bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Eprem Khan and the Constitutional Failure in Iran: (Some Random Notes)
Authors: Jalali Seyyed Sa'id
Published: February 2009

This article includes some thoughts on reappraising the role of Eprem Khan in the constitutional failure in Iran during the early 20th century. Eprem Khan's crucial role in this event has always been the centre of scholarly discussions. While often criticised for having capitulated to the Russian threat and for not standing steadfast with the parliamentarians, an unbiased look at some primary accounts helps create a more adequate picture of the Armenian-Iranian military man. It is through an objective, though very brief, review of the historical facts that scholars are suggested to re-evaluate the role of Eprem Khan and form an opinion based on the options he faced, rather than judge him by the outcome of the momentous events of 1911.
Encyclopaedia Iranica — 35: A New Agenda for Persian Studies?
Authors: Trompf Garry
Published: February 2009

This paper is a revised version of a Lecture delivered at the Celebrations of 35 Years of the "Encyclopaedia Iranica" project, delivered on 3 May 2008, at the University of Sydney, and on 7 June 2008, at the Arya International University, Yerevan, during the International Conference "Iran and the Caucasus: Unity and Diversity".
Higher Education or Vocational Training?
Authors: Becker Rolf , Hecken Anna Etta
Published: February 2009

Our aim in this article is to reveal crucial factors affecting the access to higher education claimed in rational action theories in Germany. Data on the educational choices of high school graduates in Saxony support the basic assumptions of the rational choice model suggested by Esser and by Breen and Goldthorpe. First, working-class children are likely to be diverted from higher education by their self-evaluated school achievement. In contrast to expected economic returns from education, theoretically expected class-specific motives of status maintenance are crucial factors in regard to class-specific educational decisions. Besides class differences of expectations regarding intergenerational upward mobility or educational success at university, it is subjective estimation of educational costs that is pivotal in the decision against higher education in favour of alternative vocational education — depending on the actual allocation of financial capital between social classes. The initial economic distribution among high school graduates leads to socially selective educational decisions and, consequently, to inequality of educational opportunity in higher education. While these rational choice theories explain class-related inequality, they do not explain the gender inequality in higher education marginally favouring women.
Anti-Immigrant Attitudes and Cross-Municipal Variation in the Proportion of Immigrants
Authors: Hjerm Mikael
Published: February 2009

In this article, I set out to test a specific case of group threat theory, namely the size of the minority population. My general aim is to test whether the proportion of immigrants in Swedish municipalities has any effect on anti-immigrant attitudes. More specifically, I examine whether visibility of immigrants matters, via country of origin, as well as whether different contexts intensify the relation between size of the minority population and anti-immigrant attitudes. I conclude that the proportion of the foreign-born population has no effect on anti-immigrant attitudes, whereas people have fewer anti-immigrant attitudes in municipalities with a high proportion of the most visible groups of immigrants. A recent influx of immigrants to the municipality does not matter for levels of anti-immigrant attitudes. However, the economic context matters in that anti-immigrant attitudes of people are strongest in poor municipalities with a large share of immigrants. The political context, on the other hand, does not matter.
The Structural Bases of Protest Events
Authors: Diani Mario
Published: February 2009

The marches on 15 February 2003 challenging the imminent attack on Iraq attracted highly heterogeneous demonstrators often engaged in different types of associations and protest activities. In this article, I suggest we expand our view of the mobilizing networks that facilitated people's involvement in the demonstrations by looking not only at associations but also at what I define as 'protest communities', namely, sets of activists sharing a sustained participation in protest activities. Network analysis shows that in some countries peace associations played a more prominent role than peace protest communities, while in other countries the opposite was the case. The former were more central in inclusive political systems, the latter, in exclusive systems. Drawing on a survey of 15 February demonstrators conducted in eight Western democracies, the article highlights the connection between political opportunities and relational, not merely behavioural, variables.
Understanding Corporate Governance Reform in South Africa
Authors: Andreasson Stefan
Published: February 2009

This article investigates corporate governance reform in South Africa in the context of the country’s international links with Anglo-American corporate governance and domestic pursuit of socioeconomic development. Two key questions are evaluated. (a) How has divergence within the Anglo-American model influenced corporate governance reform in South Africa? (b) Can South Africa’s historical closeness to the Anglo-American model be combined with increasing attention to stakeholder issues to produce a hybrid “African model” of corporate governance? Evaluating these questions, the following issues are explored in turn: the contrast between shareholder and stakeholder models, divergence between U.S. and U.K. approaches to corporate governance as exemplified by Sarbanes-Oxley, locating a South African approach in context of the Anglo-American model, the King reports and an emerging “African” model of corporate governance, and the role of international and domestic factors in shaping South Africa’s ongoing reform process.
From Women's Health to Gender Mainstreaming and Back Again
Authors: Kuhlmann Ellen
Published: February 2009

