Journal articles: 'University of California (System). Office of the President' – Grafiati (2024)

Abstract:

In spring 2016, the President’s Office at California State University-Fresno (part of the California State University system) offered grant opportunities for academic departments to create a community engagement program for students interested in supporting the Fresno community at large. Known as the Touch the Community project, the program solicited proposals that focused on a community concern and on how to address this issue. Several proposals were selected and funded ($2,000) by the President’s Office for the duration of two academic semesters. Some of these grant projects involved service-learning components: building computer labs, creating ESL programs, and engaging with K–12 students.

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In January 2008, at the meeting of the American Historical Association, I had coffee with two colleagues, Gary Gerstle and George Sánchez, with whom I share an abiding interest in labor and immigration history, as well as current politics. We hatched an idea to hold a conference on immigration policy reform, which we believed would potentially be back on Congress's agenda after the new administration—we did not know at the time who would be the next president—took office. Ours certainly would not be the first conference on immigration policy. But we wanted to bring two perspectives that are not commonly aired in policy debates today: the historical perspective and the international perspective. We decided to bring together historians, social scientists, advocates, policy analysts, and journalists for a gathering in Washington, D.C., where we hoped to get the attention of those on Capitol Hill. We were fortunate that the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies agreed to host and cosponsor the event and that we were able to work with historian Sonya Michel, the center's new director for United States studies. Additional cosponsors included Columbia University, the University of Southern California, and Vanderbilt University.

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AbstractIn 1948, the RAND Corporation, formed to connect military planning with research and development decisions, became an independent nonprofit organization. Before then, cost-effectiveness analysis, benefit-cost analysis, and systems analysis had no established home in the federal government. In the 1950s, under the leadership of Charles Hitch, Chief, RAND Economics, undertook a program of activities they called “systems analysis,” including evaluation of the costs and effectiveness of weapon systems. In 1961, Robert McNamara appointed Hitch to be the Comptroller of the Department of Defense and invited Hitch to carry out his vision he described as “Programming and Systems Analysis.” Programming became the Planning, Programming, Budgeting System (PPBS) and the Five-Year Defense Program that linked strategies to forces to budgets. Systems Analysis assisted the Secretary to make choices of weapon systems and strategies. In 1965, Hitch returned to California and ultimately became President of the university. McNamara wanted Systems Analysis to report directly to him, and on his recommendation, President Lyndon Johnson appointed me Assistant Secretary for Systems Analysis. In 1966, the President directed that all departments in the executive branch establish offices based on the Systems Analysis model. In 1967, Henry S. Rowen became President of the RAND Corporation. He broadened RAND’s scope beyond the military to include Health Services, education, urban problems including homelessness, ethics in scientific research, and climate research. In 1970, Rowen led the establishment of the Pardee RAND Graduate School, offering a doctoral degree in Public Policy Analysis to extend widely the application of the RAND Systems Analysis approach to many fields.

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Matthew J. Taylor, PT, PhD, RYT was elected president of the board of directors for IAYT in February 2008. He has 27 years of clinical experience in physical therapy and is a leader in integrating Yoga with Western approaches to rehabilitation and therapy. He received his Masters of Physical Therapy degree from Baylor University in 1981, and served as a physical therapist and active duty Army Medical Specialist officer in the United States Army from 1980 through 1988. In 1988, he left the military and opened a private physical therapy practice in Galena, Illinois. In 1995, he expanded his physical therapy practice into an integrated clinic and health club. He became a certified, advanced-level Integrative Yoga Therapy therapist in 1998, and in 2006, he completed his PhD in transformational learning and change thorough the California Institute of Integral Studies. In 2003, he founded the Dynamic Systems Rehabilitation (DSR) clinics in Scottsdale, AZ. The clinic offers therapy and wellness services that integrate classical Yoga, physical therapy, and modern transformation learning theory. He has been an IAYT board member since February 2007 and is IAYT's representative for the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care. Matt sat down with us to discuss his perspective on Yoga therapy, IAYT, and some possibilities for the future of both.

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Background and Purpose: College and university tobacco control programs have historically neglected cessation. In 2012, the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) released a Smoke and Tobacco Free policy that became effective in January 2014. The policy provided for a comprehensive education and outreach campaign that included resources and referrals for cessation. We sought to determine whether all University of California (UC) campuses met UCOP standards. Methods: We reviewed the Smoke & Tobacco Free policies created by UCOP and posted at ten UC campuses, searched the tobacco free websites of each campus for cessation resources, and contacted tobacco-free task forces. Results: We found that all UC campuses met the UCOP standard by addressing tobacco cessation in their campus policies. The provision of cessation services and resources was limited and varied substantially by campus, and no campuses reported collecting data on the use of cessation programs. Conclusion: Consistent with concerns that college and university tobacco policies neglect cessation, UC campuses mentioned tobacco cessation resources and programs but did not provide consistent services. These campuses also did not report on the use of tobacco cessation resources, making it difficult to assess the effects of offering different types of cessation programs.

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"Californians, this is the time for us to do our utmost for the University because it has done its utmost for us,” said Chief Justice Earl Warren at the April 1967 convocation at Berkeley. And what a time it was—on the heels of the Free Speech Movement in 1964, the Vietnam Day marches in 1965, an escalation of anti-war protests in 1966, and, in January of 1967, the dramatic firing of UC President Clark Kerr by Governor Ronald Regan at a meeting of the Board Regents. The following year the University of California would celebrate its hundredth year, and to celebrate this, the UC hired photographer Ansel Adams to take thousands of images of the rapidly expanding UC system. Adams was charged to take photographs of the future. What might these images from futures past tell us about the future for both this university and the state to which it belongs?

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<p><em>We introduce Drs. Antoine Snijders and Jian-Hua Mao, whose article is published in this issue of AMOR and discuss their views on cancer genetics, targeted therapy, and personalized medicine.</em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><p>Having worked together in numerous joint investigations that have yielded significant results, Dr. Snijders and Dr. Mao would most definitely agree that two heads are better than one. “Researchers these days need to have the ability to collaborate across many different disciplines,” said the duo in an exclusive interview with AMOR. Dr. Snijders and Dr. Mao, both with PhDs in cancer genetics and genomics, are currently based at the Biological Systems and Engineering Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, which is a member of the national laboratory system supported by the U.S Department of Energy through its Office of Science. </p><p> </p><p>The Berkeley Lab is well known for producing excellent scholars, as thirteen Nobel Prize winners are affiliated with the Lab and seventy of its scientists are members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors for a scientist in the United States. Dr. Snijders, a Dutch who has conducted his research at Berkeley Lab for the past eight years, did his Masters in Science (Medical Biology) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands – an institute with a strong focus on scientific research and is home to five Spinoza Prize (a.k.a. the “Dutch Nobel”) winners.</p><p> </p><p>Dr. Snijders’s PhD (<em>cum laude</em>) in cancer and molecular biology was awarded by University Utrecht in Netherlands, but his research work was carried out at the University of California San Francisco. Subsequently, he continued his postdoctoral research in molecular cytogenetics at the same institution. A prolific author of 114 publications (with 3,851 citations) according to ResearchGate, Dr. Snijders – who also volunteers with California’s Contra Costa County Search and Rescue team for missing persons – has interests in the areas of molecular biology, cell biology, and cancer research.</p><p> </p><p>Some of the awards received by Dr. Snijders include the prestigious President’s Award for Excellence and the Student Travel Award at the 2014’s XXII International Congress of the International Society for Analytical Cytology in Montpellier, France. He was also the co-recipient of the AACR Team Science Award for the conception, technical implementation, dissemination, and pioneering applications of an array comparative genomic hybridization technique from the American Association of Cancer Research in 2008.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile, Dr. Mao studied applied mathematics at Southeast University, Nanjing, China, and pursued his masters in biostatistics and cancer epidemiology at Beijing Medical University (now Peking University Health Science Center). In 1988, Dr. Mao received the Outstanding Postgraduate Award from Beijing Medical University and two years later, was awarded an Outstanding Lecturer Award from the same university. He then pursued his PhD in cancer genetics at the Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Glasgow, UK. During this period, Dr. Mao was awarded the Oversea Research Student Awards from the Committee of Vice-Chancellor and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom, along with the Glasgow University Travel fellowship.</p><p> </p><p>Dr. Snijders and Dr. Mao joined Berkeley Lab in 2008 as resident scientist and genetic staff scientist, respectively, where their work focuses on using the multi-omics approach to identify critical genes as potential therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers. “At the same time, we investigate underlying biological mechanisms and functions using different model systems, including genetically engineered mouse models,” they told AMOR.</p><p> </p><p>“Mouse models offer many advantages for the study of the genetic basis of complex traits, including radiation-induced cancers, because of our ability to control both the genetic and environmental components of risk. The goal is the understanding of all stages of multi-step carcinogenesis in the mouse, in particular the relationships between germ line predisposition and somatic genetic changes in tumors.” explained Dr. Mao in a news feature released by Berkeley Lab. “The identification of human hom*ologues of these predisposition genes and the</p><p> </p><p>discovery of their roles in carcinogenesis will ultimately be important for the development of methods for the prediction of risk, diagnosis, prevention, and therapy for human cancers,” he further added. </p><p> </p><p class="Body1" align="center"><strong><span class="Heading1Char">“Although targeted therapy has given hope to patients, drug resistance usually takes place within short time. We need to figure out a way to combine multiple targeted therapies to treat patient s and somehow circumvent drug resistance to cure cancer.”</span></strong></p><p class="Body1" align="center"><strong><span class="Heading1Char"><br /></span></strong></p><p>Both scientists confessed to having a deep interest in the biology of cancer, which motivates them to focus their efforts in developing therapeutics as cancer intervention. However, they are sometimes subdued by numerous challenges in their research works, namely the heterogeneity and complexity of the tumors, which make it difficult to successfully treat patients. In addition, they highlighted a common challenge in their field, which also happens to be one of the main concerns for a majority of cancer researchers all over the world – lack of funding for research. “It remains challenging to obtain sufficient funds to do the research we believe is important,” they said.</p><p> </p><p>When asked for their opinion of targeted therapy, which is a growing part of many cancer treatment regimens, both scientists claimed, “Although targeted therapy has given hope to patients, drug resistance usually takes place within a short time. We need to figure out a way to combine multiple targeted therapies to treat patients and somehow circumvent drug resistance to cure cancer.” For researchers who are studying the biology of cancer, Dr. Snijders and Dr. Mao believe that they should ideally take into account individual genetic variation and environmental factors to study human’s susceptibility to complex diseases. This would in turn allow the researchers to execute personalized medicine in a clinical setting. “In the future, we envision an increase in disease treatment and prevention that take into account the individual genetic variation,” they concluded. </p><p class="Body1" align="center"><strong><span class="Heading1Char"><br /></span></strong></p><hr />Drs. Antoine Snijders and Jian-Hua Mao publish their work entitled “Multi-omics approach to infer cancer therapeutic targets on chromosome 20q across tumor types” in this issue of AMOR (page 215–223).

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The 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education in California, created by University of California President Clark Kerr and his contemporaries, brought college within reach of millions of American families for the first time and fashioned the world’s strongest system of public research universities. The California idea, combining excellence with access within a tiered system of higher education, and underpinned by a taxpayer consensus on the common good inherent in equality of opportunity in education, became the leading model for higher education across the world. Yet the political conditions supporting the California idea in California itself have evaporated. The taxpayer consensus broke down two decades after the Master Plan began and California no longer provides the fiscal conditions necessary to ensure both excellence and access, especially access for non-white and immigrant families. Many students are now turned away, public tuition is rising, the great research universities face resource challenges, and educational participation in California, once the national leader in the United States, lags far behind. The article traces the rise and partial fall of the Californian system of higher education as embodied in the Master Plan, and draws out lessons for other countries in general, and China in particular.

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At the time this article was written, Howard Risher was a Principal with the Wyatt Company in Philadelphia. He is currently President of Human Resource Quality in Villanova, PA. He has over 20 years of compensation consulting experience in both the public and private sector. He served as the project manager for the pay reform study commissioned by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. He is currently a member of the National Academy of Public Administration panel that is studying alternatives for reforming the federal classification system. He has a B.A. in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA and a Ph.D. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

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This memoir recalls the individuals and initiatives that formed the basis of the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS) from its conception by UC President David Saxon in 1980 through its formal establishment within the University of California system in 1992. Throughout the period, the UC MEXUS project served as a vehicle for evolution and expression of the University’s objective of leading the nation in its binational approach to scientific collaboration, political discourse, Chicano/Latino studies, and broadly relevant topics in the arts and humanities. Esta memoria recuerda a los individuos y las iniciativas que sentaron las bases del Instituto para México y Estados Unidos de la Universidad de California (UC MEXUS) desde su concepción por el presidente de la UC David Saxon en 1980 hasta su establecimiento formal dentro del sistema de la Universidad de California en 1992. A lo largo de este tiempo, el proyecto UC MEXUS ha servido como vehículo para la evolución y expresión del objetivo universitario de conducir a la nación a la colaboración científica, el discurso político, los estudios chicanos/latinos y temas de gran relevancia en las artes y las humanidades desde un enfoque binacional.

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Venezuelan politics attracted little attention from political scientists for thirty years after the defeat of the fidelista guerrillas in the 1960s, but there has been a surge of interest in recent years. The country retained civilian, elected govern- ment through a dark period of authoritarianism in Latin America, which seemed to make it a good candidate for deriving lessons about transitions to democracy. In the 1990s, however, the democratic system entered into crisis. Venezu- ela experienced urban riots, two unsuccessful coups, removal of a president from office before completion of his term, rising electoral abstention, collapse of the traditional parties at the heart of the system, and the election of a coup leader to the presidency. Attention shifted from what went right to what went wrong. These books help us understand the limitations of the Venezuelan democratic model.

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Abstract Objectives To identify information dissemination needs around food resources available through the university as informed by student representing groups at risk of food insecurity. Methods Eight focus groups with 17 leaders of student organizations representing students at high risk of food insecurity (ie, underrepresented minorities, first generation college students, low income, foster youth, and LGBTQA+) were conducted. Students’ experiences and views regarding awareness of available food resources, barriers and facilitators to obtain information on resources, and group-specific needs to improve communication of available resources was gathered. A codebook was developed and used for inductive analysis of interview data. Deductive thematic analysis was done by engaging in extensive commentary and discussion of the code structure. Results Awareness of resources available on campus was low, especially regarding guidance on SNAP application. Although students were able to name a few available resources, they often described inaccurate details. Social networks (ie, social media, direct peer-to-peer communication) were prominently identified as relevant means to share on campus food resource information. Students often recommended coordinated marketing strategies (eg, flyers, social media presence) and direct outreach via clubs/organizations as solutions to improve resource communication. Students preferred means to receive information on how to improve food security included online content (eg, videos, mobile apps) and in person events (eg, interactive demonstrations). Conclusions Comprehensive dissemination of available resources through relevant channels is key to improving food access, particularly among students at high risk of food insecurity. Promising dissemination strategies include direct outreach in student clubs/organizations combined with well-coordinated marketing campaigns that include a broad social media presence and online content. Funding Sources This research is being supported by the Blum Center for Developing Economies, University of California, Merced; and the Global Food Initiative, University of California Office of the President.

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Emily S. Rosenberg, A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory (Durham: Duke University Press, 2003, £18.95). Pp. 248. ISBN 0 8223 3206.Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003, £12.95). Pp. 322. ISBN 0 674 01118 X.Tetsuden Kashima, Judgment without Trial: Japanese American Imprisonment during World War II (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003, $35.00). Pp. 336. ISBN 0 295 98299 3.Gerald Early, This Is Where I Came in: Black America in the 1960s (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, Abraham Lincoln Lecture Series, 2003, £11. 50). Pp. 144. ISBN 0 80302 1823 0.Deborah Davis Jackson, Our Elders Lived It: American Indian Identity in the City (DeKalb, IL: University of Northern Illinois Press, 2002, $20.00). Pp. 191. ISBN 0 87580 591 4.Yen Le Espiritu, Home Bound: Filipino American Lives across Cultures, Communities, and Countries (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2003, $21.95). Pp. 271. ISBN 0 520 23527 4.Elizabeth Boosahda, Arab-American Faces and Voices: The Origins of an Immigrant Community (Austin: The University of Texas Press, 2003, £18.95). Pp. 288. ISBN 0 292 70919 6.John Kerry, patrician Massachusetts liberal, war hero, and yet dissident from the Vietnam era, vies for the 2004 presidency against George Bush, White House dynastic Republican, self-nominated caring conservative, and yet hard-edged ideologue. Notwithstanding Kerry's Catholicism, or his Jewish family line, both candidates hold sway as heirs to WASP cultural style bolstered by considerable personal fortunes. Howard Dean, New York MD and former Vermont governor, and like Kerry and Bush a Yale graduate, storms the early polls by his activist left-liberal agenda and Internet fundraising. John Edwards, North Carolina senator, personal injuries lawyer, and up-from-the-ranks millionaire, his father a textile factory worker and his mother a postal office employee, conducts a widely agreed good race for the Democratic Party nomination before joining the ticket as would-be Vice President. Had multiculturalism led to any shift of paradigm in connection with canonical whiteness? Or, to put matters more plainly, were not the front-runners once again executive white men, whatever their respective merits or social origins?

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This article traces the pluralist politics at the heart of Clark Kerr's bookThe Uses of the Universityto the present-day politics of diversity. Pluralism was the dominant theory of American politics at midcentury, and Kerr was among its most admired spokespersons. First as a labor economist and strike negotiator, then as chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and later as president of the University of California system, Kerr relied on “pluralistic decision-making” to harmonize relations among the multiversity's mix of vested interests. Shortly afterThe Uses of the Universitywas published in 1963, however, student protesters at Berkeley and at other multiversities like it let Kerr know that they had grown tired of the pluralist politics that he championed. Ironically, in their effort to upend the pluralist status quo and to make politics more participatory, campus insurgents sowed the seeds for the growth of a new brand of pluralist politics known as diversity. By uncovering the relationship between pluralism and diversity, this article reveals the enduring—and surprising—political legacy of Kerr's multiversity model 50 years after he unveiled it.

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the ongoing life cycle of the world's first library Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) at the Oviatt Library at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Born from the pilot project at the California State University Chancellor's Office, CSUN's ASRS was inaugurated in 1991 and cost over $2,000,000 to implement. It survived a devastating 6.8 Northridge earthquake and protected the collection housed within. Almost 20 years later the CSUN ASRS underwent a major renovation of hardware. With the changing concept of library as space and the construction of Learning Commons at the Oviatt, the demand for ASRS capacity is higher than ever. Design/methodology/approach – In addition to the history and overview, the paper explores the major aspects of ASRS administration: specifications of storage layout and arrangement of the materials, collection policy for storing materials, communication of retrieval requests and ASRS interface and compatibility with successive Integrated Library Systems. Findings – The first ASRS served as proof of concept that a library collection does not lose its effectiveness when low-circulating materials are removed from the open stacks. Furthermore, with the changing concept of library as space and the construction of Learning Commons at the Oviatt, the provision of the nimble, just-in-time collection becomes paramount, and the demand for ASRS increases exponentially. Practical implications – Administrators and librarians who consider investing in ASRS will learn about the principles of storage organization, imperatives and challenges of its conception and long-term management on the example of CSUN. Originality/value – The paper carries unique qualities as it describes the formation and evolution of the world's first library ASRS. The visionary undertaking not only withstood the test of time and nature, it continues to play a pivotal role in Oviatt Library's adaption to the new generation of users’ demands and expectations.

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Peru approached the twenty-first century a polarized country. In the year 2000, with increased authoritarian control over the legislative and judicial branches along with constitutional reforms paving the way for his re-reelection, President Alberto Fujimori campaigned for a third term in office. His main electoral opponent, Alejandro Toledo, along with opposition leaders, spearheaded massive demonstrations in Lima accusing the government of repression, corruption, drug trafficking, and electoral fraud. Opposition figures were joined by grassroots social movements, unions, students, and human rights activists who opposed the regime's repressive and corrupt practices, which included by now reports of torture and extrajudicial killings. When Fujimori first became president a decade earlier he had inherited a country ravaged by widespread poverty, hyperinflation, nearly depleted foreign reserves, a growing narcotics trade, and two armed terrorist groups: the MRTA (Tupac Amarú Revolutionary Movement) and the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso). Both were on the offensive across the country, the Shining Path most prominently, planting car bombs in the capital, kidnapping and killing civilians, and besieging towns and villages across the country. Looking for a way out of economic and terrorist violence, Peruvians were faced with two options in 1990: Alberto Fujimori, an ex-university president and agricultural engineer of Japanese descent, and Mario Vargas Llosa, a white, upper-middle-class novelist and liberal intellectual. Though Fujimori was less well-known, many Peruvians saw Vargas Llosa's center-right coalition as a repackaged version of the same traditional political groups that had lead the country into crisis. Fujimori would appear much like Hugo Chávez later in Venezuela, a populist outsider ready to challenge the traditional party system. Many saw Fujimori's succinct rhetoric as refreshing when contrasted with Vargas Llosa's elaborate speeches, especially since the former president, Alan García, who fled the country in 1992 on corruption charges, was also well-known for his loquacious disposition.

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Julie Berry Cullen of University of California, San Diego reviews, “Taxes in America: What Everyone Needs to Know” by Leonard E. Burman and Joel Slemrod. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores how the U.S. tax system works, how it affects people and businesses, and how it might be made better. Discusses the basics of taxes; personal income taxes; business income taxes; taxing spending; other kinds of taxes; taxes and the economy; the hidden welfare state; the burden of taxation; tax administration and enforcement; misperceptions and reality in the policy process; tax myths; and tax reform. Burman is Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs in the Maxwell School and is with the Departments of Public Administration and Economics and the Law School at Syracuse University. Slemrod is Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, Director of the Office of Tax Policy Research in the Ross School of Business, and Professor and Chair in the Department of Economics at the University of Michigan.”

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An increase in public expressions of xenophobic and racist nativist sentiments followed the election of the 45th president of the United States, and higher education institutions across the country issued statements proclaiming their support for students impacted by changes to federal immigration policy. Guided by García’s (2017) organizational typology of HSIs and critical policy studies (Diem, Young, Welton, Mansfield & Lee, 2014), we conducted a content analysis of messages distributed via campus-wide email that addressed the vulnerabilities of DACA recipients and other immigrant students at two Hispanic-Serving Institutions in California. Our examination of these messages as policy documents reveals how campus and university-system leaders—even in a so-called “Sanctuary State”—attempt to create a notion of “campus as sanctuary” rather than committing to “sanctuary campus” policies and practices. We conclude with recommendations that push the notion of sanctuary campus beyond symbolic gestures and ask practitioners, scholars, and educators to reflect on the practices that foster true sanctuary environments.

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Objectives: To categorize the primary reasons for electronic consults (eConsults) to otolaryngology from primary care physicians (PCPs). To determine how many patients avoided subsequent in-person otolaryngology office visits. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of a pilot study that took place between 2016 and 2017 regarding eConsults to adult otolaryngology placed by primary care physicians at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center. The complaints were categorized as related to the following: ear, nose, throat or neck. Initial recommendations were classified as (1) providing education only (no intervention), (2) suggesting medical therapy provided by the PCP, or (3) suggesting surgical intervention. Univariate statistics and multinomial logistic regression were used to analyze the association of problem type with the need for follow-up in the otolaryngology offices. The data was analyzed for differences in patient age and gender. Results: The study population included 64 patients (average age 54.6 years, 60.9% male). Within this group, 41% of consults were for ear complaints, 15% for nose complaints, 28% had throat-related complaints, and 16% had neck-related complaints. In-person follow-up was not required for 82.8% of the consults. Overall, 76.9% of ear, 100% of nose, 88.9% of throat, and 70.0% of neck complaints did not require in-person visits. Conclusions: eConsults to otolaryngology were primarily for ear concerns. Of the eConsults, 82.4% did not require in-person follow-up. We therefore conclude that the use of eConsults prevented substantial office visits that would not otherwise be necessary. Efforts should be made to promote the widespread use of eConsults, which may to the more efficient use of resources.

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The metaphoric reading of native life as an unopened book by two ranking colonial administrators and authoritative ethnographers in Malaya and the Philippines cannot be a simple coincidence. Clifford and Barrows represent two empires, one conservative and peaking, the other liberal and ascendant, meeting in “the Malay Archipelago.” Clifford was a product of the rugged and cultured education demanded of British aristocratic scions, while Barrows exemplified the rising American professional classes, holding graduate degrees in education and anthropology. Both men served well the metropolitan ideologies that guided the imperial hand: British Providence to provide good government to the Malay states; American manifest destiny to replace Spain as the agent of civilization in the Philippines. Using their ethnographic readings, Clifford helped perfect the art of British “indirect rule” Malaya, while Barrows established the Philippine mass education system, the main thrust of the United States' “benevolent assimilation.” Both men retired as decorated officers and established literati, Barrows as the President of the University of California and Clifford a literary figure after Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling.

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The Clark Kerr era in the history of the University of California (1952–1967) was marked by momentous social and cultural upheaval, much of which was fought out across the UC system's then eight campuses, particularly Berkeley and UCLA. No issue sparked greater student action than civil rights, which was a challenge that Kerr confronted first as Berkeley chancellor and then as president of the entire UC system. This challenge was met in every area of the university's affairs, including its athletics programs. Kerr demanded that the university's teams schedule games with the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities, whose academic profiles matched its own. These included segregated southern institutions, whose varsity teams were still composed entirely of white athletes and, in some cases, demanded the segregation of competitors by race. These games presented unique challenges for a university that Kerr considered “a portal open to all able young people,” since such competitive and commercial affiliations with segregated institutions called into question the university's sincerity in committing itself to equal educational opportunity. By digging deeply in the university archives at both Berkeley and UCLA, this article reveals how Kerr and his administration promoted the university's affiliation with these southern institutions without taking the racial politics of these games into serious consideration. In turn, the article reassesses the university's racial record in the Kerr era and its commitment to protecting the civil rights of the black student athletes who competed on its varsity teams.

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AbstractLesley Dingle, founder of the Eminent Scholars Archive at Cambridge, gives a further contribution in this occasional series concerning the lives of notable legal academics. On this occasion, the focus of her attention is Stroud Francis Charles (Toby) Milsom QC BA who retired from his chair of Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge in 2000 after a distinguished career as a legal historian at the universities of Oxford, London School of Economics and St John's College Cambridge. His academic life and contentious theories on the development of the Common Law at the end of the feudal system in England were discussed in a series of interviews at his home in 2009. At the core are aspects of his criticism of the conclusions of the nineteenth century historian Frederick William Maitland, upon which the teaching of the early legal history of England was largely based during much of the 20th century. Also included are insights into his research methods in deciphering the parchment Plea Rolls in the Public Records Office, and anecdotes relating to his tenure as Dean at New College Oxford (1956–64) as well as associations with the Selden Society: he was its Literary Director, and later President during its centenary in 1987. Professor Milsom also briefly talked of his memories of childhood during WWII and his inspirational studies as a student at the University of Pennsylvania (1947–48).

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After the #FeesMustFall strikes that have been haunting South African universities since 2015, Instructional Designers felt pretty confident that they can drive their institutions through any dilemma. Along came the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic and they realised they have been playing in the kiddie pool all along. On 23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national lockdown level 5 to start on 26 March 2020 (Department of Health, 2020). Three days head start for a three-week lockdown (which was eventually extended till the time of writing) was a logistical nightmare for even the most technology driven universities. All staff were sent home with only enough time to grab their office plants and laptops and no idea how they were going to move forward. The issue with staff and students all working from home is that the lecturers working at the Central University of Technology (CUT), being primarily a face-to-face delivery university, was completely unprepared for moving their traditional and blended approaches to completely online. In their study, Mogeni, Ondigi and Mufo (2020) found that most of the investigated teachers were not empowered enough to deliver instruction fully online and either needed to be retrained, receive further specialised training or be trained completely from scratch. A lack of confidence in the delivery mode of instruction will cause even the most knowledgeable subject spcialist to fail in their task. At the CUT lecturers needed a way of quickly acquiring the necessary skills to deliver their content and assessments on the institution Learning Management System (LMS). The aim of this paper is to measure participant perspectives of an emergency intervention to facilitate the process of online delivery skills acquisition quickly and online. To ensure relevant results a systematic process of designing an intervention and recording participant perspectives is necessary. This extended abstract will take a look at the methods used to drive the paper, briefly discuss the results and findings, and lastly explore the implications and significance of the research for the use of higher education institutions for emergency LMS training. Keywords: LMS training; e-Learning; Online Instruction; Instructional Design

Abstract:

The Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS) held its SixteenthAnnual Conference at the ISNA headquarters in Plainfield, Indiana, October9-11, 1987. Registration listed about 200 participants from the United States,Canada, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Trinidad, and other countries. Theinaugural session on October 9 provided a hospitable setting for camaraderie.Eloquent and spirited speeches by Iqbal Unus, Conference Chairman; lbrahimSyed, AMSE Program Chairman; and Mushtaqur Rahman, AMSS ProgramChairman, set the stage for the conference and the sessions.Chaired by Salahuddin Malik, AMSS Vice-president, the first session onPolitical Science was held on Friday evening after Salat-ul Maghrib. HashemAl-Jaseem of the University of California was the first to present his paperon Islam and Politics. He was followed by Taysir Nashif of Essex CountyCollege, who pleaded for a Nuclear Free Zone in the Middle East. LouaySafi of Wayne State University concluded the session with his presentationof War and Peace in Islam.This session was so lively and discussions so absorbing that no time wasleft for the following session scheduled for the same evening. Conferees preferredto postpone the second session rather than to conclude the discussions.It was heartening that every conferee maintained the Islamic tradition of conductingdebates in a spirit of good humor, disagreeing without beingdisagreeable.The first full day of the conference, Saturday, October 10, began with aTilawat-e-Quran, and a session on Education. Chaired by M.A.W. Fakhri ofChicago State University, the session had two presentations. Hakim Rashidof Howard University opened the session with his paper on “SocializatiodEducationof Muslim Children in America”. He was followed by NimatHafez Barzangi of Cornell University, who presented her paper on “Perceptionsof the Islamic Belief System: The Muslims in North America. Followingthe session on education, two concurrent sessions were held on Sociologyand History dealing with Muslim minorities. This was the first time the strategyof concurrent sessions was ever tried in the AMSS. The sociology sessionChairperson, Ilyas Baynus of the State University of New York, first invited ...

Abstract:

J. M. MacKenzie. The Partition of Africa, 1880-1900. London and New York: Methuen, 1983. Pp. x, 48. Paper, $2.95. Review by Leslie C. Duly of Bemidji State University. C. Joseph Pusateri. A History of American Business. Arlington Heights, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1984. Pp. xii, 347. Cloth, $25.95; Paper, $15.95. Review by Paul H. Tedesco of Northeastern University. Russell F. Weigley. History of the United States Army. Enlarged edition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Pp. vi, 730. Paper, $10.95. Review by Calvin L. Christman of Cedar Valley College. Jonathan H. Turner, Royce Singleton, Jr., and David Musick. Oppression: A Socio-History of Black-White Relations in America. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1984. Cloth, $24.95; Paper, $11.95. Review by Thomas F. Armstrong of Georgia College. H. Warren Button and Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. History of Education and Culture in America. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1983. Pp. xvii, 370. Cloth, $20.95. Review by Peter J. Harder. Vice President, Applied Economics, Junior Achievement Inc. David Stick. Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1983. Pp. xiv, 266. Cloth, $14.95; Paper, $5.95. Review by Mary E. Quinlivan of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. John B. Boles. Black Southerners 1619-1869. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1983. Pp. ix, 244. Cloth, $24.00; Paper, $9.00. Review by Kay King of Mountain View College. Elaine Tyler May. Great Expectations: Marriage and Divorce in Post-Victorian America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980. Pp. viii, 200. Cloth, $15.00; Paper, $6.95. Review by Barbara J. Steinson of DePauw University. Derek McKay and H. M. Scott. The Rise of the Great Powers, 1648-1815. London: Longman, 1983. Pp. 368. Paper, $13.95. Review by Linda Frey of the University of Montana. Jack S. Levy. War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495-1975. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1983. Pp. xiv, 215. Cloth, $24.00. Review by Bullitt Lowry of North Texas State University. Lionel Kochan and Richard Abraham. The Making of Modern Russia. Second Edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1983. Pp. 544. Paper, $7.95. Review by Pasquale E. Micciche of Fitchburg State College. D. C. B. Lieven. Russia and the Origins of the First World War. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983. Pp. 213. Cloth, $25.00. Review by Joseph M. McCarthy of Suffolk University. John F. V. Kieger. France and the Origins of the First World War. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983. Pp. vii, 201. Cloth, $25.00. Review by Robert B. Luehrs of Fort Hays State University. E. Bradford Burns. The Poverty of Progress: Latin Amerca in the Nineteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980. Pp. 185. Paper, $6.95. Review by Robert Fischer of the Southern Technical Institute. Anthony Seldon and Joanna Pappworth. By Word of Mouth: Elite Oral History. London and New York: Methuen, 1983. Pp. xi, 258. Cloth, $25.00; Paper, $12.95. Review by Jacob L. Susskind of the Pennsylvania State University, The Capitol Campus.

Abstract:

The 12th International Conference on High Temperature Materials Chemistry (HTMC-XII) took place at the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, 17-22 September 2006. Previous conferences were held in 2000 in Juelich (Germany), and in 2003 in Tokyo (Japan).The conference was sponsored by IUPAC and organized by the Department of Inorganic Chemistry/Materials Chemistry of the University of Vienna together with the Austrian Chemical Society (GÖCH) and the Department of Materials Chemistry of the Vienna University of Technology. The local organizing committee was chaired by Profs. Adolf Mikula and Herbert Ipser of the University of Vienna. Special patronage was granted by the Austrian Federal Minister for Education, Science and Culture and by the mayor of Vienna.More than 150 participants from 25 countries worldwide came to Vienna to present their research in the field of high temperature materials chemistry and to interact with each other in a lively scientific discussion. A considerable number of scientists, especially from Russia and some Eastern European countries, had the chance to come to this conference for the very first time, partly due to partial financial support by the local organizers, for example, by reduced or waived registration fees. It was also a pleasure to see many young scientists who made new contacts with each other and with their senior colleagues from all over the world.The program contained nine plenary lectures, corresponding to the main topics, but also included two special lectures on topics of more general interest, such as "Do universities prepare for industrial careers" (by Knuth Consemüller, chairman of the Austrian Council for Science and Technology Development), and "The arts: What use to materials science" (by Mark Miodownik). The plenary lectures, with the exception of the lecture by Dr. Consemüller, are published in this issue.In addition, there were 51 oral presentations and 100 posters that were on display for the entire week.For this conference, IUPAC sponsored three poster awards, and the winners received a two-year subscription of Chemistry International, a copy of the IUPAC "Gold Book" as well as a certificate signed by the IUPAC president. The winners, as selected by an international jury, were Dario Manara of Italy ("The uranium-oxygen phase diagram at high temperature: Recent advances"), Yuriy Plevachuk of Ukraine ("Density and electrical conductivity of liquid Al-Fe and Al-Ni binary alloys"), and Jiři Popovic of the Czech Republic ("Thermodynamic optimization of the Ni-Al-W system").The social program included a reception in the City Hall of Vienna, sponsored by the mayor of Vienna, as well as a conference excursion to the easternmost Austrian province, Burgenland, with visits to the small town of Rust on the shore of Lake Neusiedl and a guided tour through the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, the capital of Burgenland. This was followed by a string quartet concert with music by the Austrian composers Joseph Haydn (who had lived and worked in this particular palace for many years) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (whose 250th birthday was celebrated in 2006). The excursion ended with a conference banquet in the state rooms of the palace.Judging from the comments of the participants, HTMC-XII was a big success, and many of the scientists promised to come back to the next meeting, HTMC-XIII. Most probably this will be held in 2009 in California, USA, organized by Prof. Alexandra Navrotsky of the University of California at Davis.Adolf Mikula and Herbert IpserConference Editors

Abstract:

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) discussions afford patients and physicians a chance to better understand patients’ values and wishes regarding end-of-life care; however, these conversations typically take place late in the course of a disease. The goal of this study was to clarify attitudes of oncologists, cardiologists, and primary care physicians (PCPs) toward ACP and to identify persistent barriers to timely ACP discussion following a quality improvement initiative at our health system geared at improvement in ACP implementation. Methods: A 20-question, cross-sectional online survey was created and distributed to cardiologists, oncologists, PCPs, and cardiology and oncology support staff at the NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) from February to March 2015. A total of 117 individuals (46% of distributed) completed the surveys. The results were compiled using an online survey analysis tool (SurveyMonkey, Inc., Palo Alto, California, USA). Results: Only 15% of cardiologists felt it was their responsibility to conduct ACP discussions with their patients having congestive heart failure (CHF). In contrast, 68% of oncologists accepted this discussion as their responsibility in patients with terminal cancer ( P < .01). These views were mirrored by PCPs, as 68% of PCPs felt personally responsible for ACP discussion with patients having CHF, while only 34% felt the same about patients with cancer. Reported documentation of these discussions in the electronic health record was inconsistent between specialties. Among all surveyed specialties, lack of time was the major barrier limiting ACP discussion. Perceived patient discomfort and discomfort of the patient’s family toward these discussions were also significant reported barriers. Conclusion: Attitudes toward ACP implementation vary considerably by medical specialty and medical condition, with oncologists in this study tending to feel more personal responsibility for these discussions with patients having cancer than cardiologists with their patients having heart failure. Robust implementation of ACP across the spectrum of medical diagnoses is likely to require a true collaboration between office-based PCPs and specialists in both the inpatient and the ambulatory settings.

Abstract:

Information and communication technology has been developed rapidly and affectedvarious aspects such as propagation of information and marketing strategy of tourist attraction. KebunBinatang Ragunan is one of tourist attraction in Indonesia. Aside from recreation area, Kebun BinatangRagunan can be a place to learn animals. However, learning animals itself tends to be less attractive and less interactive. Therefore, an application was developed as one of animal learning media to increase touristmotivation. The application developed in form of quiz game by using gamification like achievement to increase their motivation in animals learning and using Sattolo Shuffle algorithm in order to make quiz more varied. After testing, the application is known affect the Behavioral Intention to Use level around 76.96% and Immersion level around 82.43% in giving motivation and attracting tourist attention to use the application. Sattolo Shuffle algorithm successfully applied in application to produce a unique sequence of each randomized quiz. Keywords—Achievement, Animal Recognition, Gamification, Quiz Game, Sattolo Shuffle. REFERENCES [1] Egger, R. 2012. The impact of near field communication on tourism. In Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 4(2), p. 119-133. [2] Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia. 2009. Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 10 Tahun 2009 [online]. Available in: http://peraturan.go.id/uu/nomor-10-tahun-2009.html [accessed on 21 March 2016]. [3] World Travel Market. 2011. WTM Global Trends Report 2011. Available in: http://www.toposophy.com/files/1/files/onsite_global_trends_ v3_lo.pdf [accessed on 13 April 2016]. [4] Deterding, S., Khaled, R., Nacke, L.E., and Dixon, D. 2011. Gamification: Toward a Definition. CHI 2011 Workshop Gamification: Using Game Design Elements in Non-Game Contexts[online]. Available in: http://gamificationresearch.org/wpcontent/uploads/2011/04/CHI_2011_Gamification_Workshop .pdf [accessed on 21 March 2016]. [5] Xu, F., Tian, F., Buhalis, D., Weber, J., and Zhang, H. 2015. Tourist as Mobile Gamers: Gamification for Tourism Marketing. In Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing. [6] Sattolo, S. 1986. An Algorithm to Generate a Random Cyclic Permutation. Information Processing Letters, 22(6), p. 315- 317. [7] Zichermann, G. and Cunningham, C. 2011. Gamification by Design: Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps.First edition. O'Reilly Media, Inc., Sebastopol, California [8] Kapp, K.M. 2012. The Gamification of Learning and instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. Pfeiffer, San Fransisco, CA. [9] Bunchball. 2012. What is Gamification? Available in: http://www.bunchball.com/gamification [accessed on 23 March 2016]. [10] Wilson, M.C. 2004. Overview of Sattolo's Algorithm. New Zealand, Auckland. [11] Lowry, P.B., Gaskin, J.E., Twyman, N.W., Hammer, B., and Roberts, T.L. 2013. Taking "Fun and Games" Seriously: Proposing the Hedonic-Motivation System Adoption Model (HMSAM). In Journal of the Association for Information System, 14(11), p. 617-671. [12] Rahadi, D.R. 2014. Pengukuran Usability Sistem Menggunakan Use Questionnaire Pada Aplkasi Android. Jurnal Sistem Informasi (JSI), 6(1), p. 661-671. [13] Nugroho, E. 2009. Desain Situs Reader Friendly. Andi Offset, Yogyakarta. [14] Rubin, J. and Chisnell, D. 2008. Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests.Wiley Publishing, New Jersey. [15] Dumas, J.S. and Redish, J.C. 1999. A Practical Guide to Usability Testing. Intellect Books, UK. [16] International Organization for Standardization. 1998. ISO 9241-11:1998 Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) -- Part 11: Guidance on usability. Available in: https://www.iso.org/standard/16883.html [accessed on 20 April 2016]. [17] Sugiyono. 2013. Metode Penelitian Manajemen. First edition. Alfabeta, Bandung. [18] Kerlinger, F.N. 2004. Asas-asas Penelitian Behavioral. Gajah Mada University Press, Yogyakarta. [19] Trochim, W.M.K. 2006. Likert Scaling. Available in: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/scallik.php [accessed on 26 March 2016]. [20] Uebersax, J.S. 2006. Likert Scale: Dispelling the Confusion. Available in: http://www.john-uebersax.com/stat/likert.htm [accessed on 26 March 2016]. [21] Likert, R. 1932. A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes. Archives of Psychology, 22, p. 5-55.

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<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Libraries, museums and archives were the original big geospatial information repositories that to this day house thousands to millions of resources containing research-quality geographic information. However, these print resources (and their digital surrogates), are not easily incorporated into the contemporary research process because they are not structured data that is required of web-mapping and geographic information system tools. Fortunately, contemporary big data tools and methods can help with the large-scale conversion of historic resources into structured datasets for mapping and spatial analysis.</p><p>Single frame historic aerial photographs captured originally on film (hereafter “photographs”), are some of the most ubiquitous and information-rich geographic information resources housed in libraries, museums and archives. Photographs authentically encoded information about past places and time-periods without the thematic focus and cartographic generalization of historic print maps. As such, they contain important information in nearly every category of base mapping (i.e. transportation networks, populated places etc.), that is useful to a broad spectrum of research projects and other applications. Photographs are also some of the most frustrating historic resources to use due to their very large map-scale (i.e. small geographic area), lack of reference information and often unknown metadata (i.e. index map, flight altitude, direction etc.).</p><p>The capture of aerial photographs in the contiguous United States (U.S.) became common in the 1920s and was formalized in government programs to systematically photograph the nation at regular time intervals beginning in the 1930s. Many of these photography programs continued until the 1990s meaning that there are approximately 70 years of “data” available for the U.S. that is currently underutilized due to inaccessibility and the challenges of converting photographs to structured data. Large collections of photographs include government (e.g. the U.S. Department of Agriculture Aerial Photography Field Office “The Vault” – over 10 million photographs), educational (e.g. the University of California Santa Barbara Library – approximately 2.5 million photographs), and an unknown number non-governmental organizations (e.g. numerous regional planning commissions and watershed conservation groups). Collectively these photography resources constitute an untapped big geospatial data resource.</p><p>U.S. government photography programs such as the National Agricultural Imagery Program continued and expanded in the digital age (i.e. post early 2000s), so that not only is there opportunity to extend spatial analyses back in time, but also to create seamless datasets that integrate with current and expected future government aerial photography campaigns. What is more, satellite imagery sensors have improved to the point that there is now overlap between satellite imagery and aerial photography in terms of many of their technical specifications (i.e. spatial resolution etc.). The remote capture of land surface imagery is expanding rapidly and with it are new opportunities to explore long-term land-change analyses that require historical datasets.</p><p>Manual methods to process photographs are well-known, but are too labour intensive to apply to entire photography collections. Academic research on methods to increase the discoverability of photographs and convert them to geospatial data at large-scale has to date been limited (although see the work of W. Karel et al.). This presentation details a semi-automated workflow to process historic aerial photographs from U.S. government sources and compares the workflow and results to existing methods and datasets. In a pilot test area of 94 photographs in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the workflow was found to be nearly 100-times more efficient than commonly employed alternatives while achieving greater horizontal positional accuracy. Results compared favourably to contemporary digital aerial photography data products, suggesting that they are well-suited for integration with contemporary datasets. Finally, initial results of the workflow were incorporated into several existing online discovery and sharing platforms that will be highlighted in this presentation. Early online usage statistics as well as direct interaction with users demonstrates the broad interest and high-impact of photographs and their derived products (i.e. structured geospatial data).</p>

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ISCPES stands for International Society for Comparative Physical Education and Sports and it is going to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2018. Since the beginning (Israel 1978) the main goals of the Society were established under a worldwide mind set considering five continents and no discrimination of any kind. The founders wanted to compare Physical Education and Sports across the world, searching for the best practices deserving consideration and applied on the purpose of improving citizen quality of life. The mission still stands for “Compare to learn and improve”.As all the organizations lasting for 39 years, ISCPES experienced several vicissitudes, usually correlated with world economic cycles, social and sports changes, which are in ISS journal articles - International Sport Studies.ISS journal is Scopus indexed, aiming to improve its quality (under evaluation) to reach more qualified students, experts, professionals and researchers; doing so it will raise its indexation, which we know it is nowadays a more difficult task. First, because there are more journals trying to compete on this academic fierce competitive market; secondly, because the basic requirements are getting more and more hard to gather in the publishing environment around Physical Education and Sports issues. However, we can promise this will be one of our main strategic goals.Another goal I would like to address on this Editorial is the language issue. We have this second strategic goal, which is to reach most of languages spoken in different continents; besides the English language, we will reach Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries. For that reason, we already defined that all the abstracts in English will be translated into Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese words so people can find them on any search browser. That will expand the demand for our journal and articles, increasing the number of potential readers. Of course this opportunity, given by Motricidade, can be considered as a good example to multiply our scope.In June 2017 we organized a joint Conference in Borovets, Bulgaria, with our colleagues from the BCES – Bulgarian Society for Comparative Educational Studies. During those days, there was an election to appoint a new (Portuguese) president. This constitutes an important step for the Portuguese speaker countries, which, for a 4th year term, will have the opportunity to expand the influence of ISCPES Society diffusing the research results we have been achieving into a vast extended new public and inviting new research experts to innovative debates. This new president will be working with a wide geographical diverse team: the Vice President coming from a South American country (Venezuela), and the other several Executive Board members are coming from Brazil, China, Africa and North America. This constitutes a very favorable situation once, adding to this, we kept the previous editorial team from Australia and Europe. We are definitely committed to improve our influence through new incentives to organize several regional (continental) workshops, seminars and Conferences in the next future.The international research is crossing troubled times with exponential number of new indexed journals trying to get new influence and visibility. In order to do that, readers face new challenges because several studies present contradictory conclusions and outcome comparisons still lacking robust methodologies. Uncovering these issues is the focus of our Society.In the past, ISCPES started its activity collecting answers to the same questions asked to several experts in different countries and continents across the world. The starting studies developed some important insights on several issues concerning the way Physical Education professionals approached their challenges. In the very starting documents ISCPES activity focused in identifying certain games and indigenous activities that were not understood by people in other parts of the world, improving this international understanding and communication. This first attempt considered six groups of countries roughly comprehending 26 countries from all the continents.ISCPES has on its archives several seminal works, PhD proposals and program proposals, which constitutes the main theoretical framework considered in some textbooks printed at the end of the sixties in the XXth century.The methods used mostly sources’ country comparisons, historic development of comparative education systems, list of factors affecting those systems and a systematic analysis of case studies; additionally, international organizations for sports and physical education were also required to identify basic problems and unique features considered for the implementation of each own system. At the time, Lynn C. Vendien & John E. Nixon book “The World Today in Health, Physical Education and Recreation”, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1968, together with two monographies from William Johnson “Physical Education around the World”, 1966, 1968, Indianapolis, Phi Epsilon Kappa editions, were the main textbook references.The main landscapes of interest were to study sports compared or the sport role in Nationalisms, Political subsidization, Religion, Race and volunteering versus professionalism. The goal was to state the true place of sports in societies.In March 1970, Ben W. Miller from the University of California compiled an interesting Exhibit n.1 about the main conclusions of a breakfast meeting occurred during the American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. There, they identified thirty-one individuals, which had separate courses in “Comparative and/or International Physical Education, Recreation and Sports”; one month later, they collected eighteen responses with the bibliographic references they used. On this same Exhibit n.1 there is detailed information on the title, catalogue description, date of initial course (1948, the first), credit units, eligibility, number of year offer, type of graduation (from major to doctorate and professional). Concluding, the end of the sixties can be the mark of a well-established body of literature in comparative education and sports studies published in several scientific journals.What about the XXIst century? Is it still important to compare sports and education throughout the world? Only with qualitative methods? Mixed methods?We think so. That is why, after a certain decline and fuzzy goal definition in research motivations within ISCPES we decided to innovate and reorganize people from physical education and sports around this important theme of comparative studies. Important because we observe an increasing concern on the contradictions across different results in publications under the same subject. How can we infer? What about good research questions which get no statistically significant results? New times are coming, and we want to be on that frontline of this move as said by Elsevier “With RMR (results masked review) articles, you don’t need to worry about what editors or reviewers might think about your results. As long as you have asked an important question and performed a rigorous study, your paper will be treated the same as any other. You do not need to have null results to submit an RMR article; there are many reasons why it can be helpful to have the results blinded at initial review”.https://www.elsevier.com/connect/reviewers-update/results-masked-review-peer-review-without-publication-bias.This is a very different and challenging time. Our future strategy will comprehend more cooperation between researchers, institutions and scientific societies as an instrument to leverage our understanding of physical activity and sports through different continents and countries and be useful for policy designs.Next 2018, on the occasion of the UE initiative Sofia – European Capital of Sport 2018 we - Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES) & the International Society for Comparative Physical Education and Sport (ISCPES) - will jointly organize an International Conference on Sport Governance around the World.Sports and Physical Education are facing complex problems worldwide, which need to be solved. For health reasons, a vast number of organizations are popularizing the belief that physical education and sports are ‘a must’ in order to promote human activity and movement. However, several studies show that modern lifestyles are the main cause for people's inactivity and sedentary lifestyles.Extensive funded programs used to promote healthy lifestyles; sports media advertising several athletes, turning them into global heroes, influencers in a new emerging industry around sports organizations. Therefore, there is a rise in the number of unethical cases and corruption that influence the image of physical education and sports roles.We, the people emotional and physically involved with sports and physical activity must be aware of this, studying, discussing and comparing global facts and events around the world.This Conference aims to offer an incentive to colleagues from all continents to participate and present their latest results on four specific topics: 1. Sport Governance Systems; 2. Ethics and Corruption in Physical Education and Sports Policies; 3. Physical Education and Sport Development; 4. Training Physical Educators and Coaches. Please consider your selves invited to attend. Details in http://bcesconvention.com/

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Abstract Background: This clinical trial addressed feasibility and safety of microtransplantation by HLA-mismatched allogeneic cellular therapy (HMMACT) in poor risk acute myeloid leukemia patients. A secondary objective was to estimate complete response rate, infections, GVHD incidence, and induction mortality. Methods: Patients with high risk AML were enrolled: 4 were > 75 yo, 3 with MLL+ ((t(6;11), 11+ and t(10;11)), 3 complex/del7, one FLT3+. Patients received induction chemotherapy with mitoxantrone (10 mg/m2 IV for 3 days) and cytarabine (150 mg/m2 IV for 7 days) and received HLA-mismatched GCSF mobilized PBSCs on day 9 or 10. Family donors were concurrently HLA typed and best available donor underwent GCSF mobilization (5 mg/kg SQ BID x 4 days) and leukapheresis after medical evaluation and safety testing. HLA partial mismatch patients (4- 5/10 antigen) were chosen. Apheresis cells were counted and analyzed by flow cytometry for CD34+ cells; CD3+, CD4+CD25+ and CD8 + cells; and CD3-CD56+ NK cells. Target CD3 cell dose was 1 x 108/kg per cycle; cells cryopreserved as for standard stem cell donors. Family donor HLA-mismatched GCSF mobilized peripheral blood cells were infused fresh on day 9 or 10 (up to day 16), 36-50 hours after end of cytarabine. Bone marrow biopsy was evaluated on day 14 and 28 for AML remission status, and T/NK cell number. Patients achieving a complete response proceeded to consolidation with cytarabine 0.5 -1.0 gram/m2 x 6 doses with fresh or cryopreserved HMMACT cells from their donor for 2 courses a month apart. Patients: 10 patients age 31 – 80 yo consented: 8 received allo cells; 1 screen failure (no haplo family member identified); 1 patient too ill after initiating chemo to collect donor. Eight patients received at least one course of HMMACT; 1 withdrew early due to AML progression, a second for poor performance status. Three patients had de novo AML; 5 patients had secondary AML. Six Patients had2 or more cycles of HMMACT: four achieved CR: Pt 1 and 4 received 3 cycles, Pt 2 and 6 received 2 cycles of cell infusions and all achieved CR. Pt 9 received 2 inductions with cells, and sustained a partial clinical remission for 6 months. Two Patients had 1 cycle of HMMACT:Pt 3: received 1 cycle cells, but response not assessed; Pt 8: received 1 cycle cells, and achieved CR 3+mos but declined further therapy. Safety: Acute reactions to cell infusions were minimal. Delayed reactions attributed to cell infusions included fever grade 1-2, rash grade 1-2, diarrhea grade 1-2 resolving in 7-10 days. Patients with prior MDS or refractory leukemia requiring 2 inductions had a longer time to ANC and platelet recovery. Feasibility: Two patients had no donor; 2 donors only collected enough for 2 cell infusions. Response: 5/8 pts receiving cells had CR/CRi (62.5%) lasting 3 to 10+ months. Conclusions: Although there were the usual significant complications of treating leukemia and infections, the cellular therapy itself was well-tolerated. Patients often had fevers in first week after cell infusions, or experienced transient rash and diarrhea in the same time period, which were self resolving in all cases and may reflect elimination of allogeneic cells by the patient’s immune system. No patient developed GVHD. Feasibility of obtaining family donors was as expected for this diverse US population. Infectious complications were low by AML treatment standards. Complete remission rates are encouraging, but not as durable as hoped, likely reflecting the fact that all of our patients had high risk cytogenetics in contrast to the prior published studies by Chinese investigators. The majority were elderly who would not otherwise be offered intensive therapy. Family donors achieved expected cell targets and tolerated mobilization/collection procedures well. All but one patient receiving 2 to 3 cycles achieved complete remission. Two elderly patients who received one or two cell infusions during induction sustained prolonged survival of 6 months in spite of no further therapy, one achieving a CR and the other a sustained PR. Neutrophil and platelet recoveries tended to follow the pattern of the patient's prior secondary leukemia or myelodysplastic disorder. Once patients achieved complete remission however, recovery of blood counts was relatively rapid on further cycles of consolidation. We are now assessing Treg, T and NK cell phenotype of patient and donor cells by flow cyAtometry as biological correlates. Disclosures Chaudhary: University of Southern California: Inventor on a patent application relevant to this work filed to US patent office (No. 62/031,053). Patents & Royalties.

Abstract:

We are very pleased and honored to have an opportunity to publish a new journal the "International Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence" (JACI). The JACI is a new, bimonthly journal covering the field of computer science. This journal focuses on advanced computational intelligence, including the synergetic integration of neural networks, fuzzy logic and evolutionary computations, in order to assist in fostering the application of intelligent systems to industry. This new field is called computational intelligence or soft computing. It has already been studied by many researchers, but no single, integrated journal exists anywhere in the world. This new journal gives readers the state of art of the theory and application of Advanced Computational Intelligence. The Topics include, but are not limited to: Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks, GA and Evolutionary Computation, Hybrid Systems, Network Systems, Multimedia, the Human Interface, Biologically-Inspired Evolutionary Systems, Artificial Life, Chaos, Fractal, Wavelet Analysis, Scientific Applications and Industrial Applications. The journal, JACI, is supported by many researchers and scientific organizations, e.g., the International Fuzzy Systems Association (IFSA), the Japan Society of Fuzzy Theory and Systems (SOFT), the Brazilian Society of Automatics (SBA) and The Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), and we are currently negotiating with the John von Neumann Computer Society (in Hungary). Our policy is to have world-wide communication with many societies and researchers in this field. We would appreciate it if those organizations and people who have an interest in co-sponsorship or have proposals for special issues in this journal, as well as paper submissions, could contact us. Finally our special thanks go to the editorial office of Fuji Technology Press Ltd., especially to its president, Mr. K. Hayashi, and to the editor, Mr. Y. Inoue, for their efforts in publishing this new journal. Lotti A. Zadeh The publication of the International Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence (JACI) is an important milestone in the advancement of our understanding of how intelligent systems can be conceived, designed, built, and deployed. When one first hears of computational intelligence, a question that naturally arises is: What is the difference, if any, between computational intelligence (CI) and artificial intelligence (AI)? As one who has witnessed the births of both AI and CI, I should like to suggest an answer. As a branch of science and technology, artificial intelligence was born about four decades ago. From the outset, AI was based on classical logic and symbol manipulation. Numerical computations were not welcomed and probabilistic techniques were proscribed. Mainstream AI continued to evolve in this spirit, with symbol manipulation still occupying the center of the stage, but not to the degree that it did in the past. Today, probabilistic techniques and neurocomputing are not unwelcome, but the focus is on distributed intelligence, agents, man-machine interfaces, and networking. With the passage of time, it became increasing clear that symbol manipulation is quite limited in its ability to serve as a foundation for the design of intelligent systems, especially in the realms of robotics, computer vision, motion planning, speech recognition, handwriting recognition, fault diagnosis, planning, and related fields. The inability of mainstream AI to live up to expectations in these application areas has led in the mid-eighties to feelings of disenchantment and widespread questioning of the effectiveness of AI's armamentarium. It was at this point that the name computational intelligence was employed by Professor Nick Cercone of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia to start a new journal named Computational Intelligence -a journal that was, and still is, intended to provide a broader conceptual framework for the conception and design of intelligent systems than was provided by mainstream AI. Another important development took place. The concept of soft computing (SC) was introduced in 1990-91 to describe an association of computing methodologies centering on fuzzy logic (FL), neurocomputing (NC), genetic (or evolutionary) computing (GC), and probabilistic computing (PC). In essence, soft computing differs from traditional hard computing in that it is tolerant of imprecision, uncertainty and partial truth. The basic guiding principle of SC is: Exploit the tolerance for imprecision, uncertainty, and partial truth to achieve tractability, robustness, low solution cost, and better rapport with reality. More recently, the concept of computational intelligence had reemerged with a meaning that is substantially different from that which it had in the past. More specifically, in its new sense, CI, like AI, is concerned with the conception, design, and deployment of intelligent systems. However, unlike mainstream AI, CI methodology is based not on predicate logic and symbol manipulation but on the methodologies of soft computing and, more particularly, on fuzzy logic, neurocomputing, genetic(evolutionary) computing, and probabilistic computing. In this sense, computational intelligence and soft computing are closely linked but not identical. In basic ways, the importance of computational intelligence derives in large measure from the effectiveness of the techniques of fuzzy logic, neurocomputing, genetic (evolutionary) computing, and probabilistic computing in the conception and design of information/intelligent systems, as defined in the statements of the aims and scope of the new journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence. There is one important aspect of both computational intelligence and soft computing that should be stressed. The methodologies which lie at the center of CI and SC, namely, FL, NC, genetic (evolutionary) computing, and PC are for the most part complementary and synergistic, rather than competitive. Thus, in many applications, the effectiveness of FL, NC, GC, and PC can be enhanced by employing them in combination, rather than in isolation. Intelligent systems in which FL, NC, GC, and PC are used in combination are frequently referred to as hybrid intelligent systems. Such systems are likely to become the norm in the not distant future. The ubiquity of hybrid intelligent systems is likely to have a profound impact on the ways in which information/intelligent systems are conceived, designed, built, and interacted with. At this juncture, the most visible hybrid intelligent systems are so-called neurofuzzy systems, which are for the most part fuzzy-rule-based systems in which neural network techniques are employed for system identification, rule induction, and tuning. The concept of neurofuzzy systems was originated by Japanese scientists and engineers in the late eighties, and in recent years has found a wide variety of applications, especially in the realms of industrial control, consumer products, and financial engineering. Today, we are beginning to see a widening of the range of applications of computational intelligence centered on the use of neurofuzzy, fuzzy-genetic, neurogenetic, neurochaotic and neuro-fuzzy-genetic systems. The editors-in-chief of Advanced Computational Intelligence, Professors f*ckuda and Hirota, have played and are continuing to play majors roles both nationally and internationally in the development of fuzzy logic, soft computing, and computational intelligence. They deserve our thanks and congratulations for conceiving the International Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and making it a reality. International in both spirit and practice, JACI is certain to make a major contribution in the years ahead to the advancement of the science and technology of man-made information/intelligence systems -- systems that are at the center of the information revolution, which is having a profound impact on the ways in which we live, communicate, and interact with the real world. Lotfi A. Zadeh Berkeley, CA, July 24, 1997

Abstract:

In March 2005, a group of independent intellectuals and community leaders engaged in a roundtable discussion of the current challenges facing the Palestinian people and possible strategies for realizing Palestinian rights. This report presents a synthesis of the discussions; the views expressed do not necessarily represent a consensus. Roundtable participants included Naseer Aruri, chancellor professor (emeritus) of political science, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; Sami AlBanna, director of strategy and systems architecture, consultant; Phyllis Bennis, fellow, New Internationalism Project, Institute for Policy Studies; George Bisharat, professor of law, Hastings College, University of California; Jamil Dakwar, international human rights advocate; Bill Fletcher, Jr., president, TransAfrica Forum; Linah Habbab AlBanna, psychologist; Nadia Hijab, senior fellow, Institute for Palestine Studies (report editor); and David Wildman, executive officer, Human Rights Office, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church.

Abstract:

Based on a generous future bequest by the 2013 APSA Gaus Lecturer Beryl A. Radin, APSA announced the creation of the APSA Pracademic Program supported by the Beryl Radin Fund. Professor Radin described herself as a “pracademic” because she has moved back and forth between the world of the practitioner and that of the academic. Beryl A. Radin's government service included an assignment as a special advisor to the assistant secretary for management and budget of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as well as other experiences in the Office of Management and Budget and HHS. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, editor of the book series “Public Management and Change” at Georgetown University Press, past president of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, former head of the APSA public administration section, and has held faculty positions at the University of Southern California, the University of Albany, and American and Georgetown universities. As the title suggests, this will be a fellowship aimed at providing APSA member academics in the fields of public policy and public administration with practical, hands-on experience that the recipients can take back to their institutions and classrooms to help build bridges between the worlds of academe and applied politics.

Abstract:

The College Readiness Program (CRP) is a project funded through the chancellor's office of the California State University (CSU) system and the state department of education in response to the underrepresentation of minority students. specifically blacks and Hispanics, in the CSU system. The goal of CRP is to give direct in· tractional assistance in mathematics and to offer a college student model to average-performance black and Hispanic students during the middle grades 6-8 to increase the percentage of these minority students who subsequently take the college-preparatory mathematics sequence in high school.

Abstract:

Daniel Rubinfeld of University of California, Berkeley reviews “The Microsoft Antitrust Cases: Competition Policy for the Twenty-First Century”, by Andrew I. Gavil and Harry First. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Provides an account of Microsoft's encounter with the global competition policy system and explores its lessons and durable meaning. Discusses the Microsoft antitrust cases; Microsoft's early encounters with the U.S. antitrust system─the Federal Trade Commission investigation and the antitrust division's licensing case; bringing the Windows 95/98 monopolization case; concluding the Windows 95/98 case─appeal and settlement; private litigation in the United States; antitrust as a global enterprise; the challenge of remedy; in praise of institutional diversity; and lessons from the Microsoft cases.” Gavil is Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. First is Charles L. Denison Professor of Law and Director of the Competition, Innovation, and Information Law Program at the New York University School of Law.

Abstract:

Abstract Objectives This study assesses the relationship between household food insecurity and adiposity, measured as BMI-for-age z-score (BMI-z), overweight/obesity, and waist circumference, as well as dietary intake and diet-related behaviors in US children. Methods A total of 5138 US schoolchildren ages 4–15 years from 130 communities in the cross-sectional Healthy Communities Study were included in this analysis. Household food insecurity was self-reported using a validated 2-item screener. Dietary intake was assessed using National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Dietary Screener Questionnaire (DSQ), a 26-item food frequency questionnaire, and dietary behaviors were assessed during a household survey. Data were analyzed using multilevel statistical models, including interaction tests for age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Results Food insecure children had a BMI z-score of 0.14 higher (95% CI: 0.06, 0.21) and a waist circumference of 0.91 cm higher (95% CI: 0.18, 1.63) than food secure children. Food insecure children have 1.17 times the odds of being overweight/obesity compared with food secure children (95% CI: 1.02, 1.34). There was no significant interaction by sex or race/ethnicity. Food insecure children consumed more sugar from sugar sweetened beverages (0.36 tsp/day; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.63), and ate breakfast (−0.28 days/week; 95% CI: −0.39, −0.17) and together with family (−0.22 days/week; 95% CI: −0.37, −0.06) less frequently compared to food secure children. Conclusions The present study found a significant, positive association between household food insecurity and child adiposity for children ages 10–15 years, as well as for several dietary intake and diet-related behaviors. This research helps disentangle the complex picture of food insecurity as a contributor to childhood obesity and poorer dietary outcomes in diverse populations. Funding Sources Research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award number K01HL131630. The authors would also like to acknowledge the Global Food Initiative at the University of California Office of the President for their support of this project.

Abstract:

The UP Manila Health Policy Development Hub recognizes the invaluable contribution of the participants in theseries of roundtable discussions listed below: RTD: Beyond Hospital Beds: Equity,quality, and service1. Ma. Esmeralda C. Silva, MPAf, MSPPM, PhD,Faculty, College of Public Health, UP Manila2. Leonardo R. Estacio, Jr., MCD, MPH, PhD, Dean,College of Arts and Sciences, UP Manila3. Michael Antonio F. Mendoza, DDM, MM, Faculty,College of Dentistry, UP Manila4. Hilton Y. Lam, MHA, PhD, Chair, UP Manila HealthPolicy Development Hub; Director, Institute of HealthPolicy and Development Studies, University of thePhilippines Manila5. Irma L. Asuncion, MHA, CESO III, Director IV,Bureau of Local Health Systems Development,Department of Health6. Renely Pangilinan-Tungol, MD, CFP, MPM-HSD,Municipal Health Officer, San Fernando, Pampanga7. Salome F. Arinduque, MD, Galing-Pook AwardeeRepresentative, Municipal Health Officer, San Felipe,Zambales8. Carmelita C. Canila, MD, MPH, Faculty, College ofPublic Health, University of the Philippines Manila9. Lester M. Tan, MD, MPH, Division Chief, Bureau ofLocal Health System Development, Department ofHealth10. Anthony Rosendo G. Faraon, MD, Vice President,Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF)11. Albert Francis E. Domingo, MD, Consultant, HealthSystem strengthening through Public Policy andRegulation, World Health Organization12. Jesus Randy O. Cañal, MD, FPSO-HNS, AssociateDirector, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, AsianHospital and Medical Center13. Christian Edward L. Nuevo, Health Policy and SystemsResearch Fellow, Health Policy Development andPlanning Bureau, Department of Health14. Paolo Victor N. Medina, MD, Assistant Professor 4,College of Medicine, University of the PhilippinesManila15. Jose Rafael A. Marfori, MD, Special Assistant to theDirector, Philippine General Hospital16. Maria Teresa U. Bagaman, Committee Chair, PhilippineSociety for Quality, Inc.17. Maria Theresa G. Vera, MSc, MHA, CESO III, DirectorIV, Health Facility Development Bureau, Departmentof Health18. Ana Melissa F. Hilvano-Cabungcal, MD, AssistantAssociate Dean for Planning & Development, Collegeof Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila19. Fevi Rose C. Paro, Faculty, Department of Communityand Environmental Resource Planning, University ofthe Philippines Los Baños20. Maria Rosa C. Abad, MD, Medical Specialist III,Standard Development Division, Health Facilities andServices Regulation21. Yolanda R. Robles, RPh, PhD, Faculty, College ofPharmacy, University of the Philippines Manila22. Jaya P. Ebuen, RN, Development Manager Officer,CHDMM, Department of Health23. Josephine E. Cariaso, MA, RN, Assistant Professor,College of Nursing, University of the Philippines Manila24. Diana Van Daele, Programme Manager, CooperationSection, European Union25. Maria Paz de Sagun, Project Management Specialist,USAID26. Christopher Muñoz, Member, Yellow Warriors SocietyPhilippinesRTD: Health services and financingroles: Population based- andindividual-based1. Hilton Y. Lam, MHA, PhD, Chair, University of thePhilippines Manila Health Policy Development Hub;Director, Institute of Health Policy and DevelopmentStudies, University of the Philippines Manila2. Ma. Esmeralda C. Silva, MPAf, MSPPM, PhD,Faculty, College of Public Health, University of thePhilippines Manila3. Leonardo R. Estacio, Jr., MCD, MPH, PhD, Dean,College of Arts and Sciences, University of thePhilippines Manila4. Michael Antonio F. Mendoza, DDM, MM, Faculty,College of Dentistry, University of the PhilippinesManila5. Mario C. Villaverde, Undersecretary, Health Policyand Development Systems and Development Team,Department of Health6. Jaime Z. Galvez Tan, MD, Former Secretary, Department of Health7. Marvin C. Galvez, MD, OIC Division Chief, BenefitsDevelopment and Research Department, PhilippineHealth Insurance Corporation8. Alvin B. Caballes, MD, MPE, MPP, Faculty, Collegeof Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila9. Carlos D. Da Silva, Executive Director, Association ofMunicipal Health Maintenance Organization of thePhilippines, Inc.10. Anthony Rosendo G. Faraon, MD, Vice President,Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) 11. Albert Francis E. Domingo, MD, Consultant, HealthSystem strengthening through Public Policy andRegulation, World Health Organization12. Salome F. Arinduque, MD, Galing-Pook AwardeeRepresentative, Municipal Health Officer, San Felipe,Zambales13. Michael Ralph M. Abrigo, PhD, Research Fellow,Philippine Institute for Developmental Studies14. Oscar D. Tinio, MD, Committee Chair, Legislation,Philippine Medical Association15. Rogelio V. Dazo, Jr., MD, FPCOM, Legislation,Philippine Medical Association16. Ligaya V. Catadman, MM, Officer-in-charge, HealthPolicy Development and Planning Bureau, Department of Health17. Maria Fatima Garcia-Lorenzo, President, PhilippineAlliance of Patients Organization18. Tomasito P. Javate, Jr, Supervising Economic DevelopmentSpecialist, Health Nutrition and Population Division,National Economic and Development Authority19. Josefina Isidro-Lapena, MD, National Board ofDirector, Philippine Academy of Family Physicians20. Maria Eliza Ruiz-Aguila, MPhty, PhD, Dean, Collegeof Allied Medical Professions, University of thePhilippines Manila21. Ana Melissa F. Hilvano-Cabungcal, MD, AssistantAssociate Dean for Planning & Development, College ofMedicine, University of the Philippines Manila22. Maria Paz P. Corrales, MD, MHA, MPA, Director III,Department of Health-National Capital Region23. Karin Estepa Garcia, MD, Executive Secretary, PhilippineAcademy of Family Physicians24. Adeline A. Mesina, MD, Medical Specialist III,Philippine Health Insurance Corporation25. Glorey Ann P. Alde, RN, MPH, Research Fellow,Department of HealthRTD: Moving towards provincelevel integration throughUniversal Health Care Act1. Hilton Y. Lam, MHA, PhD, Chair, University of thePhilippines Manila Health Policy Development Hub;Director, Institute of Health Policy and DevelopmentStudies, University of the Philippines Manila2. Ma. Esmeralda C. Silva, MPAf, MSPPM, PhD,Faculty, College of Public Health, University of thePhilippines Manila3. Leonardo R. Estacio, Jr., MCD, MPH, PhD, Dean,College of Arts and Sciences, University of thePhilippines Manila4. Michael Antonio F. Mendoza, DDM, MM, Faculty,College of Dentistry, University of the PhilippinesManila5. Mario C. Villaverde, Undersecretary of Health, HealthPolicy and Development Systems and DevelopmentTeam, Department of Health6. Ferdinand A. Pecson, Undersecretary and ExecutiveDirector, Public Private Partnership Center7. Rosanna M. Buccahan, MD, Provincial Health Officer,Bataan Provincial Office8. Lester M. Tan, MD, Division Chief, Bureau of LocalHealth System Development, Department of Health9. Ernesto O. Domingo, MD, FPCP, FPSF, FormerChancellor, University of the Philippines Manila10. Albert Francis E. Domingo, MD, Consultant, HealthSystem strengthening through Public Policy andRegulation, World Health Organization11. Leslie Ann L. Luces, MD, Provincial Health Officer,Aklan12. Rene C. Catan, MD, Provincial Health Officer, Cebu13. Anthony Rosendo G. Faraon, MD, Vice President,Zuellig Family Foundation14. Jose Rafael A. Marfori, MD, Special Assistant to theDirector, Philippine General Hospital15. Jesus Randy O. Cañal, MD, FPSO-HNS, Consultant,Asian Hospital and Medical Center16. Ramon Paterno, MD, Member, Universal Health CareStudy Group, University of the Philippines Manila17. Mayor Eunice U. Babalcon, Mayor, Paranas, Samar18. Zorayda E. Leopando, MD, Former President,Philippine Academy of Family Physicians19. Madeleine de Rosas-Valera, MD, MScIH, SeniorTechnical Consultant, World Bank20. Arlene C. Sebastian, MD, Municipal Health Officer,Sta. Monica, Siargao Island, Mindanao21. Rizza Majella L. Herrera, MD, Acting Senior Manager,Accreditation Department, Philippine Health InsuranceCorporation22. Alvin B. Caballes, MD, MPE, MPP, Faculty, Collegeof Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila23. Pres. Policarpio B. Joves, MD, MPH, MOH, FPAFP,President, Philippine Academy of Family Physicians24. Leilanie A. Nicodemus, MD, Board of Director,Philippine Academy of Family Physicians25. Maria Paz P. Corrales, MD, MHA, MPA, Director III,National Capital Region Office, Department of Health26. Dir. Irma L. Asuncion, MD, MHA, CESO III, DirectorIV, Bureau of Local Health Systems Development,Department of Health27. Bernard B. Argamosa, MD, Mental Health Representative, National Center for Mental Health28. Flerida Chan, Chief, Poverty Reduction Section, JapanInternational Cooperation Agency29. Raul R. Alamis, Chief Health Program Officer, ServiceDelivery Network, Department of Health30. Mary Anne Milliscent B. Castro, Supervising HealthProgram Officer, Department of Health 31. Marikris Florenz N. Garcia, Project Manager, PublicPrivate Partnership Center32. Mary Grace G. Darunday, Supervising Budget andManagement Specialist, Budget and Management Bureaufor the Human Development Sector, Department ofBudget and Management33. Belinda Cater, Senior Budget and Management Specialist,Department of Budget and Management34. Sheryl N. Macalipay, LGU Officer IV, Bureau of LocalGovernment and Development, Department of Interiorand Local Government35. Kristel Faye M. Roderos, OTRP, Representative,College of Allied Medical Professions, University ofthe Philippines Manila36. Jeffrey I. Manalo, Director III, Policy Formulation,Project Evaluation and Monitoring Service, PublicPrivate Partnership Center37. Atty. Phebean Belle A. Ramos-Lacuna, Division Chief,Policy Formulation Division, Public Private PartnershipCenter38. Ricardo Benjamin D. Osorio, Planning Officer, PolicyFormulation, Project Evaluation and MonitoringService, Public Private Partnership Center39. Gladys Rabacal, Program Officer, Japan InternationalCooperation Agency40. Michael Angelo Baluyot, Nurse, Bataan Provincial Office41. Jonna Jane Javier Austria, Nurse, Bataan Provincial Office42. Heidee Buenaventura, MD, Associate Director, ZuelligFamily Foundation43. Dominique L. Monido, Policy Associate, Zuellig FamilyFoundation44. Rosa Nene De Lima-Estellana, RN, MD, Medical OfficerIII, Department of Interior and Local Government45. Ma Lourdes Sangalang-Yap, MD, FPCR, Medical OfficerIV, Department of Interior and Local Government46. Ana Melissa F. Hilvano-Cabungcal, MD, AssistantAssociate Dean for Planning & Development, College ofMedicine, University of the Philippines Manila47. Colleen T. Francisco, Representative, Department ofBudget and Management48. Kristine Galamgam, Representative, Department ofHealth49. Fides S. Basco, Officer-in-charge, Chief Budget andManagement Specialist, Development of Budget andManagementRTD: Health financing: Co-paymentsand Personnel1. Hilton Y. Lam, MHA, PhD, Chair, University of thePhilippines Manila Health Policy Development Hub;Director, Institute of Health Policy and DevelopmentStudies, University of the Philippines Manila2. Ma. Esmeralda C. Silva, MPAf, MSPPM, PhD,Faculty, College of Public Health, University of thePhilippines Manila3. Leonardo R. Estacio, Jr., MCD, MPH, PhD, Dean,College of Arts and Sciences, University of thePhilippines Manila4. Michael Antonio F. Mendoza, DDM, MM, Faculty,College of Dentistry, University of the Philippines Manila5. Ernesto O. Domingo, MD, Professor Emeritus,University of the Philippines Manila6. Irma L. Asuncion, MHA, CESO III, Director IV,Bureau of Local Health Systems Development,Department of Health7. Lester M. Tan, MD, MPH, Division Chief, Bureau ofLocal Health System Development, Department ofHealth8. Marvin C. Galvez, MD, OIC Division Chief, BenefitsDevelopment and Research Department, PhilippineHealth Insurance Corporation9. Adeline A. Mesina, MD, Medical Specialist III, BenefitsDepartment and Research Department, PhilippineHealth Insurance Corporation10. Carlos D. Da Silva, Executive Director, Association ofHealth Maintenance Organization of the Philippines,Inc.11. Ma. Margarita Lat-Luna, MD, Deputy Director, FiscalServices, Philippine General Hospital12. Waldemar V. Galindo, MD, Chief of Clinics, Ospital ngMaynila13. Albert Francis E. Domingo, MD, Consultant, HealthSystem strengthening through Public Policy andRegulation, World Health Organization14. Rogelio V. Dazo, Jr., MD, Member, Commission onLegislation, Philippine Medical Association15. Aileen R. Espina, MD, Board Member, PhilippineAcademy of Family Physicians16. Anthony R. Faraon, MD, Vice President, Zuellig FamilyFoundation17. Jesus Randy O. Cañal, Associate Director, Medical andRegulatory Affairs, Asian Hospital and Medical Center18. Jared Martin Clarianes, Technical Officer, Union of LocalAuthorities of the Philippines19. Leslie Ann L. Luces, MD, Provincial Health Officer,Aklan20. Rosa Nene De Lima-Estellana, MD, Medical OfficerIII, Department of the Interior and Local Government21. Ma. Lourdes Sangalang-Yap, MD, Medical Officer V,Department of the Interior and Local Government 22. Dominique L. Monido, Policy Associate, Zuellig FamilyFoundation23. Krisch Trine D. Ramos, MD, Medical Officer, PhilippineCharity Sweepstakes Office24. Larry R. Cedro, MD, Assistant General Manager, CharitySector, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office25. Margarita V. Hing, Officer in Charge, ManagementDivision, Financial Management Service Sector,Department of Health26. Dr. Carlo Irwin Panelo, Associate Professor, College ofMedicine, University of the Philippines Manila27. Dr. Angelita V. Larin, Faculty, College of Public Health,University of the Philippines Manila28. Dr. Abdel Jeffri A. Abdulla, Chair, RegionalizationProgram, University of the Philippines Manila29. Christopher S. Muñoz, Member, Philippine Alliance ofPatients Organization30. Gemma R. Macatangay, LGOO V, Department ofInterior and Local Government – Bureau of LocalGovernment Development31. Dr. Narisa Portia J. Sugay, Acting Vice President, QualityAssurance Group, Philippine Health InsuranceCorporation32. Maria Eliza R. Aguila, Dean, College of Allied MedicalProfessions, University of the Philippines Manila33. Angeli A. Comia, Manager, Zuellig Family Foundation34. Leo Alcantara, Union of Local Authorities of thePhilippines35. Dr. Zorayda E. Leopando, Former President, PhilippineAcademy of Family Physicians36. Dr. Emerito Jose Faraon, Faculty, College of PublicHealth, University of the Philippines Manila37. Dr. Carmelita C. Canila, Faculty, College of PublicHealth, University of the Philippines ManilaRTD: Moving towards third partyaccreditation for health facilities1. Hilton Y. Lam, MHA, PhD, Chair, University of thePhilippines Manila Health Policy Development Hub;Director, Institute of Health Policy and DevelopmentStudies, University of the Philippines Manila2. Ma. Esmeralda C. Silva, MPAf, MSPPM, PhD,Faculty, College of Public Health, University of thePhilippines Manila3. Leonardo R. Estacio, Jr., MCD, MPH, PhD, Dean,College of Arts and Sciences, University of thePhilippines Manila4. Michael Antonio F. Mendoza, DDM, MM, Faculty,College of Dentistry, University of the PhilippinesManila5. Rizza Majella L. Herrera, MD, Acting SeniorManager, Accreditation Department, Philippine HealthInsurance Corporation6. Bernadette C. Hogar-Manlapat, MD, FPBA, FPSA,FPSQua, MMPA, President and Board of Trustee,Philippine Society for Quality in Healthcare, Inc.7. Waldemar V. Galindo, MD, Chief of Clinics, Ospital ngMaynila8. Amor. F. Lahoz, Division Chief, Promotion andDocumentation Division, Department of Trade andIndustry – Philippine Accreditation Bureau9. Jenebert P. Opinion, Development Specialist, Department of Trade and Industry – Philippine AccreditationBureau10. Maria Linda G. Buhat, President, Association ofNursing Service Administrators of the Philippines, Inc.11. Bernardino A. Vicente, MD, FPPA, MHA, CESOIV, President, Philippine Tripartite Accreditation forHealth Facilities, Inc.12. Atty. Bu C. Castro, MD, Board Member, PhilippineHospital Association13. Cristina Lagao-Caalim, RN, MAN, MHA, ImmediatePast President and Board of Trustee, Philippine Societyfor Quality in Healthcare, Inc.14. Manuel E. Villegas Jr., MD, Vice Treasurer and Board ofTrustee, Philippine Society for Quality in Healthcare,Inc.15. Michelle A. Arban, Treasurer and Board of Trustee,Philippine Society for Quality in Healthcare, Inc.16. Joselito R. Chavez, MD, FPCP, FPCCP, FACCP,CESE, Deputy Executive Director, Medical Services,National Kidney and Transplant Institute17. Blesilda A. Gutierrez, CPA, MBA, Deputy ExecutiveDirector, Administrative Services, National Kidney andTransplant Institute18. Eulalia C. Magpusao, MD, Associate Director, Qualityand Patient Safety, St. Luke’s Medical Centre GlobalCity19. Clemencia D. Bondoc, MD, Auditor, Association ofMunicipal Health Officers of the Philippines20. Jesus Randy O. Cañal, MD, FPSO-HNS, AssociateDirector, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Asian Hospitaland Medical Center21. Maria Fatima Garcia-Lorenzo, President, PhilippineAlliance of Patient Organizations22. Leilanie A. Nicodemus, MD, Board of Directors,Philippine Academy of Family Physicians23. Policarpio B. Joves Jr., MD, President, PhilippineAcademy of Family Physicians24. Kristel Faye Roderos, Faculty, College of Allied MedicalProfessions, University of the Philippines Manila25. Ana Melissa Hilvano-Cabungcal, MD, AssistantAssociate Dean, College of Medicine, University of thePhilippines Manila26. Christopher Malorre Calaquian, MD, Faculty, Collegeof Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila27. Emerito Jose C. Faraon, MD, Faculty, College ofPublic Health, University of the Philippines Manila 28. Carmelita Canila, Faculty, College of Public Health,University of the Philippines Manila29. Oscar D. Tinio, MD, Representative, Philippine MedicalAssociation30. Farrah Rocamora, Member, Philippine Society forQuality in Healthcare, IncRTD: RA 11036 (Mental Health Act):Addressing Mental Health Needs ofOverseas Filipino Workers1. Hilton Y. Lam, MHA, PhD, Chair, University of thePhilippines Manila Health Policy Development Hub;Director, Institute of Health Policy and DevelopmentStudies, University of the Philippines Manila2. Leonardo R. Estacio, Jr., MCD, MPH, PhD, UPManila Health Policy Development Hub; College ofArts and Sciences, UP Manila3. Ma. Esmeralda C. Silva, MPAf, MSPPM, PhD, UPManila Health Policy Development Hub; College ofPublic Health, UP Manila4. Michael Antonio F. Mendoza, DDM, UP ManilaHealth Policy Development Hub; College of Dentistry,UP Manila5. Frances Prescilla L. Cuevas, RN, MAN, Director,Essential Non-Communicable Diseases Division,Department of Health6. Maria Teresa D. De los Santos, Workers Education andMonitoring Division, Philippine Overseas EmploymentAdministration7. Andrelyn R. Gregorio, Policy Program and Development Office,Overseas Workers Welfare Administration8. Sally D. Bongalonta, MA, Institute of Family Life &Children Studies, Philippine Women’s University9. Consul Ferdinand P. Flores, Department of ForeignAffairs10. Jerome Alcantara, BLAS OPLE Policy Center andTraining Institute11. Andrea Luisa C. Anolin, Commission on FilipinoOverseas12. Bernard B. Argamosa, MD, DSBPP, National Centerfor Mental Health13. Agnes Joy L. Casino, MD, DSBPP, National Centerfor Mental Health14. Ryan Roberto E. Delos Reyes, Employment Promotionand Workers Welfare Division, Department of Laborand Employment15. Sheralee Bondad, Legal and International AffairsCluster, Department of Labor and Employment16. Rhodora A. Abano, Center for Migrant Advocacy17. Nina Evita Q. Guzman, Ugnayan at Tulong para saMaralitang Pamilya (UGAT) Foundation, Inc.18. Katrina S. Ching, Ugnayan at Tulong para sa MaralitangPamilya (UGAT) Foundation, Inc.RTD: (Bitter) Sweet Smile of Filipinos1. Dr. Hilton Y. Lam, Institute of Health Policy andDevelopment Studies, NIH2. Dr. Leonardo R. Estacio, Jr., College of Arts andSciences, UP Manila3. Dr. Ma. Esmeralda C. Silva, College of Public Health,UP Manila4. Dr. Michael Antonio F. Mendoza, College of Dentistry,UP Manila5. Dr. Ma. Susan T. Yanga-Mabunga, Department ofHealth Policy & Administration, UP Manila6. Dr. Danilo L. Magtanong, College of Dentistry, UPManila7. Dr. Alvin Munoz Laxamana, Philippine DentalAssociation8. Dr. Fina Lopez, Philippine Pediatric Dental Society, Inc9. Dr. Artemio Licos, Jr.,Department of Health NationalAssociation of Dentists10. Dr. Maria Jona D. Godoy, Professional RegulationCommission11. Ms. Anna Liza De Leon, Philippine Health InsuranceCorporation12. Ms. Nicole Sigmuend, GIZ Fit for School13. Ms. Lita Orbillo, Disease Prevention and Control Bureau14. Mr. Raymond Oxcena Akap sa Bata Philippines15. Dr. Jessica Rebueno-Santos, Department of CommunityDentistry, UP Manila16. Ms. Maria Olivine M. Contreras, Bureau of LocalGovernment Supervision, DILG17. Ms. Janel Christine Mendoza, Philippine DentalStudents Association18. Mr. Eric Raymund Yu, UP College of DentistryStudent Council19. Dr. Joy Memorando, Philippine Pediatric Society20. Dr. Sharon Alvarez, Philippine Association of DentalColleges

Abstract:

This report arises from the intersection of service learning and population health at an academic medical center. At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the Office of Population Health and Accountable Care (OPHAC) employs health care navigators to help patients access and benefit from high-value care. In early 2020, facing COVID-19, UCSF leaders asked OPHAC to help patients and employees navigate testing, treatment, tracing, and returning to work protocols. OPHAC established a COVID hotline to route callers to the appropriate resources, but needed to increase the capacity of the navigator workforce. To address this need, OPHAC turned to UCSF's service learning program for undergraduates, the Patient Support Corps (PSC). In this program, UC Berkeley undergraduates earn academic credit in exchange for serving as unpaid patient navigators. In July 2020, OPHAC provided administrative funding for the PSC to recruit and deploy students as COVID hotline navigators. In September 2020, the PSC deployed 20 students collectively representing 2.0 full-time equivalent navigators. After training and observation, and with supervision and escalation pathways, students were able to fill half-day shifts and perform near the level of staff navigators. Key facilitators relevant to success reflected both PSC and OPHAC strengths. The PSC onboards student interns as institutional affiliates, giving them access to key information technology systems, and trains them in privacy and other regulatory requirements so they can work directly with patients. OPHAC strengths included a learning health systems culture that fosters peer mentoring and collaboration. A key challenge was that, even after training, students required around 10 h of supervised practice before being able to take calls independently. As a result, students rolled on to the hotline in waves rather than all at once. Post-COVID, OPHAC is planning to use student navigators for outreach. Meanwhile, the PSC is collaborating with pipeline programs in hopes of offering this internship experience to more students from backgrounds that are under-represented in healthcare. Other campuses in the University of California system are interested in replicating this program. Adopters see the opportunity to increase capacity and diversity while developing the next generation of health and allied health professionals.

Abstract:

In its preamble, The Western Australian Charter of Multiculturalism (WA) commits the state to becoming: “A society in which respect for mutual difference is accompanied by equality of opportunity within a framework of democratic citizenship”. One of the principles of multiculturalism, as enunciated in the Charter, is “equality of opportunity for all members of society to achieve their full potential in a free and democratic society where every individual is equal before and under the law”. An important element of this principle is the “equality of opportunity … to achieve … full potential”. The implication here is that those who start from a position of disadvantage when it comes to achieving that potential deserve more than ‘equal’ treatment. Implicitly, equality can be achieved only through the recognition of and response to differential needs and according to the likelihood of achieving full potential. This is encapsulated in Kymlicka’s argument that neutrality is “hopelessly inadequate once we look at the diversity of cultural membership which exists in contemporary liberal democracies” (903). Yet such a potential commitment to differential support might seem unequal to some, where equality is constructed as the same or equal treatment regardless of differing circ*mstances. Until the past half-century or more, this problematic has been a hotly-contested element of the struggle for Civil Rights for African-Americans in the United States, especially as these rights related to educational opportunity during the years of racial segregation. For some, providing resources to achieve equal outcomes (rather than be committed to equal inputs) may appear to undermine the very ethos of liberal democracy. In Australia, this perspective has been the central argument of Pauline Hanson and her supporters who denounce programs designed as measures to achieve equality for specific disadvantaged groups; including Indigenous Australians and humanitarian refugees. Nevertheless, equality for all on all grounds of legally-accepted difference: gender, race, age, family status, sexual orientation, political conviction, to name a few; is often held as the hallmark of progressive liberal societies such as Australia. In the matter of religious freedoms the situation seems much less complex. All that is required for religious equality, it seems, is to define religion as a private matter – carried out, as it were, between consenting parties away from the public sphere. This necessitates, effectively, the separation of state and religion. This separation of religious belief from the apparatus of the state is referred to as ‘secularism’ and it tends to be regarded as a cornerstone of a liberal democracy, given the general assumption that secularism is a necessary precursor to equal treatment of and respect for different religious beliefs, and the association of secularism with the Western project of the Enlightenment when liberty, equality and science replaced religion and superstition. By this token, western nations committed to equality are also committed to being liberal, democratic and secular in nature; and it is a matter of state indifference as to which religious faith a citizen embraces – Wiccan, Christian, Judaism, etc – if any. Historically, and arguably more so in the past decade, the terms ‘democratic’, ‘secular’, ‘liberal’ and ‘equal’ have all been used to inscribe characteristics of the collective ‘West’. Individuals and states whom the West ascribe as ‘other’ are therefore either or all of: not democratic; not liberal; or not secular – and failing any one of these characteristics (for any country other than Britain, with its parliamentary-established Church of England, headed by the Queen as Supreme Governor) means that that country certainly does not espouse equality. The West and the ‘Other’ in Popular Discourse The constructed polarisation between the free, secular and democratic West that values equality; and the oppressive ‘other’ that perpetuates theocracies, religious discrimination and – at the ultimate – human rights abuses, is a common theme in much of the West’s media and popular discourse on Islam. The same themes are also applied in some measure to Muslims in Australia, in particular to constructions of the rights of Muslim women in Australia. Typically, Muslim women’s dress is deemed by some secular Australians to be a symbol of religious subjugation, rather than of free choice. Arguably, this polemic has come to the fore since the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001. However, as Aly and Walker note, the comparisons between the West and the ‘other’ are historically constructed and inherited (Said) and have tended latterly to focus western attention on the role and status of Muslim women as evidence of the West’s progression comparative to its antithesis, Eastern oppression. An examination of studies of the United States media coverage of the September 11 attacks, and the ensuing ‘war on terror’, reveals some common media constructions around good versus evil. There is no equal status between these. Good must necessarily triumph. In the media coverage, the evil ‘other’ is Islamic terrorism, personified by Osama bin Laden. Part of the justification for the war on terror is a perception that the West, as a force for good in this world, must battle evil and protect freedom and democracy (Erjavec and Volcic): to do otherwise is to allow the terror of the ‘other’ to seep into western lives. The war on terror becomes the defence of the west, and hence the defence of equality and freedom. A commitment to equality entails a defeat of all things constructed as denying the rights of people to be equal. Hutcheson, Domke, Billeaudeaux and Garland analysed the range of discourses evident in Time and Newsweek magazines in the five weeks following September 11 and found that journalists replicated themes of national identity present in the communication strategies of US leaders and elites. The political and media response to the threat of the evil ‘other’ is to create a monolithic appeal to liberal values which are constructed as being a monopoly of the ‘free’ West. A brief look at just a few instances of public communication by US political leaders confirms Hutcheson et al.’s contention that the official construction of the 2001 attacks invoked discourses of good and evil reminiscent of the Cold War. In reference to the actions of the four teams of plane hijackers, US president George W Bush opened his Address to the Nation on the evening of September 11: “Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts” (“Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation”). After enjoining Americans to recite Psalm 23 in prayer for the victims and their families, President Bush ended his address with a clear message of national unity and a further reference to the battle between good and evil: “This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world” (“Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation”). In his address to the joint houses of Congress shortly after September 11, President Bush implicated not just the United States in this fight against evil, but the entire international community stating: “This is the world’s fight. This is civilisation’s fight” (cited by Brown 295). Addressing the California Business Association a month later, in October 2001, Bush reiterated the notion of the United States as the leading nation in the moral fight against evil, and identified this as a possible reason for the attack: “This great state is known for its diversity – people of all races, all religions, and all nationalities. They’ve come here to live a better life, to find freedom, to live in peace and security, with tolerance and with justice. When the terrorists attacked America, this is what they attacked”. While the US media framed the events of September 11 as an attack on the values of democracy and liberalism as these are embodied in US democratic traditions, work by scholars analysing the Australian media’s representation of the attacks suggested that this perspective was echoed and internationalised for an Australian audience. Green asserts that global media coverage of the attacks positioned the global audience, including Australians, as ‘American’. The localisation of the discourses of patriotism and national identity for Australian audiences has mainly been attributed to the media’s use of the good versus evil frame that constructed the West as good, virtuous and moral and invited Australian audiences to subscribe to this argument as members of a shared Western democratic identity (Osuri and Banerjee). Further, where the ‘we’ are defenders of justice, equality and the rule of law; the opposing ‘others’ are necessarily barbaric. Secularism and the Muslim Diaspora Secularism is a historically laden term that has been harnessed to symbolise the emancipation of social life from the forced imposition of religious doctrine. The struggle between the essentially voluntary and private demands of religion, and the enjoyment of a public social life distinct from religious obligations, is historically entrenched in the cultural identities of many modern Western societies (Dallmayr). The concept of religious freedom in the West has evolved into a principle based on the bifurcation of life into the objective public sphere and the subjective private sphere within which individuals are free to practice their religion of choice (Yousif), or no religion at all. Secularism, then, is contingent on the maintenance of a separation between the public (religion-free) and the private or non- public (which may include religion). The debate regarding the feasibility or lack thereof of maintaining this separation has been a matter of concern for democratic theorists for some time, and has been made somewhat more complicated with the growing presence of religious diasporas in liberal democratic states (Charney). In fact, secularism is often cited as a precondition for the existence of religious pluralism. By removing religion from the public domain of the state, religious freedom, in so far as it constitutes the ability of an individual to freely choose which religion, if any, to practice, is deemed to be ensured. However, as Yousif notes, the Western conception of religious freedom is based on a narrow notion of religion as a personal matter, possibly a private emotional response to the idea of God, separate from the rational aspects of life which reside in the public domain. Arguably, religion is conceived of as recognising (or creating) a supernatural dimension to life that involves faith and belief, and the suspension of rational thought. This Western notion of religion as separate from the state, dividing the private from the public sphere, is constructed as a necessary basis for the liberal democratic commitment to secularism, and the notional equality of all religions, or none. Rawls questioned how people with conflicting political views and ideologies can freely endorse a common political regime in secular nations. The answer, he posits, lies in the conception of justice as a mechanism to regulate society independently of plural (and often opposing) religious or political conceptions. Thus, secularism can be constructed as an indicator of pluralism and justice; and political reason becomes the “common currency of debate in a pluralist society” (Charney 7). A corollary of this is that religious minorities must learn to use the language of political reason to represent and articulate their views and opinions in the public context, especially when talking with non-religious others. This imposes a need for religious minorities to support their views and opinions with political reason that appeals to the community at large as citizens, and not just to members of the minority religion concerned. The common ground becomes one of secularism, in which all speakers are deemed to be indifferent as to the (private) claims of religion upon believers. Minority religious groups, such as fundamentalist Mormons, invoke secular language of moral tolerance and civil rights to be acknowledged by the state, and to carry out their door-to-door ‘information’ evangelisation/campaigns. Right wing fundamentalist Christian groups and Catholics opposed to abortion couch their views in terms of an extension of the secular right to life, and in terms of the human rights and civil liberties of the yet-to-be-born. In doing this, these religious groups express an acceptance of the plurality of the liberal state and engage in debates in the public sphere through the language of political values and political principles of the liberal democratic state. The same principles do not apply within their own associations and communities where the language of the private religious realm prevails, and indeed is expected. This embracing of a political rhetoric for discussions of religion in the public sphere presents a dilemma for the Muslim diaspora in liberal democratic states. For many Muslims, religion is a complete way of life, incapable of compartmentalisation. The narrow Western concept of religious expression as a private matter is somewhat alien to Muslims who are either unable or unwilling to separate their religious needs from their needs as citizens of the nation state. Problems become apparent when religious needs challenge what seems to be publicly acceptable, and conflicts occur between what the state perceives to be matters of rational state interest and what Muslims perceive to be matters of religious identity. Muslim women’s groups in Western Australia for example have for some years discussed the desirability of a Sharia divorce court which would enable Muslims to obtain divorces according to Islamic law. It should be noted here that not all Muslims agree with the need for such a court and many – probably a majority – are satisfied with the existing processes that allow Muslim men and women to obtain a divorce through the Australian family court. For some Muslims however, this secular process does not satisfy their religious needs and it is perceived as having an adverse impact on their ability to adhere to their faith. A similar situation pertains to divorced Catholics who, according to a strict interpretation of their doctrine, are unable to take the Eucharist if they form a subsequent relationship (even if married according to the state), unless their prior marriage has been annulled by the Catholic Church or their previous partner has died. Whereas divorce is considered by the state as a public and legal concern, for some Muslims and others it is undeniably a religious matter. The suggestion by the Anglican Communion’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, that the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law regarding marital disputes or financial matters is ultimately unavoidable, sparked controversy in Britain and in Australia. Attempts by some Australian Muslim scholars to elaborate on Dr Williams’s suggestions, such as an article by Anisa Buckley in The Herald Sun (Buckley), drew responses that, typically, called for Muslims to ‘go home’. A common theme in these responses is that proponents of Sharia law (and Islam in general) do not share a commitment to the Australian values of freedom and equality. The following excerpts from the online pages of Herald Sun Readers’ Comments (Herald Sun) demonstrate this perception: “These people come to Australia for freedoms they have never experienced before and to escape repression which is generally brought about by such ‘laws’ as Sharia! How very dare they even think that this would be an option. Go home if you want such a regime. Such an insult to want to come over to this country on our very goodwill and our humanity and want to change our systems and ways. Simply, No!” Posted 1:58am February 12, 2008 “Under our English derived common law statutes, the law is supposed to protect an individual’s rights to life, liberty and property. That is the basis of democracy in Australia and most other western nations. Sharia law does not adequately share these philosophies and principles, thus it is incompatible with our system of law.” Posted 12:55am February 11, 2008 “Incorporating religious laws in the secular legal system is just plain wrong. No fundamentalist religion (Islam in particular) is compatible with a liberal-democracy.” Posted 2:23pm February 10, 2008 “It should not be allowed in Australia the Muslims come her for a better life and we give them that opportunity but they still believe in covering them selfs why do they even come to Australia for when they don’t follow owe [our] rules but if we went to there [their] country we have to cover owe selfs [sic]” Posted 11:28am February 10, 2008 Conflicts similar to this one – over any overt or non-private religious practice in Australia – may also be observed in public debates concerning the wearing of traditional Islamic dress; the slaughter of animals for consumption; Islamic burial rites, and other religious practices which cannot be confined to the private realm. Such conflicts highlight the inability of the rational liberal approach to solve all controversies arising from religious traditions that enjoin a broader world view than merely private spirituality. In order to adhere to the liberal reduction of religion to the private sphere, Muslims in the West must negotiate some religious practices that are constructed as being at odds with the rational state and practice a form of Islam that is consistent with secularism. At the extreme, this Western-acceptable form is what the Australian government has termed ‘moderate Islam’. The implication here is that, for the state, ‘non-moderate Islam’ – Islam that pervades the public realm – is just a descriptor away from ‘extreme’. The divide between Christianity and Islam has been historically played out in European Christendom as a refusal to recognise Islam as a world religion, preferring instead to classify it according to race or ethnicity: a Moorish tendency, perhaps. The secular state prefers to engage with Muslims as an ethnic, linguistic or cultural group or groups (Yousif). Thus, in order to engage with the state as political citizens, Muslims must find ways to present their needs that meet the expectations of the state – ways that do not use their religious identity as a frame of reference. They can do this by utilizing the language of political reason in the public domain or by framing their needs, views and opinions exclusively in terms of their ethnic or cultural identity with no reference to their shared faith. Neither option is ideal, or indeed even viable. This is partly because many Muslims find it difficult if not impossible to separate their religious needs from their needs as political citizens; and also because the prevailing perception of Muslims in the media and public arena is constructed on the basis of an understanding of Islam as a religion that conflicts with the values of liberal democracy. In the media and public arena, little consideration is given to the vast differences that exist among Muslims in Australia, not only in terms of ethnicity and culture, but also in terms of practice and doctrine (Shia or Sunni). The dominant construction of Muslims in the Australian popular media is of religious purists committed to annihilating liberal, secular governments and replacing them with anti-modernist theocratic regimes (Brasted). It becomes a talking point for some, for example, to realise that there are international campaigns to recognise Gay Muslims’ rights within their faith (ABC) (in the same way that there are campaigns to recognise Gay Christians as full members of their churches and denominations and equally able to hold high office, as followers of the Anglican Communion will appreciate). Secularism, Preference and Equality Modood asserts that the extent to which a minority religious community can fully participate in the public and political life of the secular nation state is contingent on the extent to which religion is the primary marker of identity. “It may well be the case therefore that if a faith is the primary identity of any community then that community cannot fully identify with and participate in a polity to the extent that it privileges a rival faith. Or privileges secularism” (60). Modood is not saying here that Islam has to be privileged in order for Muslims to participate fully in the polity; but that no other religion, nor secularism, should be so privileged. None should be first, or last, among equals. For such a situation to occur, Islam would have to be equally acceptable both with other religions and with secularism. Following a 2006 address by the former treasurer (and self-avowed Christian) Peter Costello to the Sydney Institute, in which Costello suggested that people who feel a dual claim from both Islamic law and Australian law should be stripped of their citizenship (Costello), the former Prime Minister, John Howard, affirmed what he considers to be Australia’s primary identity when he stated that ‘Australia’s core set of values flowed from its Anglo Saxon identity’ and that any one who did not embrace those values should not be allowed into the country (Humphries). The (then) Prime Minister’s statement is an unequivocal assertion of the privileged position of the Anglo Saxon tradition in Australia, a tradition with which many Muslims and others in Australia find it difficult to identify. Conclusion Religious identity is increasingly becoming the identity of choice for Muslims in Australia, partly because it is perceived that their faith is under attack and that it needs defending (Aly). They construct the defence of their faith as a choice and an obligation; but also as a right that they have under Australian law as equal citizens in a secular state (Aly and Green). Australian Muslims who have no difficulty in reconciling their core Australianness with their deep faith take it as a responsibility to live their lives in ways that model the reconciliation of each identity – civil and religious – with the other. In this respect, the political call to Australian Muslims to embrace a ‘moderate Islam’, where this is seen as an Islam without a public or political dimension, is constructed as treating their faith as less than equal. Religious identity is generally deemed to have no place in the liberal democratic model, particularly where that religion is constructed to be at odds with the principles and values of liberal democracy, namely tolerance and adherence to the rule of law. Indeed, it is as if the national commitment to secularism rules as out-of-bounds any identity that is grounded in religion, giving precedence instead to accepting and negotiating cultural and ethnic differences. Religion becomes a taboo topic in these terms, an affront against secularism and the values of the Enlightenment that include liberty and equality. In these circ*mstances, it is not the case that all religions are equally ignored in a secular framework. What is the case is that the secular framework has been constructed as a way of ‘privatising’ one religion, Christianity; leaving others – including Islam – as having nowhere to go. Islam thus becomes constructed as less than equal since it appears that, unlike Christians, Muslims are not willing to play the secular game. In fact, Muslims are puzzling over how they can play the secular game, and why they should play the secular game, given that – as is the case with Christians – they see no contradiction in performing ‘good Muslim’ and ‘good Australian’, if given an equal chance to embrace both. Acknowledgements This paper is based on the findings of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, 2005-7, involving 10 focus groups and 60 in-depth interviews. The authors wish to acknowledge the participation and contributions of WA community members. References ABC. “A Jihad for Love.” Life Matters (Radio National), 21 Feb. 2008. 11 March 2008. < http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2008/2167874.htm >.Aly, Anne. “Australian Muslim Responses to the Discourse on Terrorism in the Australian Popular Media.” Australian Journal of Social Issues 42.1 (2007): 27-40.Aly, Anne, and Lelia Green. “‘Moderate Islam’: Defining the Good Citizen.” M/C Journal 10.6/11.1 (2008). 13 April 2008 < http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0804/08aly-green.php >.Aly, Anne, and David Walker. “Veiled Threats: Recurrent Anxieties in Australia.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 27.2 (2007): 203-14.Brasted, Howard.V. “Contested Representations in Historical Perspective: Images of Islam and the Australian Press 1950-2000.” Muslim Communities in Australia. Eds. Abdullah Saeed and Akbarzadeh, Shahram. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2001. 206-28.Brown, Chris. “Narratives of Religion, Civilization and Modernity.” Worlds in Collision: Terror and the Future of Global Order. Eds. Ken Booth and Tim Dunne. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 293-324. Buckley, Anisa. “Should We Allow Sharia Law?” Sunday Herald Sun 10 Feb. 2008. 8 March 2008 < http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,231869735000117,00.html >.Bush, George. W. “President Outlines War Effort: Remarks by the President at the California Business Association Breakfast.” California Business Association 2001. 17 April 2007 < http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011017-15.html >.———. “Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation”. Washington, 2001. 17 April 2007 < http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911-16.html >.Charney, Evan. “Political Liberalism, Deliberative Democracy, and the Public Sphere.” The American Political Science Review 92.1 (1998): 97- 111.Costello, Peter. “Worth Promoting, Worth Defending: Australian Citizenship, What It Means and How to Nurture It.” Address to the Sydney Institute, 23 February 2006. 24 Apr. 2008 < http://www.treasurer.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=speeches/2006/004.htm &pageID=05&min=phc&Year=2006&DocType=1 >.Dallmayr, Fred. “Rethinking Secularism.” The Review of Politics 61.4 (1999): 715-36.Erjavec, Karmen, and Zala Volcic. “‘War on Terrorism’ as Discursive Battleground: Serbian Recontextualisation of G. W. Bush’s Discourse.” Discourse and Society 18 (2007): 123- 37.Green, Lelia. “Did the World Really Change on 9/11?” Australian Journal of Communication 29.2 (2002): 1-14.Herald Sun. “Readers’ Comments: Should We Allow Sharia Law?” Herald Sun Online Feb. 2008. 8 March 2008. < http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/comments/0,22023,23186973-5000117,00.html >.Humphries, David. “Live Here, Be Australian.” The Sydney Morning Herald 25 Feb. 2006, 1 ed.Hutcheson, John S., David Domke, Andre Billeaudeaux, and Philip Garland. “U.S. National Identity, Political Elites, and Patriotic Press Following September 11.” Political Communication 21.1 (2004): 27-50.Kymlicka, Will. “Liberal Individualism and Liberal Neutrality.” Ethics 99.4 (1989): 883-905.Modood, Tariq. “Establishment, Multiculturalism and British Citizenship.” The Political Quarterly (1994): 53-74.Osuri, Goldie, and Subhabrata B. Banerjee. “White Diasporas: Media Representations of September 11 and the Unbearable Whiteness of Being in Australia.” Social Semiotics 14.2 (2004): 151- 71.Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1971.Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books 1978.Western Australian Charter of Multiculturalism. WA: Government of Western Australia, Nov. 2004. 11 March 2008 < http://www.equalopportunity.wa.gov.au/pdf/wa_charter_multiculturalism.pdf >.Yousif, Ahmad. “Islam, Minorities and Religious Freedom: A Challenge to Modern Theory of Pluralism.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 20.1 (2000): 30-43.

Abstract:

Dear contributors: After 5 consecutive years as editor-in-chief of Ciencias Marinas, Dr. Alejandro Cabello Pasini has now abdicated this position to undertake other academic projects at the Autonomous University of Baja California (Mexico). This change in editorship concurs with the 45th anniversary of the establishment of Ciencias Marinas and marks the beginning of a new phase in the growth and development of our scholarly journal. The editorial team has thus far completed many projects, such as updating our publishing platform, all aimed to improve journal presentation, visibility, and accessibility. It has now taken the first steps in transitioning from an electronic publishing format to a completely digital format, and it will continue to work hard to guarantee that Ciencias Marinas continues evolving. Over these past 45 years Ciencias Marinas has been a conduit for the professional and inclusive delivery of sound scientific information on the four disciplines of marine science (biology, physics, geology, and chemistry). At the moment we are focusing on strengthening our international support system to reach higher publishing standards. To achieve this goal, we are expanding, refining, and updating our editorial board, which now includes even more international experts with outstanding academic careers. We will continue to expand our editorial board by extending additional invitations to other experts who wish to collaborate in this project that is Ciencias Marinas, and we hope to soon welcome new member to our board. I would now like to take the opportunity to thank previous editors-in-chief for their contributions, which have elevated our journal to its current position. Their contributions give me a great advantage to further improve the quality of the journal products. I am also thankful to the members of the editorial board, who have provided much support by efficiently and professionally managing the editorial processes of our submissions. As a result of this work, our list of reviewers has significantly increased in number and quality, and this will reflect on the quality of the papers we publish. We are working our way to better our remote communication with the editorial board so we can jointly establish new publication strategies aimed to improve the quality of our journal and its impact in the scientific community. I want to thank the Autonomous University of Baja California for all the support it has provided over these past 45 years for the upkeep of the journal. My thanks go to the editorial office administration staff, who have done and continue doing an excellent job, and to the reviewers, the readers, and the authors, because without them this journal would not be what it is today. We will keep working with everyone to continually improve Ciencias Marinas, and we hope we continue receiving your contributions. In the meantime, please feel free to visit our website and check our new journal cover and other new things we have set up you. Sincerely, Miguel Angel Huerta Díaz Editor-in-chief

Abstract:

In a media saturated world, doodles have recently received the kind of attention usually reserved for coverage of racy extra marital affairs, corrupt governance, and product malfunction. Former British Prime Minister Blair’s private doodling at a World Economic Forum meeting in 2005 raised suspicions that he, according to one keen graphologist, struggled “to maintain control in a confusing world," which infers he was attempting to cohere a scattershot, fragmentary series of events (Spiegel). However, placid-faced Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, who sat nearby, actually scrawled the doodles. In this case, perhaps the scrawls mimicked the ambience in the room: Gates might have been ‘tuning’–registering the ‘white noise’ of the participants, letting his unconscious dictate doodles as a way to cope with the dissonance trekking in with the officialspeak. The doodles may have documented and registered the space between words, acting like deposits from his gestalt.Sometimes the most intriguing doodles co-exist with printed texts. This includes common vernacular graffiti that lines public and private books and magazines. Such graffiti exposes tensions in the role of readers as well as horror vacui: a fear of unused, empty space. Yet, school children fingering fresh pages and stiff book spines for the first few times often consider their book pages as sanctioned, discreet, and inviolable. The book is an object of financial and cultural investment, or imbued both with mystique and ideologies. Yet, in the e-book era, the old-fashioned, physical page is a relic of sorts, a holdover from coarse papyrus culled from wetland sage, linking us to the First Dynasty in Egypt. Some might consider the page as a vessel for typography, a mere framing device for text. The margins may reflect a perimeter of nothingness, an invisible borderland that doodles render visible by inhabiting them. Perhaps the margins are a bare landscape, like unmarred flat sand in a black and white panchromatic photo with unique tonal signature and distinct grain. Perhaps the margins are a mute locality, a space where words have evaporated, or a yet-to-be-explored environment, or an ambient field. Then comes the doodle, an icon of vernacular art.As a modern folklorist, I have studied and explored vernacular art at length, especially forms that may challenge and fissure aesthetic, cultural, and social mores, even within my own field. For instance, I contend that Grandma Prisbrey’s “Bottle Village,” featuring millions of artfully arranged pencils, bottles, and dolls culled from dumps in Southern California, is a syncretic culturescape with underlying feminist symbolism, not merely the product of trauma and hoarding (Ensminger). Recently, I flew to Oregon to deliver a paper on Mexican-American gravesite traditions. In a quest for increased multicultural tolerance, I argued that inexpensive dimestore objects left on Catholic immigrant graves do not represent a messy landscape of trinkets but unique spiritual environments with links to customs 3,000 years old. For me, doodles represent a variation on graffiti-style art with cultural antecedents stretching back throughout history, ranging from ancient scrawls on Greek ruins to contemporary park benches (with chiseled names, dates, and symbols), public bathroom latrinalia, and spray can aerosol art, including ‘bombing’ and ‘tagging’ hailed as “Spectacular Vernaculars” by Russell Potter (1995). Noted folklorist Alan Dundes mused on the meaning of latrinalia in Here I Sit – A Study of American Latrinalia (1966), which has inspired pop culture books and web pages for the preservation and discussion of such art (see for instance, www.itsallinthehead.com/gallery1.html). Older texts such as Classic American Graffiti by Allen Walker Read (1935), originally intended for “students of linguistics, folk-lore, abnormal psychology,” reveal the field’s longstanding interest in marginal, crude, and profane graffiti.Yet, to my knowledge, a monograph on doodles has yet to be published by a folklorist, perhaps because the art form is reconsidered too idiosyncratic, too private, the difference between jots and doodles too blurry for a taxonomy and not the domain of identifiable folk groups. In addition, the doodles in texts often remain hidden until single readers encounter them. No broad public interaction is likely, unless a library text circulates freely, which may not occur after doodles are discovered. In essence, the books become tainted, infected goods. Whereas latrinalia speaks openly and irreverently, doodles feature a different scale and audience.Doodles in texts may represent a kind of speaking from the ‘margin’s margins,’ revealing the reader-cum-writer’s idiosyncratic, self-meaningful, and stylised hieroglyphics from the ambient margins of one’s consciousness set forth in the ambient margins of the page. The original page itself is an ambient territory that allows the meaning of the text to take effect. When those liminal spaces (both between and betwixt, in which the rules of page format, design, style, and typography are abandoned) are altered by the presence of doodles, the formerly blank, surplus, and soft spaces of the page offer messages coterminous with the text, often allowing readers to speak, however haphazardly and unconsciously, with and against the triggering text. The bleached whiteness can become a crowded milieu in the hands of a reader re-scripting the ambient territory. If the book is borrowed, then the margins are also an intimate negotiation with shared or public space. The cryptic residue of the doodler now resides, waiting, for the city of eyes.Throughout history, both admired artists and Presidents regularly doodled. Famed Italian Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi avoided strenuous studying by doodling in his books (Van Cleave 44). Both sides of the American political spectrum have produced plentiful inky depictions as well: roughshod Democratic President Johnson drew flags and pagodas; former Hollywood fantasy fulfiller turned politician Republican President Reagan’s specialty was western themes, recalling tropes both from his actor period and his duration acting as President; meanwhile, former law student turned current President, Barack Obama, has sketched members of Congress and the Senate for charity auctions. These doodles are rich fodder for both psychologists and cross-discipline analysts that propose theories regarding the automatic writing and self-styled miniature pictures of civic leaders. Doodles allow graphologists to navigate and determine the internal, cognitive fabric of the maker. To critics, they exist as mere trifles and offer nothing more than an iota of insight; doodles are not uncanny offerings from the recesses of memory, like bite-sized Rorschach tests, but simply sloppy scrawls of the bored.Ambient music theory may shed some light. Timothy Morton argues that Brian Eno designed to make music that evoked “space whose quality had become minimally significant” and “deconstruct the opposition … between figure and ground.” In fact, doodles may yield the same attributes as well. After a doodle is inserted into texts, the typography loses its primacy. There is a merging of the horizons. The text of the author can conflate with the text of the reader in an uneasy dance of meaning: the page becomes an interface revealing a landscape of signs and symbols with multiple intelligences–one manufactured and condoned, the other vernacular and unsanctioned. A fixed end or beginning between the two no longer exists. The ambient space allows potential energies to hover at the edge, ready to illustrate a tension zone and occupy the page. The blank spaces keep inviting responses. An emergent discourse is always in waiting, always threatening to overspill the text’s intended meaning. In fact, the doodles may carry more weight than the intended text: the hierarchy between authorship and readership may topple.Resistant reading may take shape during these bouts. The doodle is an invasion and signals the geography of disruption, even when innocuous. It is a leveling tool. As doodlers place it alongside official discourse, they move away from positions of passivity, being mere consumers, and claim their own autonomy and agency. The space becomes co-determinant as boundaries are blurred. The destiny of the original text’s meaning is deferred. The habitus of the reader becomes embodied in the scrawl, and the next reader must negotiate and navigate the cultural capital of this new author. As such, the doodle constitutes an alternative authority and economy of meaning within the text.Recent studies indicate doodling, often regarded as behavior that announces a person’s boredom and withdrawal, is actually a very special tool to prevent memory loss. Jackie Andrade, an expert from the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, maintains that doodling actually “offsets the effects of selective memory blockade,” which yields a surprising result (quoted in “Doodling Gets”). Doodlers exhibit 29% more memory recall than those who passively listen, frozen in an unequal bond with the speaker/lecturer. Students that doodle actually retain more information and are likely more productive due to their active listening. They adeptly absorb information while students who stare patiently or daydream falter.Furthermore, in a 2006 paper, Andrew Kear argues that “doodling is a way in which students, consciously or not, stake a claim of personal agency and challenge some the values inherent in the education system” (2). As a teacher concerned with the engagement of students, he asked for three classes to submit their doodles. Letting them submit any two-dimensional graphic or text made during a class (even if made from body fluid), he soon discovered examples of “acts of resistance” in “student-initiated effort[s] to carve out a sense of place within the educational institution” (6). Not simply an ennui-prone teenager or a proto-surrealist trying to render some automatic writing from the fringes of cognition, a student doodling may represent contested space both in terms of the page itself and the ambience of the environment. The doodle indicates tension, and according to Kear, reflects students reclaiming “their own self-recognized voice” (6).In a widely referenced 1966 article (known as the “doodle” article) intended to describe the paragraph organisational styles of different cultures, Robert Kaplan used five doodles to investigate a writer’s thought patterns, which are rooted in cultural values. Now considered rather problematic by some critics after being adopted by educators for teacher-training materials, Kaplan’s doodles-as-models suggest, “English speakers develop their ideas in a linear, hierarchal fashion and ‘Orientals’ in a non-liner, spiral fashion…” (Severino 45). In turn, when used as pedagogical tools, these graphics, intentionally or not, may lead an “ethnocentric, assimilationist stance” (45). In this case, doodles likely shape the discourse of English as Second Language instruction. Doodles also represent a unique kind of “finger trace,” not unlike prints from the tips of a person’s fingers and snowflakes. Such symbol systems might be used for “a means of lightweight authentication,” according to Christopher Varenhorst of MIT (1). Doodles, he posits, can be used as “passdoodles"–a means by which a program can “quickly identify users.” They are singular expressions that are quirky and hard to duplicate; thus, doodles could serve as substitute methods of verifying people who desire devices that can safeguard their privacy without users having to rely on an ever-increasing number of passwords. Doodles may represent one such key. For many years, psychologists and psychiatrists have used doodles as therapeutic tools in their treatment of children that have endured hardship, ailments, and assault. They may indicate conditions, explain various symptoms and pathologies, and reveal patterns that otherwise may go unnoticed. For instance, doodles may “reflect a specific physical illness and point to family stress, accidents, difficult sibling relationships, and trauma” (Lowe 307). Lowe reports that children who create a doodle featuring their own caricature on the far side of the page, distant from an image of parent figures on the same page, may be experiencing detachment, while the portrayal of a father figure with “jagged teeth” may indicate a menace. What may be difficult to investigate in a doctor’s office conversation or clinical overview may, in fact, be gleaned from “the evaluation of a child’s spontaneous doodle” (307). So, if children are suffering physically or psychologically and unable to express themselves in a fully conscious and articulate way, doodles may reveal their “self-concept” and how they feel about their bodies; therefore, such creative and descriptive inroads are important diagnostic tools (307). Austrian born researcher Erich Guttman and his cohort Walter MacLay both pioneered art therapy in England during the mid-twentieth century. They posited doodles might offer some insight into the condition of schizophrenics. Guttman was intrigued by both the paintings associated with the Surrealist movement and the pioneering, much-debated work of Sigmund Freud too. Although Guttman mostly studied professionally trained artists who suffered from delusions and other conditions, he also collected a variety of art from patients, including those undergoing mescaline therapy, which alters a person’s consciousness. In a stroke of luck, they were able to convince a newspaper editor at the Evening Standard to provide them over 9,000 doodles that were provided by readers for a contest, each coded with the person’s name, age, and occupation. This invaluable data let the academicians compare the work of those hospitalised with the larger population. Their results, released in 1938, contain several key declarations and remain significant contributions to the field. Subsequently, Francis Reitman recounted them in his own book Psychotic Art: Doodles “release the censor of the conscious mind,” allowing a person to “relax, which to creative people was indispensable to production.”No appropriate descriptive terminology could be agreed upon.“Doodles are not communications,” for the meaning is only apparent when analysed individually.Doodles are “self-meaningful.” (37) Doodles, the authors also established, could be divided into this taxonomy: “stereotypy, ornamental details, movements, figures, faces and animals” or those “depicting scenes, medley, and mixtures” (37). The authors also noted that practitioners from the Jungian school of psychology often used “spontaneously produced drawings” that were quite “doodle-like in nature” in their own discussions (37). As a modern folklorist, I venture that doodles offer rich potential for our discipline as well. At this stage, I am offering a series of dictums, especially in regards to doodles that are commonly found adjacent to text in books and magazines, notebooks and journals, that may be expanded upon and investigated further. Doodles allow the reader to repopulate the text with ideogram-like expressions that are highly personalised, even inscrutable, like ambient sounds.Doodles re-purpose the text. The text no longer is unidirectional. The text becomes a point of convergence between writer and reader. The doodling allows for such a conversation, bilateral flow, or “talking back” to the text.Doodles reveal a secret language–informal codes that hearken back to the “lively, spontaneous, and charged with feeling” works of child art or naïve art that Victor Sanua discusses as being replaced in a child’s later years by art that is “stilted, formal, and conforming” (62).Doodling animates blank margins, the dead space of the text adjacent to the script, making such places ripe for spontaneous, fertile, and exploratory markings.Doodling reveals a democratic, participatory ethos. No text is too sacred, no narrative too inviolable. Anything can be reworked by the intimate graffiti of the reader. The authority of the book is not fixed; readers negotiate and form a second intelligence imprinted over the top of the original text, blurring modes of power.Doodles reveal liminal moments. Since the reader in unmonitored, he or she can express thoughts that may be considered marginal or taboo by the next reader. The original subject of the book itself does not restrict the reader. Thus, within the margins of the page, a brief suspension of boundaries and borders, authority and power, occurs. The reader hides in anonymity, free to reroute the meaning of the book. Doodling may convey a reader’s infantalism. Every book can become a picture book. This art can be the route returning a reader to the ambience of childhood.Doodling may constitute Illuminated/Painted Texts in reverse, commemorating the significance of the object in hitherto unexpected forms and revealing the reader’s codex. William Blake adorned his own poems by illuminating the skin/page that held his living verse; common readers may do so too, in naïve, nomadic, and primitive forms. Doodling demarcates tension zones, yielding social-historical insights into eras while offering psychological glimpses and displaying aesthetic values of readers-cum-writers.Doodling reveals margins as inter-zones, replete with psychogeography. While the typography is sanctioned, legitimate, normalised, and official discourse (“chartered” and “manacled,” to hijack lines from William Blake), the margins are a vernacular depository, a terminus, allowing readers a sense of agency and autonomy. The doodled page becomes a visible reminder and signifier: all pages are potentially “contested” spaces. Whereas graffiti often allows a writer to hide anonymously in the light in a city besieged by multiple conflicting texts, doodles allow a reader-cum-writer’s imprint to live in the cocoon of a formerly fossilised text, waiting for the light. Upon being opened, the book, now a chimera, truly breathes. Further exploration and analysis should likely consider several issues. What truly constitutes and shapes the role of agent and reader? Is the reader an agent all the time, or only when offering resistant readings through doodles? How is a doodler’s agency mediated by the author or the format of texts in forms that I have to map? Lastly, if, as I have argued, the ambient space allows potential energies to hover at the edge, ready to illustrate a tension zone and occupy the page, what occurs in the age of digital or e-books? Will these platforms signal an age of acquiescence to manufactured products or signal era of vernacular responses, somehow hitched to html code and PDF file infiltration? Will bytes totally replace type soon in the future, shaping unforeseen actions by doodlers? Attached Figures Figure One presents the intimate graffiti of my grandfather, found in the 1907 edition of his McGuffey’s Eclectic Spelling Book. The depiction is simple, even crude, revealing a figure found on the adjacent page to Lesson 248, “Of Characters Used in Punctuation,” which lists the perfunctory functions of commas, semicolons, periods, and so forth. This doodle may offset the routine, rote, and rather humdrum memorisation of such grammatical tools. The smiling figure may embody and signify joy on an otherwise machine-made bare page, a space where my grandfather illustrated his desires (to lighten a mood, to ease dissatisfaction?). Historians Joe Austin and Michael Willard examine how youth have been historically left without legitimate spaces in which to live out their autonomy outside of adult surveillance. For instance, graffiti often found on walls and trains may reflect a sad reality: young people are pushed to appropriate “nomadic, temporary, abandoned, illegal, or otherwise unwatched spaces within the landscape” (14). Indeed, book graffiti, like the graffiti found on surfaces throughout cities, may offer youth a sense of appropriation, authorship, agency, and autonomy: they take the page of the book, commit their writing or illustration to the page, discover some freedom, and feel temporarily independent even while they are young and disempowered. Figure Two depicts the doodles of experimental filmmaker Jim Fetterley (Animal Charm productions) during his tenure as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago in the early 1990s. His two doodles flank the text of “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath, regarded by most readers as an autobiographical poem that addresses her own suicide attempts. The story of Lazarus is grounded in the Biblical story of John Lazarus of Bethany, who was resurrected from the dead. The poem also alludes to the Holocaust (“Nazi Lampshades”), the folklore surrounding cats (“And like the cat I have nine times to die”), and impending omens of death (“eye pits “ … “sour breath”). The lower doodle seems to signify a motorised tank-like machine, replete with a furnace or engine compartment on top that bellows smoke. Such ominous images, saturated with potential cartoon-like violence, may link to the World War II references in the poem. Meanwhile, the upper doodle seems to be curiously insect-like, and Fetterley’s name can be found within the illustration, just like Plath’s poem is self-reflexive and addresses her own plight. Most viewers might find the image a bit more lighthearted than the poem, a caricature of something biomorphic and surreal, but not very lethal. Again, perhaps this is a counter-message to the weight of the poem, a way to balance the mood and tone, or it may well represent the larval-like apparition that haunts the very thoughts of Plath in the poem: the impending disease of her mind, as understood by the wary reader. References Austin, Joe, and Michael Willard. “Introduction: Angels of History, Demons of Culture.” Eds. Joe Austion and Michael Willard. Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America. New York: NYU Press, 1998. “Doodling Gets Its Due: Those Tiny Artworks May Aid Memory.” World Science 2 March 2009. 15 Jan. 2009 ‹http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090302_doodle›. Dundes, Alan. “Here I Sit – A Study of American Latrinalia.” Papers of the Kroeber Anthropological Society 34: 91-105. Ensminger, David. “All Bottle Up: Reinterpreting the Culturescape of Grandma Prisbey.” Adironack Review 9.3 (Fall 2008). ‹http://adirondackreview.homestead.com/ensminger2.html›. Kear, Andrew. “Drawings in the Margins: Doodling in Class an Act of Reclamation.” Graduate Student Conference. University of Toronto, 2006. ‹http://gradstudentconference.oise.utoronto.ca/documents/185/Drawing%20in%20the%20Margins.doc›. Lowe, Sheila R. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis. New York: Alpha Books, 1999. Morton, Timothy. “‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ as an Ambient Poem; a Study of Dialectical Image; with Some Remarks on Coleridge and Wordsworth.” Romantic Circles Praxis Series (2001). 6 Jan. 2009 ‹http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/ecology/morton/morton.html›. Potter, Russell A. Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism. Albany: State University of New York, 1995. Read, Allen Walker. Classic American Graffiti: Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy in Western North America. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Maledicta Press, 1997. Reitman, Francis. Psychotic Art. London: Routledge, 1999. Sanua, Victor. “The World of Mystery and Wonder of the Schizophrenic Patient.” International Journal of Social Psychiatry 8 (1961): 62-65. Severino, Carol. “The ‘Doodles’ in Context: Qualifying Claims about Contrastive Rhetoric.” The Writing Center Journal 14.1 (Fall 1993): 44-62. Van Cleave, Claire. Master Drawings of the Italian Rennaissance. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 2007. Varenhost, Christopher. Passdoodles: A Lightweight Authentication Method. Research Science Institute. Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004.

Abstract:

The film opens in an unidentified wax museum. The camera pans from right to left, zooming in on key Black historical figures who have been memorialized in wax. W.E.B. Du Bois, Marian Anderson, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, and Duke Ellington stand out. The final wax figure, a Black man, sits with an empty card box in his right hand and a lit cigarette in his left. The film’s narrator appears: a slim, afroed Black man. He sits to the right of the figure. The only living person in a room full of bodies, he reaches over to grab the cigarette. To his inanimate companion he nonchalantly says “Oh. Thank you very much. Needed that” and ashes the cigarette.The afroed, cigarette-ashing narrator is poet, novelist, and musician Gil Scott-Heron. The film is Black Wax (1982), directed by Robert Mugge. Black Wax is equal parts concert film, social documentary, and political statement by the poet. Set in Washington, D.C. and released in the midst of singer Stevie Wonder’s long campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday, Scott-Heron’s film feels, in part, like an extension of Wonder’s wider effort. The year prior, Wonder held a massive rally in the city to demonstrate national support for the creation of the holiday. Reportedly, over 100,000 people attended. Wonder, building on mounting support of the proposed holiday made his song in honor of MLK Jr.—“Happy Birthday”—an integral part of his upcoming tour with Bob Marley. When Marley fell ill, Scott-Heron stepped in to lend his talents to Wonder’s cause. He would then participate in the Washington, D.C. rally that featured speeches from Diana Ross and Jesse Jackson (Cuepoint).Between live performances of various songs from his catalogue, Scott-Heron stages walking interludes wherein his wiry frame ambles through the city. Most are sonically accompanied by verses from his song “Washington, D.C.” He also folds in excerpts from his poems, personal reflections, and critiques of President Ronald Reagan’s administration. Scott-Heron ambulates a historically sedimented reality; namely that Washington, D.C. is a segregated city and that America, more broadly, is a divided nation. Against the backdrop of national monuments, his stroll stages critiques of the country’s racist past. In Black Wax, song becomes walk becomes interlude becomes critique.Throughout the 1970s, Scott-Heron used his politically conscious poetry and music to mount strident critiques of social relations. Songs like “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, “Winter in America”, and “Home Is Where the Hatred Is” reflect the artist’s larger concern with the stories Americans tell ourselves about who we are. This carried over into the 1980s. In his 1981 song “B-Movie”, Scott-Heron examines the ascent of Ronald Reagan, from actor to president. For the poet, the distinction is false, since Reagan “acted” his way into office. As an “actor in chief” Reagan represent a politically conservative regime that began before his entry into the White House. Reagan’s conservative politics were present when he was Governor of California and clashing with the Black Panther Party. Scott-Heron seized upon this history in Black Wax, tracing it all the way to the nation’s capital.A tour is “a journey for business, pleasure, or education often involving a series of stops and ending at the starting point” (“Tour”). Tours can offer closed-loop narratives that creates for participants a “safe” distance from the historical conditions which makes the location they are visiting possible. Scott-Heron undermines the certainly of that formulation with this wandering. In song and stride, he fashions himself a tour guide. This is not in the sense of taking the viewer into the “hood” to evidence urban decay. Rather, the poet’s critical amble undermines a national memory project that removes race from histories of the nation’s capital.Scott-Heron, self-styled Bluesologist, traveler, wanders through the world with a marrow-deep knowledge about the historical dynamics animating Black life. Walking richly informs how he relates to space. For Michel de Certeau, “the act of walking is to the urban system what the speech act is to language or to the statements uttered [...] it is a process of appropriation of the topographical system on the part of the pedestrian […] a spatial acting-out of the place […] and it implies relations among differentiated positions” (97-98). For Scott-Heron, the “relations among differentiated positions” is informed by his identity as a Black American. His relationship to race imbues him with what Black geographer Katherine McKittrick calls a “black sense of place.” According to McKittrick,a black sense of place can be understood as the process of materially and imaginatively situating historical and contemporary struggles against practices of domination and the difficult entanglements of racial encounter […][it] is not a steady, focused, and hom*ogenous way of seeing and being in place, but rather a set of changing and differentiated perspectives that are illustrative of, and therefore remark upon, legacies of normalized racial violence that calcify, but do not guarantee, the denigration of black geographies and their inhabitants. (949-950)Scott-Heron elaborates on McKittrick’s concept through a series of walking interludes wherein he refuses a national narrative of harmonious racial progress. He dismisses an American fantasy of race, and it is not new. In “What America Would Be Like without Blacks” writer Ralph Ellison dissects the ways that Americans have historically tried to “get shut” of Black people, all while actively thriving on Black America’s cultural contributions. Scott-Heron’s black sense of place is articulated through a series of ambulant interventions that (subtly) acknowledge national violences while highlighting the often unspoken presence of Black people thriving in the nation’s capital.Visually, the poet sequesters national monuments to the background. Reducing their scale and stripping them of their dwarfing capacity while also actively not naming them. He miniaturizes them. This allows him to centre his critique of national history and politics. For Scott-Heron, the Capital Building and the White House are not sites to be revered. They are symbols of an ongoing betrayal perpetrated by the Reagan administration.The scenes I examine here are not representative. That isn’t my project. I am much more interested in the film as a wandering text, one that pushes at tensions in order to untether the viewer from a constricting narrative about who they might be. According to Sarah Jane Cervenak, “wandering aligns with the free at precisely those moments when it bends away from forces that attempt to translate or read” (15). In this regard, I offer this reading as a suggestion. It does not work towards a particular end other than opening the process(es) through which we make meaning of Scott-Heron’s filmic performance. In effect, don’t worry about where you are doing. Just be in the scene. Invite yourself to view the film and elaborate on descriptions offered here. Wander with him. Wander with me.———In his first walking interlude, the poet strolls along the Potomac River with a boombox hoisted upon his left shoulder. He plays a tape of his song “Washington, D.C.”, and as the opening instrumental creeps into audibility he offers his own introductory monologue:yeah, I forget what Washington did on the Potomac. This is the Potomac. Black folks would sometimes refer to that as the Po-to-mac [...] This here is the Potomac. Saw a duck floating out there a little while ago. Yeah, somebody said now that Reagan is in charge we’re all ducks. Dead ducks. You dig it?Walking along the Potomac, his slow gait is the focus. He stares directly at the camera and speaks to the viewer, to us. His (willful) forgetting of what George Washington “did on the Potomac” suggests that major figures in American history do not hold equal significance for all Americans. In fact, for Scott-Heron, the viewer/we might also do well to forget. His monologue smoothly transitions into the first verse of “Washington, D.C.”:Symbols of democracy, are pinned against the coastOuthouse of bureaucracy, surrounded by a moatCitizens of poverty are barely out of sightOverlords escape near evening, the brother’s on at nightMorning comes and brings the tourists, straining rubber necksPerhaps a glimpse of the cowboy making the world a nervous wreckIt’s a mass of irony for all the world to seeIt’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C. It’s the nation’s capitalIt’s the nation’s capitalIt’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.(mmmm-hmmm)He feigns no allegiance to Washington, D.C. or the city’s touristic artifice. As the lyrics indicate, poverty stricken Americans’ proximity to physical symbols of national wealth belie the idea that democracy is successful. For him, poverty is as symbolic as monuments. Yet Scott-Heron does not visually exploit Americans living in poverty. This isn’t that kind of tour. Instead, he casts his gaze on the “symbol[s] of democracy” that celebrate the “outhouse of bureaucracy” that is Washington, D.C.As the poet continues his stroll along the Potomac, the Jefferson Memorial appears in the background. He has no interest in it. He does not name it, nor does he gesture to it in any way. Instead, he focuses his attention on the camera, the viewer, us. While the camera lags slightly behind him, rather than turn his attention to the river that he walks along, he looks over his right shoulder to re-establish eye contact with the camera. His indifference is reinforced by the nonchalant stride that never breaks. The Jefferson Memorial nor the Potomac River are objects to marvel at. They hold no amount of significance that would require the poet or viewer/us to stop and ponder them or their alleged importance. With eyes and feet, he keeps them where he wants them ... in the background.———In another interlude Scott-Heron, still holding the boombox atop his shoulder, appears in the courtyard area of an apartment complex. The repetition of his outfit, boombox location, and music give continuity to the scene by the Potomac and the unidentified neighborhood. His outfit is the same one he wears when walking by the Potomac and the boombox remains on his shoulder. Reciting the next verse of “Washington, D.C.”, it seems like he’s walking through a tableau.May not have the glitter or the glamour of L.A.It may not have the history or intrigue of PompeiiBut when it comes to making music, and sure enough making newsOr people who just don’t make sense, and people making doSeems a massive contradiction, pulling different waysBetween the folks who come and go, and one’s who’ve got to stayIt’s a mass of irony for all the world to seeIt’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington, D.C. He strolls along the sidewalk, the camera zooming in on his face. Over his right shoulder two Black kids pose on their bikes as men stand around them. The camera rotates clockwise, giving a slight panoramic view of the apartment building in the background. Residents crowd the doorway, a combination of what appears to be overlapping greetings and farewells. The ambiguous actions of the people in the background smoothly contrasts with the poet’s lean frame while his focus on the camera/viewer enlarges his presence.The scene also includes various people sitting on park benches. We do not know if they are residents or visitors. In many ways, the distinction does not matter. What we see is comfort in the faces and bodies of the Black people immediately behind Scott-Heron. On one bench we see two people. The first is a Black man who hoists his right leg up, resting his foot on the bench. As the boombox plays and the poet raps, the man taps his knee and snaps his fingers. Similarly, a Black woman in a red dress sitting on the same bench responds to Scott-Heron’s presence and his music with a committed head bob and toe tap. On another bench, three young Black men nod coolly as they watch the poet recite the remainder of his verse.It’s the nation’s capitalIt’s the nation’s capitalIt’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.He walks us through the partially-animated tableau wherein the folks sitting behind him subtly reinforce the message he directly communicates to the viewer/us.———In another interlude, three scenes are cut into one. In the first, the Capital Building looms in the distance as Scott-Heron enters the frame. He gestures toward the building and notes the ways that tours distract visitors from the real Washington:Let me tell you, those tours are all the same. They bring you around to places like this [gestures toward the Capital Building]. They might even tell you who the jackass is on the horse or the guy on top of the building, but they never show you the real Washington.Should’ve been around the 15th of January. That’s when Stevie Wonder was holding this rally. It was about 50,000 gathered there. They were trying to demonstrate and make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday. But it’s always the same. The Capital. The Hoover Building. Maybe sometimes they’d even show you the Washington Monument [gestures towards the monument in the distance]. But that’s not a look at the real Washington. The one I’d like to show you is something special. You wanna see what’s happening in the nation’s capital? Come with me… (Black Wax)Since the standard D.C. tour leaves out the real Washington, the poet primes the viewer for the real thing. His mention of Stevie Wonder allows the poet to connect the viewer to that real Washington, Black Washington. This is the Washington that boasts Ben’s Chili Bowl, Howard University, and Scurlock Studios as cultural institutions. This is the Washington that would welcome the creation of a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The scene quickly transitions to Scott-Heron walking down the streets of a presumably Black neighborhood. This neighborhood is outside the purview of tour mobile routes. There is nothing remarkable about the neighborhood. Nothing monumental. The street is lined with row houses. In the background, Black pedestrians passively observe or go about their day. One young Black man smokes a cigarette as Scott-Heron casually walks past him. For Scott-Heron, these folks are the “life-blood of the city” yet he does not speak with them, perhaps because his point is not to put these people on display but to formally acknowledge who gets left out of official narratives. The segment concludes with a return to Heron’s stroll along the Potomac, where he picks up another verse to “Washington, D.C.”:Seems to me, it’s still in light time people knifed up on 14th streetMakes me feel it’s always the right time for them people showing up and coming cleanDid make the one seem kind of numbIt’s the nation’s capitalIt’s the nation’s capitalIt’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C. ConclusionI’ll end with this. In a final scene, the poet walks in along the front gates of the White House. He holds a little Black girl’s hand and smokes a cigarette. Together they stroll along the gates of the White House. Their movement, from right to left, suggest a return. A going back to. However, this return is not nostalgic. It is accusatory. It is a reckoning with the unrealised promises that America doles out to its citizens. He notes:the protests that are launched in this country are not launched necessarily against the government. They are launched in terms of the fact that this country has rarely lived up to its advanced publicity. This is supposed to be the land of justice, liberty, and equality and that’s what everybody over here is looking for. (Black Wax)Perhaps, then, Gil Scott-Heron leaves his viewer/us not with a push to March. No. Walking against the miasma of national nostalgia perpetuated through tourism is one way to maintain a black sense of place.ReferencesBaram, Marcus. “How Stevie Wonder Helped Create Martin Luther King Day.” Cuepoint, 18 Jan. 2015. 15 Jul. 2018 <https://medium.com/cuepoint/how-stevie-wonder-helped-create-martin-luther-king-day-807451a78664>.Cervenak, Sarah Jane. Wandering: Philosophical Performances of Racial and Sexual Freedom. Durham: Duke UP, 2014.De Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Los Angeles: U of California P, 1984.Gil Scott-Heron: Black Wax. Dir. Robert Mugge, performances by Gil Scott-Heron and the Midnight Band. WinStar Home Entertainment, 1982.McKittrick, Katherine. “On Plantations, Prisons, and a Black Sense of Place.” Social and Cultural Geography 12.8 (2011): 947-963. Scott-Heron, Gil. The Last Holiday: A Memoir. New York: Grove Press, 2012.“Tour.” Merriam-Webster. 15 Jul. 2018.<https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tour>.

Abstract:

In recent years, electric two-wheeled vehicles (E2Ws) including electric bicycles and electric motorcycles have been used widely in Vietnam. Currently, the total number of E2Ws used is 3 million and with an average growth rate of 13.33% an estimated 6 million E2Ws will be used in 2024. E2Ws have been used widely among Vietnam’s youth. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) of Ajzen (2005, 2016) [1, 2], the main purpose of this research is to identify factors affecting the attitude to and intention of high school students in Hanoi city towards E2W usage and their affected level. The analytical results show that the attitude towards E2W usage is influenced respectively in descending order by (i) perceptions of economic benefit, (ii) usage convenience, (iii) friendly environmental awareness, (iv) stylish design. Usage intention towards E2Ws is determined respectively in descending order by (i) subjective norm, (ii) attitude toward E2W usage, (iii) the attraction of motorcycles. Based on the research results, some proposals for producers, authorities and policy-makers have been recommended. Keywords Electric two-wheeled vehicle, intention, attitude toward E2W usage, perception, emission, battery References [1] I. Ajzen, Attitude, personality and behavior, 2nd Edition, England: Berkshire, 2005.[2] I. Ajzen, The Theory of Planned Behavior. https://people.umass.edu/ aizen/pdf.html/, 2016..[3] R.C. Christopher, Electric Two-Wheelers in China: Analysis of Environmental, Safety, and Mobility Impacts, PhD Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2007.[4] Chu Tien Dat, “Consumer behavior and marketing - mix strategy of mobile communication businesses in Vietnam”, Doctorate Dissertation, National Economic University, 2014.[5] Dang Thi Ngoc Dung, “Factors Affect Intention Usage Toward Metro System in Ho Chi Minh City” Master Thesis, Ho Chi Minh Economics University, 2012.[6] Government website, http://vanban.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban. [7] Hanoi Department of Transport, “Scheme on strengthening management of road transport means to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution in Hanoi city, period 2017-2020, a vision to 2030”, General report, Hanoi People’s Committee, 2017. [8] Hoang Trong, Chu Nguyen Mong Ngoc, Data Analysis with SPSS, Hong Duc Publishing House, Ho Chi Minh City, 2008.[9] Ho Chi Minh Department of Transport, General Report: “Scheme on strengthening management of road transport means to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution in Hanoi city, period 2017-2020, a vision to 2030”, General report, Hochiminh People’s Committee, Department of Transportation, 2017.[10] D.W. Hoyer et al., Consumer Behaviour, 6th Edition, South Western Cengage Learning, 2013.[11] D. Jennifer, R. Geoffrey, “Electric Bikes and Transportation Policy: Insights from Early Adopters”, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2314, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2012, pp. 1-6. [12] Jica, Data Collection Survey on Railway in Main Urbans of Vietnam, final report, Part 2, Hanoi area, November, 2015.[13] X.W. Jonathan, The Rise of Electric Two-wheelers in China: Factors for their Success and Implications for the Future, Doctor of Philosophy In Transportation Technology and Policy, University of California, 2007.[14] P. Kotler, G. Amstrong, Principles of Marketing, 15th Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2014.[15] Le Quan Hoang, Toshiyuki Okamura, “Influences of Motorcycle Use on Travel Intentions in Developing Countries: A case of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam”, Journal of Eastern Asia Society of Transportation Studies. 11 (2015) Số trang.[16] R. Luke et al, “The effect of incentives and technology on the adoption of electric motorcycles: A stated choice experiment in Vietnam”, Transportation Research Part A 57, 2013.[17] National Traffic Safety Committee, “The study on the traffic safety of highschool students in Hanoi and some proposed solutions”, Final Report, Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers VAMM, 2017. [18] Nguyen Minh Tam, “Planning Orientation of Hanoi’s Urban Railway System to 2030 and Vision to 2050”, International workshop report, Hanoi Planning and Architecture Department, 2017.[19] Nguyen Ngoc Quang, “Qualitative Methods in Research on Consumer’s Behavior Toward Motorcycle in Vietnam”, Doctorate Dissertation, Hanoi National Economic University, 2008.[20] W. Ning, L. Yafei, “Key factors influencing consumers’ willingness to purchase electric vehicles in China”, School of Automotive Studies, Tongji University. Volume II, November (2015) 911-955.[21] R. Pranav, B. Yuvraj, S. Razia, “Assessment of consumer buying behavior toward electric scooters in Punjab”, International Journal of Research in Commerce and Management. 4 (2013) 7-15.[22] K. Rattanap*rn, S. Wichuda, J. Sittha, S. Thaned, “Psychological factors influencing intentions to use Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Khon Kaen, Thailand”, Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies. 10 (2015) số trang đầu và cuối.[23] M. Ronald, T. Debasis, “A Study on consumer buying behavior toward two wheeler bikes in context to Indian market”, International Journal of Advanced Research in Management (IJARM). 4 (2013) 65-số trang cuối. [24] S. Sheetal, S. Abhishek, “Consumer Behavior towards Two-Wheeler Bikes - A Comparative Study of Rural and Urban Consumers of Jodhpur District of Rajasthan, India”, Research Paper, Global Research Analysis. 1 (2012) 91-92.[25] M.R. Solomon, Behaviour - Buying, Having, Being, 10th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc., 2013.[26] Statistic Office of Hanoi. http://thongkehanoi.gov.vn/, 2018.[27] Tran Thuy, “Located fuel motorcycles, remote controls, and accident notices: a mother buys to supervise her child”. https://vietnamnet.vn/vn/kinh-doanh/dau-tu/xe-may-dien-ban-ra-nua-trieu-chiec-dai-gia-them-muon-475551.html/, 2018.[28] Trinh Thu Thuy, “Factors affects consumer’s behavior towards two-wheeled vehicles in Hanoi city”, Doctorate Dissertation, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, 2018.[29] S. William et al., “The influence of financial incentives and other socio-economic factors on electric vehicle adoption”, Journal of Energy Policy. 68 (2014) 183-194. Ch. Yi-Chang, T. Gwo-Hshiung, “The market acceptance of electric motorcycles in Taiwan experience through a stated preference analysis”, Transportation Research, Pergamon, Part D 4, January 9, 1999, pp. 127-146 (Published by Elsevier Science Ltd).

Abstract:

The recent announcement that the Costanera Center building in Santiago will finally open in 2012 is the latest episode in the building’s troubled history, during which it has been both the emblem of Chile’s booming economy and the grand symbol of its downturn in the context of the global recession. The mixed-use development –which includes what will be South America’s tallest building, standing 300 meters high— will feature a shopping mall with a number of restaurants and a cinema, two hotels, two shopping markets and office space.The previous chapter in its history was much less optimistic: during most of 2009 the project in the financial district of Santiago (colloquially known as Sanhattan) sat half-finished, its exposed concrete and reinforcement bars contrasting with a banner at the site that read Icono del Desarrollo Latinoamericano (“Icon of Latin American development”). Once a symbol of Chile’s soaring copper driven economy, the Costanera Center became an emblem of its decline, an all too visible manifestation of the dramatic downturn of the construction sector that saw dozens of projects like this coming to a halt and caught in a temporary-but-possibly-permanent state of suspension. According to the Corporación de Bienes de Capital (CBC), an institute that monitors private investment in Chile, a total of 105 projects at different stages of planning or construction were delayed, suspended or scrapped last year. Even though works at the Costanera Center slowly started again during December 2009, the massive earthquake that affected Chile at the end of February 2010 created new doubts about the development. The engineers in charge finally announced that the construction would continue at a rhythm of two and a half floors per month. At every level, height appears to be the measure of achievement: Chile is on its way of having the continent’s highest building, and the workers involved in the construction will see their pay rise as they literally climb higher and higher in their daily job. The destructive nature of the earthquake can be compared to the explosive and unchecked character of Santiago’s frenetic development and, indeed, the relationship between both phenomena goes beyond the metaphorical (and not just because the recently elected president Sebastian Piñera named a number of high profile businessmen in the construction sector as the new local authorities for the five worst affected regions, arguing that their expertise would be key to the success of the reconstruction). The earthquake swept away not the very old, but the very new in Santiago and other major Chilean cities like Concepción, generating a temporal displacement in which rise and fall, birth and decline simultaneously appear at the construction site. Halted projects like the Costanera Center and the newly-finished-but-already-ruined buildings both express a frozen form of architecture that cannot be expended, enjoyed or consumed.Paradoxically, and in spite of their evident fragility, these buildings present themselves as having a solid, uni-dimensional meaning rather than a contingent quality; they stand still, maintained as they are, waiting either for an order of demolition or the reactivation of works. To this extent, these constructions represent a notion of waste that does not appear to be generative, but rather, seems to be suspended and vacant. Even though they might have radically different fates, in their present state both halted projects and half-ruined buildings refer to the same condition of waste. These examples of development and decline are inscribed within the larger processes of speculative construction and economic control that have shaped Chile’s urban landscape from the 1970s onwards. These processes echo the experiences of other countries but are also particular to Chile’s history, its rapid modernisation, its troubled recent political past, and its vulnerability to natural disasters. The suspended landscape created by these buildings appears to limit the potentialities that otherwise contingent spaces could have. The work of the British architect Cedric Price, for instance, addresses the endless capacity of buildings to maintain themselves in a condition of openness, without any reference to past or future functions. In his understanding, the interval—manifested, for example, in the period in which a structure is yet-to-be-built, or in the moment in which the construction is paralysed due to economic or regulation constraints (which is, indeed, the present state of these Chilean buildings)—is an opportunity to be free from any limitation from the past or any aspiration to future glory, a condition of potentiality that generates new processes of exchange. But Price’s projects—which vary from very simple design solutions to buildings in a more conventional sense—could only work if they are able to engage with the present of the construction without privileging any particular outcome. In contrast, the examples of architecture coming to a standstill in Chile (due to the fragility of the country’s economy and the foundations of its flashy construction) can be seen as static monuments that do not commemorate a past event but rather refer to a future that is already out of date. Rather than generating new uses while these projects are halted, they remain encircled, in arrested development; limiting the transformable aspects that might be derived from their current uncertain position. From the 1970s Chile abandoned its old state-centred policies in favour of a virtually unregulated free-market economy. Indeed, recent accounts of the earthquake metaphorically recall Milton Freedman’s doctrine of shock (the imposition of capitalism without any softening of its sharp edges) as a discursive figure: the American economist was advisor to General Pinochet during his dictatorship and a whole generation of highly influential Chilean professionals received a first-hand education from Friedman at the University of Chicago. ‘The Chicago Boys,’ as the group is commonly known in Chile, exerted a direct influence over the complete re-organisation of the country’s public health and education systems, alongside the transformation of its material infrastructure in a process not dissimilar to the changes wrought by earthquake and tsunami. Santiago, in particular, is a city that has transformed its old urban fabric like no other in Latin America. The city is an extreme example of the boom-and-bust development process: plans get approved, buildings get ready and constructions become dated within an incredibly short life-span. Development opportunities in the city centre are rapidly becoming scarce, and construction companies now look to demolish whole buildings to source their land. Other companies buy any property that remains in the wealthier neighborhoods without concrete plans to build anything; these properties are laid to waste, with their gardens unkempt, masses of weeds covering the walls. Consumer sites dedicated to urbanism and architecture such as www.plataformaurbana.cl suggest that the earthquake has provided new opportunities for land speculation and rapid demolition. In Talca (another city badly damaged by the earthquake), construction companies offer new, cheap houses on the city fringe in exchange for damaged properties near the historic centre.Among the endless images of destruction reproduced after the earthquake, the most notorious depict recently built constructions in complete ruins. In Santiago, at least 23 apartment buildings were abandoned and/or received demolition orders in the aftermath of the quake. The development known as Condominio Don Tristan (which, split in half and severely inclined towards one side, became the most emblematic image of the catastrophe) still has the signs reading Visite Departamento Piloto (“Come and Visit the Showroom Apartment”).Interestingly, this type of destruction generated significantly less international attention and media coverage than in the case of Haiti, since Chile presented an image of coping well with the disaster. TV and press images did not communicate a total collapse but rather a sensation of time frozen, or stillness. Analysing the media images, it is salient to note that there is not much rubble in these pictures or people excavating the debris; rather, most of them depict buildings with no one around, empty, standing still. Unlike the images of Haiti, where the devastation took the form of endless piles of rubbish and unsorted rubble, the visual face of the catastrophe in Chile is that of halted construction.In spite of the discrepancy between a building destroyed by disaster and one left unfinished, Chile’s architectural landscape betrays no substantial difference between those structures half-finished and those half-ruined in either the terms of their use (or rather their lack of function, since they cannot be inhabited, used, or enjoyed) or in the bareness of the limbo in which they find themselves. These structures are dumping grounds, not of traditional waste, but of useless forms of architecture. As dumping sites they are void spaces within the city, monitored places that people surround but do not pass through. Paradoxically, they are also the most expensive sites in the city, in terms of both the money spent on them and land prices. They are luxurious dumps. It is the apparent stillness and temporal displacement of Chile’s developments that distinguish these buildings laid to waste from other types of contemporary ruins. Without aiming for it some of these constructions have been ruined before even having been built. There is, however, no ‘ruin value’ here as there was, for instance, in Albert Speer’s ideal of building projects that would decay in an aesthetically pleasant way. In spite of the desire for novelty that animated their creators, the buildings have fallen into a condition of sameness.The artist Robert Smithson made a similar observation in relation to his native New Jersey when he remarked that the city, unlike its cosmopolitan sister New York, gave up any desire to become part of the “big events” of history. In two essays dedicated to his home state Smithson suggests that the unused bridges and dated water pipes dismantle time in their total lack of aspiration. However, in his appreciation of these obsolete artefacts he is not arguing for a romantic redemption of the industrial ruin, nor is his aim to give them an aesthetic quality as objects of venerable decay.That zero panorama seemed to contain ruins in reverse, that is, all the new construction that would eventually be built. This is the opposite of the “romantic ruin” because the buildings don’t fall into ruin after they are built but rather rise into ruin before they are built. This anti-romantic mise-en-scene suggests the discredited idea of time and many other “out of date” things (“A Tour” 72). According to Smithson, everything seems to be declining in a present, even time. New Jersey’s suburban monuments are cheap and flat and embrace a future already outdated, as do Chile’s suspended buildings. Smithson does not seek to redeem the abandoned or unnoticed industrial landscapes of New Jersey (which, unlike Chile’s wasted buildings, inhabit the periphery rather than the centre of the city) but rather to stress how they embrace, through their vacant character, a total immanence.Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments seem to cause us to forget the future. … They are not built for the ages but rather against the ages. They are involved in a systematic reduction of time down to fractions of seconds, rather than representing the long spaces of centuries. Both past and future are placed into an objective present (“Entropy” 11).According to Smithson, the suburbs are privileged in comparison with big cities because they are uninterested in making history. The flaws and holes of their streets enact more clearly the immanence he is trying to argue for: “those holes are monumental vacancies that define, without trying, the memory-traces of an abandoned set of futures” (“A Tour” 72). It is interesting how the artist expresses similar concerns when writing about erosion, entropy and natural disasters, not least because they relate the wasted products of architecture with geological destruction, a connection that can also be observed in the case of Chile.Written in 1966 before the rise of the ecological movement, a text like “Entropy and the New Monuments” links conditions of disorder and decay with a new kind of monumentality embodied in the undistinguished landscape of suspension. Smithson presents entropy as an irreversible and evolutionary process, yet not an idealistic one; even though these spaces were animated by evolutionary and modernisation processes, they now offer nothing but suspension. It is here that Smithson’s writings seem most pertinent in relation to Chile’s voided spaces. Unlike organic dumps, where refuse products rot and transform, Chile’s developments these express their entropic character in their stillness, in their absence of generative energy.Recent critical theory has given significant attention to industrial ruins and has revaluated their cultural importance, arguing, from diverse perspectives, that processes of destruction could release new layers of meaning or generate different forms of knowledge. The writings of Dylan Trigg, for instance, make use of ruins to construct a philosophical critique of the notions of temporality and progress. Chilean born photographer Camilo José Vergara proposes to convert the failed modernity of Detroit’s buildings into a space of playful awareness. Tim Edensor vindicates ruins with particular enthusiasm, refuting the notion of an industrial wasteland and re-imagining ruins as spaces of leisure, shelter, creativity and alternative public life (21). This unpredictable unfolding of new meanings does not seem to be present in Chile’s suspended architecture. These buildings are yet to be consumed, and therefore they somehow pervert architecture’s cycle of novelty and obsolescence, while remaining in a state of suspension, waiting to be demolished.ReferencesEdensor, Tim. Industrial Ruins: Space, Aesthetics and Materiality. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2005.Smithson, Robert. “Entropy and the New Monuments”. Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings. Ed. Jack Flam. Berkeley and London: U of California P, 1996. 10–23.———. “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey”. Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings. Ed. Jack Flam. Berkeley and London: U of California P, 1996. 68–74.Trigg, Dylan. The Aesthetics of Decay: Nothingness, Nostalgia and the Absence of Reason. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2006. Vergara, Camilo Jose. The New American Ghetto. New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1997.

Abstract:

Introduction A snapshot, not unlike countless photographs likely to be found in any number of family albums, shows two figures sitting on a park bench: an elderly and amiable looking man grins beneath the rim of a golf cap; a young boy of twelve smiles wide for the camera — a rather banal scene, captured on film. And yet, this seemingly innocent and unexceptional photograph was the site of a remarkable and wide ranging discourse — encompassing American conservatism, celebrity politics, and the end of the Cold War — as the image circulated around the globe during the weeklong state funeral of Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th president of the United States. Taken in 1997 by the young boy’s grandfather, Ukrainian immigrant Yakov Ravin, during a chance encounter with the former president, the snapshot is believed to be the last public photograph of Ronald Reagan. Published on the occasion of the president’s death, the photograph made “instant celebrities” of the boy, now a twenty-year-old college student, Rostik Denenburg and his grand dad. Throughout the week of Reagan’s funeral, the two joined a chorus of dignitaries, politicians, pundits, and “ordinary” Americans praising Ronald Reagan: “The Great Communicator,” the man who defeated Communism, the popular president who restored America’s confidence, strength, and prosperity. Yes, it was mourning in America again. And the whole world was watching. Not since Princess Diana’s sudden (and unexpected) death, have we witnessed an electronic hagiography of such global proportions. Unlike Diana’s funeral, however, Reagan’s farewell played out in distinctly partisan terms. As James Ridgeway (2004) noted, the Reagan state funeral was “not only face-saving for the current administration, but also perhaps a mask for the American military debacle in Iraq. Not to mention a gesture of America’s might in the ‘war on terror.’” With non-stop media coverage, the weeklong ceremonies provided a sorely needed shot in the arm to the Bush re-election campaign. Still, whilst the funeral proceedings and the attendant media coverage were undeniably excessive in their deification of the former president, the historical white wash was not nearly so vulgar as the antiseptic send off Richard Nixon received back in 1994. That is to say, the piety of the Nixon funeral was at once startling and galling to many who reviled the man (Lapham). By contrast, given Ronald Reagan’s disarming public persona, his uniquely cordial relationship with the national press corps, and most notably, his handler’s mastery of media management techniques, the Reagan idolatry was neither surprising nor unexpected. In this brief essay, I want to consider Reagan’s funeral, and his legacy, in relation to what cultural critics, referring to the production of celebrity, have described as “fame games” (Turner, Bonner & Marshall). Specifically, I draw on the concept of “flashpoints” — moments of media excess surrounding a particular personage — in consideration of the Reagan funeral. Throughout, I demonstrate how Reagan’s death and the attendant media coverage epitomize this distinctive feature of contemporary culture. Furthermore, I observe Reagan’s innovative approaches to electoral politics in the age of television. Here, I suggest that Reagan’s appropriation of the strategies and techniques associated with advertising, marketing and public relations were decisive, not merely in terms of his electoral success, but also in securing his lasting fame. I conclude with some thoughts on the implications of Reagan’s legacy on historical memory, contemporary politics, and what neoconservatives, the heirs of the Reagan Revolution, gleefully describe as the New American Century. The Magic Hour On the morning of 12 June 2004, the last day of the state funeral, world leaders eulogized Reagan, the statesmen, at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Among the A-List political stars invited to speak were Margaret Thatcher, former president George H. W. Bush and, to borrow Arundhati Roi’s useful phrase, “Bush the Lesser.” Reagan’s one-time Cold War adversary, Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were also on hand, but did not have speaking parts. Former Reagan administration officials, Supreme Court justices, and congressional representatives from both sides of the aisle rounded out a guest list that read like a who’s who of the American political class. All told, Reagan’s weeklong sendoff was a state funeral at its most elaborate. It had it all—the flag draped coffin, the grieving widow, the riderless horse, and the procession of mourners winding their way through the Rotunda of the US Capitol. In this last regard, Reagan joined an elite group of seven presidents, including four who died by assassination — Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy — to be honored by having his remains lie in state in the Rotunda. But just as the deceased president was product of the studio system, so too, the script for the Gipper’s swan song come straight out of Hollywood. Later that day, the Reagan entourage made one last transcontinental flight back to the presidential library in Simi Valley, California for a private funeral service at sunset. In Hollywood parlance, the “magic hour” refers to the quality of light at dusk. It is an ideal, but ephemeral time favored by cinematographers, when the sunlight takes on a golden glow lending grandeur, nostalgia, and oftentimes, a sense of closure to a scene. This was Ronald Reagan’s final moment in the sun: a fitting end for an actor of the silver screen, as well as for the president who mastered televisual politics. In a culture so thoroughly saturated with the image, even the death of a minor celebrity is an occasion to replay film clips, interviews, paparazzi photos and the like. Moreover, these “flashpoints” grow in intensity and frequency as promotional culture, technological innovation, and the proliferation of new media outlets shape contemporary media culture. They are both cause and consequence of these moments of media excess. And, as Turner, Bonner and Marshall observe, “That is their point. It is their disproportionate nature that makes them so important: the scale of their visibility, their overwhelmingly excessive demonstration of the power of the relationship between mass-mediated celebrities and the consumers of popular culture” (3-4). B-Movie actor, corporate spokesman, state governor and, finally, US president, Ronald Reagan left an extraordinary photographic record. Small wonder, then, that Reagan’s death was a “flashpoint” of the highest order: an orgy of images, a media spectacle waiting to happen. After all, Reagan appeared in over 50 films during his career in Hollywood. Publicity stills and clips from Reagan’s film career, including Knute Rockne, All American, the biopic that earned Reagan his nickname “the Gipper”, King’s Row, and Bedtime for Bonzo provided a surreal, yet welcome respite from television’s obsessive (some might say morbidly so) live coverage of Reagan’s remains making their way across country. Likewise, archival footage of Reagan’s political career — most notably, images of the 1981 assassination attempt; his quip “not to make age an issue” during the 1984 presidential debate; and his 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate demanding that Soviet President Gorbachev, “tear down this wall” — provided the raw materials for press coverage that thoroughly dominated the global mediascape. None of which is to suggest, however, that the sheer volume of Reagan’s photographic record is sufficient to account for the endless replay and reinterpretation of Reagan’s life story. If we are to fully comprehend Reagan’s fame, we must acknowledge his seminal engagement with promotional culture, “a professional articulation between the news and entertainment media and the sources of publicity and promotion” (Turner, Bonner & Marshall 5) in advancing an extraordinary political career. Hitting His Mark In a televised address supporting Barry Goldwater’s nomination for the presidency delivered at the 1964 Republican Convention, Ronald Reagan firmly established his conservative credentials and, in so doing, launched one of the most remarkable and influential careers in American politics. Political scientist Gerard J. De Groot makes a compelling case that the strategy Reagan and his handlers developed in the 1966 California gubernatorial campaign would eventually win him the presidency. The centerpiece of this strategy was to depict the former actor as a political outsider. Crafting a persona he described as “citizen politician,” Reagan’s great appeal and enormous success lie in his uncanny ability to project an image founded on traditional American values of hard work, common sense and self-determination. Over the course of his political career, Reagan’s studied optimism and “no-nonsense” approach to public policy would resonate with an electorate weary of career politicians. Charming, persuasive, and seemingly “authentic,” Reagan ran gubernatorial and subsequent presidential campaigns that were distinctive in that they employed sophisticated public relations and marketing techniques heretofore unknown in the realm of electoral politics. The 1966 Reagan gubernatorial campaign took the then unprecedented step of employing an advertising firm, Los Angeles-based Spencer-Roberts, in shaping the candidate’s image. Leveraging their candidate’s ease before the camera, the Reagan team crafted a campaign founded upon a sophisticated grasp of the television industry, TV news routines, and the medium’s growing importance to electoral politics. For instance, in the days before the 1966 Republican primary, the Reagan team produced a five-minute film using images culled from his campaign appearances. Unlike his opponent, whose television spots were long-winded, amateurish and poorly scheduled pieces that interrupted popular programs, like Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, Reagan’s short film aired in the early evening, between program segments (De Groot). Thus, while his opponent’s television spot alienated viewers, the Reagan team demonstrated a formidable appreciation not only for televisual style, but also, crucially, a sophisticated understanding of the nuances of television scheduling, audience preferences and viewing habits. Over the course of his political career, Reagan refined his media driven, media directed campaign strategy. An analysis of his 1980 presidential campaign reveals three dimensions of Reagan’s increasingly sophisticated media management strategy (Covington et al.). First, the Reagan campaign carefully controlled their candidate’s accessibility to the press. Reagan’s penchant for potentially damaging off-the-cuff remarks and factual errors led his advisors to limit journalists’ interactions with the candidate. Second, the character of Reagan’s public appearances, including photo opportunities and especially press conferences, grew more formal. Reagan’s interactions with the press corps were highly structured affairs designed to control which reporters were permitted to ask questions and to help the candidate anticipate questions and prepare responses in advance. Finally, the Reagan campaign sought to keep the candidate “on message.” That is to say, press releases, photo opportunities and campaign appearances focused on a single, consistent message. This approach, known as the Issue of the Day (IOD) media management strategy proved indispensable to advancing the administration’s goals and achieving its objectives. Not only was the IOD strategy remarkably effective in influencing press coverage of the Reagan White House, this coverage promoted an overwhelmingly positive image of the president. As the weeklong funeral amply demonstrated, Reagan was, and remains, one of the most popular presidents in modern American history. Reagan’s popular (and populist) appeal is instructive inasmuch as it illuminates the crucial distinction between “celebrity and its premodern antecedent, fame” observed by historian Charles L. Ponce de Leone (13). Whereas fame was traditionally bestowed upon those whose heroism and extraordinary achievements distinguished them from common people, celebrity is a defining feature of modernity, inasmuch as celebrity is “a direct outgrowth of developments that most of us regard as progressive: the spread of the market economy and the rise of democratic, individualistic values” (Ponce de Leone 14). On one hand, then, Reagan’s celebrity reflects his individualism, his resolute faith in the primacy of the market, and his defense of “traditional” (i.e. democratic) American values. On the other hand, by emphasizing his heroic, almost supernatural achievements, most notably his vanquishing of the “Evil Empire,” the Reagan mythology serves to lift him “far above the common rung of humanity” raising him to “the realm of the divine” (Ponce de Leone 14). Indeed, prior to his death, the Reagan faithful successfully lobbied Congress to create secular shrines to the standard bearer of American conservatism. For instance, in 1998, President Clinton signed a bill that officially rechristened one of the US capitol’s airports to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. More recently, conservatives working under the aegis of the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project have called for the creation of even more visible totems to the Reagan Revolution, including replacing Franklin D. Roosevelt’s profile on the dime with Reagan’s image and, more dramatically, inscribing Reagan in stone, alongside Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt at Mount Rushmore (Gordon). Therefore, Reagan’s enduring fame rests not only on the considerable symbolic capital associated with his visual record, but also, increasingly, upon material manifestations of American political culture. The High Stakes of Media Politics What are we to make of Reagan’s fame and its implications for America? To begin with, we must acknowledge Reagan’s enduring influence on modern electoral politics. Clearly, Reagan’s “citizen politician” was a media construct — the masterful orchestration of ideological content across the institutional structures of news, public relations and marketing. While some may suggest that Reagan’s success was an anomaly, a historical aberration, a host of politicians, and not a few celebrities — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Arnold Schwarzenegger among them — emulate Reagan’s style and employ the media management strategies he pioneered. Furthermore, we need to recognize that the Reagan mythology that is so thoroughly bound up in his approach to media/politics does more to obscure, rather than illuminate the historical record. For instance, in her (video taped) remarks at the funeral service, Margaret Thatcher made the extraordinary claim — a central tenet of the Reagan Revolution — that Ronnie won the cold war “without firing a shot.” Such claims went unchallenged, at least in the establishment press, despite Reagan’s well-documented penchant for waging costly and protracted proxy wars in Afghanistan, Africa, and Central America. Similarly, the Reagan hagiography failed to acknowledge the decisive role Gorbachev and his policies of “reform” and “openness” — Perestroika and Glasnost — played in the ending of the Cold War. Indeed, Reagan’s media managed populism flies in the face of what radical historian Howard Zinn might describe as a “people’s history” of the 1980s. That is to say, a broad cross-section of America — labor, racial and ethnic minorities, environmentalists and anti-nuclear activists among them — rallied in vehement opposition to Reagan’s foreign and domestic policies. And yet, throughout the weeklong funeral, the divisiveness of the Reagan era went largely unnoted. In the Reagan mythology, then, popular demonstrations against an unprecedented military build up, the administration’s failure to acknowledge, let alone intervene in the AIDS epidemic, and the growing disparity between rich and poor that marked his tenure in office were, to borrow a phrase, relegated to the dustbin of history. In light of the upcoming US presidential election, we ought to weigh how Reagan’s celebrity squares with the historical record; and, equally important, how his legacy both shapes and reflects the realities we confront today. Whether we consider economic and tax policy, social services, electoral politics, international relations or the domestic culture wars, Reagan’s policies and practices continue to determine the state of the union and inform the content and character of American political discourse. Increasingly, American electoral politics turns on the pithy soundbite, the carefully orchestrated pseudo-event, and a campaign team’s unwavering ability to stay on message. Nowhere is this more evident than in Ronald Reagan’s unmistakable influence upon the current (and illegitimate) occupant of the White House. References Covington, Cary R., Kroeger, K., Richardson, G., and J. David Woodward. “Shaping a Candidate’s Image in the Press: Ronald Reagan and the 1980 Presidential Election.” Political Research Quarterly 46.4 (1993): 783-98. De Groot, Gerard J. “‘A Goddamed Electable Person’: The 1966 California Gubernatorial Campaign of Ronald Reagan.” History 82.267 (1997): 429-48. Gordon, Colin. “Replace FDR on the Dime with Reagan?” History News Network 15 December, 2003. http://hnn.us/articles/1853.html>. Lapham, Lewis H. “Morte de Nixon – Death of Richard Nixon – Editorial.” Harper’s Magazine (July 1994). http://www.harpers.org/MorteDeNixon.html>. Ponce de Leon, Charles L. Self-Exposure: Human-Interest Journalism and the Emergence of Celebrity in America, 1890-1940. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2002. