bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Killing ‘Unborn Children’? The Catholic Church and Abortion Law in Poland Since 1989
Authors: Szelewa Dorota
Published: January 2017

Legislation on abortion in Poland is among the strictest of all European countries. As with Malta and Ireland, the regulations in Poland do not allow for the termination of a pregnancy on the grounds of the difficult social or economic situation of a woman. Post-1989 developments with regard to abortion law in Poland show the influence of the Catholic Church as a very powerful societal actor on the drafting and implementation of one of the most important policies affecting women’s rights and gender relations. Catholic ‘pro-life’ circles exercised pressure in the process of drafting and adopting the new law, as well as at the stage of the law’s implementation. The symbolic victory of the Church over abortion law is evident in the shift in general discourse and in the official language of legal acts, where, for example, ‘foetus’ has been replaced by ‘conceived child’ (in the law) or by ‘unborn child’ (in discourse). As a consequence, for public opinion abortion is seen as tantamount to ‘the act of killing the unborn child’.
The practice of terminal discharge: Is it euthanasia by stealth?
Authors: Radha Krishna Lalit Kumar , Murugam Vengadasalam , Quah Daniel Song Chiek
Published: January 2017

‘Terminal discharges’ are carried out in Singapore for patients who wish to die at home. However, if due diligence is not exercised, parallels may be drawn with euthanasia. We present a theoretical discussion beginning with the definition of terminal discharges and the reasons why they are carried out in Singapore. By considering the intention behind terminal discharges and utilising a multidisciplinary team to deliberate on the clinical, social and ethical intricacies with a patient- and context-specific approach, euthanasia is avoided. It is hoped that this will provide a platform for professionals in palliative medicine to negotiate challenging issues when arranging a terminal discharge, so as to avoid the pitfall of committing euthanasia in a country such as Singapore where euthanasia is illegal. It is hoped that a set of guidelines for terminal discharges may someday be realised to assist professionals in Singapore and around the world.
Korean Nobi and American Black Slavery: An Essay in Comparison
Authors: Rhee Young-hoon , Yang Donghyu
Published: January 2017

This paper puts Korean nobi in international perspective–first–in comparison to the American black slavery, to capture their characteristics fully. Comparing Choson nobi-system prevalent in the 15th to the 17th centuries and the black slavery in the antebellum southern United States, we found common features such that the two kinds of coerced labor had about one–third share in population; both were legally owner’s chattel as subject to sales and inheritance; most black slaves and a part of the nobi were fed and worked by their masters, indicating they were of “true” slave status. On the other hand, although the average size of nobi-holding by Choson yangban (literati) was smaller than that of the American planters, the scale of ownership by some royal families and bureaucrats was beyond comparison. The larger the scale of ownership, the peasant-like enterprising nobi became more independent with property rights, legal entities and civil rights. In cultural aspects, the crucial difference lay in the origin of the two institutions. The fact that they were recruited from the alien land, together with religious and secular prejudices against their unerasable skin color, isolated black slaves from the free people to the last. Choson nobi were internally expelled, obscure in origin or in collective memory, and intermingled with the free people other than yangban without a clear dividing line. These differences, in turn, dictated the process of emancipation. While the moral and the religious reform was important in recognition of the ‘pure soul’ of black slaves in the United States, in Choson, there was no substantial change in the perception of human nature. The disruption in the political structure of yangban society, which counterbalanced the power of king, was a key factor. Balancing overall similarities and differences, we conclude that it is inappropriate to call the Choson nobi slaves in general sense.
Book Review: The Impact of China and Russia on United States-Mongolian Political Relations in the Twentieth Century
Authors: Soni Sharad K.
Published: January 2017

Alicia Campi and Ragchaa Baasan, The Impact of China and Russia on United States-Mongolian Political Relations in the Twentieth Century, The Edwin Mellen Press, New York, 2009. 628pp. ISBN10: 0-7734-4753-9 (pbk), ISBN13: 978-0-7734-4753-0(hbk)
Understanding the Next Agricultural Transition in Asia: A Critical Review of Major Facets and Future Challenges
Authors: Thapa Gopal B. , Viswanathan P.K. , Routray Jayant K. , Ahmad Mokbul M.
Published: January 2017

Global agriculture is passing through a distinct phase of transformation as caused by a plethora of endogenous and exogenous factors. A majority of the Asian countries are already caught up in a serious development dilemma, where the sustainable future of agriculture is at stake due to various internal structural contradictions and externally imposed trade or market integration policies. Despite the fact that Asian region has emerged as the ‘power centre’ in the highly market integrated and dynamic global context, there are several contradictions in the organization of agriculture across countries in the region. This paper provides a critical review of the agrarian transformation taking place in the Asian region with particular reference to five countries, viz, Bangladesh, India, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. It mainly deals with the critical aspects of the agrarian transformation in these countries in the past few decades and the challenges facing their sustainable agriculture. The paper also tries to develop future perspectives and provide critical inputs and useful insights for identifying potential research areas needing rigorous empirical investigations in the specific regional/country contexts.
Book Review: Looking East to Look West, Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India
Authors: Singh Neeta S
Published: January 2017

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, Looking East to Look West, Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 2009, xiii + 384 pp. ISBN: 978-981-4279-04-8
Export of Horticultural Products from India: Economic Impact of Cost of Compliance for Food Safety Measures
Authors: Siddayya  , Atteri B.R.
Published: January 2017

Food standards are expected to acquire greater importance with increasing concerns on food safety – on breakout of diseases on one hand, and growing consumer demand for products which are healthy, on the other. Compliance with international food standards is a pre-requisite to gain a higher share of world trade. The analysis was carried out on the impact of cost of compliance with food safety measures by exporters of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables in India with the help of net social indicators, by using Tsakok quantitative magnitude. The study revealed that the net social gain to the society is positive in case of fresh fruits (Rs 1593.62 crore) and vegetables (Rs 1476.94 crore). It is also interesting to note that net social loss was Rs 24 crore per year, which means that the export of processed products with cost compliance led to importing countries registering a social gain at India’s cost. It was found that the compliance to food safety measures is a costly proposition and the small processing and exporting units in India are particularly affected because of high cost of compliance per kg during pre-export processing. This has also impacted the export competitiveness of products adversely. The study concluded that the compliance to food safety measures is a costly proposition in India though it has to be complied with to promote exports.
Book Review: East Asian Transformation, on the Political Economy of Dynamism, Governance and Crisis
Authors: Singh Neeta S
Published: January 2017

Jeffrey Henderson, East Asian Transformation, on the Political Economy of Dynamism, Governance and Crisis, Routledge, London and New York, 2011, xiv + 164 pp. ISBN: 978-0-415-54791-8 (hbk); ISBN: 978-0-415-54792-5 (pbk); ISBN:978-0-203-83313-1 (ebk)
Bilateral Free Trade Agreements in South Asia: Typologies, Rationale, Characteristics, and Impact
Authors: Mukherji I.N.
Published: January 2017

As elsewhere in Asia and the world in South Asia too, BFTAs have proliferated at a pace faster than the regional /multilateral trading arrangements. While the slow pace of multilateral trade negotiations under the WTO Doha Round is a factor, the RTAs in South Asia too have not been found to have progressed much. While the relative ease of negotiating under bilateral arrangements and benefiting from first mover advantage in each other’s markets has no doubt been an important element in formation of BFTAs, this has been further underscored no less by political and strategic factors. An attempt has been made in this paper to examine South Asian Bilateral Trade Agreements in terms of scope, coverage, status and their impact on bilateral trade. The study shows how preferential tariff liberalisation is losing its relevance in the context of tariff reforms in concession-offering countries. The tariff rates on a number of consumer goods and raw materials have been brought down on a multilateral basis, not only as a part of a country’s tariff reforms, but, also to meet the challenge of hike in global commodity prices. This is eroding the benefits from preferential margin being received by concession-receiving countries. These factors point to the need for promoting trade liberalisation in products in which South Asian countries have real comparative advantage. However, such an approach would require that the CSs demonstrate political will to open up, more substantially, their bilateral trade by drastically reducing their sensitive lists following India’s initiative in this regard for LDCs. This calls for enhanced trade facilitation for the flow of not only goods, but also services and investment.
Internationalization of Firms from China and India: Theory, Evidence and Policy
Authors: Gill Anita , Singh Lakhwinder
Published: January 2017

India and China have emerged as important sources of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the global economy. The increasing presence of their enterprises in the advanced countries has posed a challenge both to theory of internationalization of firms and public policy alike to explain why this has happened. In this paper, an attempt is made to examine, in a comparative framework, the trends, patterns and determinants of OFDI from India and China. The critical review of theory and empirical evidence related to internationalization of firms clearly brings out that unlike firms of advanced countries, there are multiple sources of the strength of Chinese and Indian firms that drives overseas investment. The study covers the period from 1990 to 2010. The major finding that emerged from the analysis is the dramatic rise of stocks and flows of OFDI from India compared to that from China. The outward to inward FDI ratio for India has increased at a higher rate during 2000-2007 but this ratio was much higher for China between 2008 and 2010. China’s OFDI was more concentrated in financial services and Asian countries, whereas in case of India, it was predominantly in manufacturing sector and advanced countries. Internationalization of firms from China and India has been driven by push factors that enable firms to acquire resources, markets and technologies. The public policy regarding OFDI has undergone substantial transformation from merely permissive to encouraging in both the countries. The pattern of investment abroad and internationalization of firms from both India and China seems to have been largely determined and guided by the state policy.
Book Review: Foundational crises in South and Southeast Asia-Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia
Authors: Selvadurai Sivapalan
Published: January 2017