This article links experience from the women's health movement to gender mainstreaming approaches and feminist agendas. The aim is to assess the options and limitations of gender mainstreaming and the links with changing governance in healthcare in western countries. From the late 1960s, the women's health movement was a forerunner of today's commonplaces of successful models of health reform. Women significantly advanced new policy approaches on user participation, a collaborative health workforce and better and safer information. This article traces these trajectories and the dynamics in healthcare systems. It argues the need for feminist agendas in order to mainstream gender approaches into health reform processes and thereby, counteract neoliberal concepts that shape health policy debates across countries. Linking the experience of the women's health movement to gender mainstreaming approaches highlights that feminist agendas contribute to a better quality of care for women and men.
Men Who Have Sex with Men and Partner Notification in Ireland
Authors: Coleman Claire , Lohan Maria
Published: February 2009

The process of partner notification (or contact tracing) is regarded as the cornerstone in the prevention and control of sexually transmitted infections, yet almost nothing is known of the lay experience of partner notification. This article draws on a mixed methods study designed to explore lay perspectives among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Greater Dublin Area in relation to partner notification for syphilis. Specifically, this article tests two related hypotheses with regard to gay men's help-seeking behaviour: first that MSM might contest a hegemonic masculine model of help-seeking behaviour and second that MSM have difficulties engaging with partner notification because of the difficulties of tracing anonymous sexual contacts. The findings suggest that the health-seeking behaviours of MSM in this study disrupt binary dualisms of hegemonic masculine and hegemonic feminine patterns of health-seeking behaviours and also contradict some health professional stereotypes of gay relationships.
Cross-Validation of Abbreviated Perceived Residential Environment Quality (PREQ) and Neighborhood Attachment (NA) Indicators
Authors: Fornara Ferdinando , Bonaiuto Marino , Bonnes Mirilia
Published: February 2009

This article presents the validation by confirmatory factor analysis of abbreviated versions of instruments focusing on the neighborhood residential level, perceived residential environment quality indicators (PREQIs), and neighborhood attachment (NA). A sample of 1,488 residents in various neighborhoods of 11 Italian middle- and low-population cities filled in a questionnaire including 12 scales ( N = 158), 11 PREQ scales, and 1 NA scale. The sample was randomly split-half in a calibration sample and a validation sample. Results showed good fit indexes for factorial structures including overall 19 PREQIs and 1 NA indicators, each one composed of three or four items ( N = 66). Despite the high reduction of items, the shortened PREQIs and NA yield good or at least acceptable internal consistency, and fulfill convergent and discriminant construct validity criteria. Hence, they are well suited for use in research designs focusing on multiple measures of environmental quality of residential places.
Missionary pedagogy and Christianisation of the heathens
Authors: Shetty Parinitha
Published: February 2009

The Basel Evangelical Missionary Society came to India in 1834 and established its first school two years later. Through the formation of a carefully structured and disciplined pedagogic community at its mission school, the Basel Mission hoped to insert its version of Protestant Christianity into a society that already possessed its own well-entrenched religious traditions. In the years to follow, the Basel Mission Schools increased in number and diversified in structure and curriculum. This article studies how this resulted in unforeseen socio-religious restructurings of the local people, even as it recontoured the Christianity brought by the missionaries.
Living on the edge
Authors: Axelrod Paul
Published: February 2009

The New Conquest districts of Goa were seized by the Portuguese between 1763 and 1819, about 250 years after the Portuguese first colonised Goa. The villages of the New Conquests were contested terrains between quite a number of polities during that 250-year period, including the Bijapur Adilshahi rulers, the Mughals, the Marathas, the Kolhapur kings, the Sawants of Wadi, the Sonda kings and the Portuguese. The records for these villages have heretofore never been studied in any depth. My analysis of these records reveals the myriad ways in which the villages are both penetrated by state rule and retain their own structures. I conclude that the villages were able to persist over time within the context of the regional culture in varying degrees and under peculiar circumstances, but were not immune to the state penetration that transformed them to a degree. There is no one principle that can properly account for all cases, and no single formula for understanding village-state relations in late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century India. The records show the multiple discourses of state rule, local agriculture and social practices, and the complexity of village-state relations.
Fighting exclusion with culture and art Examples from Brazil
Authors: Reiter Bernd
Published: February 2009

English

This article demonstrates that artistic activity is an important tool for deepening democracy, because it provides a vehicle for the excluded to reach the public sphere, thus making it more heterogeneous. As artists, they become active citizens and step out of the invisibility into which racism and exclusion has forced them.

French

Cet article montre que l’activité artistique est un important outil d’enracinement de la démocratie, parce qu’elle offre aux exclus un moyen de joindre la sphère publique, la rendant ainsi plus hétérogène. En qualité d’artistes, les exclus deviennent des citoyens actifs et ils émergent de l’invisibilité où le racisme et l’exclusion les avaient confinés.

Spanish

Este artículo demuestra que la actividad artística es una herramienta importante para la profundización de la democracia porque la expresión artística constituye un vehículo para que los excluidos lleguen a la esfera pública, con lo que ésta se enriquece y se hace más heterogénea. Como artistas, se convierten en ciudadanos activos y salen de la invisibilidad a la que el racismo y la exclusión los ha empujado.
Victim—offender mediation as a social work practice
Authors: Bradt Lieve , Bouverne-De Bie Maria
Published: February 2009

English

Based on the Flemish practice of victim–offender mediation for adult offenders, this article shows how mediation can be a social work practice that goes beyond being an instrument for the responsibilization of offenders, but instead recognizes social workers as policymakers.

French

Basé sur la pratique flamande de la médiation entre les victimes et les auteurs adultes de délits, cet article montre comment la médiation peut être une pratique de travail social allant au delà du simple instrument de responsabilisation les auteurs de délits, en reconnaissant plutôt les travailleurs sociaux comme décideurs politiques.

Spanish

Basándose en la práctica flamenca de mediar entre víctima y ofensor adulto, este artículo muestra cómo la mediación puede ser una práctica de trabajo social que a más de ser un instrumento para responsabilizar a los ofensores, reconoce a los trabajadores sociales como diseñadores de política social.
E-learning
Authors: Bozalek Vivienne , Matthews Lear
Published: February 2009

English

Exploration of the impact of cultural and economic factors on the personal and professional identities of adult learners as critical friends across geographical locations becomes possible through e-learning. Correspondence between adult learners can create a space for intellectual and emotional sharing, thus enhancing the learners’ abilities to function reflexively as professional practitioners.

French

L’apprentissage électronique permet d’explorer l’impact des dimensions culturelles et économiques sur l’identité personnelle et professionnelle des apprenants adultes répartis géographiquement. En correspondant entre eux, les apprenants adultes peuvent mettre en place un espace de partage intellectuel et émotionnel, ce qui leur permettrait d’accroître leurs capacités à fonctionner de façon réflexive comme praticiens professionnels.

Spanish

La exploración del impacto de factores culturales y económicos en las identidades personales y profesionales de los aprendices adultos como amigos críticos, a través de localidades geográficas, se hace posible a través del aprendizaje a distancia. La correspondencia entre aprendices adultos creó un espacio para compartir intelectual y emocionalmente, aumentando así las habilidades de los aprendices para funcionar reflexivamente como practicantes profesionales.
Generation of Anisotropic Cellular Solid Model and Related Elasticity Parameters: Finite Element Simulation
Authors: Guessasma Sofiane , Valle Guy Della
Published: February 2009

Finite element calculation is applied to assess elasticity parameters of random cellular structures with anisotropy. Cellular structure is generated using Random Sequential Addition algorithm. Anisotropy is considered by introducing elongation and orientation of ellipsoid voids. Structures are meshed using a regular mesh scheme. A uniaxial compression test is simulated under solid phase isotropy conditions. Effective Young's modulus and Poisson ratio are calculated and related to structural anisotropy parameters. Finite element results show a mesh-independence of elasticity parameters against scale and underline the large dependence of elasticity parameters to anisotropy and to the relative density of the cellular material: rigidity is increased in the anisotropy direction and mechanical instability in the other directions. Structures with large random population of ellipsoids contribute to lower such effect.
Engineering of Foamed Structures for Biomedical Application
Authors: Salerno A. , Netti P.A. , Di Maio E. , Iannace S.
Published: February 2009

The aim of this study was to combine gas foaming (GF) and reverse templating techniques to prepare open-pore polymeric foams with pore structures specifically designed for tissue engineering. Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) has been melt mixed with two different templating agents, NaCl microparticles and thermoplastic gelatin (TG), to prepare microparticulate composites and co-continuous blends, respectively. These heterogeneous systems have been subsequently gas foamed by using mixtures of N2 and CO2 as blowing agents. Finally, the foamed materials have been soaked in H2O to selectively extract the NaCl or TG from the polymeric matrices to achieve the final foamed structure. The presence of the different templating agents extensively affected the foaming process of PCL; these effects have been analyzed and the results gathered important information to design porous scaffolds with fine tuned open-pore architectures. In particular, the control of the overall porosity, pore size and shape, pore interconnectivity, and spatial distribution of PCL matrix has been achieved by optimizing the GF process parameters with respect to the specific templating system. Results demonstrated that the combination of the GF and reverse templating techniques allowed the preparation of PCL scaffolds with open-pore architectures and highly controlled porosity and pore size spatial distribution.
Tuning the Porosity of Collagen-based Scaffolds for Use as Nerve Regenerative Templates
Authors: Sannino A. , Madaghiele M.
Published: February 2009

