bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reconfiguration of Korean Shamanic Ritual: Negotiating Practices among Shamans, Clients, and Multiple Ideologies
Authors: Kim Dong-kyu
Published: November 2012

In this paper, I suggest that shamanic rituals should be understood as negotiating practices between shamans, clients, and competing ideologies rather than as expressing or conveying an unchanging essence or meaning. Here, the ritual space is assumed to be a "matrix" in which these practices occur and hence shamans can verify and reinforce their shamanship, which is constructed by the looping effects between academic discourses and shamans' self-identity creation. Within the matrix, shamans make their rituals seem more plausible and efficacious while encountering their client's various needs. Based upon practice theory and such concepts as looping effects and the matrix, I will here examine two kinds of shamanic ritual. First, I examine mukkuri (무꾸리, divination), which I define as an initiatory stage for further negotiation processes, such as kut or other rituals, while trying to show how a shaman utilizes a specific divinatory style to strengthen the plausibility of his or her divination. Second, I introduce some outstanding aspects of the reconfiguration of modern kut performance, and explicate the cause of those reconfigurations. This approach to shamanic rituals will provide an alternative interpretive framework to overcome "Restoristic Folklore Scholarship."
Do Physicians Disclose Uncertainty When Discussing Prognosis in Grave Critical Illness?
Authors: Schuster Rachel A. , Hong Seo Yeon , Arnold Robert M. , White Douglas B.
Published: November 2012

Objective: Even when critically ill patients are almost certain to die from their illnesses, there is generally an element of prognostic uncertainty. Little is known about how physicians handle this uncertainty in conversations with surrogate decision makers. We sought to evaluate whether and how physicians discuss prognostic uncertainty with surrogate decision makers of patients who are highly likely, but not certain, to die. Design: We audiotaped and transcribed discussions between clinicians and surrogate decision makers at two major California teaching hospitals from 2006 through 2008. Physicians completed a questionnaire addressing their prognostic estimates for patients' survival to hospital discharge. Participants: We included physicians and surrogates of 12 incapacitated, critically ill patients. Measurements: We analyzed transcripts of discussions in which physicians' estimates of patients' chances of hospital survival were 1% to 5%; we coded whether physicians disclosed the prognostic uncertainty and, if so, how they conveyed that death was highly likely but not certain. Results: Physicians' estimates of short-term survival were 1% to 5% for 12 of the 70 patients enrolled in the original study. In 8 of 12 cases, physicians conveyed prognostic uncertainty by using probabilistic language or by an explicit mention of uncertainty. In four cases, physicians made at least one statement that either implied or was ambiguous about whether death was certain. Conclusion: We observed variability in how physicians handle prognostic uncertainty in their discussions with surrogates of patients who are highly likely, but not certain, to die, including some circumstances in which physicians stated or implied that death was certain.
The Efficacy of Ethics Discernment in the Organizational Context: The Case of Post-Offer Nicotine Screening
Authors: Belde David M.
Published: November 2012

This article examines the efficacy of an ethics discernment process in the organizational context, a practice referred to in the paper as "mission due diligence." This type of ethics discernment is a structured process intended to awaken the ethical concerns that a particular issue raises within moral agents and to give voice, directly and indirectly, to those who will be impacted by, and responsible for, strategic decision making. The efficacy of this particular ethics discernment practice is contingent upon several realities, including, but not limited to 1) the timing in which it is undertaken, 2) the degree of importance and relevance attributed to it, and 3) the skills of the person leading it. This case report examines how this process was used to highlight and address the ethical issues related to a new hiring policy, namely, a mandatory nicotine screening test for prospective employees in the healthcare context.
Two Approaches to Improving Mental Health Care: positivist/quantitative versus skill-based/qualitative
Authors: Luchins Daniel
Published: November 2012

The quality improvement model currently used in medicine and mental health was adopted from industry, where it developed out of early 20th-century efforts to apply a positivist/quantitative agenda to improving manufacturing. This article questions the application of this model to mental health care. It argues that (1) developing "operational definitions" for something as value-laden as "quality" risks conflating two realms, what we measure with what we value; (2) when measurements that are tied to individuals are aggregated to establish benchmarks and goals, unwarranted mathematical assumptions are made; (3) choosing clinical outcomes is problematic; (4) there is little relationship between process measures and clinical outcomes; and (5) since changes in quality indices do not relate to improved clinical care, management's reliance on such indices provides an illusory sense of control. An alternative model is the older, skill-based/qualitative approach to knowing, which relies on "implicit/ expert" knowledge. These two approaches offer a series of contrasts: quality versus excellence, competence versus expertise, management versus leadership, extrinsic versus intrinsic rewards. The article concludes that we need not totally dispense with the current quality improvement model, but rather should balance quantitative efforts with the older qualitative approach in a mixed methods model.
The History of Bioethics: implications for current debates in health research
Authors: McWhirter R. E.
Published: November 2012