Abu Nasar Saied Ahmed. Foundational crises in South and Southeast Asia-Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia, Akansha Publishing House, New Delhi, 2011
Resisting the Resistance: Civilian Protests against ULFA Insurgency in Assam, India
Authors: Dasgupta Anindita
Published: January 2017

As demonstrated by the case of the Indian state of Assam, in this paper I argue that ethnic insurgencies that generally present themselves as expressions of ‘people’s power’ can, paradoxically, at times find themselves challenged by expressions of ‘counter people’s power’ by the very same people they claim to be liberating. I then go on to show that civilian resistance against the prominent United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) insurgents in Assam has taken on multiple forms, and is particularly separated by a rural-urban divide. The aim of civilian resistance in rural areas is tactical: it is aimed not necessarily at ending insurgency but simply at reducing abuse and insecurity in people’s everyday lives; sometimes this takes a violent turn, even ending in the deaths of insurgents in the hands of civilian protesters. In Assam’s urban areas, civilian resistance is generally more ideological, and has a longer history than its rural counter-part. It primarily takes the form of non-violent civil-society initiatives – protest meetings, peace rallies, media interventions, public denouncements, candlelight vigils, newspaper and Internet petitions against violence, etc. Typically, these are aimed at ending the insurgency and reaching a sustainable peace settlement. While such acts of civilian resistance might not necessarily herald a new breakthrough in Assam’s insurgency scenario, they do hold the potential to force both insurgents and security forces to observe restraint, to reduce the insurgents’ social legitimacy, to get compensated by the government for army atrocities against civilians, and to restore the Assamese people’s genuine aspirations into the peace process – just as counterinsurgency forces are gaining strength and pushing the insurgents towards the negotiating table.
Oral Cancer
Authors: Gerson Stanley J.
Published: January 2017

In the U.S. oral cancer accounts for 2.1% of all cancers and 1% of cancer deaths. Two to three times as many males as females are affected. Blacks have more intra-oral cancer than whites, and their incidence and mortality rates have increased in recent years. The etiologic process very likely involves several factors. The major etiologic agents are tobacco (all types) and alcoholic beverages. Herpes simplex virus, human papilloma virus, and Candida have been implicated. Host factors include poor state of dentition, nutritional aberrations, cirrhosis of liver, lichen planus, and immunologic impairmant. Cellular changes include amplification of some oncogenes, alterations in antigen expression, production of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, and disturbance of keratin and involucrin production. Experimentally, cancer is readily produced on the hamster cheek pouch and rat oral mucosa. Unlike oral cancer in humans, most experimental lesions are exophytic, and they rarely metastasize.
Factors in Virulence Expression and Their Role in Periodontal Disease Pathogenesis
Authors: Holt Stanley C. , Bramanti Thomas E.
Published: January 2017

The classic progression of the development of periodontitis with its associated formation of an inflammatory lesion is characterized by a highly reproducible microbiological progression of a Gram-positive microbiota to a highly pathogenic Gram-negative one. While this Gram-negative microbiota is estimated to consist of at least 300 different microbial species, it appears to consist of a very limited number of microbial species that are involved in the destruction of periodontal diseases. Among these "putative periodontopathic species" are members of the genera Porphyromonas, Bacteroides, Fusobacterium, Wolinella, Actinobacillus, Capnocytophaga, and Eikenella. While members of the genera Actinomyces and Streptococcus may not be directly involved in the microbial progression, these species do appear to be essential to the construction of the network of microbial species that comprise both the subgingival plaque matrix. The temporal fluctuation (emergence/disappearance) of members of this microbiota from the developing lesion appears to depend upon the physical interaction of the periodontal pocket inhabitants, as well as the utilization of the metabolic end-products of the respective species intimately involved in the disease progression. A concerted action of the end-products of prokaryotic metabolism and the destruction of host tissues through the action of a large number of excreted proteolytic enzymes from several of these periodontopathogens contribute directly to the periodontal disease process. Important to the role of these prokaryotes in attacking the host is the ability of several of them to directly attack host tissues by proteolytic digestion, as well as their ability to elaborate large amounts and types of "virulence factors" - LPS, outer membrane proteins, and vesicles, toxins, enzymes, which act both directly and indirectly through the activation of a variety of macromolecules that themselves are destructive to the host. The elaboration of several of these virulence factors appears to be closely regulated by the expression of host factors (i.e., hemin) that appear in several in vivo animal models of pathogenesis to control the virulence of the specific microbial species. Recent studies in a number of laboratories involved in studies of both oral and nonoral diseases indicate that those observations relevant to pathogenesis and virulence in in vitro models may have little if any applicability to that which occurs in vivo.
Growth and Morphogenetic Factors in Bone Induction: Role of Osteogenin and Related Bone Morphogenetic Proteins in Craniofacial and Periodontal Bone Repair
Authors: Ripamonti Ugo , Hari Reddi A.
Published: January 2017

Bone has considerable potential for repair as illustrated by the phenomenon of fracture healing. Repair and regeneration of bone recapitulate the sequential stages of development. It is well known that demineralized bone matrix has the potential to induce new bone formation locally at a heterotopic site of implantation. The sequential development of bone is reminiscent of endochondral bone differentiation during bone development. The collagenous matrix-induced bone formation is a prototype model for matrix-cell interactions in vivo. The developmental cascade includes migration of progenitor cells by chemotaxis, attachment of cells through fibronectin, proliferation of mesenchymal cells, and differentiation of bone. The bone inductive protein, osteogenin, was isolated by heparin affinity chromatography. Osteogenin initiates new bone formation and is promoted by other growth factors. Recently, the genes for osteogenin and related bone morphogenetic proteins were cloned and expressed. Recombinant osteogenin is osteogenic in vivo. The future prospects for bone induction are bright, and this is an exciting frontier with applications in oral and orthopaedic surgery.
Oral Effects of Drug Abuse
Authors: Rees Terry D.
Published: January 2017

Drug abuse is a major problem in the U.S. and most other countries of the world today. Many studies, surveys, and case reports have described the adverse social and medical effects of drug abuse; yet surprisingly little is known about the specific effects of many of these drugs in the oral cavity. This article reviews the current state of knowledge concerning the systemic and oral effects of drugs of abuse and the dental management of addicted patients.
HIV-Related Infections of the Oral Cavity
Authors: Ficarra G. , Shillitoe E.J.
Published: January 2017

Oral infections are among the first manifestations of infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). They include fungal, viral, and bacterial infections and range from being essentially trivial, through troublesome to life threatening. Although some infections are due to overproliferation of the normal oral flora, others are due to organisms that normally are not found in the mouth. The clinical features of many of these infections have now been characterized, and clinical trials have indicated the optimal management. However, for many infections, the underlying processes are still not clear, and improvements in treatment are necessary.
Concepts of Osteoblast Growth and Differentiation: Basis for Modulation of Bone Cell Development and Tissue Formation
Authors: Lian Jane B. , Stein Gary S.
Published: January 2017

The combined application of molecular, biochemical, histochemical, and ultrastructural approaches has defined a temporal sequence of gene expression associated with development of the bone cell phenotype in primary osteoblast cultures. The peak levels of expressed genes reflect a developmental sequence of bone cell differentiation characterized by three principal periods: proliferation, extracellular matrix maturation and mineralization, and two restriction points to which the cells can progress but cannot pass without further signals. The regulation of cell growth and bone-specific gene expression has been examined during this developmental sequence and is discussed within the context of several unique concepts. These are (1) that oncogene expression in proliferating osteoblasts contributes to the suppression of genes expressed postproliferatively, (2) that hormone modulation of a gene is dependent upon the maturational state of the osteoblast, and (3) that chromatin structure and the presence of nucleosomes contribute to three-dimensional organization of gene promoters that support synergistic and/or antagonistic activities of physiologic mediators of bone cell growth and differentiation.
Recent Advances in Primary Palate and Midface Morphogenesis Research
Authors: Diewert Virginia M. , Wang Kang-Yee
Published: January 2017

During the sixth week of human development, the primary palate develops as facial prominences enlarge around the nasal pits to form the premaxillary region. Growth of craniofacial components changes facial morphology and affects the extent of contact between the facial prominences. Our recent studies have focused on developing methods to analyze growth of the primary palate and the craniofacial complex to define morphological phases of normal development and to determine alterations leading to cleft lip malformation. Analysis of human embryos in the Carnegie Embryology Collection and mouse embryos of cleft lip and noncleft strains showed that human and mouse embryos have similar phases of primary palate development: first, an epithelial seam, the nasal fin, forms; then a mesenchymal bridge develops through the nasal fin and enlarges rapidly. A robust mesenchymal bridge must form between the facial prominences before advancing midfacial growth patterns tend to separate the facial components as the medial nasal region narrows and elongates, the nasal pits narrow, and the primary choanae (posterior nares) open posterior to the primary palate. In mouse strains with cleft lip gene, maxillary growth, nasal fin formation, and mesenchymal replacement of the nasal fin were all delayed compared with noncleft strains of mice. Successful primary palate formation involves a sequence of local cellular events that are closely timed with spatial changes associated with craniofacial growth that must occur within a critical developmental period.
Salivary Gland Function and Aging: A Model for Studying the Interaction of Aging and Systemic Disease
Authors: Baum Bruce J. , Ship Jonathan A. , Wu Ava J.
Published: January 2017

This review describes an approach to examining the interaction of aging and systemic disease on a key aspect of oral physiology, salivation. The approach requires several steps: defining general health, and a specific physiological function, at different ages; defining a disease of interest and the influence of the disease on the specific physiological function; and determining if the disease can affect performance of the physiological function with increased age.
Anticipations Control Behavior: Animal Behavior in an Anticipatory Learning Classifier System
Authors: Butz Martin V , Hoffmann Joachim
Published: January 2017

The concept of anticipations controlling behavior is introduced. Background is provided about the importance of anticipations from a psychological perspective. Based on the psychological background wrapped in a framework of anticipatory behavioral control, the anticipatory learning classifier system ACS2 is explained. ACS2 learns and generalizes on-line a predictive environmental model (a model that allows the prediction of future environmental states). The model is a subjective model, that is, no global state information is available to the agent. It is shown that ACS2 can simulate anticipatory learning processes and anticipatory controlled behavior by means of the model. The simulations of various rat experiments, previously conducted by Colwill and Rescorla, show that the incorporation of anticipations is indeed crucial for simulating the behavior observed in rats. Despite the simplicity of the tasks, we show that the observed behavior reaches beyond the capabilities of model-free reinforcement learning as well as model-based reinforcement learning without on-line generalization. Possible future impacts of anticipations in adaptive learning systems are outlined.
Modeling Mate Choice in Monogamous Mating Systems with Courtship
Authors: Simao Jorge , Todd Peter M
Published: January 2017

We present a conceptual framework for the study of mate choice in monogamous mating systems with non-negligible courtship time. Within this framework, we develop a mate choice model for the common case where individuals have a changing social network of potential partners. The performance and robustness of different agent strategies is evaluated, emphasizing the important role that courtship plays in mate choice. Specifically, the courtship period can be used by individuals to swap to better partners when they become available. We found that using courtship as a mechanism for holding partners before full commitment to mating provides strategic advantages relative to sequential search using aspiration levels. Moreover, simple heuristics that require little computation provide a degree of robustness to environmental (parameter) changes that is unattainable by strategies based on more extensive information processing. Our model produces realistic patterns of assortative mating (high within-couple mate value correlations) and rates of mating that match empirical data on human sexual/romantic relationships much more closely than previous accounts from biology and the social sciences.
Is Positive Bias in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder a Function of Low Competence or Disorder Status?
Authors: Watabe Yuko , Owens Julie S. , Serrano Verenea , Evans Steven W.
Published: January 2017

Previous literature suggests that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit a positive bias (PB), defined as an over-estimation of one’s own ability as compared with actual ability. However, it is possible that the larger discrepancy (i.e., PB) in children with ADHD is accounted for by lower competence levels rather than unusually high perceptions of competence. In this study, we investigated the extent to which PB is a perceptual bias associated with ADHD and/or a function of low competence. Thirty-two children who met research diagnostic criteria for ADHD and 31 control children were exposed to a novel task where possible success on the task (i.e., competence) was manipulated. This procedure created low, medium, and high levels of competence in children with and without ADHD, and PB was measured at each level of competence. Six, 2 (ADHD or no ADHD) × 3 (competence levels: low, medium, or high) mixed-model analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted with children’s estimation of their competence and PB. The results indicated that ADHD status was not significant, whereas competence level was significant in five out of six analyses. Implications for the measurement and conceptualization of PB in ADHD are discussed.
Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) Short Form: Longitudinal Measurement Invariance in Two Community Samples of Youth
Authors: Nelemans Stefanie A. , Meeus Wim H. J. , Branje Susan J. T. , Van Leeuwen Karla , Colpin Hilde , Verschueren Karine , Goossens Luc
Published: January 2017

In this study, we examined the longitudinal measurement invariance of a 12-item short version of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) in two 4-year longitudinal community samples ( Nsample 1 = 815, Mage T1 = 13.38 years; Nsample 2 = 551, Mage T1 = 14.82 years). Using confirmatory factor analyses, we found strict longitudinal measurement invariance for the three-factor structure of the SAS-A across adolescence, across samples, and across gender. Some developmental changes in social anxiety were found from early to mid-adolescence, as well as gender differences across adolescence. These findings suggest that the short version of the SAS-A is a developmentally appropriate instrument that can be used effectively to examine adolescent social anxiety development.
Pharmaceutical issues: preparation and handling
Authors: Sewell Graham J.
Published: January 2017

The preparation and safe handling of antineoplastic agents as presented during the Fourth International Symposium on Oncology Pharmacy Practice are reviewed. Included are discussions of the class II safety cabinets versus negative pressure isolators, a new type of drug vial that may facilitate safer han dling of antineoplastic agents, and a robotic system being developed for the preparation of large-vol ume cytotoxic infusions. Newer infusion devices, monitoring for occupational exposure to cytotoxic agents, and problems with drug stability, particu larly in the ambulatory setting, are also discussed.
Pharmacoeconomics and quality of life: The missing link
Authors: Davidson Terri Graves
Published: January 2017

Pharmacoeconomics and quality of life were major themes that resonated throughout the Fourth International Symposium on Oncology Pharmacy Practice. The following report, supplemented by information from the ISOPP IV Symposium, defines pharmacoeconomics research and describes the methods used to perform pharma coeconomic analyses and quality of life studies. Results of original pharmacoeconomic studies per formed in cancer patients are critiqued.
Evaluating and Refining the Conceptual Model Used in the Study of Health and Activity in Preschool Environments (SHAPES) Intervention
Authors: Saunders Ruth P. , Pfeiffer Karin , Brown William H. , Howie Erin K. , Dowda Marsha , O’Neill Jennifer R. , McIver Kerry , Pate Russell R.
Published: January 2017

This study investigated the utility of the Study of Health and Activity in Preschool Environments (SHAPES) conceptual model, which targeted physical activity (PA) behavior in preschool children, by examining the relationship between implementation monitoring data and child PA during the school day. We monitored implementation completeness and fidelity based on multiple elements identified in the conceptual model. Comparing high-implementing, low-implementing, and control groups revealed no association between implementation and outcomes. We performed post hoc analyses, using process data, to refine our conceptual model’s depiction of an effective preschool PA-promoting environment. Results suggest that a single component of the original four-component conceptual model, providing opportunities for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity through recess for 4-year-old children in preschool settings, may be a good starting place for increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Interventions that are implemented with optimal levels of completeness and fidelity are more likely to achieve behavior change if they are based on accurate conceptual models. Examining the mechanisms through which an intervention produces its effects, as articulated in the conceptual model that guides it, is particularly important for environmentally focused interventions because they are guided by emerging frameworks. The results of this study underscore the utility of using implementation monitoring data to examine the conceptual model on which the intervention is based.
Cost-Benefit Analysis in a Situation of Unemployment: Calculating the Decline in Unemployment as a Result of the Realization of a Government Project
Authors: Zuidema Thijs
Published: January 2017

The subject of this article is the cost-benefit analysis (cba) of government projects in a situation of unemployment. In calculating the opportunity costs of a project, the costs of otherwise unemployed persons employed by the project are valued at a shadow wage below the market wage. An estimate of this shadow wage can be derived from an estimate of the decline in unemployment as a result of the project. To this end, we deduce a response function on the basis of UV-analysis (U=unemployment, V=vacancies) in this article. This response function was estimated for the Netherlands. The empirical results indicate that the probability of a decline in unemployment as a result of a unit increase in labor demand is rather high.
Tax Incentives for Innovative Energy Sources: Extensions of E-K Complementarity
Authors: Sav G. Thomas
Published: January 2017

This article examines the conditions under which tax incentives for innovative energy sources can be counterproductive, thereby leading to an increased postsubsidy use of nonrenewable, conventional fuel sources. The general problem of energy-capital complementarity is extended to the residential-sector production of space heating and domestic hot water services and is empirically explored in the context of federal and state tax incentives for solar thermal processes. Regional substitution and price elasticities are estimated using pseudo data generated from an engineering process model. The results enable one to analyze a host of possible future price scenarios under which a policy of subsidization would be injudicious.
‘Blokey’ Newsroom Culture
Authors: North Louise
Published: January 2017

This paper seeks to address the gap in Australian media studies and feminist media scholarship relating to the way newsroom culture is embodied. How does the numerical dominance of men in journalism, particularly in decision-making roles, affect newsroom culture? How do male and female journalists understand this inequality? The paper first briefly attends to research into occupational culture and feminist theories of the body to address the central question ‘How is newsroom culture embodied?’ It then engages with this question more thoroughly via an analysis of my own interviews with 17 Australian male and female print news media journalists. It finds that, even though women have entered the industry in unprecedented numbers, a ‘blokey’ or hegemonic masculinity continues to shape news newsroom culture.
Regional Variations on a Global Theme: Formatting Television for the Middle East and beyond
Authors: Thomas Amos Owen
Published: January 2017

The issue of cultural interchange of foreign programming is growing ever more pertinent within the deregulated television industries of emergent economies and regions. Adaptation of global program formats has become a common practice around the world, though it has proven more challenging in the Middle East, in a context of variable religious conservatism, political freedoms and economic affluence. Drawing on case histories of format adaptations that have experienced differing degrees of success within the region, this paper develops inductively a typology for contingent creative strategies, namely replica, indigene, collage and hybrid. With an eye to targeting both advertisers and audiences, television networks and program producers might thus cater to diverse cultural sensibilities across sub-regional audiences when broadcasting regionally. Finally, the paper highlights under-researched issues surrounding media reproduction for geolinguistic regions.
SBS: Is There a Role for a Multicultural Broadcaster in 2009 and beyond?
Authors: Meagher Bruce
Published: January 2017

This article notes that the degree of retreat from multiculturalism in public policy in Australia since the mid-1990s has challenged the rationales for government support for the Special Broadcasting Service, and presents the case for ongoing community and government support for SBS in terms of its distinctive contribution to public debates within Australia, and Australia's place in the world. It is noted that this is not uniquely a function of its news and current affairs programs, but is seen across a suite of programming ranging from documentaries to locally produced drama, light entertainment and comedy. It also emphasises the language support remit for SBS, and some of the new challenges faced in supporting communities for recently arrived refugees into Australia.
The Special Broadcasting Service in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Hawkins Gay
Published: January 2017

This paper considers the recent inquiry of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy into the future of public service media in a digital environment in the context of both the author's own work on the history of the Special Broadcasting Service (Ang et al., 2008) and the continuing obligations and challenges that public service media face in terms of the wider remit of helping audiences to negotiate the reality of cultural diversity and difference. It focuses on how SBS has contributed to an expanded understanding of the nature of citizenship in contemporary Australian society, challenges it faces in extending that understanding of citizenship to expanded public participation in the creation and distribution of media content, and its current and future relationship to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Emergence of Pan-Asian Brands: Regional Strategies of Japanese Cosmetics Brands
Authors: Oyama Shinji
Published: January 2017

In this article, I analyse the regional strategy of luxury Japanese cosmetics brands to investigate the claim of the Japanisation of Asia. I begin by examining the emergence of pan-Asian advertising for Japanese cosmetic brands, then make the case for an emphasis on branding, as distinct from advertising, which changes the way in which we understand this regional phenomenon. I explore the different ways in which a brand engages consumers, and argue for a sober assessment of the relative importance of advertising (and the salience of image of country of origin) in the overall branding process. I then follow the regional circulation of Japanese brands and media contents, neither of which can any longer be understood coherently in terms of a national framework such as Japanisation. I argue that the globalisation of advertising in Asia is a complex process shaped by large multinational corporations and a disjunctive flow of media contents, and that a more pronounced focus on brands will help to make sense of this process.
Australia's Proposed Internet Filtering System: Its Implications for Animation, Comics and Gaming (ACG) and Slash Fan Communities
Authors: McLelland Mark
Published: January 2017

This paper investigates the implications of the federal government's proposed internet filtering system in the light of Australia's blanket prohibition on ‘child pornography’ (including cartoons, animation, drawings, digitally manipulated photographs and text) for Australian fan communities of ACG and slash. ACG/slash fan groups in Australia and elsewhere routinely consume, produce and disseminate material containing ‘prohibited content’ (i.e. featuring fictitious ‘under-age’ characters in violent and sexual scenarios). Moreover, a large proportion of the fans producing and trading in these images are themselves ‘under age’. Focusing specifically on the overwhelmingly female fandom surrounding the Japanese Boys’ Love (BL) manga, the paper argues that legislators have misrecognised the nature and scope of these online communities. It is also argued that the sheer scale of this kind of material, and the fact that it is legal to download and purchase in jurisdictions such as the United States and Japan, make attempts to prohibit access to these purely fictional depictions in Australia unworkable.
Shifting Positions to the Media Discourse on Terrorism: Critical Points in Audience Members' Meaning-Making Experiences
Authors: Aly Anne
Published: January 2017

In his essay on encoding/decoding, Hall (1980) acknowledges that events in the broader socio-political context influence the way audiences position themselves in relation to the dominant hegemonic discourse. This article reports on an investigation into how Australian audience members continuously reviewed and shifted their positions to media texts that contributed to an over-arching evolving and changing discourse of terrorism in the Australian popular media. The findings of the study illuminate critical points in meaning-making in relation to the evolving discourse on terrorism. These critical points are not single moments, but rather a series of determinate moments where messages are decoded, subsumed into the range of cultural codes and discourses available to the audience, which are then implicated in the decoding of other messages, and then also subsumed into the cultural codes of the audience.
Television Comedy and Light Entertainment
Authors: Collins Felicity , Turnbull Sue , Bye Susan
Published: January 2017

This issue of MIA provides an opportunity to consider the various ways in which light entertainment and comedy intersect with the national, social and broadcast contexts in which they are produced.
Character and Comic Innovation in Australia You're Standing in it
Authors: Bye Susan
Published: January 2017

This article focuses on the sketch show Australia You're Standing In It in order to trace the contribution of the ABC to the revitalisation of the comedy landscape of Australian television during the 1980s and beyond. I argue that when Australia You're Standing In It was screened on the ABC in 1983, it revived the identification of ABC television with comic invention and heralded a subsequent explosion of TV sketch and stand-up comedy. For the national broadcaster, the long-term benefits of the show's modest success were an increasing confidence in the place of comedy at the ABC — a confidence underpinned by the vitality of the new Melbourne-based Light Entertainment Unit.
Chasing Reporters: Intertextuality, Entertainment and Public Knowledge
Authors: Harrington Stephen
Published: January 2017

This article examines ‘What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?’ — a very successful weekly segment from the ABC program The Chaser's War on Everything. It argues that, through its intertextual satire, this regular segment acts not as a traditional news program would in presenting news updates on current events, but as a text that reflects on the way news is reported, and how this in turn may shape public discourse. While the program has been highly controversial (enduring many a loud call for it to be pulled from air), this form of light entertainment can play an important public service by encouraging citizens to ‘read through’ (Gray, 2006: 104) commercial current affairs’ façade of ‘quality’ journalism.
Cross-Dressed and Crossing over from Stage to Television
Authors: Bollen Jonathan
Published: January 2017

Female impersonation was a popular aspect of light entertainment in mid-twentieth century Australia. On stage, the Kiwis Revue Company, an army entertainment unit from New Zealand, toured extensively for eight years from 1946, with three female impersonators as the highlight of an all-male bill. Female impersonation was also standard fare on variety shows during television's first decade. In such sketch comedies and spoofs lie television's strongest claims to inheriting the traditions of variety performance from the stage. Comedic drag roles, in particular, came directly from the stage, for the visual incongruities of costume, wigs and make-up would have had less currency on radio. This article explores the cross-gendered dimensions of light entertainment on television and stage, drawing on film and television recordings at the National Film and Sound Archive and research at Australia's performing arts collections.
Aligning Communication, Cultural and Media Studies Research and Scholarship with Industry and Policy: Australian Instances
Authors: Cunningham Stuart
Published: January 2017

This article reflects on aspects of what is claimed to be the distinctiveness of Australian communication, cultural and media studies, focusing on two cases – the cultural policy debate in the 1990s, and the concept of creative industries in the 2000s – and the relations between them, which highlight the alignment of research and scholarship with industry and policy and with which the author has been directly involved. Both ‘moments' have been controversial; the three main lines of critique of such alignment of research and scholarship with industry and policy (its untoward proximity to tenets of the dominant neo-liberal ideology; the evacuation of cultural value by the economic; and the possible loss of critical vocation of the humanities scholar) are debated.
Communication in Aotearoa New Zealand: The Challenge of Engaging Globally and Acting Locally
Authors: Henderson Alison , Simpson Mary , Weaver C. Kay
Published: January 2017

This article outlines the evolution of communication studies within the university sector in Aotearoa New Zealand and how this diverse disciplinary field is situated within the academy through teaching and research. It identifies the highly competitive tertiary education structures and systems that can create disincentives for the collective organising of communication scholars both within and between tertiary institutions. At the same time, it acknowledges the international disciplinary contribution of Aotearoa New Zealand researchers, and recent successful inroads into gaining major grants. The article reflects on the challenges that come with the need to position ourselves as ‘internationally relevant’ while also finding ways of developing and supporting local communication studies initiatives, and contributing to the advancement of Aotearoa New Zealand as a bicultural nation.
Minding the Gaps
Authors: Matheson Donald
Published: January 2017

This article is a reflection – from the position of a journalism researcher – on one of the distinctive features of research on Aotearoa New Zealand media and communication and some of the reasons for that. Studying and teaching about this field in Aotearoa New Zealand is a matter of negotiating the large gaps in academic knowledge about the local situation. In particular, the article suggests researchers prioritise theory-building about the position of media within this small country that is so heavily dependent on owners and media products from overseas.
Building Capacity or Burning Out? Supporting Indigenous Performing Artists and Filmmakers
Authors: Glow Hilary , Johanson Katya
Published: January 2017

Public support for both Indigenous filmmaking and the live performing arts has a number of common features: at a national level the present schemes were introduced in the early 1990s, and both sets of schemes aim to improve the capacity of Indigenous practitioners to tell their stories to national and international audiences. Yet, in the late 2000s, Screen Australia's support for filmmaking has contributed to well-known successes, whereas Australia Council support for performing arts has been withdrawn from two of the three state-based Indigenous companies. This article reviews the capacity-building strategies offered by the funding agencies to Indigenous filmmaking and performing arts. While the film policies appear to have been more successful than those in the performing arts, both sectors continue to experience obstacles to capacity-building for Indigenous practitioners and organisations.