bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
German Refugees and the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein, 1945-50
Authors: Connor Ian
Published: March 2006

Little research has been undertaken on the political integration of the refugees in post-war Germany, and this article analyses the attitude of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Schleswig-Holstein to the newcomers in the period 1945-50. It argues that the SPD was the first party to recognize the importance of the refugee problem, and that its success in Schleswig-Holstein’s first Landtag Election in 1947 owed much to the newcomers’ support. However, the refugees’ identification with the Social Democrats fell sharply in 1949-50, mainly due to the failure of the SPD Government to alleviate their wretched economic conditions. Public disagreements concerning policy towards the newcomers also tarnished the party’s standing among refugee voters. The SPD’s failure to overcome the challenge of balancing the conflicting interests of its refugee and indigenous voters formed the background to the triumph of the refugee party - the Block der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteten - in the Landtag Election in 1950.
French Singularity, the Resistance and the Vichy Syndrome: Lucie Aubrac to the Rescue
Authors: Reid Donald
Published: March 2006

Historian Claire Andrieu remarks that the stories of resister heroines like Lucie Aubrac are compatible with Mona Ozouf’s ‘French singularity’ model of women in the public sphere. Aubrac was of modest origins. She had little sympathy for the bourgeois feminism of the inter-war period, but found in the Resistance a movement that allowed her to participate fully in the national polity. To counter Vichy Syndrome denigration of the importance of the Resistance during the Fifth Republic, Aubrac presented the Resistance in terms consonant with ‘French singularity’, while reiterating her wartime contention that women had played a central role in the Resistance and that only recognition of this could reveal the true nature and extent of the Resistance. Aubrac came to express sympathy for the women’s movement in the Fifth Republic, recognizing that her own experience of ‘French singularity’ may have prevented her from fully comprehending the situation of women in France.
Municipal Government during the Occupation (1940-5): A Comparative Model of Belgium, the Netherlands and France
Authors: Wouters Nico
Published: March 2006

This article argues that four factors between September 1939 and 1940 are crucial for developing a comparative occupation model of Belgium, France and the Netherlands: first, the influence of September 1939; second, the invasion of May 1940; third, the nature of the German and local ‘New Order’ regimes; and fourth, whether a country had experienced occupation in the First World War. The ‘New Order’ regimes that were built on the foundations of 1940 took on radically different characteristics with three crucial variables in terms of, first, the political nature of the New Order; second, the reforms of the municipal administrative apparatus; and third, the reforms of the police and judiciary apparatus. The article argues that a combination of these variables led to different models of occupation, in which Belgium and France formed opposites and the Netherlands possessed a somewhat ‘hybrid’ model. It is argued that until 1943 the centralized French model offered the most advantages for the Germans, while after 1943, it was the Belgium localized model.
Apparent and Internal Validity of a Monte Carlo–Markov Model for Cardiovascular Disease in a Cohort Follow-up Study
Authors: Nijhuis Rogier L. , Stijnen Theo , Peeters Anna , Witteman Jacqueline C.M. , Hofman Albert , Hunink M. G. Myriam
Published: March 2006

Objective. To determine the apparent and internal validity of the Rotterdam Ischemic heart disease & Stroke Computer (RISC) model, a Monte Carlo–Markov model, designed to evaluate the impact of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and their modification on life expectancy (LE) and cardiovascular disease–free LE (DFLE) in a general population (hereinafter, these will be referred to together as (DF)LE). Methods. The model is based on data from the Rotterdam Study, a cohort follow-up study of 6871 subjects aged 55 years and older who visited the research center for risk factor assessment at baseline (1990–1993) and completed a follow-up visit 7 years later (original cohort). The transition probabilities and risk factor trends used in the RISC model were based on data from 3501 subjects (the study cohort). To validate the RISC model, the number of simulated CVD events during 7 years’ follow-up were compared with the observed number of events in the study cohort and the original cohort, respectively, and simulated (DF)LEs were compared with the (DF)LEs calculated from multistate life tables. Results .Both in the study cohort and in the original cohort, the simulated distribution of CVD events was consistent with the observed number of events (CVD deaths: 7.1% v. 6.6% and 7.4% v. 7.6%, respectively; non-CVD deaths: 11.2% v. 11.5% and 12.9% v. 13.0%, respectively). The distribution of (DF)LEs estimated with the RISC model consistently encompassed the (DF)LEs calculated with multistate life tables. Conclusions. The simulated events and (DF)LE estimates from the RISC model are consistent with observed data from a cohort follow-up study
Patient-Physician Fit: An Exploratory Study of a Multidimensional Instrument
Authors: Schwartz Alan , Hasnain Memoona , Eiser Arnold R. , Lincoln Elizabeth , Elstein Arthur S.
Published: March 2006

Background. Patients face difficulty selecting physicians because they have little knowledge of how physicians’ behaviors fit with their own preferences. Objective. To develop scales of patient and physician behavior preferences and determine whether patient-physician fit is associated with patient satisfaction. Design. Two cross-sectional surveys of patients and providers. Setting. Ambulatory clinics at a university medical center. Participants. Eight general internists, 14 family physicians, and 193 patients. Measurements. Two instruments were developed to measure 6 preferences for physician behaviors: 1) considering nonmedical aspects of the patient’s life, 2) familiarity with herbal medicine, 3) physician decision making, 4) providing information, 5) considering the patient’s religion, and 6) treating what the patient perceives as his or her problem. Patients reported how they would prefer physicians to behave, and physicians reported how they preferred to behave. Patients also rated satisfaction with their physician. Results. Post hoc tests found that as a group, patients scored higher than physicians in preference for the physician to provide information and lower in preference for considering nonmedical aspects of the patient’s life and religious beliefs. As hypothesized, preference differences accounted for significant variance in satisfaction in overall tests (19% in the family medicine patients and 25% in internal medicine patients). Greater satisfaction was associated with fit between patient and physician preferences for physician decision making (in the internal medicine patients) and with fit in providing information and consideration of religion (in family medicine patients) Conclusions. Patients often prefer behaviors other than how their physicians prefer to behave. Preference fit is associated with enhanced patient satisfaction. Physicians should attend to whether patients want religion and other nonmedical aspects of their lives considered. Health plans may wish to provide tools to help patients choose physicians by fit
Engineering Risk Analysis of a Hospital Oxygen Supply System
Authors: Deleris Léa A. , Yeo Gee Liek , Seiver Adam , Paté-Cornell M. Elisabeth
Published: March 2006

Reports from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) have emphasized the potential for injury to patients caused by failures in oxygen supply systems. This article presents a model of patient risk related to the process of supplying oxygen at a single university hospital. One of the goals of the article is to illustrate how probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) can be used by hospitals to assess and mitigate risk and, therefore, to meet JCAHO requirements. PRA techniques are useful to 1) model the reliability of a complex system and 2) assess the cost-effectiveness of different risk mitigation measures. The authors focus on the risk estimation step, describing in detail their modeling of the oxygen supply system and analysis of the results. For the hospital that the authors study (20,000 admissions yearly), the total expected number of fatalities from oxygen system failure is 44 over a 30-year time horizon. The greatest contribution to the risk (94% of the expected number of fatalities) comes from problems that involve the supply network (e.g., damage to structure and poisoning) as opposed to incidents that occur inside patient rooms. Although the threat to patient safety is not dramatic, health care organizations should be concerned about potential failures of their oxygen system because improving this system could avoid low-probability, high-consequence failures at a low cost
Cost-Effectiveness of Osteoporosis Screening and Treatment with Hormone Replacement Therapy, Raloxifene, or Alendronate
Authors: Mobley Lee R. , Hoerger Thomas J. , Wittenborn John S. , Galuska Deborah A. , Rao Jaya K.
Published: March 2006

Recent information about osteoporosis treatments and their nonfracture side effects suggests the need for a new costeffectiveness analysis. The authors estimate the cost effectiveness of screening women for osteoporosis at age 65 and treating those who screen positive with hormone replacement therapy (HRT), raloxifene, or alendronate. A Markov model of osteoporosis disease progression simulates costs and outcomes of women aged 65 years. Incremental cost effectiveness ratios of screen-and-treat strategies are calculated relative to a no-screen, no-treat (NST) strategy. Disease progression parameters are derived from clinical trials; cost and quality-of-life parameters are based on review of cost databases and cost-effectiveness studies. Women are screened using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and women screening positive are treated with HRT, raloxifene, or alendronate. Screening and treatment with HRT increase costs and lower quality-adjusted life years (QALYs; relative to the NST strategy). The only scenario (of several) in the sensitivity analysis in which HRT increases QALYs is when it is assumed that there are no drug-related (nonfracture) health effects. Raloxifene increases costs and QALYs; its cost-effectiveness ratio is $447,559 per QALY. When prescribed for the shortest duration modeled, raloxifene’s cost-effectiveness ratio approached $133,000 per QALY. Alendronate is the most cost-effective strategy; its cost-effectiveness ratio is $72,877 per QALY. Alendronate’s cost-effectiveness ratio approaches $55,000 per QALY when treatment effects last for 5 years or the discount rate is set to zero. The authors conclude that screening and treating with alendronate are more costeffective than screening and treating with raloxifene or HRT. Relative to an NST strategy, alendronate has a fairly good cost-effectiveness ratio
Toward Targeted Hypertension Screening Guidelines
Authors: van Buuren Stef , Boshuizen Hendriek C. , Reijneveld Sijmen A.
Published: March 2006

