bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Guidelines for the veterinary care of laboratory animals: Report of the FELASA/ECLAM/ESLAV Joint Working Group on Veterinary Care
Authors:   Members Of The Joint Working Group On Veterinary Care:, Voipio Hanna-Marja , Baneux P , De Segura I A Gomez , Hau J , Wolfensohn S
Published: March 2008

Veterinary professionals working in partnership with other competent persons are essential for a successful animal care and use programme. A veterinarian's primary responsibilities are defined by their own professional regulatory bodies, but in this area of work there are further opportunities for contribution, which will assist in safeguarding the health and welfare of animals used in research. These guidelines are aimed not only at veterinarians to explain their duties, and outline the opportunities to improve the health and welfare of animals under their care, but also at employers and regulators to help them meet their responsibilities. They describe the desirability for postgraduate education towards specialization in laboratory animal medicine and detail the many competencies necessary to fulfil the role of the laboratory animal veterinarian. They detail the need for veterinary expertise to promote good health and good welfare of animals used in biomedical research during husbandry as well as when under experimental procedures. Regulatory and ethical aspects are covered as are the involvement of the veterinarian in education and training of others working in the animal care and use programme. Managerial aspects, including occupational health and safety, are also areas where the veterinarian's input can assist in the successful implementation of the programme.
A sparing procedure to clear the mouse mammary fat pad of epithelial components for transplantation analysis
Authors: Brill B , Boecher N , Groner B , Shemanko C S
Published: March 2008

Transplantation of epithelial cells into cleared fat pads is a widely used technique in the study of mammary gland biology. It was first described in 1959 and has remained a valuable technique, most recently in conjunction with the analysis of mammary anlagen from knockout mice with an embryonic lethal phenotype or reproductive defect, and for mammary epithelial stem-cell assays or analysis of precancerous cells. Mammary glands, unlike most other organs, mainly develop postnatally. When the small amount of endogenous epithelium present in the fat pad of a prepubertal mouse is removed, this clearance leaves a natural microenvironment that can be repopulated with exogenously supplied epithelial cells. Cells with the appropriate developmental potential (stem cells or progenitor cells) can regenerate the epithelial portion of the mammary gland after puberty and pregnancy. The conventional clearance of the fat pad is an involved surgical procedure. We have improved the technique and minimized surgery and recovery time, while maintaining an efficient removal of endogenous epithelium from the mammary fat pad.
Minimizing creatine kinase variability in rats for neuromuscular research purposes
Authors: Goicoechea M , Cía F , José C San , Asensio A , Emparanza J I , Gil A G , De Cerain A LÓPez , Aldazabal P , Azpitarte M , Otaegui D , De Munain A LÓPez
Published: March 2008

Rat serum or plasma creatine kinase (CK) activity is widely used to evaluate myopathic processes, to test the myotoxicity of different drugs, or to analyse the benefits of emerging gene therapies in some neuromuscular disorders. However, great variability is found in this determination. The aim of this study has been to control some factors of variation in order to reduce variability and increase the reproducibility of analytical data. 8–10-week-old Wistar-Han rats were used. The study consisted of four sequential phases. Phase I aimed to analyse the effect of ether and isoflurane as anaesthetic drugs. The objective of Phase II was to evaluate bleeding rats via retro-orbital sinus vs. tail vein. Phases III and IV were designed as two separate, repeated measure experiments on two factors: habituation to laboratory handling procedures in Phase III and gender in Phase IV. The repeated factor was the storage temperature of blood sample prior to centrifugation. Ether did not significantly increased the CK value. Using isoflurane, getting rats accustomed to laboratory handling procedures and whole blood refrigeration prior to centrifugation and serum separation resulted in statistically significant reduction in CK value and variability. Male rats showed significantly higher values than female rats. In the light of our findings, CK value and variability in rats may be minimized by choosing tail vein as site of bleeding, getting rats accustomed to laboratory handling procedures and maintaining whole blood refrigerated until centrifugation and serum separation.
Effect of temperature control upon a mouse model of partial hepatic ischaemia/reperfusion injury
Authors: Devey L , Festing M F W , Wigmore S J
Published: March 2008

In vivo models of hepatic ischaemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) are widely used to study both the mechanisms of hepatic ischaemic injury and to seek means of hepatic protection. Achieving high-quality reproducible data are essential if the results of multiple studies are to be compared and reconciled. This paper presents our findings concerning the effect of intraoperative thermoregulation upon signal to noise ratios of hepatic IRI experiments in mice. Four experiments were conducted, using three different strategies for core temperature maintenance. Animals underwent hepatic IRI and euthanized 24 h postoperatively for measurement of plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Duration of ischaemia was used to adjust the severity of injury. Experiment 1 utilized a constant output heating system and resulted in rising postoperative ALTs following increasing durations of hepatic ischaemia. Experiment 2, using the same constant output heating system confirmed a difference between ischaemic and sham-operated animals. Experiment 3 used a thermostatically controlled heating system and resulted in highly variable results with a small, but statistically significant correlation between ALT levels and rectal temperature readings. Experiment 4 used a homeothermic warming system and demonstrated highly reproducible data from increasing durations of ischaemia. High-quality data from hepatic ischaemia/reperfusion models are dependent upon careful control of intraoperative temperature. The use of homeothermic warming systems is recommended and conversely, the use of thermostatically controlled warming mats is to be avoided in these models.
A survey of rodent-borne pathogens carried by wild-caught Norway rats: A potential threat to laboratory rodent colonies
Authors: Easterbrook Judith D , Kaplan J B , Glass G E , Watson J , Klein S L
Published: March 2008