Regenerative medicine aims at inducing the formation of physiological tissues, in cases where the spontaneous healing response following a severe injury or disease leads to wound closure via contraction and synthesis of scar or fibrotic tissue. The suppression of both wound contraction and scar synthesis, with the simultaneous synthesis of physiological tissues, might be achieved by implanting a porous macromolecular scaffold within the site of injury, able to host cells and guide their behavior toward regeneration. Tubular scaffolds, reconnecting the proximal and distal stumps of a transected peripheral nerve, demonstrated to be able to induce regeneration of the lost nerve trunk. Experimental evidence from independent investigations shows that protein-permeable porous tubes, of different types, perform better as regenerative templates when their pore size is also cell-permeable (>10 μm). Moreover, the regenerative potential of the porous conduit may be further enhanced when inserting a substrate with longitudinally oriented pores within it, since such an oriented construct provides physical support and guide to the growth of neural structures across the site of injury. This study focused on the production of collagen-based conduits and matrices with a micropatterned porosity, suitable for use as nerve regenerative templates. The manufacturing techniques for the production of tubular and cylindrical scaffolds, with controlled pore size and orientation, were based on a freeze-drying process. Tubular scaffolds possessed a radially oriented porosity with a radial gradient of pore sizes, ranging from cell-permeable pores at the inner tube wall to cell-impermeable pores at the outer one. Cylindrical scaffolds exhibited nearly axially oriented pores, with a pore size depending on the freezing rate as well as on the collagen concentration. Due to their peculiar porous structures, such scaffolds are expected to enhance the regenerative capacity of transected peripheral nerves as well as to lead to a better understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying peripheral nerve regeneration.
Computed Tomography-based Modeling of Structured Polymers
Authors: Wismans J.G.F. , Van Dommelen J.A.W. , Govaert L.E. , Meijer H.E.H. , Van Rietberg B.
Published: February 2009

A hybrid numerical-experimental approach is proposed to characterize the macroscopic mechanical behavior of structured polymers. The method is based on capturing the details of the material's microstructure using 3D X-ray Computed Tomography (CT). By employing segmentation and voxel-conversion, the reconstructed volume is automatically converted into a finite element model that is subsequently used for mechanical analyses. The approach is demonstrated on a 2D polycarbonate (PC) honeycomb. An ideal representative volume element (RVE), with a volume equivalent to the volume of the real X-ray CT-based model, is used to determine the dependence of the macroscopic response of the structure on intrinsic material behavior, strain rate, and cell wall thickness. A nonlinear elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model is used to describe the intrinsic behavior of the PC base material and a comparison with a hyperelastic material model reveals that local plastic deformation significantly influences the macroscopic behavior. A cubic relation between the stiffness of the structure and cell wall thickness is found, whereas the strain rate has a minor influence. The ideal RVE shows a different response compared to the real X-ray CT-based model due to local variations of the cell wall thickness in the latter, causing nonhomogeneous deformations. In addition to the geometric imperfections, jagged edges, as a consequence of voxel conversion, contribute to this local variation in cell wall thickness.
“Hello, Canada! It's fine to have you here”: Canadian Nationhood, Women and Popular Fiction during the Second World War
Authors: Smith Michelle Denise
Published: February 2009

This paper explores original material from a collection of Canadian mass-market magazines that were intended for a female audience during the Second World War. Of these magazines, Chatelaine and the Canadian Home Journal were the most popular, reaching an estimated audience of one and half million readers each month. For the duration of the War, both periodicals devoted themselves to telling readers about war-related topics, causing both the non-fiction and fiction contents of the magazines to become infused with nationalism. Women were addressed as national subjects and asked to dedicate themselves to the War effort in every aspect of their lives; simultaneously, Canada's relationship with Britain during a time of war was both taken for granted and scrutinized in the articles and romance fiction directed at these women. In order to understand these twin phenomena, I begin by providing a brief overview of the articles, advertising and editorial commentary within the magazines, and then move on to an analysis of the short story, “Lady Going West”. Published in July 1942, the story is a representative example of the fiction circulated by Chatelaine and the Journal from 1939—45. In essence, it combined the conventions of the romance genre (thought to be the preferred genre for female readers) with underlying anxieties about the War in a way that, ostensibly, soothed those anxieties. The story thus communicates much about how the War was imagined through popular fiction, as it explores both women's role within the nation at war and Canada's relationship with the United Kingdom.
Of Territorial Borders and Test Cricket: Exploring the Boundaries of the Postcolonial State
Authors: Scott Bede
Published: February 2009