Background. Guidelines for screening and subsequent treatment of hypertension vary widely between countries. Part of this variation can be attributed to systematic differences between populations, but little is known about the way in which guidelines should be targeted to the population of interest. Optimal guidelines should have high yield and low complexity. The goal is to fit procedures for screening and subsequent treatment of hypertension optimally to a specific population. Methods. Simulation study on individual cardiovascular risk profiles, with drug treatment altering the 10-year cardiovascular risk. The analysis compares the consequences of various screening and treatment alternatives. The reference scenario consists of the Dutch hypertension guidelines for primary care. A representative sample of the Dutch population aged 20 years and older is taken as the target. Main outcome measures include incidence, quality-adjusted life years won, number needed to screen, and costs (prevention, morbidity, and mortality). The discount rate is 4%. Results. Strict adherence to the current hypertension guidelines saves costs (i.e., the total prevention costs are less than the costs of prevented morbidity and mortality). The following changes increase its cost-effectiveness: use of lower blood pressure levels for screening and treatment, reduction of the number of screens from 5 to 3, and active call-up of high-risk patients. The adherence to guidelines has a large influence on actual cost-effectiveness achieved in practice. Conclusions. Appropriate targeting of hypertension guidelines to a population and critical appraisal of the entire screening procedure can enhance cost-effectiveness
Predictors of Patient Treatment Preferences and Spouse Substituted Judgments: The Case of Dialysis Continuation
Authors: Pruchno Rachel A. , Lemay Edward P. , Feild Lucy , Levinsky Norman G.
Published: March 2006

Objectives. To examine the factors predicting preferences for continued hemodialysis treatment among patients with endstage renal disease (ESRD) and to compare these factors to those predicting their spouses’ predictions of patients’ preferences (substituted judgments). Design. Descriptive, crosssectional. Participants. Total of 291 hemodialysis patients, aged 55 years and older, and their spouses. Measurement. Hypothetical scenarios were designed to elicit preferences for dialysis continuation under various health conditions. Other measures included the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Negative Affect Scale, Kidney Disease Symptoms Scale, Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness, single-item global subjective health and quality-of-life measures, 2-item fear of end-of-life suffering measure, and selected demographics. Results. Patients’ preferences and spouses’ judgments were only moderately correlated (r = 0.33). Multiple regression analyses revealed that patients’ preferences to continue dialysis were positively related to education, subjective quality of life, and religious participation and negatively related to months of ESRD treatment and fear of end-of-life suffering (R2 = 0.15). Spouses ’ substituted judgments regarding patients’ dialysis continuation preferences were positively related to African American race and spouses’ perceptions of patients ’ quality of life and negatively related to months of ESRD treatment, spouses’ perception of patients’ negative affect, and spouses’ own fear of end-of-life suffering. Conclusion. Patients and surrogates used different criteria in formulating judgments about continuation of life-sustaining treatment and had different perceptions about the patients’ condition. Furthermore, the substituted judgments of spouses were influenced by their own characteristics. These processes may explain inaccurate substituted judgments.
The Cost-Effectiveness of Strategies to Reduce Mortality from an Intentional Release of Aerosolized Anthrax Spores
Authors: Braithwaite R. Scott , Fridsma Douglas , Roberts Mark S.
Published: March 2006

Background. Intentional exposures to aerosolized Bacillus anthracis spores have caused fatalities. Objective. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of strategies to reduce mortality from future inhalational anthrax exposures. Methods. Computer cohort simulation of a 100,000-person single-site exposure (worst-case scenario) and a 100-person multiplesite exposure (resembling the recent US attack). For each scenario, universal vaccination and an emergency surveillance and response (ESR) system were compared with a default strategy that assumed eventual discovery of the exposure. Results. If an exposure was unlikely to occur or was small in scale, neither vaccination nor an ESR system was cost-effective. If an exposure was certain and large in scale, an ESR system was more cost-effective than vaccination ($73 v. $29,600 per life-year saved), and a rapid response saved more lives than improved surveillance. Conclusions. Strategies to reduce deaths from anthrax attacks are cost-effective only if large exposures are certain. A faster response is more beneficial than enhanced surveillance
Delivering Sizzling Services and Solid Support with Open Source Software
Authors: Evans Roger
Published: March 2006

Gives an overview of open source-based services at the Oslo Public Library, and maps out a plan for international cooperation between libraries to produce a customized Linux distribution for libraries modelled on the Norwegian ‘Skolelinux’ project. Deichmanske Bibliotek/The Oslo Public Library has used the open source LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) for both office support and as a platform for servers providing exciting multimedia services to its target public. If proprietary software had been used, the costs would have been significantly higher and would in most cases have been prohibitive, so that the projects would never have been realized. On client computers, the LOOM combination of open source products (Linux, Open Office, Mozilla) has enabled the library to install many more public computers than would have been possible with a proprietary platform.
Successful Web Survey Methodologies for Measuring the Impact of Networked Electronic Services (MINES for Libraries)
Authors: Franklin Brinley , Plum Terry
Published: March 2006