Unintentional infection of laboratory rodents can compromise scientific research as well as the health of the animals and animal handlers. The source of contamination often is unknown, but may be introduced by wild rats from surrounding environments. To determine whether rats in Baltimore, Maryland, USA carry infectious agents commonly found in laboratory rodent colonies, we live-trapped 162 rats during 2005 to 2006 and screened them for a panel of viruses, bacteria and parasites. Antibodies against rat coronavirus/sialodacryoadenitis virus (91.7%), Mycoplasma pulmonis (72.9%), cilia-associated respiratory bacillus (52.1%), rat parvovirus/rat minute virus (29.2%), Kilham rat virus (10.4%), Toolan's H-1 virus (10.4%), Sendai virus (4.2%) and Theiler's mouse encephalomyelitis virus (4.2%), were detected in wild-caught Norway rats. Antibodies against reovirus and pneumonia virus of mice were not detected in wild Norway rats. Endoparasites, including Nippostrongylus braziliensis (71.6%), Rodentolepis nana or Hymenolepis diminuta (34.4%), Hetarakis spumosa (24.1%) and Trichuris muris (14.8%), as well as ectoparasites (14.8%), were identified in wild-caught rats. The risk of pathogen transmission from wild-caught rats to laboratory colonies needs to be mitigated by minimizing exposures rather than assuming wild animals represent a minimal hazard.
Gender and cognitive aspects of neonatal and juvenile neuromuscular locomotor development of F1 hybrid mice in swim tests
Authors: Adencreutz M , Hau J
Published: March 2008

F1 hybrid pups from crosses between the strains 129SvEv/Crl and C57BL/6/Crl were subjected to an analysis of the development of adult swimming pattern (from the day of birth until 21 days old) to study the potential gender difference in neuromuscular development of neonatal and juvenile mice and the cognitive component in the development of swimming skills. Swimming as a parameter of scrutiny was chosen because it requires total coordination of the body's muscles, and we have previously demonstrated that the gradual change from a neonatal to an adult swimming pattern follows a fixed pattern, that can be scored objectively. Five different parameters were scored: the position of the head in the water, the use of front legs, the use of hind legs, the use of the tail as a rudder and whether or not the animals are able to maintain a straight course in the water. Each parameter could be objectively scored as 0 (neonatal), 1 (juvenile) or 2 (adult) level of development. There was no significant difference between development of locomotor skills in female and male pups. The maximum score obtained at any given day of development was not altered by learning from the previous daily swimming experiences. However, in individual swimming sessions, the time span between exposure to the water and display of maximum swimming score for the age was significantly shortened by daily exposure to water and swimming, indicating habituation to submersion in water. Startle reactions to water exposure could be minimized and finally eliminated by daily swimming sessions. This suggests a cognitive component limited, however, by the physical maturation of the nervous system and muscles, thus not resulting in acceleration of the development of swimming skills.
Revenue Management of Callable Products
Authors: Gallego Guillermo , Kou S. G. , Phillips Robert
Published: March 2008

A callable product is a unit of capacity sold to self-selected low-fare customers who willingly grant the capacity provider the option to “call” the capacity at a prespecified recall price. We analyze callable products in a finite-capacity setting with two fare classes where low-fare customers book first, and show that callable products provide a riskless source of additional revenue to the capacity provider. An optimal recall price and an optimal discount-fare booking limit for the two-period problem are obtained. Numerical examples show the benefits from offering callable products can be significant, especially when high-fare demand uncertainty is large. Extensions to multifare structures, network models, overbooking, and to other industries are discussed.
Managerial Expertise, Private Information, and Pay-Performance Sensitivity
Authors: Dutta Sunil
Published: March 2008

This paper characterizes optimal pay-performance sensitivities of compensation contracts for managers who have private information about their skills, and those skills affect their outside employment opportunities. The model presumes that the rate at which a manager's opportunity wage increases in his expertise depends on the nature of that expertise, i.e., whether it is general or firm specific. The analysis demonstrates that when managerial expertise is largely firm specific (general), the optimal pay-performance sensitivity is lower (higher) than its optimal value in a benchmark setting of symmetric information. Furthermore, when managerial skills are largely firm specific (general), the optimal pay-performance sensitivity decreases (increases) as managerial skills become a more important determinant of firm performance. Unlike the standard agency-theoretic prediction of a negative trade-off between risk and pay-performance sensitivity, this paper identifies plausible circumstances under which risk and incentives are positively associated. In addition to providing an explanation for why empirical tests of risk-incentive relationships have produced mixed results, the analysis generates insights that can be useful in guiding future empirical research.
Foreign Investments of U.S. Individual Investors: Causes and Consequences
Authors: Bailey Warren , Kumar Alok , Ng David
Published: March 2008