This article explores two notably different representations of the border that has divided India and Pakistan since Partition in 1947. I begin by discussing the Ambala Tribune 's coverage of the 1955 India-Pakistan Test cricket series. During this series, an estimated 20,000 Indians were given permission to attend the Third Test in Lahore — creating what one newspaper described as “the biggest mass migration across the frontier since Partition”. I then examine the role the same border plays in Saadat Hasan Manto's 1953 story, “Toba Tek Singh”. Here, rather than facilitating non-coercive international movement, the border becomes a repressive mechanism of the state, a cordon sanitaire designed to prevent the “warm handshakes and cordial embraces” that would eventually take place in 1955. In this article I attempt to account for the differences between these two narratives and for the fluctuating modalities of the border they describe. I also offer some thoughts on what such differences might tell us about Indo-Pakistani relations more generally, and about the nature of the border separating these postcolonial nation-states.
Illegal Diasporas and African Refugees in Abdulrazak Gurnah's By the Sea
Authors: Helff Sissy
Published: February 2009

Taking its cue from recent studies about African diasporas and Khalid Koser's thought- provoking work on illegal diasporas, this article sets out to investigate representations of African refugees and illegal diasporas in Abdulrazak Gurnah's topical novel By the Sea (2001). By relating Koser's concept of illegal diasporas to Jacques Derrida's understanding of unconditional hospitality this article considers narrative modes through which illegality and the limits of hospitality are negotiated in Gurnah's novel. Within its fictional negotiation a complex and heterogeneous picture emerges which challenges common stereotypical images of “the African refugee” in Britain and Europe by revealing national and societal inclusion and exclusion strategies. This, however, means that Koser's concept of illegal diasporas is central to an understanding of Britishness on the one hand and the fabrication of a European concept [ Europagedanke ] on the other.
In the Vicinity of the Land of the Almost: The Stylistics of Jamaica Kincaid's Mr. Potter
Authors: Matos Nicole
Published: February 2009

This article offers a reading of Kincaid's most stylistically convoluted novel, Mr. Potter, reconnecting its paratactic structures to the numbing emptiness of Roderick Potter's inner world. Commenting on Kincaid's earlier novel Lucy (1990), Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak identified “paratactic” and “subjunctive” modes as crucial to Kincaid's style, linking the weak connectives of paratactic grammar to the characters' affective withdrawal and alienation. An equal synergy of form and content is marked, I suggest, in the flimsy connectives that “attach” Mr. Potter to his context and reflect his own tragically indifferent attachments. But more remarkably, these same paratactic structures also open Mr. Potter into the subjunctive space of narrative redress — the posited world of rewritten histories; of textually incarnate regrets, conjectures and desires. The parataxis of Mr. Potter thus emerges not as nihilism, but as a means for constructing and sustaining alternate realities, a “land of the almost” to supplement the land of the real.
“Everyday Abnormality”: Crime and In/security in Ivan Vladislavić's Portrait with Keys
Authors: Lenta Patrick
Published: February 2009

This article focuses on representations of crime, the anxiety it generates and the technologies of security and surveillance employed to keep it at bay in Ivan Vladislavić's Portrait with Keys: Joburg and What-what (2006). Portrait with Keys is a hybrid work, showing the influence of French documenters of the quotidian such as De Certeau, Perec and Lefèbvre. It is an experiment with genre that combines biography, autobiography, historical writing and the essay to explore the everyday life of Johannesburg, the city in which its author lives and works. In this article, I consider Vladislavić's project and reflect on the way in which his depictions of crime, insecurity and security measures are connected to it. I distinguish his treatment of this topic from other attempts to engage with it. Finally, I identify and comment on Vladislavić's ethical and political concerns.
Still Searching for the Evidence? Evidence-based Policy, Performance Pay and Teachers
Authors: Farrell Catherine , Morris Jonathan
Published: February 2009

The evidence based policy (EBP) movement became prominent in the UK in the late 1990s, portrayed as an ideology-free method of policy development and implementation. This article assesses the EBP claims by analysing a case study of one piece of policy implementation, namely the introduction of performance-related pay (PRP) for schoolteachers in England and Wales. Using primary and secondary sources, the article argues that while previous evidence was brought into the policy development processes, it was largely ignored. Indeed, prosaic political considerations may well have shaped the policy. Indeed, the teachers' attitudes towards PRP suggest that few of the objectives will be met.
On-the-Job Training in Canada: Associations with Information Technology, Innovation and Competition
Authors: Zeytinoglu Isik U. , Cooke Gordon B.
Published: February 2009