The assumption that developments in technologies and societies create new ethical issues for health and medical research is intuitively appealing. However, a closer inspection of the history of bioethics reveals a surprising consistency in the core issues that have formed the basis of bioethical debates over time. If the issues involved in bioethical debates remain essentially constant, are new discussions and new guidelines and principles—produced in the wake of research scandals or inspired by the introduction of new technologies—redundant? This article examines some of the implications of the history of bioethics for understanding current ethical debates and for the formation of a culture of ethical conduct in health research.
Shadowing: pediatric heart surgery in El Salvador
Authors: Gardner Caleb
Published: November 2012

In September 2009, the year before the author began medical school, he accompanied a team of doctors, nurses, and technicians from the nonprofit organization Heart Care International (HCI) on a trip to El Salvador. Founded in 1994 by the heart surgeon Robert Michler, HCI strives to provide care to children with congenital heart disease in developing countries. In addition to El Salvador, HCI has worked in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, leaving behind lasting local programs and always looking to the future for new opportunities.
Forgive Me: Medical Error and the Poetics of Forgiveness
Authors: Becker Daniel , May Natalie , Plews-Ogan Margaret
Published: November 2012

Alexander Pope, in his Essay on Criticism , proposes that "To err is human; to forgive divine." This essay considers the latter half of that proposition and includes quotes from doctors who participated in a study of learning and growing through adversity. Doctors, like poets, find it necessary to put their moral and psychological dilemma into words. Language shapes the experience and offers a means of partial resolution.
The Death of Specificity in Psychiatry: cheers or tears?
Authors: Dean Charles E.
Published: November 2012

During the past five decades, psychiatry has pursued two goals, one being specificity of diagnosis and treatment, and the other a series of all-inclusive diagnostic manuals that paradoxically emphasized the absence of definite boundaries between disorders, and the absence of definite boundaries between disorders and normality (although normality was never defined). Leaders in the field continue to emphasize that diagnoses must be validated by the pathogenesis, course, and response to treatment of specific disorders. However, many current genetic and family studies have failed to support the concept of diagnostic specificity, as has the current use of psychotropic agents, which are now being prescribed with little regard for diagnosis. Although the switch from a categorical diagnostic system to a dimensional system has not been formalized, it seems to have already occurred in practice.
The Immunologic Self
Authors: Hoffman S. A.
Published: November 2012

Immunology has been referred to as the science of self/non-self discrimination. Who or what is the "I" of which we often speak? It has been identified with body, brain, soul, and memories. There has been a diversity of ways to characterize the self, including denying its importance and existence, and to date no satisfactory conceptualization has been achieved. This article addresses the concept of self from an immunological perspective, a perspective that offers insights into the philosophic issues associated with the concept of self and personal identity. The article proposes that the immunological and the psychological are two aspects of one and the same self, offers criteria for an adequate conceptualization of the self, and discusses the philosophical and psychological implications of the immunological views of self. It concludes that we must move away from a simplistic, exclusively inward or mentalistic conception of the self.
From Bedside to Blackboard: the benefits of teaching molecular biology within a medical context
Authors: Sitaraman Ramakrishnan
Published: November 2012

Courses in molecular biology are part of practically every degree program in medicine and the life sciences. Historically, many basic discoveries in this field have resulted from investigations by doctors into the nature of diseases. This essay suggests that medical educators deliberately incorporate such material, whether historical or contemporaneous, into their molecular and cell biology courses. An example of such usage, an early report of the detection of bacteriophage activity on pathogenic bacteria, is discussed in detail. Such an approach can potentially narrow the perceived gap between "basic" and "applied" science. As medicine is so intimately and obviously linked with human welfare, this also provides an avenue for educators to discuss issues of scientific integrity and ethics within a "pure science" course.
The Body, Its Emotions, the Self, and Consciousness
Authors: Boyd Graham W.
Published: November 2012

This article proposes a means for better understanding the self and consciousness. Data indicate that the basic "emotional brain" continually computes potential survival risk against reward to rank consequent "emotion scores" for all sensory inputs. These scores compete to yield winner-takes-all outcomes that determine the choice of attention or action. This mechanism prevails regardless of whether the competing options gain their emotion scores through a rational or an intuitive pathway. There is no need to postulate any homunculus or inner self in control of such choice; indeed, our belief in a first-person self in overall control is wrong. The self is a passive construct arising from each individual's social development, where language acquisition vastly heightens communication and awareness not only outwardly, but also inwardly, as if to a controlling "inner I." However, when society comes to hold the maturing being accountable for his or her actions, the brain must respond, and it does so in the only way it can, by deeming that this passive, inner self-construct act as if it were the active self in charge. Consciousness emerges when the language-based output of the higher brain is referred for ownership to this artificial self-construct.
The Lady and the Eel: how Aphra Behn introduced Europeans to the "numb eel"
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: November 2012

Aphra Behn (1640-1689) has been called the first professional British female writer. Behn probably visited Surinam in the 1660s, but it was not until 1688 that she wrote Oroonoko: or, The Royal Slave , the novel for which she is best remembered. Although overlooked by historians of science, Oroonoko provided a description of the "numb eel," effectively introducing many Europeans to the exotic and frightening creature that would become known as the "electric eel" during the second half of the 1700s, when it would play a central role in showing the reality of animal electricity, effectively putting neuromuscular physiology on its more modern course. This article examines Behn's early life, including why she might have gone to Surinam, the sources that might have helped her write her colorful description of the eel, and how what she had written circulated widely and continued to contribute to the changing scientific landscape after her death.
Medical Exceptionalism
Authors: Bliss Michael
Published: November 2012

How should we assess the historical development of health care? Many historians are deeply reluctant to endorse ideas involving progress in human affairs, including the evolution of modern medicine. We tend to think either that our present situation is little better than in the past, or that most kinds of value judgments about history are subjective and inappropriate. A laudatory approach to medical history commonly adopted by "amateur" medical historians in the tradition of Sir William Osler has often been eschewed by "professionals" as faulty, feel-good history. But Osler was right in his belief that, on balance, the progress of medicine has been spectacular, that modern health care offers one of the finest examples of the possibility of "man's redemption of man." Written objectively, medical history is about progress and achievement, and can properly seen as inspiring. If we mordantly or relativistically dismiss the unprecedentedly high quality of modern health care, we lose the ability to understand why citizens value it so highly, and this distorts our understanding of current issues. We also lose our sense of the wonders of human and medical achievement.
Defining the Complex Behavior of the Heart
Authors: Tong Da-Li , Zhang Dong-Xia , Huang Yue-Sheng
Published: November 2012

Previous studies on heart growth and development have elucidated important gene- and cellular-level changes. The development of improved biochemical, mathematical, and computational methods has enabled more accurate elaboration of the structural and functional processes of the heart. Systematic analyses of heart complexity have revealed the differences between normal and pathological growth and development in terms of self-organizational ability, energy balance, clock regulation, and heart rate variability. The present study summarizes what is known about cardiac behaviors and characteristics during heart growth and development. The results indicate that the heart demonstrates systematic complexity, and suggest that new characteristic analyses and treatments of heart diseases can be expected in the future.
The First Sultan of Sarawak and His Links to Brunei and the Sambas Dynasty, 1599-1826: A Little-known Pre-Brooke History
Authors: Larsen Ib
Published: November 2012

The first Sultan of Sarawak, Sultan Tengah Manga, was appointed by his brother Sultan Abdul Jalilul Akbar of Brunei in 1599. According to tradition no sultan was appointed after Sultan Tengah Manga's death in 1641, and Sarawak was ruled by four local datu from his death until the arrival of the first White Rajah in 1842. However, not much information exists to confirm this tradition. Sultan Tengah Manga's son, Radin Suleiman, became the first Sultan of Sambas, an area which neighbours Sarawak to the southwest. This article revisits the sparse existing information on the rule of Sarawak after 1641 and on the history of the sultanate of Sambas. Special emphasis is given to assessing whether Radin Suleiman and his successors might have continued to exercise authority over Sarawak from their new base in Sambas. The article does not provide a clear answer to this question, but it concludes that Sambas' influence on Sarawak was considerably stronger than has been generally credited.
In Alfred Russel Wallace's Shadow: His Forgotten Assistant, Charles Allen (1839-1892)
Authors: Rookmaaker Kees , van Wyhe John
Published: November 2012

The famous naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace took a young Englishman named Charles Martin Allen with him to the Malay Archipelago in 1854. Allen has remained a shadowy figure and until now almost nothing was known about his life. Wallace trained Allen to collect and prepare natural history specimens of birds and insects. Allen worked for Wallace first in Singapore, the Malay Peninsula and Sarawak (1854-6) and later in the Moluccas and New Guinea (1860-2). In the intervening years Allen was employed by the Borneo Company Ltd and was mentioned in letters by Rajah James Brooke. The considerable extent to which Allen contributed to Wallace's collecting in the Malay Archipelago has also been unappreciated. When Wallace returned home in 1862 Allen first worked in the Carimons, and—after his marriage in 1863—in the Malay Peninsula and Singapore. He worked for John Fisher, developing mines at Chindrass in Malaya and then settled as manager of the Perseverance Estate in Geylang, Singapore. Allen and his eight children became respected members of the community into the twentieth century.
Ming China's Support for Sultan Mahmud of Melaka and Its Hostility towards the Portuguese after the Fall of Melaka in 1511
Authors: Kheng Cheah Boon
Published: November 2012