MINES for Libraries is a web-based survey methodology that is proving to be a valid and reliable method for assessing networked electronic resources usage. The methodology has collected usage data on the libraries’ electronic resources, including electronic journals, electronic books, databases, the online catalog, and services such as interlibrary loan. It can also integrate data on non-subscription resources such as digital collections, open access journals, pre-print and post-print servers, and institutional repositories. This web survey method is more successful in libraries that have implemented a network assessment infrastructure. To illustrate its utility, an overview of the methodology, a discussion of assessment infrastructures, and recent results from MINES for Libraries surveys at more than 30 North American universities during the last 2 years are presented, including health sciences libraries, main academic libraries, and a Canadian library consortium of colleges and universities.
From republican virtue to global imaginary: changing visions of the historian Polybius
Authors: Inglis David , Robertson Roland
Published: March 2006

The ancient Greek historian and political scientist Polybius is not as well known in the present day as figures such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato and Aristotle. This is in part due to his having lived in the Hellenistic period, an epoch often thought to be characteristic of Greek cultural and political decline, rather than in the earlier ‘golden age’ of Greek intellectual life in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Yet Polybius’s ideas have been of profound importance in modern western thought, in areas as diverse as historiography, philosophy of history and the theorization of political institutions. This article illustrates the main contours of how subsequent thinkers have received and made use of Polybian ideas and themes, and argues for regarding Polybius as an important precursor of contemporary social scientific analyses of ‘globalization’. The article first excavates and identifies some of the main forms of appropriation of Polybius’s ideas that have occurred in the West over the last 500 years. Secondly, it delineates the most important appropriation of Polybius in the human sciences that has been effected in recent times, namely the use made of Polybian themes by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in Empire, their influential diagnosis of the contemporary state of world affairs. Thirdly, the article proffers a critique of these authors’ use of Polybius, and in its stead offers an alternative mode of appropriation of his work for the purposes of analytically reorienting the human sciences in light of present-day concerns with globalization and conditions of globality. It is argued that, far from being a figure of only antiquarian interest, Polybius continues to be of much relevance for human scientists today, for he may be seen as a foundational figure in efforts to think about the ‘global’ level in human affairs.
Johann Friedrich Herbart: Urvater of social psychology
Authors: Jahoda Gustav
Published: March 2006

Herbart’s attempts to apply psychology to society receive scant mention in English-language histories of psychology. In Germany, however, Herbart has long been regarded as the founder of social psychology. The background of his life and work is sketched, and the gradual extension of his individual psychology towards the social is traced. Although he did not build a coherent system, his approach was novel and several of his original ideas anticipated some later social psychology. Herbart had a number of prominent followers, and through them made a powerful impact on 19th-century social thought.
Reasons to be cheerful
Authors: Barnett Steven
Published: March 2006

Results of the BJR/YouGov poll show that:

•Few contemplate giving up reading newspapers

•Free-sheets haven't made much impact

•Twice as many young people than other groups polled read papers more often than a year ago

•It's still news that most attracts readers

Analysing the results, Professor Stephen Barnett concludes: "Over the next few years there will be more demands on people's time, an even more expansive media world, more emphasis on immediacy, and more reasons to give up the newspaper habit. There will, certainly, be continued circulation decline. But the evidence suggests that, just as cinema going declined until the eighties and then bottomed out and rose again, newspapers will find their plateau. This presupposes that the business models - in particular for the quality end whose greater reliance on advertising may be threatened - will continue to work. But in cultural and consumer terms, as long as the newspaper industry can continue to offer something of real journalistic substance, our data suggest that it will continue to find a willing and substantial readership."
Joe Blog’s turn
Authors: Brown Derek
Published: March 2006

Brown puts the case for the world wide web, commenting: "Clearly the internet is going to have a continuing and growing effect on the circulations and audiences of the conventional news media. A new generation, already in adulthood, is attuned to the electronic media, and adept at using them... And an important aspect of the internet that makes the paper versus screen debate a trifle redundant is that most text can be formatted in a way that makes it child's play to print out as hard copy. It doesn't look like a real newspaper copy, of course, but here the website is a true source of the written and printed word."
Brave new world
Authors: Marr Andrew
Published: March 2006

The BBC commentator and presenter describes a changing culture and recalls a time when "Britain's culture was much more rigidly divided - there was a class divide in culture far wider than today's. Similarly, the political obsessions of newspapers from the 1950s and 60s right through to the early 80s reflected a tormented, divided, angry society, plagued by intense arguments about nuclear weapons, trades unions, inflation, national decay and mass unemployment. Today we have big arguments too, on everything from Iraq to windfarms, but there isn't somehow the bitterness. Our cultural walls have been slowly demolished. I don't simply mean we have dumbed down; indeed what's happened is something far more interesting and positive than that - the arrival of a genuinely common culture." Marr concludes: "Where we stand is on the edge of a democratic culture we haven't had before, at a time when journalism seems to be growing a little stronger again, enjoying comparative freedom of speech and information, and when only the means of delivery is in doubt, because of the speed of technological change. And as we move into deeper, digital times, now is the time to reassert verbal clarity. Journalists again must be the people who champion good writing against the triumph of image."
Why are women such bullies?
Authors: Rantzen Esther
Published: March 2006

The award-winning TV presenter apologises for having bullied staff in her younger days; she now believes women in TV are trying too hard to copy to behaviour of some male executives. She writes: "Alas, the bully I used to be at my worst is duplicated today in production offices all over the country. And too often it's the women who are doing the bullying. In my experience, a lot of the men have learned to treat people better than did their predecessors... at the same time, many 'new women' moved in the opposite direction. Whether it was to compensate for a perceived feminine weakness, or because they were modelling themselves on the worst of the men, or just because there resides in many women the capacity to turn into the Wicked Witch of the West, too many have adopted the hectoring style of The Weakest Link. They take a delight in shooting down ideas rudely and impatiently, humiliating juniors in public and reducing inexperienced or vulnerable members of staff to tears."
In praise of the tabs (sort of)
Authors: Geary James
Published: March 2006

Time magazine's former Europe editor presents an American's eye-view of the British media and asks: "Reality tabloidism is bold, enterprising, lively and fun. But is it good journalism?" Tabloid sting operations have an air of spectacle and theatre, he writes, and continues: "The outlandishness of the stunts, and the rhetorical shouts with which the stories are delivered, doesn't necessarily have to mean there isn't real substance there. That is not to say, of course, that tabloid stories are invariably benign. Stings often go wrong and too far. Not everything about someone's personal life is fair game. And if the tabs are really interested in serving the public interest, many of them should change the irresponsible and ill-informed way they handle issues like immigration, asylum seekers and the European Union. But love them or loath them, the tabloids have got gumption - an impudence and impertinence toward power that is for me one of the defining characteristics of the British press. For good and for ill, nowhere else does this attitude exist with such vibrancy and virulence."
Cartoons... at last a big draw
Authors: Preston Oliver
Published: March 2006

Cartoonist and Cartoon Art Trust chairman Preston celebrates the opening of Britain's first museum dedicated to cartoon art. He observes, "Ralph Steadman got it right [when he wrote] 'As a nation we have found the cartoon art form to be a vital dimension and integral part of our culture and history. For the cartoon to be without a home is to deny the debt that we owe to generations of men and women who have enriched our lives with the wit and perception of their own experiences'." Preston chronicles Britain's proud cartoon heritage, describing the new Museum, at 35 Little Russell Street in Bloomsbury, central London, as "a showcase for Britain's legacy of cartoons, caricature and comics and a venue for adult and children's classes".
Diversity, or just colour by numbers?
Authors: Campion Mukti Jain
Published: March 2006

The researcher for and author of Look Who's Talking: Cultural Diversity, Public Service Broadcasting and the National Conversation suggests that much so-called cultural diversity is only skin deep. She concludes: "My research suggests that there needs to be a critical mass of diversity in terms of class and life experience as much as ethnicity or disability in order to create production environments which really leverage the range of cultural knowledge in a mixed team. At the same time there needs to be a real commitment to diversity at every level of broadcasting so people and ideas that increase the range of perspectives are favoured over those that don't. Without these fundamental culture changes we will continue to have a situation where many people from minorities come into the industry and leave again, feeling they don't fit and that their contribution is not valued."
What Kind of Theory is Activity Theory?
Authors: Holzman Lois
Published: March 2006

The theoretical, research and practice perspective known variously as activity theory, the cultural-historical theory of activity, CHAT (cultural historical activity theory), socio-cultural psychology and cultural historical psychology has evolved bodies of literature in diverse areas, most notably developmental, educational and organizational psychology; psychotherapy; cognitive science; curriculum and teaching; literacy, writing and rhetoric; information technology and design; and geography. Theoretically, activity theory engages many of the same issues as do philosophical, postmodern and critical psychology, including philosophical and psychological dualism; the nature of reality, the self, identity and otherness; the dialogic, narrative, performative, collaborative and relational character of language; and consciousness and the formation of mind. There is no unified theory of activity theory, but a set of articulations that more often than not overlap rather than separate. In this special issue devoted to discussions of activity theory by contemporary theorists, historians and practitioners, the question ‘what kind of theory?’ runs through (sometimes indirectly) the contributions these authors make to critical debates on the philosophy and politics of current and possible future psychologies.
Vygotsky and Consciousness as Con-scientia, as Witnessable Knowing Along with Others
Authors: Shotter John
Published: March 2006