Using thousands of brokerage accounts of U.S. individual investors, we analyze the motivations and consequences of foreign equity investment. We find that diversification is not the only reason that investors trade foreign securities. While wealthier, more experienced investors enjoy an informational advantage and, thus, are more likely to invest overseas and experience good portfolio performance, other investors appear to venture abroad for the wrong reasons. In particular, behaviorally biased investors often underuse or misuse foreign equity securities and experience poor portfolio performance. Some investors appear to use foreign securities for speculation or to improve upon poor domestic portfolio performance.
Pricing and Operational Recourse in Coproduction Systems
Authors: Tomlin Brian , Wang Yimin
Published: March 2008

Coproduction systems, in which multiple products are produced simultaneously in a single production run, are prevalent in many industries. Such systems typically produce a random quantity of vertically differentiated products. This product hierarchy enables the firm to fill demand for a lower-quality product by converting a higher-quality product. In addition to the challenges presented by random yields and multiple products, coproduction systems often serve multiple customer classes that differ in their product valuations. Furthermore, the sizes of these classes are uncertain. Employing a utility-maximizing customer model, we investigate the production, pricing, downconversion, and allocation decisions in a two-class, stochastic-demand, stochastic-yield coproduction system. For the single-class case, we establish that downconversion will not occur if prices are set optimally. In contrast, we show that downconversion can be optimal in the two-class case, even if prices are set optimally. We consider the benefit of postponing certain operational decisions, e.g., the pricing or allocation-rule decisions, until after uncertainties are resolved. We use the term recourse to denote actions taken after uncertainties have been resolved. We find that recourse pricing benefits the firm much more than either downconversion or recourse allocation do, implying that recourse demand management is more valuable than recourse supply management. Special cases of our model include the single-class and two-class random-yield newsvendor models.
Online Consumer Review: Word-of-Mouth as a New Element of Marketing Communication Mix
Authors: Chen Yubo , Xie Jinhong
Published: March 2008

As a new type of word-of-mouth information, online consumer product review is an emerging market phenomenon that is playing an increasingly important role in consumers' purchase decisions. This paper argues that online consumer review, a type of product information created by users based on personal usage experience, can serve as a new element in the marketing communications mix and work as free “sales assistants” to help consumers identify the products that best match their idiosyncratic usage conditions.

This paper develops a normative model to address several important strategic issues related to consumer reviews. First, we show when and how the seller should adjust its own marketing communication strategy in response to consumer reviews. Our results reveal that if the review information is sufficiently informative, the two types of product information, i.e., the seller-created product attribute information and buyer-created review information, will interact with each other. For example, when the product cost is low and/or there are sufficient expert (more sophisticated) product users, the two types of information are complements, and the seller's best response is to increase the amount of product attribute information conveyed via its marketing communications after the reviews become available. However, when the product cost is high and there are sufficient novice (less sophisticated) product users, the two types of information are substitutes, and the seller's best response is to reduce the amount of product attribute information it offers, even if it is cost-free to provide such information. We also derive precise conditions under which the seller can increase its profit by adopting a proactive strategy, i.e., adjusting its marketing strategies even before consumer reviews become available. Second, we identify product/market conditions under which the seller benefits from facilitating such buyer-created information (e.g., by allowing consumers to post user-based product reviews on the seller's website). Finally, we illustrate the importance of the timing of the introduction of consumer reviews available as a strategic variable and show that delaying the availability of consumer reviews for a given product can be beneficial if the number of expert (more sophisticated) product users is relatively large and cost of the product is low.
Research Note—Revisiting “Retailer- vs. Vendor-Managed Inventory and Brand Competition”
Authors: Kim Hag-Soo
Published: March 2008

In a recent paper, Mishra and Raghunathan (Mishra, B. K., S. Raghunathan. 2004. Retailer- vs. vendor-managed inventory and brand competition. Management Sci. 50(4) 445–457) claimed that retailers prefer vendor-managed inventory (VMI) because it restores competition among manufacturers and encourages them to maintain a higher stock of their own brand under VMI than would be maintained under retailer-managed inventory (RMI). This paper shows that these results do not hold in general: each manufacturer's stocking level may be higher under RMI than under VMI and the retailer may lose by adopting VMI depending on the profit margin of the retailer relative to that of the manufacturers, the magnitude of the holding costs, and the intensity of brand competition. Numerical examples show that the effect of brand competition on the system is not so significant and the transfer of holding cost to the vendor is the key incentive for the retailer's adoption of VMI.
Customized Bundle Pricing for Information Goods: A Nonlinear Mixed-Integer Programming Approach
Authors: Wu Shin-yi , Hitt Lorin M. , Chen Pei-yu , Anandalingam G.
Published: March 2008

This paper proposes using nonlinear mixed-integer programming to solve the customized bundle-pricing problem in which consumers are allowed to choose up to N goods out of a larger pool of J goods. Prior work has suggested that this mechanism has attractive features for the pricing of information and other low-marginal cost goods. Although closed-form solutions exist for this problem for certain cases of consumer preferences, many interesting scenarios cannot be easily handled without a numerical solution procedure. In this paper, we investigate the efficiency gains created by customized bundling over the alternatives of pure bundling or individual sale under different assumptions about customer preferences and firm cost structure, as well as the potential loss of efficiency caused by pricing with incomplete information about consumer reservation values. Our analysis suggests that customized bundling enhances sellers' profits and enhances welfare when consumers do not place positive values on all goods, and that this consumer characteristic is much more important than the shape of the valuation distribution in determining the optimal pricing scheme. We also find that customized bundling outperforms both pure bundling and individual sale in the presence of incomplete information, and that customized bundling still outperforms other simpler pricing schemes even when exact consumer valuations are not known ex ante.
A Simultaneous Model of Consumer Brand Choice and Negotiated Price
Authors: Chen Yuxin , Yang Sha , Zhao Ying
Published: March 2008

In this paper, we develop a simultaneous model of consumer brand choice and negotiated price in the highly relevant marketing context of automobile transactions. Consumer brand choice is modeled as a multinomial probabilistic outcome, and the individual consumer-level transaction price is modeled to be consistent with the Nash bargaining solution. Our simultaneous model introduces a natural way to account for price endogeneity in a microlevel choice setting when the price paid is individual specific and correlated with the idiosyncratic preference of a buyer. It also accounts for the potential selectivity bias in studying the negotiated price by integrating consumer brand choice modeling. We apply the proposed model to a data set of 4,795 consumer automobile purchases. The empirical results show that the proposed approach not only better fits the data of consumer choice and negotiated price, but it also provides additional insights into buyers' and sellers' behaviors in comparison with models that study only consumer choice or the negotiated price, but not both simultaneously.
Dead Man Talking: Mark Twain's Autobiographical Deception
Authors: Kiskis Michael J.
Published: March 2008

“No man's glory is safe until he is dead” Mark Twain
Titus Androgynous: Foul Mouths and Troubled Masculinity
Authors: Fredrick David
Published: March 2008

In Titus (1999), Julie Taymore makes obvious use of anachronisms (motorcycles, pinball machines, ziploc baggies). Rather than being gratuitous, this paper argues that these anachronisms are clues to her engagement with the Roman movie tradition from the 20s through Gladiator . By visually quoting sword-and-sandal epics, Titus engages one of their central anxieties: the threatened submersion of the male body in appetite, represented physically by open mouths and wounds, and architecturally by the rounded form and arched openings of the amphitheater. This complements the language of Shakespeare's play, which clearly parallels a devouring, appetite-driven Rome with the body of the barbarian empress, Tamora.
Gladiator at the Millennium
Authors: Albu Emily
Published: March 2008

The blockbuster hit of the year 2000 reached theaters less than six months before the contentious U.S. presidential election. Gladiator spoke directly to the issues that haunted the 2000 campaign, using the Roman empire of 180 C.E. to stand in for a contemporary America longing for moral leadership and republican values. But the restored Roman republic will presumably be utterly unlike the democracy promised by the film's Marcus Aurelius. Gladiator used allusions to the 1960 Spartacus in order to appear progressive before finally giving the people, a dull lot addicted to the violent entertainment of gladiatorial combat, the custodians they clearly need—good men in the aristocratic senate supported by a loyal military. This paper explores the parallels between the Republican strategies of 2000 and the republican sympathies of the film.
"An Orchid in the Land of Technology": Narrative and Representation in Lars von Trier's Medea
Authors: Joseph Susan , Johnson Marguerite
Published: March 2008

Abstract: Applying Walter Benjamin's idea that the techniques of film may give a comprehensive view of unfathomable behavior, this paper demonstrates how Lars von Trier's made-for-television film supplements our understanding of the Medea plot first presented by Euripides. We demonstrate how von Trier applies the art of montage to present a dynamic picture of Medea that adds to our understanding of Euripides' themes concerning the painful split in personality that befalls a woman forced to live on the fringes of society. Of particular interest are the changes of emphasis, location, and ordering of events that von Trier made from his two most important sources, the Medea of Euripides and Carl Theodor Dreyer's unrealized scenario of Medea .
The One-Eyed Man is King: Oedipal Vision in Minority Report
Authors: Bakewell Geoffrey W
Published: March 2008

Minority Reports is a legitimate child of Oedipus Tyrannus. In each, a powerful detective reopens an unsolved homicide case and is himself subsequently accused of murder. Moreover, both productions combine theme and imagery to explore the complex relationship between blindness, sight, and knowledge. Yet the film also differs from its dramatic parent, altering and rejecting crucial Sophoclean features. It is not a tragedy in any Aristotelian sense. It undermines the authority of fate. And in the conflict between the divine and the political, it undercuts the former to side with the latter.
Swords-and-Scandals:
Authors: Malamud Margaret
Published: March 2008

Several Hollywood films produced during the Depression years 1932-1935 utilized stereotypical images of Rome and Romans to address and to exploit anxieties precipitated by this economic catastrophe. Of these, two box-office hits, The Sign of the Cross (1932) and Roman Scandals (1933), employ the standard trope of Romans as the decadent oppressors of a virtuous, innocent, but ultimately triumphant people, but each figures its corrupt Romans in ways that spoke differently to Depression audiences. Each film's representation of Rome draws on the genre conventions to which the film belongs, historical epic and comedy. Cecil B. DeMille's "sword and sandal" epic, The Sign of the Cross , focused on the Roman persecution of Christians and offered spectators both an uplifting message of spiritual redemption and vicarious enjoyment of Roman wealth and decadence. By contrast, in Samuel Goldwyn's musical comedy, Roman Scandals , ancient Rome and Depression America mirror each other; renewal and relief result from a cleansing of graft and corruption from the Roman, and hence also the American, political systems.
Virtual Metamorphoses: Cosmetic and Cybernetic Revisions of Pygmalion's "Living Doll"
Authors: O'Sullivan Jane
Published: March 2008

This paper offers an overview of popular cinematic remakes or re-visions of Ovid's tale of Pygmalion and conducts a close interrogation of three exemplary texts: Vertigo (1958), Blade Runner (1982), and Pretty Woman (1990). Employing a largely feminist and psychoanalytic approach to film analysis, it argues that these narratives detail an essentially fetishistic process of substituting a notionally "real" woman with an ostensibly more manageable version. This process of remaking or making-over is considered in terms of the narrative content of the films and the meta-narrative of textual adaptation, with its associated issues of original versus copy and hierarchies of high and low cultural production.
Hercules Unchained: Contaminatio, Nostos, Katabasis, and the Surreal
Authors: Clauss James J.
Published: March 2008

The film Hercules Unchained (1959) is often reviled as a cheesy sword-and-sandal film, incapable of being rehabilitated. " Hercules Unchained: Contaminatio, Nostos, Katabasis and the Surreal" argues that, despite the banality of the film, the sum of its various parts presents a coherent and suggestive narrative whose bizarre articulation parallels, albeit unwittingly, the absurdist productions of the post-WWI Surrealists. The fantastically grotesque and literarily impossible combination of Hercules, Ulysses, and Oedipus ultimately resolves, mirabile dictu , in the theme of loss of identity. Set within a context of coming home from war, this extraordinarily kitsch "descent into hell" offered its contemporary audience a looking-glass reflection of the anxieties of the soldiers who were still coming home from WWII and Korea.
Oedipus in the Cinema
Authors: Winkler Martin M.
Published: March 2008

This paper examines the history and variety of film adaptations of the Oedipus myth, based on Sophocles' plays Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus , and pays special attention to Freud's concept of the Oedipus complex. The paper discusses films set in antiquity and updated versions. It also deals with related themes such as fate and oracles in the relevant filmic modes (epic, tragedy, comedy) and genres (e.g., Westerns, science fiction, Hitchcock thrillers).
"What Makes a Man to Wander?": The Searchers as a Western Odyssey
Authors: Day Kirsten
Published: March 2008

This paper looks at John Ford's 1956 film The Searchers as a literary, cultural, and ideological heir to Homer's Odyssey. Each work centers on a morally ambiguous protagonist on a mission to preserve the integrity of his household and his own honor, a quest made urgent by the sexual threat posed by a woman. While Homer's story explores issues of Greek identity and the ethnic anxieties generated by trade and colonization, Ford's film addresses racial and Cold War tensions prevalent in1950s America. Both works ultimately destabilize the categories of "us" and "them," encouraging audiences to reconsider this dichotomy.
Contemporary Yangge: The Moving History of a Chinese Folk Dance Form
Authors: Gerdes Ellen V. P.
Published: March 2008

Since the beginning of its rule, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has consistently claimed that the performing arts "should assist in the process of educating the masses" (Mackerras 1981: 9). The development of yangge dance is particularly linked to the CCP's policies during both the party's establishment and the Cultural Revolution. In this paper, I use personal experience and embodied research to complicate the existing conventional historical narrative that asserts the political exploitation of yangge in modern Chinese history.
New P'ansori in Twenty-first-century Korea: Creative Dialectics of Tradition and Modernity
Authors: Um Hae-kyung
Published: March 2008

Nearly a century has passed since the first new p'ansori piece The Song of Ch'oe Pyong-du was performed at the turn of the twentieth century. While traditional p'ansori, a form of folk musical drama, came to symbolize the cultural and artistic heritage of the Korean nation, new p'ansori , in new millennium, aspires to be a cultural expression that is relevant to the contemporary conditions of everyday life while retaining or even restoring what is considered to be the quintessential p'ansori aesthetics. This article explores the ways in which new p'ansori combines various elements of tradition and modernity in its text, music, and performance style, which, in turn, lead to the polemics of p'ansori aesthetics and the authenticity debate.
Theatricality and Cultural Critique in Chinese Cinema
Authors: Hui Luo
Published: March 2008

The various ways in which theatre and film interact generate diverse forms of theatricality in Chinese cinema: jingju films, narrative films containing traditional theatrical performances, and films incorporating modern performance types. The significance of theatre in Chinese cinema will be discussed with two questions in mind: (1) to what extent the aesthetics of traditional Chinese theatre cross over from stage to screen and (2) whether filmic representations of theatre generate a critical discourse vis-à-vis state ideology and cultural policies.
Travel and Tabibanashi in the Early Modern Period: Forming Japanese Geographic Identity
Authors: Shores Matthew W.
Published: March 2008

There are three sections in "Travel and Tabibanashi in the Early Modern Period: Forming Japanese Geographic Identity." The first is about travel in the Edo period (1600-1868). In this section travel and the important role it played in forming the foundations of Japanese identity are presented. The second section is about tabibanashi (travel stories), a subgenre of rakugo , a form of comic storytelling that was especially popular in early modern Japan. The author's contention is that geographical and cultural information presented in tabibanashi served to educate the common people about travel and social values of the world in which they lived. In the third section a brief summary of tabibanashi and the information that it conveys to its listeners is given. This article presents the initial findings of research that suggest that tabibanashi and rakugo played a much bigger part in helping shape the foundations of Japanese identity than has been thought to be the case until now.
Tradition, Change, and Continuity in Chinese Theatre in the Last Hundred Years: In Commemoration of the Spoken Drama Centenary
Authors: Mackerras Colin
Published: March 2008

Commemorating the centenary of the spoken drama's introduction into China in 1907, the essay takes up several major themes in Chinese theatre over the last hundred years, such as its political and social implications and the tension between foreign and indigenous influences. The essay argues that drama in China during these years can be viewed largely as a microcosm of history, with politics having more impact on drama than the other way around. It also argues that change outweighs continuity, with foreign influences being stronger than indigenous and becoming more so, despite the persistence of nationalism. This article is the text of the Asian Theatre Journal Lecture , given in New Orleans on 27 July 2007 as part of the Association for Asian Performance Conference, itself part of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference.
Cutud's Ritual of Nailing on the Cross: Performance of Pain and Suffering
Authors: Tiatco Sir Anril Pineda , Bonifacio-Ramolete Amihan
Published: March 2008

This research investigates the ritual nailing on the cross every Good Friday in Cutud, Pampanga, in the Philippines as a local religiocultural performance. It highlights the ritual's evolution and historicity of suffering in the context of panata (religious pledge/ vow), as a characteristic central to the Filipino people since precolonial times. The roots of the ritual can be traced from pamagdarame (flagellation) and the sinakulo (passion play) written by Ricardo Navarro in 1955. Devotees (participants) of pamagdarame and the sinakulo are participating with intentions of panata . The ritual, manifested through a performance of pain and suffering, allows the devotee's inner core ( kalooban ) via his sacrifice to be one with the Supreme Being. The ritual, which has developed into a multifaceted tradition, is not only a religious occasion (an experience of a personal sacrifice or panata for the individual) but also a social drama (an expression of pain and suffering through the performance of Via Crucis o Pasion Y Muerte [Way of the Cross or Passion and Death] and the nailing on the cross performed for the good of others).
Social Change in Kattaikkuttu 's Professional Practice in the Modernizing and Globalizing Society of Tamil Nadu
Authors: Meertens Esmee
Published: March 2008

Kattaikkuttu is a lively South Indian performance tradition. The tradition forms an important part of a Tamil village culture, which is currently changing due to modernization and globalization processes. The social changes that kattaikkuttu performers had to undergo over the last fifty years have affected their social, cultural, economic, and personal development, as well as their position in the field of cultural production in Tamil Nadu. I relate these social changes to the structuralist theories of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, in order to make sense of the power structures. These changes are then linked to the theory on modernization of development of economist Tariq Banuri, giving perspective on the alterations in kattaikkuttu .
What the Liberal State Should Tolerate Within Its Borders
Authors: Cohen Andrew Jason
Published: March 2008

I have previously argued that toleration is best understood asan agent's intentional and principled refraining from interfering with an opposed other (or their behavior, etc.) in situations of diversity, where the agent believes she has the power to interfere(see my 2004a). Though I think this is the best available definition, it isonlya definition and presents no normative claims about when toleration is warranted — i.e., about what is to be tolerated. As Peter Nicholson notes, ‘Toleration as a moral ideal cannot be value-neutral, and for this reason too it must be distinguished from the descriptive concept of toleration which can and should be valueneutral’ (1985, 161). Having previously offered a value-neutral account of the descriptive concept, I use that analysis here to discuss the moral ideal.
Abortion and Kant's Formula of Universal Law
Authors: Denis Lara
Published: March 2008

Where in Kant's ethical theory may we find principles, guidance, or at least insights, about the morality of abortion? The formula of universal law is a natural place to begin looking. There is a long tradition of focusing on Kant's formula of universal law as a principle for evaluating maxims, resting in part on the belief that Kant intends the formula of universal law to be so used (G 4:437-38). It is hardly surprising that some philosophers have already turned to this principle searching for the — or at least a — Kantian view of abortion.
Evans on Identification-freedom
Authors: Grush Rick
Published: March 2008

Gareth Evans’ account of Identification-freedom (IF), which he develops in Chapters 6 and 7 of The Varieties of Reference (henceforth VR) is almost universally misunderstood. Howell is guilty of this same misunderstanding, and as a result claims to have mounted a criticism of Evans, when in fact he has not. I will take the occasion of Howell's otherwise insightful article to clarify Evans’ position. Note that the bulk of Howell's analysis is targeted at the phenomenon known as immunity to error through misidentification (IEM), which is related to but not (necessarily) identical to IF. Therefore, the accuracy of Howell's treatment of Evans in particular is tangential to the main thrust of his article. My exegesis of Evans’ account — like any non-trivial exegesis — goes somewhat beyond anything Evans overtly says. That Evans did not explicitly put the pieces together in the way I suggest they fit no doubt contributes to the widespread misunderstanding of his views.
Immunity to Error and Subjectivity
Authors: Howell Robert J.
Published: March 2008

Since Sydney Shoemaker published his seminal article ‘Self-Reference and Self-Awareness’ in 1968, the notion of ‘Immunity to Error through Misidentification’ (IEM) has received much attention. It crops up in discussions of personal identity, indexical thought and introspection, and has been used to interpret remarks made by philosophers from Wittgenstein to William James. The precise significance of IEM is often unspecified in these discussions, however. It is unclear, for example, whether itconstitutesan important status of judgments, whether itexplainsan important characteristic of judgments, or whether it merelymarksan important characteristic of judgments. Nevertheless, reference to IEM abounds, making this obscure notion seem all the more significant.
On the Value of Happiness: Herder contra Kant
Authors: Sikka Sonia
Published: March 2008

Introduction

In November of 1785, Kant published a highly unsympathetic review of the second part of Johann Gottfried Herder'sIdeas for a Philosophy of the History of Mankind. Herder had once been Kant's pupil, and had greatly admired his teacher, but the content of this review shows how profound the philosophical differences between them had by then become. A central area of dispute emerging from the review concerns the nature of happiness, and its place within the ‘destiny’ or ‘vocation’ (Bestimmung) of the human race. Kant is responding, in particular, to a section of theIdeasentitled: ‘The happiness (Glückseligkeit) of human beings is everywhere an individual good; consequently, it is everywhere climatic and organic, a child of practice, tradition, and custom.’ Although Kant is not mentioned by name in this section, it clearly contains critical rejoinders, often quite harsh in tone, to aspects of his practical philosophy and philosophy of history, as Herder understands them.
“The Ku Klux Government”: Vigilantism, Lynching, and the Repression of the IWW
Authors: Cohen Michael
Published: March 2008

It is almost always the case that a “spontaneous” movement of the subaltern classes is accompanied by a reactionary movement of the right-wing of the dominant class, for concomitant reasons. An economic crisis, for instance, engenders on the one hand discontent among the subaltern classes and spontaneous mass movements, and on the other conspiracies among the reactionary groups, who take advantage of the objective weakening of the government in order to attempt coup d’Etat. ŠŠŠŠAntonio Gramsci
When the true history of this decade shall be written in other and less troubled times; when facts not hidden come to light in details now rendered vague and obscure; truth will show that on some recent date, in a secluded office on Wall Street or luxurious parlor of some wealthy club on lower Manhattan, some score of America’s kings of industry, captains of commerce and Kaisers of finance met in secret conclave and plotted the enslavement of millions of workers. Today details are obscured. The paper on which these lines are penciled is criss-crossed by the shadow of prison bars; my ears are be-set by the clang of steel doors, the jangle of fetters and the curses of jail guards. Truth, before it can speak, is strangled by power. Yet the big fact looms up, like a mountain above the morning mists; organized wealth has conspired to enslave Labor, and—in enforcing its will—it stops at nothing, not even midnight murders and wholesale slaughter. It has laughed at law, subverted popular government local, state and national, and spread a network of protected villainy from coast to coast. ŠŠŠŠHarrison George, Member of IWW Executive Committee
Better Brains, Better Selves? The Ethics of Neuroenhancements
Authors: Dees Richard H.
Published: March 2008

The idea of enhancing our mental functions through medical means makes many people uncomfortable. People have a vague feeling that altering our brains tinkers with the core of our personalities and the core of ourselves. It changes who we are, and doing so seems wrong, even if the exact reasons for the unease are difficult to define. Many of the standard arguments against neuroenhancements—that they are unsafe, that they violate the distinction between therapy and enhancements, that they undermine equality, and that they will be used coercively—fail to show why the use of any such technologies is wrong in principle. Two other objections—the arguments that such changes undermine our integrity and that they prevent us from living authentic lives—will condemn only a few of the uses that are proposed. The result is that very few uses of these drugs are morally suspect and that most uses are morally permissible.
The Harm-Benefit Tradeoff in “Bad Deal” Trials
Authors: Nycum Gillian , Reid Lynette
Published: March 2008

This paper examines the nature of the harm-benefit tradeoff in early clinical research for interventions that involve remote possibility of direct benefit and likelihood of direct harms to research participants with fatal prognoses, by drawing on the example of gene transfer trials for glioblastoma multiforme. We argue that the appeal made by the component approach to clinical equipoise fails to account fully for the nature of the harm-benefit tradeoff—individual harm for social benefit—that would be required to justify such research. An analysis of what we label “collateral affective benefits,” such as the experience of hope or exercise of altruism, shows that the existence of these motivations reinforces rather than mitigates the necessity of justification by reference to social benefit. Evaluations of social benefit must be taken seriously in the research ethics review process to avoid the exploitation of research participants’ motivations of hope or altruism and to avoid the possibility of inadvertent exploitation of high-risk research participants and the harms that would associate with such exploitation.
Must We Have Full Moral Status Throughout Our Existence? A Reply to Alfonso Gomez-Lobo
Authors: DeGrazia David
Published: March 2008

Those who are morally opposed to abortion generally make several pivotal assumptions. This paper focuses on the assumption that we have full moral status throughout our existence. Coupled with the assumption that we come into existence at conception, the assumption about moral status entails that all human fetuses have full moral status, including a right to life. Is the assumption about moral status correct? In addressing this question, I respond to several arguments advanced, in this journal and other venues, by Alfonso GÃ³mez-Lobo. GÃ³mez-Lobo's reasoning resolves into two basic arguments: (1) an appeal to the practical necessity of early moral protection and (2) an appeal to our kind membership and potentiality. I respond to these in turn before offering further reflections.
Fritz Jahr’s 1927 Concept of Bioethics
Authors: Sass Hans-Martin
Published: March 2008

In 1927, Fritz Jahr, a Protestant pastor, philosopher, and educator in Halle an der Saale, published an article entitled “Bio-Ethics: A Review of the Ethical Relationships of Humans to Animals and Plants” and proposed a “Bioethical Imperative,” extending Kant’s moral imperative to all forms of life. Reviewing new physiological knowledge of his times and moral challenges associated with the development of secular and pluralistic societies, Jahr redefines moral obligations towards human and nonhuman forms of life, outlining the concept of bioethics as an academic discipline, principle, and virtue. Although he had no immediate long-lasting influence during politically and morally turbulent times, his argument that new science and technology requires new ethical and philosophical reflection and resolve may contribute toward clarification of terminology and of normative and practical visions of bioethics, including understanding of the geoethical dimensions of bioethics.
Inviolability at Any Age
Authors: Gómez-Lobo Alfonso
Published: March 2008

This paper starts from three assumptions: that we are essentially human organisms, that we start to exist at conception, and that we retain our identity throughout our lives. The identity claim provides the background to argue that it is irrational for a person to claim that it would be impermissible to kill her now but permissible to have killed her at an earlier age. The notion of “full moral status” as an ascertainable property is questioned and shown to be dependent on previously accepted moral norms. It is concluded that the exclusion of the very young from the scope of the norm of common morality that prohibits the killing of the innocent amounts to discrimination on the basis of age.
Group Risks, Risks to Groups, and Group Engagement in Genetics Research
Authors: Hausman Daniel M.
Published: March 2008

This essay distinguishes between two kinds of group harms: harms to individuals in virtue of their membership in groups and harms to "structured" groups that have a continuing existence, an organization, and interests of their own. Genetic research creates risks of causing both kinds of group harms, and engagement with the groups at risk can help to mitigate those harms. The two kinds of group harms call for different kinds of group engagement.
Producing “Viable” Landscapes and Livelihoods in Central Veracruz, Mexico: Institutional and Producer Responses to the Coffee Commodity Crisis
Authors: Hausermann Heidi , Eakin Hallie
Published: March 2008

Recent volatility in the prices paid to coffee farmers for green coffee has prompted responses from both Mexican smallholders and state institutions. Based on ethnographic data collected in central Veracruz, this paper investigates the simultaneous interaction of state institutions and coffee farmers in mediating the commodity crisis. We argue that the state’s mode of planning in the coffee sector policy is based on strict neoliberal definitions of farmer ‘viability’ and market efficiency and results in significant flaws in state-led development projects. Six responses to low coffee prices – both within and independent from the context of state intervention – are discussed in great detail to show that, for now, autonomous responses initiated by coffee producers appear to be more ‘viable’ livelihood strategies than the state-engineered solutions being promoted in the region.