In the sixteenth century Ming China, having learnt that the Portuguese were still occupying their 'protectorate' of Melaka and that Portuguese merchant pirates were pillaging China's coast, banned trade with Portugal and imprisoned all their officials in China, including their ambassador. In this paper I have compiled the evidence from the records of the Ming dynasty and the various Portuguese accounts to show how the Ming policy of support for the ruler of Melaka and its hostility towards the Portuguese evolved, as not much is known about this episode. Despite the general misconception that relations between Ming China and the Melaka sultanate lapsed after the last voyages of Chinese Admiral Zheng He to Southeast Asia in 1433, tribute missions from Melaka and other countries continued arriving unabatedly in China until the 1520s.
The Builders
Authors: Gullick J. M.
Published: November 2012

Until 1875 there was no building industry in the western Malay states. In the villages cooperative effort produced the houses and other structures that were required. The larger residences of the ruling class were built by mobilizing villagers to build in the same fashion but on a larger scale. The colonial administrators had at first to use the same resources and techniques to get what they required. Gradually, however, there was a change to a different style using new materials and designs. In response to government and commercial needs a building industry evolved. The information is patchy, but this article attempts to trace how it happened up to 1914, when the outbreak of war interrupted the supply of building materials and imposed a standstill. The main focus is on Kuala Lumpur, but there are references to Selangor and Perak generally.
The Digital Construction of Technology: Rethinking the History of Computers in Society
Authors: Ensmenger Nathan
Published: November 2012

In recent decades, the history of computing has moved beyond its traditional focus on machines towards a broader study of people, processes, and practices. The study of software in particular has opened up new avenues for exploring questions about gender, labor history, organizational politics, users and use-practices, expertise, and professional identity as they relate to the changing role of computers in society. Beginning with a creative re-imagining of Bruno Latour’s classic study of laboratory life in the context of modern computational biology and bio-informatics, the author argues that the ubiquitous presence of the computer in the material practices of the laboratory reflects a larger shift in the epistemological foundations of science from experiment to simulation. He suggests that by focusing on digitization, rather than computerization, historians can better understand the range of technological and conceptual innovations that have dramatically transformed the work of scientists and engineers in almost every discipline.
At the Interface: The Case of the Electric Push Button, 1880–1923
Authors: Plotnick Rachel
Published: November 2012

This article uses the case of electric push buttons to argue for more systematic scholarly attention to user interfaces as objects of historical study. Between 1880 and 1923, push buttons diffused rapidly as switches for controlling domestic devices ranging from bells to lights. In a first stage from approximately 1880 to 1915, historical actors employed strategies to make electricity intelligible to and safe for consumers: some advanced a view of buttons as technical mechanisms that laypersons should know how to construct and deconstruct; others propagated a vision of buttons as mediums for using electricity without thought or effort. In a second phase after 1915, when many individuals had come to take push-button interfaces for granted, the electrical industry endeavored to undo this reification by revealing technical processes behind buttons. The article investigates how varying pedagogical models factored into social, cultural and political negotiations around electricity, consumption and everyday practices.
Engineering Uncertainty and Bureaucratic Crisis at the Atomic Energy Commission, 1964–1973
Authors: Wellock Thomas R.
Published: November 2012

In January 1972, the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) opened rulemaking hearings to establish minimum performance criteria for the emergency core cooling system (ECCS), a critical cooling system in nuclear power plants that prevents reactor fuel damage. The contentious ECCS hearings proved so damaging to the AEC’s credibility that the agency was broken up to create the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an independent regulator of power plant safety. Scholars have explained the demise of the AEC as an example of a subgovernment or “iron triangle” brought down by external political forces of Congressional calculation and antinuclear opposition. But technical factors were very important to the AEC’s fate. The ECCS hearings were an internal engineer dispute over approaches to reactor safety, and revelations of safety concerns by the agency’s own experts undermined its reputation. The ECCS controversy suggests that an internal crisis of expert knowledge can bring down seemingly invulnerable subgovernments.
The Point of the Bayonet
Authors: Stone John
Published: November 2012

This article investigates the continued presence of the bayonet in the face of rapid and sustained military-technological change, and argues that the technical characteristics of this simple weapon are minimally implicated in its longevity. Rather, the bayonet’s continuing military effectiveness is conjured out of a collection of social practices amongst which the physical artifact is embedded during the process of training soldiers. The purpose of these practices is to forge strong associations between bayonet and aggressive behavior, thereby bolstering the moral fortitude of soldiers in times of battlefield crisis. The real “point” of the bayonet is therefore psychological, as opposed to material, in character.
Case(s) in (Non)Point
Authors: Whitney Kristoffer
Published: November 2012

Andrew Karvonen’s Politics of Urban Runoff and Daniel Schneider’s Hybrid Nature use case studies in urban stormwater management and sewage treatment infrastructure, respectively, to interrogate the political, technological, and ecological nature(s) of modern cities. Karvonen, primarily analyzing runoff management in Austin, Texas and Seattle, Washington, uses these examples to suggest a “civic politics” of urban infrastructure development that provides a more “relational” perspective on nature and the city. Schneider’s more purely historical account of wastewater management in British and American cities details the conflicts and contradictions inherent in what he calls the “industrial ecosystem” of modern sewage treatment. Taken together, Politics of Urban Runoff and Hybrid Nature provide new insights into the material and ideological struggles involved in managing the environmental and social consequences of urban and suburban life.
Text, Image, Flusser
Authors: van Meer Elisabeth
Published: November 2012

This essay reviews two recent English translations, as well as one new introduction, to the work of Vilèm Flusser; a transnational continental philosopher of communication. Born into a Jewish family, Flusser fled Czechoslovakia in 1939, living and writing in Brazil and France, until his death in 1991. A critic of Marshal McLuhan, Flusser developed a history of communication explaining the transformation of prehistoric images into printed texts and, most recently, into electronic technical images. As a media activist Flusser advocated an open telematic society, while warning of a future without writing and historical consciousness. This review criticizes Flusser for black-boxing media into “apparatuses,” but it commends Flusser for giving primacy to user experiences, for seeking to avoid technological determinism, and for merging computer history with media history.
Narrative, Being, and the Dialogic Novel: The Problem of Discourse and Language in Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing
Authors: Noble Alan
Published: November 2012

Two defining features of Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing are the vatic speeches given by characters with very different worldviews and cultures and the polyphonic narrative. A challenge of this novel is how to relate these features. According to Mikhail Bakhtin, a truly polyphonic novel allows for “diversity of social speech types,” but many of the most significant speeches in The Crossing share the same voice: the vatic style identified with the narrator. This paper explores how the repeated intrusion of the narrator’s voice upon the speeches of various characters affects a Bakhtinian reading of The Crossing . Specifically, it argues that these intrusions, which alter the words and therefore the worldviews of the characters, represent the narrator’s voice entering into the discourse of the novel on being and narrative. Thus, the narrator stifles the heteroglossia of the language of certain characters even as he contributes to the novel’s dialogic nature.
Speaking Chinook: Adaptation, Indigeneity, and Pauline Johnson’s British Columbia Stories
Authors: Viehmann Martha L.
Published: November 2012

“Speaking Chinook: Adaptation, Indigeneity, and Pauline Johnson’s British Columbia Stories” argues against criticisms of this Mohawk writer/performer as insufficiently Indian. Recent scholarship on Johnson, critical frameworks provided by Philip Deloria (Dakota), Robert Warrior (Osage), and Chadwick Allen (Cherokee), and close readings of sentimental texts that seem aimed to please a white audience demonstrate Johnson’s subtle resistance. The essay argues that like the Chinook Jargon, Johnson provides an example of adaptability to modern circumstances that promotes survival of indigenous identity, and it urges readers to examine related assumptions about groups excluded from modernity or denied historical agency.
Before the West Was West: Rethinking the Temporal Borders of Western American Literature
Authors: Hamilton Amy T. , Hillard Tom J.
Published: November 2012

“Before the West was West: Rethinking the Temporal Borders of Western American Literature” Questions of how to define “Western American Literature” and how to define the “American West” have long occupied scholars of Western literary studies. As these definitions have evolved, the boundaries have been shifted to include more voices and more experiences of the West. Recent developments in criticism have expanded the purview of “Western American Literature” to include 21st-century texts and those that take place in urban and suburban spaces. Yet even in the face of constantly shifting and expanding boundaries, few scholars in the field have seriously studied texts written prior to 1800 through the lens of “Western American Literature.” Using Mary Rowlandson’s 1682 The Sovereignty and Goodness of God as a case study, this essay questions the scant critical attention paid to earlier texts and asks scholars to rethink what—or perhaps when —we mean by “Western American literature.”
Mathematical modelling for predicting surface roughness during machining of PEEK CF30 composite
Authors: Cabrera F. M. , Khamlichi A. , Losilla I. , Hanafi I.
Published: November 2012

Considering the increasing prospective regarding the various applications of Poly Ether Ether Ketone reinforced with 30% carbon fibres (PEEK CF30), there is a crucial need to investigate its machinability. In this work, focus is centered on non-linear regression based models that can be built to predict roug hness parameters Ra and Rt associated to turning of PEEK CF30 when using TiN coated cutting tool. Attention was paid to one-variant models that can be proposed to represent the effect of the cutting speed on the surface finish parameters. A broad class of non-linear interpolation models was considered. Their aptness to be used in modelling this particular application was assessed. The identification of the various mathematical models was performed by using experimental results that were obtained from CNC turning of PEEK samples. Based on statistical analysis, all the considered non-linear regression models proved to be highly significant and succeeded to fit adequately the experimental results.
Time Difference of Arrival Based Cancer Tumor Localization Using Magnetic Nano Particles Induced Acoustic Signals
Authors: Tsalach Adi , Steinberg Idan , Gannot Israel
Published: November 2012

Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide, especially in developed countries.Early detection of the cancer can greatly increase both survival rates and quality of life for patients. A magnto-acoustic based method had been previously proposed for early tumor detection, in a minimal invasive procedure, using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). However, in order to accompany tumor identification with immediate treatment, a complementary tumor localization algorithm was needed. Therefore, our objective was to measure the acoustic signals generated by the MNP conjugated tumor in an optimal multi sensor array and estimate the 3D location of the tumor in real time. A Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) based localization algorithm was developed, and implemented in computerized simulations on the breast tissue geometry. Tumor localization feasibility and the hyperbolic positioning algorithm performance were evaluated. Overall performance yielded localization with a median Euclidean distance of 2.8mm. Such performance indicates that tumor localization was estimated with high accuracy, and suggests that the combination of magneto-acoustic detection along with a TDOA based localization algorithm can produce an efficient tumor diagnostic system. It enables the detection of tumor presence, as well as the triangulation of its location, and can be further developed into a powerful “image and treat” system.
Sexual Liberality as Othering
Authors: Hoffmann Thomas
Published: November 2012

The article deals with the hegemonic and sometimes downright demonizing effects of sexual discourses that accentuate toleration and easygoingness over and against religious Others. The historical examples presented in this context derive from the early Islamic world and the author will show that while the early Muslims (7th-9th century) harnessed this strategy against the alleged puritanical Jews (and to some extent Christians too), a structurally similar strategy has now emerged and has been turned against Muslims in late modern Western diaspora by a variety of so-called Islam critics. Now Muslims are being criticized for being hyper-puritanical/patriarchal and sexually repressive; a topos that stands in stark contrast to the topos of sexual licentiousness promulgated in Orientalist discourses (including the visual arts). Present day Muslims, however, are caught in a double-bind since the charges against their alleged puritanism and bigotry runs parallel with charges against their alleged transgressive and patriarchal sexuality.
Romania’s Saving Angels
Authors: Endresen Cecilie
Published: November 2012

In Romania, a Christian, ultranationalistic movement known as The Legionary Movement has before and after the Communist period called for a national, spritual revolution. Perceiving themselves as front fighters protected by the Archangel, Legionaries endeavour to purify the nation so that it can live in its God-given fatherland. In order to assure national resurrection, Legionaries want to create a “New Man”, understood as a new male. This ideal combines the qualities of a Christian martyr, a working hero, a monk and a militant and as such both complex and ambiguous. In practice, Legionaries have a lot in common with other European “boot boys”. Based on field studies, this article discusses the role of men in this movement: their role models, male bonding, rituals and myths, as well as their concepts of family, brotherhood and blood relations, all with reference to a particular ethnonationalistic, christocentric worldview.
Christus Virgo
Authors: Undheim Sissel
Published: November 2012

The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.
Divinity Manifest in a Female Body
Authors: Istoft Britt
Published: November 2012

The article investigates a medieval heretical group, the Guglielmites, who worshipped their founder Guglielma of Milan (d. 1281) as the Holy Spirit incarnate and expected another woman, Maifreda da Pirovano, to become pope, the vicar of the Holy Spirit, at Guglielma's second coming in the year 1300. This event was prevented, however, by Dominican inquisitors, but we know that Maifreda's priestly activities had been going on for years. The article argues that the theology and practice of the Guglielmites developed gradually on a background of mysticism, eschatological expectations, imitation of Christ, and Eucharistic devotion. However, contrary to much female godlanguage in the Middle Ages, which was symbolic, female divinity was seen as taking flesh in a woman, and for that reason also her vicar on earth had to be a woman. The feminizing of the Holy Spirit justified a change in the gender system of the Church.
'The Stars Down to Earth'
Authors: Munk Kirstine
Published: November 2012

Astrology is immensely popular in the modern, Western world. Studies have shown that 'belief' in astrology is mainly found among the lesser educated parts of the population, however, astrology is mainly used by educated middle-class women. This article explores why.
SORAAAD Book Notes with the Bulletin
Authors: Editors The
Published: November 2012

Book Notes from the online Bulletin Blog.
News and Announcements in the Discipline
Authors: Editors The
Published: November 2012

News and Announcements in the Discipline
Reed M. N. Weep Retirement
Authors: Editors The
Published: November 2012

Announcement
Effect of thixotropy and segregation on centrifuge modelling
Authors: Sorta Amarebh R. , Sego David C. , Wilson Ward
Published: November 2012

In this paper, segregation related to the application of high centrifugal acceleration and the effect of thixotropy in modelling the settling behaviour of slurry/soft soils using a centrifuge are examined. Settling column and centrifuge tests were conducted on slurry/soft soils at various sand fines ratios (SFR) to define a segregation boundary using the ternary diagram. A segregation boundary based on centrifuge and settling column tests are established and the results indicate that the application of high gravity in centrifuge tests prompts and enhances segregation. It is also found that the segregation boundary of high gravity tests is a function of applied acceleration level, grain size of sand, the percentage fines and clay contents. The application of formulas that estimate the maximum size of sand that remain in suspension are evaluated and found conservative at high gravity tests. The shear strength of slurry/soft soils at various SFR and age were evaluated to assess the effect of non-gravity, time-dependent behaviour on strength and settling behaviour of slurry/soft soils. The results of the shear strength tests at various ages and composition indicate that strength gain is mainly due to thixotropy. The gain in shear strength due to thixotropy may not be properly modelled in centrifuge testing and may create difficulty in extrapolating centrifuge test results to prototype.
Regional variation in forest harvest regimes in the northeastern United States
Authors: Canham Charles D. , Rogers Nicole , Buchholz Thomas
Published: November 2012

Logging is a larger cause of adult tree mortality in northeastern U.S. forests than all other causes of mortality combined. We used Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data to develop statistical models to quantify three different aspects of aggregate regional forest harvest regimes: (1) the annual probability that a plot is logged, as a function of total aboveground tree biomass, (2) the fraction of adult tree basal area removed if a plot was logged, and (3) the probability that an individual tree within a plot was removed, as a function of the fraction of basal area removed at the plot level, the species of tree, and its size. Results confirm that relatively frequent partial harvesting dominates the logging regimes, but with significant variation among different parts of the region and different forest types. The harvest regimes have similarities with natural disturbance regimes in imposing spatially and temporally dynamic mortality that varies predictably as a function of stand structure as well as tree species and size.
Climate stabilization wedges revisited: can agricultural production and greenhouse‐gas reduction goals be accomplished?
Authors: Grosso Stephen J Del , Cavigelli Michel A
Published: November 2012

Climate stabilization wedges are defined as strategies that contribute to greenhouse‐gas (GHG) mitigation that – in aggregate – achieve a particular goal. Wedges have been proposed as a GHG mitigation framework because no single technology or economic sector can sufficiently reduce emissions to acceptable levels. To avoid the most dangerous risks of climate change, we argue that mitigation of ~9000 teragrams of carbon equivalents (Tg Ceq) will be required by the year 2030. We estimate that agriculture could provide wedges of 1350 to 3900 Tg Ceq under attainment of technological and human behavior mitigation potentials. Improved agricultural management can decrease nitrous oxide and methane emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Consumption of fewer livestock products along with agricultural intensification through available technologies can result in reduced emissions in both developed and developing countries. Decreasing excess protein and calorie consumption in developed countries improves personal health, while reforestation and avoided deforestation in developing countries help to maintain biodiversity. The mitigation wedges have varying economic costs but also have multiple benefits.
Challenges and opportunities for mitigating nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized cropping systems
Authors: Venterea Rodney T , Halvorson Ardell D , Kitchen Newell , Liebig Mark A , Cavigelli Michel A , Grosso Stephen J Del , Motavalli Peter P , Nelson Kelly A , Spokas Kurt A , Singh Bhupinder Pal , Stewart Catherine E , Ranaivoson Andry , Strock Jeffrey , Collins Hal
Published: November 2012

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is often the largest single component of the greenhouse‐gas budget of individual cropping systems, as well as for the US agricultural sector as a whole. Here, we highlight the factors that make mitigating N2O emissions from fertilized agroecosystems such a difficult challenge, and discuss how these factors limit the effectiveness of existing practices and therefore require new technologies and fresh ideas. Modification of the rate, source, placement, and/or timing of nitrogen fertilizer application has in some cases been an effective way to reduce N2O emissions. However, the efficacy of existing approaches to reducing N2O emissions while maintaining crop yields across locations and growing seasons is uncertain because of the interaction of multiple factors that regulate several different N2O‐producing processes in soil. Although these processes have been well studied, our understanding of key aspects and our ability to manage them to mitigate N2O emissions remain limited.
North American carbon dioxide sources and sinks: magnitude, attribution, and uncertainty
Authors: King Anthony W , Hayes Daniel J , Huntzinger Deborah N , West Tristram O , Post Wilfred M
Published: November 2012

North America is both a source and sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Continental sources – such as fossil‐fuel combustion in the US and deforestation in Mexico – and sinks – including most ecosystems, and particularly secondary forests – add and remove CO2 from the atmosphere, respectively. Photosynthesis converts CO2 into carbon as biomass, which is stored in vegetation, soils, and wood products. However, ecosystem sinks compensate for only ~35% of the continent's fossil‐fuel‐based CO2 emissions; North America therefore represents a net CO2 source. Estimating the magnitude of ecosystem sinks, even though the calculation is confounded by uncertainty as a result of individual inventory‐ and model‐based alternatives, has improved through the use of a combined approach.
Reconstructing Higher Education? The Case of Master's and PhD Programmes in Education in a Portuguese Institution
Authors: Alves Mariana G. , Neves Claádia , Azevedo Nair R. , Gonçlves Teresa N.R.
Published: November 2012

Whether and to what extent we are in the process of reconstructing higher education following the Bologna Process orientation is the issue underpinning this article. To address this issue, the authors consider data from an exploratory survey conducted in a Portuguese university, focusing on the field of education. They take into account the contents of the educational policies at supranational level in Europe and at national level in Portugal. In addition, they draw upon the conceptual debate about policy and politics. They acknowledge changes taking place in the organisational structure of the academic programmes, as well as in the students' perceptions. Additionally, critical issues concerning the organisation and implementation of these programmes allow them to identify challenges for universities and issues that need deeper inquiry and continuous monitoring.
Understanding the Difficulties of Implementation of a Teachers' Evaluation System in Greek Primary Education: From National Past to European Influences
Authors: Stamelos Georgios , Vassilopoulos Andreas , Bartzakli Marianna
Published: November 2012

This article delves into the reactions of national institutions to various external stimuli originating from supra-national policies formulated by international organisms and other bureaucracies. The authors argue that such stimuli, when ignoring various previous arrangements developed in a given social and/or historic (national) context, may disrupt the institution's balance. In particular, they create divergence among the three pillars — normative, regulative and cultural-cognitive — around which an institution is built and lead the main actors involved with it — players — to act with the aim to best serve their own interests. In the case of Greece the attempt on the part of the Greek government to establish a system of evaluation at the level of primary education — following the country's participation into the European Union — led to severe conflict among the actors involved and to the institution's neutralisation. Accordingly, the level of divergence between what is desirable (normative pillar), what is established by law (regulative pillar) and everyday practice (cultural-cognitive pillar) became larger. Finally, the problematic institution's function resulted to an even more serious crisis, which could well be interpreted as ‘creolisation’ of the Greek education system.
Pupil Responses to a Saviour Pedagogy: An Ethnographic Study
Authors: Schwartz Anneli
Published: November 2012

This article is based on research in an ongoing ethnographic investigation of schooling in a multiethnic, multiracial school on the outskirts of a major Swedish conurbation in an area of multidimensional poverty. First, it analyses the use of an individuating, visible pedagogy, which contains a large number of routines that are designed and intended to improve the performances and behaviour of pupils in the school. Secondly, it analyses the subjective responses of the pupils to this pedagogy. Hidden forms of resistance to the main intentions of the pedagogy are presented and discussed.
A Synthesis of Fraud-Related Research
Authors: Trompeter Gregory M. , Carpenter Tina D. , Desai Naman , Jones Keith L. , Riley Richard A.
Published: November 2012

We synthesize academic literature related to fraudulent financial reporting with dual purposes: (1) to better understand the nature and extent of the existing literature on financial reporting fraud, and (2) to highlight areas where there is need for future research. This project extends the work of Hogan et al. (2008), who completed a similar synthesis project, also sponsored by the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association, in 2005. We synthesize the literature related to fraud by examining accounting and auditing literature post-Hogan et al. (2008) and by summarizing relevant fraud literature from outside of accounting. We review publications in accounting and related disciplines including criminology, ethics, finance, organizational behavior, psychology, and sociology. We synthesize the research around a model that illustrates the auditor's approach to fraud. The model incorporates auditors' use of the fraud triangle (i.e., management's incentive, attitude, and opportunity to commit fraud), their assessment of the existence and effectiveness of the client's anti-fraud measures (e.g., corporate governance mechanisms and internal controls), and their consideration of possible fraud schemes and concealment techniques when making an overall fraud risk assessment of the client. The model further illustrates how auditors can incorporate this assessment into an overall strategy to detect fraud by implementing appropriate fraud-detection procedures. We summarize the recent literature of each component of the model and suggest avenues for future research.