All our higher mental functions are mediated processes, says Vygotsky, and signs are the basic means used to master and direct them. But how can this be if our words and other signs work only in a purely representational, ‘picturing’ fashion? For they still need interpreting as to their meaning. The ‘inner observation’ problem remains unsolved. Our significant expressions must also work on us in another way: by the living expressions of others producing spontaneous bodily reactions from us. The approach taken, then, in this article is that consciousness is a socially responsive elaboration of our animal sensitivities to, and awareness of, events occurring in our relations to the others and othernesses in our surroundings. Thus, far from it being a special, private, inner theater or workshop of the mind, its emergence depends completely on the intertwining or intermingling of our ‘inner lives’ with the ‘inner’ lives of those around us. In this view, our consciousness then becomes no more strange to us than the fact of our ‘livingness’—a fact that is at once both ordinary in the sense of being very familiar to us in our daily practical lives, as well as being quite extraordinary to us in our intellectual lives. This article is thus just as much an exploration of the move from mechanical modes of thought to those appropriate to living processes as it is about consciousness.
Embracing History through Transforming It
Authors: Vianna Eduardo , Stetsenko Anna
Published: March 2006

This paper contrasts the notions of learning, teaching and development as these are conceptualized in two versions of constructivism: the socio-interactional one (in which Piagetian and Vygotskian insights are often merged) versus the one founded by Vygotsky and expanded in activity theory (especially by Galperin and Davydov). We reveal a broad conceptual commonality that makes these frameworks compatible at one level, but draw profound contrasts in their premises concerning history (including cultural tools) and the concept of the social. Examples of educational practices (including results of our own year-long observation) are used to illustrate implications of these premises. We argue that the Vygotskian framework expanded by a dialectical view of history can be used to devise education that takes history to the fullest and yet does not fall into the traps of a conservative agenda with its two extremes of unidirectional authoritarianism or laissez-faire individualism. It is on this foundation that a coherent and unified constructivist approach committed to ideals of social justice can be construed in the future.
The Properties of Mediated Action in Three Different Literacy Contexts in South Africa
Authors: Macdonald Carol A.
Published: March 2006

The notion of ‘mediation’ is central to the theory of sociocultural psychology as originally espoused by Vygotsky. This idea has been further developed by Wertsch, and seven specific aspects of ‘mediated action’ are used as an organizing principle here. Literacy contexts, described most graphically by Heath, are a rich source of understanding of the situations children are embedded in, and the literacy understandings they bring to school. In this paper, these two different approaches are used as a cross-classificatory schema for describing literacy and schooling contexts in primary education in South Africa over the past two decades. ‘Maintown’ in this paper is similar to that in the work of Brice Heath; ‘Ntsha Tsela’ is introduced as a uniquely (South) African context; and ‘Roadville’, the point of greatest integration and change in education, provides a site for future deeper analysis.
The role of universities in advancing citizenship and social justice in the 21st century
Authors: Harkavy Ira
Published: March 2006

This article makes the following claims: (1) the goal for universities should be to contribute significantly to developing and sustaining democratic schools, communities, and societies; (2) by working to realize that goal, democratic-minded academics can powerfully help American higher education in particular, and American schooling in general, return to their core mission – effectively educating students to be democratic, creative, caring, constructive citizens of a democratic society. To support those claims, the author provides an historical and contemporary case to illustrate that a democratic mission is the core mission of American higher education. He also identifies Platonization, commodification, and, ‘disciplinary ethnocentrism, tribalism, guildism’, as major obstacles that have helped prevent higher education from realizing its democratic mission. Drawing on two decades of experience he and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania have had developing university–community–school partnerships, he proposes a strategy that involves colleges and universities working to solve universal problems (e.g. poverty, inadequate schooling, substandard health care) that are manifested in their local communities. Highlighting the global reach of the university civic responsibility movement, he concludes by calling on democratic-minded academics to work to create university-assisted community schools as a powerful way to help develop democratic students (K-16) and to contribute to the development of democratic schools, universities and societies.
Multiethnic neighbourhoods as sites of social capital formation
Authors: Basu Ranu
Published: March 2006

In an idealdemocratic society, publicly funded schools serve many purposes. Aside from its educational mandate, schools are places for neighbourhood integration, social capital formation and the fostering of civil society. For newly arrived immigrants, especially those with young children, schools are important sites of settlement experiences. During the past near decade, however, rapid restructuring of the public education system in Ontario has led to many changes in these ideals. Within the landscape of this wider transformation, this article critically explores how different forms of social capital are produced in schools and accessed by recent immigrants. Based on a spatial-network framework developed earlier this article examines not only how immigrants participate in the daily life of their local institutions; but whether these links are powerful enough to translate into purposeful political effects as well. The outcomes that arise from this neighbourhood-based exercise are crucial in reflecting on a larger ethical question – how do states determine who is and who is not entitled to membership in society?
Citizenship education as placebo
Authors: Gillborn David
Published: March 2006

Citizenship education is now a required component of the national curriculum that must be taught by all state-funded schools in England. It is constantly highlighted by policy makers as a major innovation that promotes social cohesion in general, and race equality in particular. At the same time, however, the government has continued to pursue a so-called ‘standards’ agenda that emphasizes a hierarchy of schools based on their students’ performance in high stakes tests and promotes increased selection that is known to disadvantage Black students. Consequently, the principal education policy strategies are themselves revealed as potentially racist by the government's own definition. It is in this context that the promotion of citizenship education can be seen as a public policy placebo, that is a pretend treatment for institutional racism that gives the impression of action but is, in fact, without substance or effect.
National identity and cultural coherence in educational reform for democratic citizenship
Authors: Koshmanova Tetyana
Published: March 2006

During the last 15 years, Ukraine has been through great changes, including the Declaration of Independence of 1991 and the Orange revolution of 2004. However, its educational system remains predominantly authoritarian and ethnocentric despite centralized educational reforms. This article considers the importance of ethnic tolerance as a component of national identity in Ukraine and recommends the need for a multicultural educational policy, which will enhance social inclusion. The research is grounded in the case study approach. For the purpose of collecting information regarding cultural expectations in teacher education, the article includes a document analysis of contemporary Ukrainian educational policies and examines existing teacher and student beliefs about civic education. The study suggests practical recommendations for promoting intercultural dialogue for civil society and democratic citizenship.
Sir Frank Francis of the British Museum, 1901–1988
Authors: Harris P. R.
Published: March 2006

Sir Frank Francis was the most important figure in the history of the British Museum Department of Printed Books in the twentieth century. While he was one of the Keepers of the Department (1948–1959) he modernized many of the procedures which had remained virtually unchanged since the mid-nineteenth century. His greatest achievements were to devise a new method of producing very rapidly an updated version of the General Catalogue of Printed Books, and to initiate the process which led to the creation of the National Library of Science and Invention as part of the British Museum Library. During his time as Director of the Museum (1959–1968) there were many improvements to the buildings, and the British Museum Act of 1963 transformed the constitution of the Museum. He extended the opening hours of the reading rooms and began detailed planning of a new building for the library to the south of the Museum; this latter work was vitiated as a result of a volte-face by the Wilson Government in 1967.
Comments on Ian R. Willison's 'The National Library in Historical Perspective'
Authors: Francis Jane
Published: March 2006

Considers the influence of North American libraries on Sir Frank Francis, Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum between 1959 and 1968, who visited the United States in 1946–1947, and rebuts Ian Willison's assertion, made in an article in 'Libraries and Culture' in 1989, that the Library of Congress was the dominant influence on Francis' thinking. Emphasizes that Francis was influenced by everything he saw on his visit, not just the operations of the Library of Congress. Argues that the changes be brought about when Director arose from a long-standing experience and understanding of the issues facing the British Museum Library; as well as from a keen awareness of wider developments, not least in the 'information field' in relation to the availability of scientific and technical documents.
Libraries Without Walls: Information Technology in Finnish Public Libraries from the 1970s to the 1990s
Authors: Saarti Jarmo
Published: March 2006

Presents a short history of how information technology was introduced into Finnish public libraries from the 1970s to the 1990s. The period can be divided into five phases: off-line lending systems; online lending systems; integrated library systems and database searching; the birth of the national library database services; and the era of the Internet and the development of the digital library. Major sources used were the results of a postal questionnaire distributed to public libraries by the author in 2004 and articles and reports in 'Kirjastolehti' (the 'Finnish Library Journal').
One Hundred and Fifty Years of the 'Bibliotheek Sociëteit de Witte': The History of the Library of a Gentlemen's Club
Authors: Löffler Erik P.
Published: March 2006

On 1 November 2005 the library of 'Nieuwe of Littéraire Sociëteit De Witte' commemorated its one-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday with a symposium about local private libraries. In contrast to the club as a whole, the specific history of its book collection has never been researched. The club archive, now kept at the Municipal Archives in The Hague, is an important source for researching and disclosing the past of what still is one of the city's most impressive libraries. Before the First World War, the books, periodicals and newspapers of the library played a very important role not only in club life, but also in supplying knowledge to those engaged in civic and commercial life at a fairly high level: the members, often involved in government, politics, industry or commerce, came to the library and reading room for the latest news in their field of interest, and this was reflected in the library's acquisitions policy. In the 1930s the growing speed at which new publications appeared, the development of the Municipal and Royal Library and the establishment of specialized collections within ministries and enterprises changed the role of the 'Witte Bibliotheek'. It developed into an institution for leisure, still buying publications in the original fields of interest but in a more haphazard fashion, and from that time onwards focusing more on Dutch and foreign literature. The collection today, comprising some 27,000 books, is being reorganized, the Art Deco interiors are being restored, and for the first time computer facilities for members will be introduced in the reading room. But the old card catalogue system will also be continued, as the De Witte Library wants to protect its most important feature: the atmosphere of a pre-war Gentlemen's Library.
Towards a New History of Books and Libraries in Argentina: Background, History and Periods
Authors: Parada Alejandro E.
Published: March 2006

This paper was first presented at a session of the IFLA World Library and Information Congress, Buenos Aires, August 2004. The session, entitled 'Library research in Argentina: new approaches' was organized by IFLA's Education and Research Division and hosted by the Institute of Library Research, Faculty of Arts, University of Buenos Aires. The past development of the subject of the 'history of the book and libraries in Argentina' is divided into four periods. It is argued that, having previously followed a descriptive path, the subject is now influenced by the emergence of cultural history and consequently pays more attention than in the past to broader cultural contexts. As a result, it is now legitimate to refer to a 'new' history of books and libraries in Argentina.
FOG-1 represses GATA-1-dependent FcϵRI β-chain transcription: transcriptional mechanism of mast-cell-specific gene expression in mice
Authors: Maeda Keiko , Nishiyama Chiharu , Tokura Tomoko , Nakano Hiroyasu , Kanada Shunsuke , Nishiyama Makoto , Okumura Ko , Ogawa Hideoki
Published: March 2006

Cell-type-specific transcription of mouse high-affinity IgE receptor (FcϵRI) β-chain is positively regulated by the transcription factor GATA-1. Although GATA-1 is expressed in erythroid cells, megakaryocytes, and mast cells, the expression of mouse FcϵRI β-chain is restricted to mast cells. In the present study, we characterized the role of GATA-associated cofactor FOG-1 in the regulation of the FcϵRI β-chain promoter. The expression levels of FOG-1, GATA-1, and β-chain in each hematopoietic cell line were analyzed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting. FOG-1 expression was higher in the β-chain-negative hematopoietic progenitor cell line Ba/F3 than in the β-chain-positive mast cell line PT18. By contrast, GATA-1 expression was similar when comparing the 2 cell lines. A transient reporter assay demonstrated that the β-chain promoter functioned in PT18 but not in Ba/F3 and that the transcription activity of the β-chain promoter in PT18 was markedly suppressed by overexpression of FOG-1. Although the activity of the β-chain promoter, which was upregulated by coexpression of GATA-1, was significantly suppressed by coexpression of FOG-1 in the simian kidney CV-1 cells (β-chain-, GATA-1-, and FOG-1-), the transactivation of the β-chain promoter by the GATA-1 mutant V205G, which cannot bind FOG-1, was not affected by coexpression of FOG-1. Further, overexpression of FOG-1 in PT18 resulted in decreases in cell surface expression of FcϵRI and β-chain transcription. Finally, suppression of FOG-1 expression using an siRNA approach resulted in increased β-chain promoter activity in Ba/F3. These results suggest that FOG-1 expression level regulates the GATA-1-dependent FcϵRI β-chain promoter. (Blood. 2006;108:262-269)
CD25 and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase are up-regulated by prostaglandin E2 and expressed by tumor-associated dendritic cells in vivo: additional mechanisms of T-cell inhibition
Authors: von Bergwelt-Baildon Michael S. , Popov Alexey , Saric Tomo , Chemnitz Jens , Classen Sabine , Stoffel Marc S. , Fiore Francesca , Roth Udo , Beyer Marc , Debey Svenja , Wickenhauser Claudia , Hanisch Franz-Georg , Schultze Joachim L.
Published: March 2006

Immune tolerance is a central mechanism counteracting tumor-specific immunity and preventing effective anticancer immunotherapy. Induction of tolerance requires a specific environment in which tolerogenic dendritic cells (DCs) play an essential role deviating the immune response away from effective immunity. It was recently shown that maturation of DCs in the presence of PGE2 results in upregulation of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) providing a potential mechanism for the development of DC-mediated Tcell tolerance. Here, we extend these findings, demonstrating a concomitant induction of IDO and secretion of soluble CD25 after DC maturation in the presence of PGE2. While maturation of DCs induced IDO expression on transcriptional level, only integration of PGE2 signaling led to up-regulation of functional IDO protein as well as significant expression of cell-surface and soluble CD25 protein. As a consequence, T-cell proliferation and cytokine production were significantly inhibited, which was mediated mainly by IDO-induced tryptophan depletion. Of importance, we demonstrate that different carcinoma entities associated with elevated levels of PGE2 coexpress CD25 and IDO in peritumoral dendritic cells, suggesting that PGE2 might influence IDO expression in human DCs in the tumor environment. We therefore suggest PGE2 to be a mediator of early events during induction of immune tolerance in cancer. (Blood. 2006;108:228-237)