This article focuses on the associations between on-the-job training and new information technology, innovation introduced in the workplace, and competition experienced by the workplace. The study uses Statistics Canada's 2001 Workplace and Employee Survey, a Canada-wide survey of employers and employees. Only about a third of Canadian workers receive on-the-job training. Multivariate results show that innovation introduced in the workplace is significantly associated with providing on-the-job training. To a lesser extent, implementing new information technology and experiencing competition are also positively associated with on-the-job training. Economic growth and prosperity as well as inclusion and equality can be achieved by providing opportunities for workers to learn and develop their skills and abilities. We recommend governments to support workplaces and workers in their initiatives for the broader-focused on-the-job training since it is a social good that will benefit the society as well as the workers and their workplaces.
Objective Criteria for Classification of Postsecondary Students as Learning Disabled
Authors: Sparks Richard L. , Lovett Benjamin J.
Published: February 2009

This study examined the consequences of classifying postsecondary students as learning disabled (LD) using five objective sets of criteria: IQ-achievement discrepancies (1.0 to 1.49 SD, 1.5 to 1.99 SD, and ≥ 2.0 SD), DSM-IV criteria, and chronic educational impairment beginning in childhood. The participants were 378 postsecondary students from two universities who had been previously classified as LD and were receiving instructional and/or testing accommodations. The agreement between diagnostic models was often low, both in terms of the proportion of students identified as well as which students were identified by the models. The discrepancy models identified the largest proportions of students as LD (10% to 42%), whereas fewer than 10% of participants met either of the other sets of criteria, and 55% of the participants were not classified as LD by any of the models. Implications for further research and practices in postsecondary settings are discussed.
On the Passing of the First-Born Son
Authors: Mariotti Shannon
Published: February 2009

Both Ralph Waldo Emerson's and W. E. B. Du Bois' firstborn sons tragically died at very young ages. Drawing from the essays where they write about their grief, I explore Du Bois' “subversion” and “revision” of Emerson's thought by contrasting their visual metaphors: Emerson's “focal distancing” and Du Bois' practice of “second sight” and seeing through “the Veil.” I show how the disruptive particular event of the deaths of their sons causes both to challenge the idealist elements of their respective gazes. I draw upon Theodor Adorno to explore the larger lessons of these reconsiderations. In recognizing the seductive dangers of the idealist gaze and the value of the disruptive particular, Adorno explicitly theorizes what Emerson and Du Bois also come to appreciate, in a less overt way, in their moments of loss.
“We Who Are Dark . . .:” The Black Community According to Black Adults in America: An Exploratory Content Analysis
Authors: Grayman Nyasha
Published: February 2009

The author explored the meaning of the Black community according to a purposeful sample of 60 Black adults in the mid-Atlantic United States. Purposeful stratified sampling resulted in equal numbers of participants along the lines of locale (Brooklyn, New York; Wilmington, Delaware; and Washington, D.C.), gender, and generational affiliation (older adults, middle-aged adults, and young adults). Content analysis of responses to a single open-ended survey question resulted in 11 emergent themes around the meaning of the Black community: the Black community as cultural, the Black community as residential, the Black community as global, the Black community as supportive, the Black community as visibly distinctive, the Black community as socioeconomic, the Black community as nonactualized, the Black community as nondifferential, the Black community as nihilistic, the Black community as nondefinable, and the Black community as other. Gender and generational variations in thematic endorsement were analyzed, and implications of these findings as they pertain to research, mental health programs, and policies for Blacks are discussed.
Getting Acquainted in Interracial Interactions: Avoiding Intimacy but Approaching Race
Authors: Johnson Camille S. , Olson Michael A. , Fazio Russell H.
Published: February 2009

It is important to understand the content dimensions that influence the quality of intergroup interactions. The present research organized potential conversation content according to theoretically relevant underlying dimensions and investigated Whites' willingness to discuss topics of varying content with a Black partner. Specifically, it investigated Whites' willingness to engage in intimate self-disclosure and their willingness to discuss controversial and race-related topics with White versus Black interaction partners. Results across two experiments indicated an unwillingness among Whites to discuss both intimate and race-related topics with a Black partner. In addition, this research examined the role played by participants in the interaction (i.e., asking vs. answering) and found that although Whites were unwilling to ask Black relative to White partners about race-related topics, they were more willing to answer Black relative to White partners about such topics.
When Differences Become Essential: Minority Essentialism in Response to Majority Treatment
Authors: Morton Thomas A. , Postmes Tom
Published: February 2009

There is considerable interest in how essentialist beliefs support prejudice and discrimination against minorities. Less attention has been given to essentialism within minority groups. The authors argue that minorities might use essentialism to counter the denial of their identity by the majority (e.g., marginalization) but that essentialism might be less appealing when minority identity is recognized but devalued (e.g., discrimination). In Study 1, gay, lesbian, and bisexual participants contemplated treatment that either devalued or denied their identity. Minority identification was related to stronger endorsement of beliefs about the immutability of sexuality in the context of identity denial but not in the context of identity devaluation. Study 2 replicated this pattern and showed that endorsement of immutability beliefs was mediated through the perceived possibility for social change and was in turn related to feelings of self-efficacy. The results are discussed in relation to current perspectives on essentialism.
Of violence
Authors: Marsh Jack E.
Published: February 2009

This article queries the sense of `violence' in Derrida's early work, especially Of Grammatology. After a thorough reading of Derrida's analyses, and an inspection of his own moral and political rhetoric interspersed through his writing on writing, I offer a criticism of Derrida's treatment of violence. Derrida figures socio-political or `empirical' violence as conditioned by the more basic play of the trace; the `transcendental' violence of inscription and law. This move brings him within a hair's-breadth of affirming a violence more mythic than transcendental; or mythic because transcendental and ostensibly `necessary'.
A Statistical Perspective on the Design of Drug-Court Studies
Authors: Merrall Elizabeth L. C. , Bird Sheila M.
Published: February 2009

Recent meta-analyses of drug-court studies recognized the poor methodological quality of the evaluations, with only a few being randomized. This article critiques the design of the randomized studies from a statistical perspective. Learning points are identified for future drug-court studies and are applicable to evaluations both of other specialist courts and of court-based interventions more generally. The specific issues covered are randomization, describing the intervention, and baseline characteristics; study outcomes, and sample size calculations; in-program and postprogram behavior, analysis plan, and presentation of results.
Battening down the hatches
Authors: Foster Allan
Published: February 2009

Survey of corporate business information services based on in-depth interviews with leading information and knowledge managers. Key findings are:

1. Greater coordination and management of global corporate information management networks

2. Although information budget reductions in the light of the recession have been relatively modest so far — 50 per cent of respondents have experienced cuts of 10 per cent and upwards — most predict more substantial reductions in their 2009 budgets

3. The business climate is still rather uneven — banking and financial services are struggling whilst some other sectors, most notably corporate law, are generally busy

4. Great efforts to establish very tight cost control

5. Constant search for ways for Information Department to add more value to the business

6. Rolling back of desk-top deployment of data sources in some companies due to financial pressures and non-use; other companies continue to expand desk-top access to information products

7. Financial restrictions have affected service development capability and speed of response

8. Use of sophisticated metrics to track and assess costs and use for client feedback

9. Seventy-five per cent of respondents have already lost staff or expect to do so in 2009

10. Information discovery skills, that most traditional part of the Library and Information Service (LIS) professional's armoury, are increasingly being recognized as a key priority by senior information managers looking at their skill mix

11. Twenty per cent of companies committed to offshore operations are consolidating; 80 per cent have no immediate plans to follow this strategy but don't necessarily rule it out further into the future

12. Some sustained Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives ongoing in 50 per cent of respondent companies, albeit if sometimes of a `Guerrilla KM' flavour

13. Social technologies for corporate deployment — a third of respondents are believers, a third agnostics and a third atheists

14. Vendor management and relationships: respondents demand more creativity and understanding on charging levels and flexibility

15. Brokers' reports becoming unaffordable and therefore unavailable

16. Information risks such as password misuse, Intellectual Property (IP) and copyright breaches and licensing violations should be better understood and managed

17. BvD ousts Factiva in ranking of top three vendors

18. There's a continued commitment to user training albeit in terms of coaching and support rather than formal programmes

19. Strategic concerns focus on organizational management and financial issues above all else.
Securing information assets
Authors: Desouza Kevin C.
Published: February 2009

In today's competitive environment, organizations succeed or fail based on how well they manage information. To address this reality, organizations spend millions, if not billions, on securing their information advantages. New information technologies and methodologies are adopted, while old ones are dismantled or upgraded. To win, the information manager must constantly seek to outperform his or her competition. In this article the author asks how he or she does it? Perhaps by acquiring the best new technologies, hiring the most intelligent information professionals, and continuously keeping a watchful eye on the future. But, he asks, does having the best information, the best information systems, and the best information professionals, really pay off? Is there victory in sight? Or, is this just a continuous game with no clear winners?
Engaging with social media in the Business & Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) at the British Library
Authors: Infield Neil
Published: February 2009

In this article, Neil Infield shares with us the way in which the BIPC has successfully used social media to reach its diverse audience of inventors, entrepreneurs and small business owner.
The Sidewalk Is Our Reference Desk: when librarians take to the streets
Authors: Friedman Lia G. , Morrone Melissa
Published: February 2009

Radical Reference is a volunteer-run collective that provides free reference and instruction services to independent journalists, political activists and the public online (http://radicalreference.info) and in person at protests and political events. In our online setting a highly collaborative, multilingual, volunteer community uses open source tools to answer questions in a constantly evolving conversation, while at protests and actions `Street librarians' armed with tailor-made `Ready Reference Kits' are connected via cell phone to home support librarians who provide synchronous help. In both contexts we strive to reach an underserved population who may have limited access to trusted information.
The Biodiversity Heritage Library: sharing biodiversity literature with the world
Authors: Gwinn Nancy E. , Rinaldo Constance
Published: February 2009

Ten major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States joined in 2005 to develop a strategy and operational plan to digitize the published literature of biodiversity held in their respective collections and to make that literature available for open access and responsible use as a part of a global `biodiversity commons.' Headquartered at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is one of the cornerstones of the Encyclopedia of Life, a global effort to document all 1.8 million named species of animals, plants, and other forms of life on earth. This paper provides an overview of the BHL and its potential impact on biodiversity research, describes the BHL portal and its innovative search services, and provides a case study of the process from one of the members: the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.
eBooks on Demand (EOD): a European digitization service
Authors: Mühlberger Günter , Gstrein Silvia
Published: February 2009

Within the framework of the European Union funded project Digitization on Demand (2006—2008), the eBooks on Demand service (EOD) is currently available in more than eighteen libraries in ten countries. EOD enables users to order public domain books as PDF eBooks. The requested books are digitized, delivered as an eBook and saved long-term in a digital library. The EOD service is implemented within the framework of a network. The individual library is responsible for the processing of the order and the digitization. The ordering of eBooks, delivery to the customer, electronic payment and automatic text recognition even for old and gothic font texts are supported through a central database with web access. The basic advantages of the network lie on the one hand in the reduced workload of individual libraries and on the other hand in the recognition value of the EOD service for the user and the public.
Topiramate and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) as Initial Treatment for Infantile Spasms
Authors: Peltzer Bradley , Alonso William D. , Porter Brenda E.
Published: February 2009

Historically, adrenocorticotropic hormone was used as a first-line treatment for infantile spasms; however, there has been increasing use of topiramate as initial therapy. Here, we report a retrospective study of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and topiramate as initial treatment for infantile spasms. The neurology patient database at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was searched using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code for infantile spasms, and 50 patients were randomly chosen for chart review. We identified 31 patients receiving either adrenocorticotropic hormone or topiramate monotherapy (adrenocorticotropic hormone n = 12, topiramate n = 19) as a first-line treatment for infantile spasms. A total of 26 patients were symptomatic and 5 cryptogenic. Six patients treated with adrenocorticotropic hormone had resolution of clinical spasms and hypsarrhithmia within a month, but 3 relapsed. Of the 19 patients treated with topiramate, 4 patients eventually, though over a period of 0, 1, 8, or 69 months, had resolution of spasms and hypsarrhythmia.
A Study of the Treatment of Rett Syndrome With Folate and Betaine
Authors: Glaze Daniel G. , Percy Alan K. , Motil Kathleen J. , Lane Jane B. , Isaacs Janet S. , Schultz Rebecca J. , Barrish Judy O. , Neul Jeffrey L. , O'Brien William E. , O'Brian Smith E.
Published: February 2009

We tested the hypothesis that increasing methyl-group pools might promote transcriptional repression by other methyl-binding proteins or by mutant methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 with altered affinity, ameliorating the clinical features of Rett syndrome. A 12-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled folate—betaine trial enrolled 73 methylCpG-binding protein 2 mutation positive female participants meeting consensus criteria for Rett syndrome. Participants were randomized as young (< age 5 years) or old (! age 5 years). Structured clinical assessments occurred at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Primary outcome measures included quantitative evaluation of breathing and hand movements during wakefulness, growth, anthropometry, motor/behavioral function, and qualitative evaluations from electroencephalograms and parent questionnaires. In all, 68 participants completed the study. Objective evidence of improvement was not found. Subjective improvement from parent questionnaires was noted for the <5 years group. This study should inform future treatment trials regarding balancing participants with specific mutations and comparable severity to minimize selection bias.
Osmotic Demyelination Syndrome as a Consequence of Treating Hyperammonemia in a Patient with Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency
Authors: Cardenas Javier F. , Bodensteiner John B.
Published: February 2009

A 7-year-old female patient with a new diagnosis of ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency was treated for hyperammonemia with a standard protocol. Several days later, she developed ataxia, dysmetria, and dysarthria. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrated pontine and extrapontine white matter changes consistent with osmotic demyelination. Classically described as a consequence of hyponatremia treatment, osmotic demyelination syndrome has rarely been associated with other entities. This case suggests a potentially serious complication of the standard therapy for hyperammonemia in patients with ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency.