land of Sunshine , including short stories written by Asian American/Eurasian writer Sui Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton. Reading these fictional narratives in the contexts of the period's prevailing trope of "yellow slavery," antimiscegenation legislation that codified white heteronormativity, and the magazines' expansionist rhetoric, I argue that these narratives constitute a "culture of benevolence"-sentimental emancipatory discourse shaped by U.S. women's reform movements-which has been integral to the racial projects of the U.S. nation and empire. By tracing the tension between the trope of "yellow slavery" and marriage, I situate my analysis within the broader shared ideological structure and connected histories that racialized African Americans and Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth century all the while foregrounding how heteronormative narratives about Chinese immigrant labor produced the period's shifting boundaries between the domestic and the foreign. I argue that while sentimental narratives attempt to address injustices by "humanizing" the Chinese, that is, by imagining their inclusion in universal humanity through heteronormative love and marriage, the very terms of heteronormativity paradoxically rationalize the logic of exclusionary laws, obscure imperial historic power relations, and undermine the eligibility of the Chinese for citizenship, socially, culturally, and politically. These narratives thus expose the limits of emancipatory discourses that posit heteronormative love and marriage as the passages to full membership within U.S. capitalist and imperial relations.
"You Should Give them Blacks to Eat": Waging Inter-American Wars of Torture and Terror
Authors: Johnson Sara E.
Published: April 2009

This article examines the role of the state in sanctioning canine torture within the brutal context of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century plantation societies. While the employment of dogs as a slave-catching strategy was commonplace throughout the Americas, I trace the use of Cuban-bred dogs trained to track down and feed upon black flesh. Spanish, French, British and North American slave-holding powers in the region collaborated in subduing enemy combatants, using canine warfare techniques that dated back to the Spanish Conquest. These techniques were employed during the Haitian Revolution (1791-1803), the Second Maroon War in Jamaica (1795-96), and the Second Seminole War in Territorial Florida (1835-1842), the three largest-scale conflicts pitting the colonial state against African and indigenous populations from the 1790s-1840s. I illustrate that the viciousness of this strategy was a topic of strident debate for contemporary observers and that it left an indelible mark on public memory. This memory has been vividly preserved in the visual record, as well as in historical fiction by African American and Caribbean intellectuals. The use of canine torture and the debate it engendered recurred in the public sphere with the allegations surrounding the American prison at Abu Ghraib, and I close by examining continuities between the Age of Revolution and the contemporary War on Terror. Justified as a question of colonial/national security in each case, torture has proved an indispensable component in the imperial subjugation of non-white peoples.
"Our Battle Cry Will Be: Remember Jenny McCrea!": A Précis on the Rhetoric of Revenge
Authors: Engels Jeremy , Goodale Greg
Published: April 2009

Everyone in the early Republic knew the name and story of Jane McCrea. She was the beautiful woman killed in her wedding dress on her wedding eve in upstate New York in late July, 1777. Of course, most of her story was fiction. There were no witnesses to her death, and the tale was quickly embellished to blast the British and serve the rebel cause. In this essay, we explore the myth of Jane McCrea in order to probe our cultural fictions about revenge-for Jane McCrea's story was first and foremost a revenge story. By observing how the narrative of revenge changed as the story evolved over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the McCrea myth suggests that revenge should be understood not primarily as a moral wrong, as an innate human depravity, or a universal, trans-historical inevitability, but instead as a historically conditioned, circulating discourse of power in modern states.
Discourses of “Democratic Racism“ in the Talk of South Asian Canadian Women
Authors: Malhi Rebecca L. , Boon Susan D.
Published: April 2009

Despite societal norms of tolerance and diversity, covert “democratic” racism (Henry and Tator 2006) flourishes in Canada on individual and systemic levels. Democratic racism, an ideology that allows the coexistence of both egalitarian values and racist attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours, is often expressed by the dominant group through powerful discourses that shape the social reality for many minority individuals. However, racist discourses, such as blaming the target of racism and denying that racism exists, are often manifested very subtly. In this article, we use democratic racism as a framework to investigate the multiple ways in which our participants — South Asian Canadian women — described their experiences of racism. A discourse analysis of participants’ talk revealed that they used various rhetorical strategies and discursive devices to avoid attributing negative experiences as racism. Surprisingly, we found that the same discourses used by the dominant group to dismiss and erase racism are available to, and are also utilized by, members of visible minority groups. We conclude by discussing possible reasons why participants in the study might deny racism. We also note the societal implication of such denial: racism becomes invisible, both to the perpetrators and the targets, and systemic inequalities and injustices remain unchallenged.

Malgré les normes sociétales de tolérance et de diversité. un racisme «démocratique» sous-jacent (Henry and Tator 2006) fleurit au Canada à deux niveaux : individuel et systémique. Idéologie qui permet la coexistence à la fois de valeurs d’égalité et d’attitudes, de croyances et de comportements raciaux, il imprègne souvent un discours drastique tenu par le groupe dominant et qui altère la réalité sociale vécue par nombre de personnes minoritaires. Le racisme, cependant, se manifeste souvent de manière très subtile, par exemple en blâmant sa cible et en niant sa propre existence. Dans cet article, sa forme démocratique nous sert de cadre pour enquêter sur les multiples façons dont nos participantes — des Canadiennes sud-asiatiques — décrivent leur expérience dans ce domaine. Une analyse discursive de leurs propos révèle qu’elles se servent de stratégies rhétoriques et de moyens d’expression variés pour éviter d’attribuer au racisme des expériences négatives. Nous avons étonnamment découvert que le discours employé par les membres de groupes de minorités visibles était le même que celui dont se sert le groupe dominant pour démentir et gommer son racisme. Nous concluons en analysant les raisons possibles qui porteraient les participantes à cette étude à un tel déni. Nous en notons aussi les implications sociétales : le racisme devient invisible, et pour les auteurs, et pour leurs cibles; par ailleurs, aucune contestation ne remet en question les inégalités et les injustices systémiques.
Echo -ing the Spirit of the Times: A Polish Canadian Youth Experiment in the 1970s
Authors: Payseur Eric L.
Published: April 2009

The First National Polish Canadian Youth Convention was held in October, 1969, at York University in Toronto. A major result of this meeting was the creation of Echo as a socio-cultural “Canadian Publication of Polish Youth,” which debuted in February, 1970, and lasted until 1975. This paper argues that the historical context of the 1970s is crucial for understanding the generational differences amongst Polish Canadians at the time, questions of identity for the second generation, and the creation, success, and demise of Echo magazine. The staff and content of Echo were in many ways more Canadian than Polish or Polish Canadian because Canadian society was experiencing youth consciousness and ethnic consciousness simultaneously. This context stimulated Polish Canadian youth to create their own voice that was not necessarily deferential to authority in the Polish Canadian community. These youth were not affected by the society around them in the same way as non-ethnic middle-class Canadian youth. Nonetheless, Echo was a successful forum for young Polish Canadians across Canada to debate the meaning of Polish Canadianness and discover themselves in a 1970s context of greater ethnic activism and changing social attitudes.

La première convention nationale de la jeunesse canado-polonaise a eu lieu en octobre 1969 à l’Université de York à Toronto. Une des initiatives les plus importantes de cette réunion fut la création d’ Echo, une «revue canadienne de la jeunesse polonaise» à vocation socio-culturelle, qui parut de 1970 à 1975. Dans cet article, nous considérons que le contexte historique des années 1970 joue un rôle crucial pour comprendre les différences générationnelles chez les Canadiens d’origine polonaise de cette époque-là, les problèmes d’identité de la deuxième génération, ainsi que la création, le succès et la disparition de la revue Echo . Étant donné que la société canadienne faisait l’expérience d’une prise de conscience à la fois de la jeunesse et de l’ethnicité, le personnel d’ Echo fut de bien des manières plus canadien que polonais ou canado-polonais, ce qui orienta le contenu de la revue. Ce contexte historique a stimulé les Canadiens polonais à chercher une voix qui leur serait propre et qui ne se montra pas forcément déférente envers l’autorité au sein de la communauté canado-polonaise. La société dans laquelle ces jeunes vivaient ne les toucha pas de la même façon que leurs contemporains canadiens de classe moyenne non-ethnique. Quoiqu’il en soit, pour eux Echo fut un succès d’un bout à l’autre du Canada en tant que forum où ils purent débattre du sens d’une appartenance canadienne polonaise et se découvrir eux-même dans le contexte de l’activisme accru et des attitudes sociales en mutation des années 1970.
L’évolution du traitement de l’islam et des cultures musulmanes dans les manuels scolaires québécois de langue française du secondaire
Authors: McAndrew Marie , Oueslati Béchir , Helly Denise
Published: April 2009

La présente étude porte sur le traitement de l’islam et des musulmans dans 21 manuels scolaires de langue française du secondaire québécois utilisés durant l’année scolaire 2003–2004. Trois thèmes spécifiques ont été étudiés : l’islam et les cultures musulmanes, le monde musulman au plan international (événements historiques, relations entre civilisations et situations économique, démographique et politique) et les musulmans au Québec et au Canada. Les 117 extraits identifiés montrent que malgré la disparition des qualifications ouvertement négatives identifiées dans des études antérieures des manuels des années 80, on constate néanmoins la persistance d’er-reurs factuelles et d’une présentation ethnocentrique et stéréotypée. Il faut souligner tout particuliérement un traitement historique largement légitimateur des actions de l’Occident ainsi qu’une forte tendance à l’essentialisation et à l’homogénéisation des cultures musulmanes et la presque absence des musulmans comme citoyens canadiens ou québécois. Plusieurs facteurs sont discutés pour expliquer ces résultats. Des pistes de recherches futures sont également suggérées afin de cerner cette problématique complexe de différents angles.

The present study examines the coverage of Islam and Muslims in twenty-one French-language high-school textbooks used in Quebec in 2003–2004. Three main themes were studied: Islam and Muslim cultures, the Muslim world at the international level (historical events, relations among civilizations, as well as the economic, demographic, and political situations), and Muslims in Quebec and Canada. The 117 excerpts we identified show that despite the disappearance of the openly negative attitudes towards Islam and Muslims identified in earlier studies of 1980s textbooks, ethnocentric and stereotypical presentations, as well as factual errors, still abound. We must particularly underline the coverage of historical events that largely legitimizes Western actions, a strong tendency towards homogenizing and essentializing Muslim cultures, as well as a near total absence of Muslims as Quebec and Canadian citizens. Several explanatory factors are discussed to account for the findings. Suggestions for future research are made in order to examine this complex topic from various angles.
Covering Multiculturalism: Popular Images and the Politics of a Nation as Reflected on the Covers of Maclean’s and L’Actualité
Authors: Gilbert Liette , Viswanathan Leela
Published: April 2009

How have images of immigration and multiculturalism been depicted on Canadian magazine covers and what do they say about the national politics of immigration and multiculturalism? A discursive and visual analysis of the covers and articles in Maclean’s (from January, 1960 to May, 2006), and to a lesser extent in L’Actualité (from 1976 to May 2006), reveals a dualistic pattern depicting multicultural and immigrant representations as either the successful, contributing, and model “other” or the threatening, oppositional, and problematic “other.” Our analysis goes beyond this binarism and exposes the intersections of age, class, status, sexuality, and racialization as integral to the multicultural context. Yet, as a concept, multiculturalism has not necessarily been evident in the public and media imaginary of Canada.

Quelles sont les images véhiculées par les couvertures de revues canadiennes sur l’immigration et le multiculturalisme et que disentelles à propos des politiques nationales sur ces questions? Une analyse discursive et visuelle des couvertures et des textes de Maclean’s (de janvier 1960 à mai 2006) et, à un moindre degré, de L’Actualité (de 1976 à mai 2006) révèlent un motif dualistique des représentations multiculturelles et immigrantes en tant qu’un «autre» présenté soit comme un modèle de contribution sociale et de succès, soit comme une menace, une opposition et un prob-lème. Notre analyse va au-delà de ce binarisme et met en lumière l’interconnection de la classe, du statut social, de la sexualité et de la racialisation comme faisant partie intégrante du contexte multiculturel. Cependant, au Canada, le multiculturalisme n’est pas un concept évident dans l’imaginaire public ni dans celui des médias.
From Deportation to Apology: The Case of Maher Arar and the Canadian State
Authors: Abu-Laban Yasmeen , Nath Nisha
Published: April 2009

In 2002, Maher Arar, a dual Canadian and Syrian citizen, was detained and accused by American authorities of being a member of al Qa’ida. He was deported to Jordan and, ultimately, Syria, where he was imprisoned and subjected to torture for one year. In 2007, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology and 10.5 million dollars (Canadian) in compensation. Drawing on contemporary theoretical accounts of multiculturalism, security, and the state, and utilizing parliamentary debates and American and Canadian print media accounts between 2002 and 2007, we examine the statements of public officials in Canada and the United States to show how the story of Arar, from his deportation to the apology, has been framed in contradictory ways. These contradictions spin on three main dualisms: Arar’s guilt versus innocence; Arar’s status as a Syrian versus Canadian; and the rule of law versus exception. It is argued that these contradictions are of tremendous theoretical significance for understanding the contemporary Canadian state as one in which multiculturalism and liberalism co-exist with racialization and exception.

En 2002, Maher Arar, un citoyen ayant la double nationalité canadienne et syrienne, fut détenu et accusé par les autorités états-uniennes de faire partie d’al Qa’ida. Il fut déporté en Jordanie, puis en Syrie, où il fut emprisonné et torturé pendant un an. En 2007, le Premier ministre Stephen Harper présenta des excuses officielles accompagnées d’une compensation de 10,5 millions de dollars. Dans cet article, à partir de théories contemporaines sur le multiculturalisme, la sécurité et l’État, et en référence aux débats parlementaires de même qu’aux média écrits entre 2002 et 2007, nous examinons comment les discours officiels publics se contredisent, aussi bien au Canada qu’aux États-Unis, et ce depuis la déportation d’Arar jusqu’aux excuses publiques qui lui ont été présentées. Ces contradictions découlent de trois formes de dualisme : d’abord, la culpabilité d’Arar par opposition à son innocence, ensuite son double statut de citoyen canadien, mais aussi syrien, et enfin, la règle de droit en concurrence avec la règle d’exception. Cet article montre que ces contradictions sont très importantes sur le plan théorique pour comprendre comment, dans l’État canadien contemporain, libéralisme et multiculturalisme coexistent avec un phénomène de ‘racialisation’ et de rejet de la différence.
Recent Themes in the History of Early Analytic Philosophy
Authors: Floyd Juliet
Published: April 2009

A survey of the emergence of early analytic philosophy as a subfield of the history of philosophy. The importance of recent literature on Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein is stressed, as is the widening interest in understanding the nineteenth-century scientific and Kantian backgrounds. In contrast to recent histories of early analytic philosophy by P.M.S. Hacker and Scott Soames, the importance of historical and philosophical work on the significance of formalization is highlighted, as are the contributions made by those focusing on systematic treatments of individual philosophers, traditions, and periods in relation to contemporary issues (rule-following, neo-Fregeanism, contextualism, theory of meaning).
"Their Intention Was Shown by Their Bodily Movements": The Baṣran Mu'tazilites on the Institution of Language
Authors: Vasalou Sophia
Published: April 2009

Following the initiative of Abū Hāshim al-Jubbā'ī, the Baṣran Mu'tazilites rejected the view of language, dominant till then in the Islamic milieu, according to which humanity had received it by way of divine revelation, and defended the position that language had arisen by means of a human convention. On the Baṣran understanding of this convention, the connection between words and things was effected by means of a momentous act of intention to assign a name, which was revealed to another through a bodily gesture or act of pointing. In considering the signifying powers of this bodily manifestation of intention, I discuss two points of difficulty, one internal and one external (grounded in Wittgenstein's critical framework) which beset the Baṣran Mu'tazilite account.
The Principle of Continuity and Leibniz's Theory of Consciousness
Authors: Jorgensen Larry M.
Published: April 2009

Leibniz viewed the principle of continuity, the principle that all natural changes are produced by degrees, as a useful heuristic for evaluating the truth of a theory. Since the Cartesian laws of motion entailed discontinuities in the natural order, Leibniz could safely reject it as a false theory. The principle of continuity has similar implications for analyses of Leibniz's theory of consciousness. I briefly survey the three main interpretations of Leibniz's theory of consciousness and argue that the standard account entails a discontinuity that Leibniz could not allow. I argue that the principle of continuity and the textual data favor an interpretation according to which a conscious mental state just is a perception that is distinct to a sufficient degree.
The Divorce of Reason and Experience: Kant's Paralogisms of Pure Reason in Context
Authors: Dyck Corey W.
Published: April 2009

I consider Kant's criticism of rational psychology in the Paralogisms of Pure Reason in light of his German predecessors. I first present Wolff's foundational account of metaphysical psychology with the result that Wolff's rational psychology is not comfortably characterized as a naïvely rationalist psychology. I then turn to the reception of Wolff's account among later German metaphysicians, and show that the same claim of a dependence of rational upon empirical psychology is found in the publications and lectures of Kant's pre-Critical period. Considering the Paralogisms in this context reveals Kant's conception of rational psychology to be distinctly novel and has important consequences in shifting the argumentative focus of the chapter.
A Brief History of Time-Consciousness: Historical Precursors to James and Husserl
Authors: Andersen Holly K. , Grush Rick
Published: April 2009

William James' Principles of Psychology , in which he made famous the "specious present" doctrine of temporal experience, and Edmund Husserl's Zur Phänomenologie des inneren Zeitbewusstseins were giant strides in the philosophical investigation of the temporality of experience. However, an important set of precursors to these works has not been adequately investigated. In this article, we undertake this investigation. Beginning with Reid's essay "Memory" in Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man , we trace out a line of development of ideas about the temporality of experience that runs through Dugald Stewart, Thomas Brown, William Hamilton, and finally the work of Shadworth Hodgson and Robert Kelly, both of whom were immediate influences on James (though James pseudonymously cites the latter as 'E.R. Clay'). Furthermore, we argue that Hodgson, especially his Metaphysic of Experience (1898), was a significant influence on Husserl.
Identities and Places: On Writing the History of Filipinotown, Los Angeles
Authors: Cheng Cindy I-Fen
Published: April 2009

This article connects the official designation of an area northwest of downtown Los Angeles as “Historic Filipinotown ” to other episodes that looked to places to reconfigure the social position of Filipinos. It argues for the need to examine places as historical representations that shaped the identity formation of Filipinos. Rather than an unmediated manifestation of the livelihood of those who inhabited a particular area, places document the conditions that made certain activities visible while suppressing others. This article examines how the desire to improve the social standing of Filipinos influenced how scholars mapped the distribution of Filipinos within Los Angeles.
“Yellow Slavery,” Narratives of Rescue, and Sui Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton’s “Lin John” (1899)
Authors: Cho Yu-Fang
Published: April 2009

This article examines Sui Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton’s “Lin John” (1899), a deceptively simple story about a Chinese prostitute’s refusal to be “rescued,” in relation to the discourse of “yellow slavery,” best exemplified by sensational accounts in late-nineteenth-century San Francisco newspapers that demonize Chinese men, infantilize Chinese “slave girls,” and glorify white missionary women’s heroic rescue efforts. I argue that these representations register the contradictions within U.S. culture of benevolence, which simultaneously promises and limits the agency of racialized groups while obscuring and legitimizing disciplinary actions through displacing racial politics of a transnational political economy onto gender politics of national morality.
Transcending Ethnicity: Diasporicity in A Gesture Life
Authors: Lee Young-Oak
Published: April 2009

This essay concentrates on the protagonist’s diasporic image in Chang- rae Lee’s A Gesture Life. Hata is forced to go back to his wanderer’s life, at the moment when he seems to have achieved the very assimilation he has worked for so carefully all his life, sacrificing everything else. Defying the old and seeking the unknown, he takes on the diasporic image of a spiritual exile. Using the specific ethnic status of an Asian American, the author makes the novel transcend the constraints of immigrant literature. Asian American status thus becomes a signifier of his diasporicity .
The Color of Music Heritage: Chinese America in American Ultra-Modern Music
Authors: Rao Nancy Yunwha
Published: April 2009

This essay considers American ultra-modern music from the vantage point of Chinese America. It argues that the interiority of this racial terrain was molded by the negotiation, mimicry, and transformation necessarily attended musical activities across racial boundaries. Cowell‘s ultra-modern composition bears witness to Asian confluence in the American musical landscape at the beginning of the century, and raises the question of musical heritage. Rejecting the typical orientalist analysis and its self-other framework, this essay explores the significance of Chinatown music, and how a sonic idea that was engendered from it found expression in the dialogical space of American ultra-modern music.
Military Loyalty in the Colonial Context: A Case Study of the Indian Army during World War II
Authors: Roy Kaushik
Published: April 2009

The British colonial regime in India was heavily dependent on the Indian Army, whose rank and file were Indians but whose officers were British. Despite the apathy of the Indian populace and the hostility of the Indian political parties, the Indian Army remained loyal to its colonial masters during World War II. This article examines the extent of that loyalty and the reasons behind it. Focusing principally on the Indian units that fought in Burma, it analyzes combat motivation and loyalty throughout the war. The article also considers the British elite's concern about the Indian soldiers' loyalty and whether it would change during postwar demobilization.
The Generals and the Germs: The Army Leadership's Response to Nixon's Review of Chemical and Biological Warfare Policies in 1969
Authors: Goldman David I.
Published: April 2009

In 1969 President Richard Nixon took the unprecedented step of unilaterally eliminating an entire class of weapons, biological warfare agents, and retaining only a defensive research program. He also limited the nation's chemical weapons efforts to retaliation. Little research has been done into the policy review that led to the decisions, particularly the role of the Army, which oversaw the programs. Using recently declassified documents, this article analyzes the history behind the policy changes. It illustrates as well that the Army was cut out of the review, but that its mismanagement of the programs was, ironically, a key factor in their demise. It also shows that many in the service's leadership actually came to support Nixon's moves.
Iuvenes and the First Crusade (1096–99): Knights in Search of Glory?
Authors: Kostick Conor
Published: April 2009

The epitome of the medieval warrior, the hero of the chanson , the glorious competitor in the sports of the tournament, was the iuvenis : a knight not necessarily 'young' in age, but rather, young in his career. When the early medieval historians of the First Crusade (1096–1099) are read with regard to their use of this term, it becomes clear that they saw a distinct grouping of iuvenes as being present on the crusade. These knights, despite a certain recklessness and indiscipline, were portrayed as playing an important military role in the Christian army.
There was no Offensive-Defensive Confederate Strategy
Authors: Stoker Donald
Published: April 2009

Jefferson Davis is credited with authoring an offensive-defensive Confederate strategy. This pillar of Civil War historiography is incorrect, having been derived from a misunderstanding of the levels of policy and war, and the misreading of scant primary source documentation.
A New Paradigm for an Old Conflict: The Mexico-United States War
Authors: Levinson Irving W.
Published: April 2009

The 1846-48 conflict between the United States and Mexico was the first U.S. war in which military victory over the foe's conventional army and successful resistance to partisan attacks failed to produce the desired political outcome. Only by subsequently providing assistance to the dominant political and socio-economic groups of Mexico could the United States obtain a peace treaty legitimizing the conquest of Mexican territory. In this regard, the war stands as a precursor to challenges the United States would encounter in subsequent conflicts of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.
Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy's "Offensive-Defensive" Strategy in the U.S. Civil War
Authors: Dawson Joseph G.
Published: April 2009

Jefferson Davis evaluated the Confederacy's national resources and capabilities and decided that in order to win its independence the Confederacy was going to have to fight mostly on the strategic defensive. Davis maintained mostly a defensive outlook throughout the Civil War but shifted to strategic offensives a few times when he believed or was persuaded that an exceptional offensive was likely to contribute to winning independence. During and after the war Davis called his strategic approach the "offensive-defensive." Although it is a cumbersome term, the "offensive-defensive" strategy remains a valid phrase to describe the strategy Davis used to conduct of the war.
Joffre and the Origins of the Somme: A Study in Allied Military Planning
Authors: Prete Roy A.
Published: April 2009

This paper examines the origins of the Battle of the Somme within the context of French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre's effort to coordinate Allied military operations in 1916 and to mount a combined Anglo-French offensive on the Western Front. The French chose a joint operation on the Somme, in which they would play the major role, as a means of leading the British into battle. But a major British attritional operation preceding the offensive was dropped, and ironically, the French Army bore the brunt of Allied wastage in the German attack at Verdun until the Somme offensive began on 1 July 1916.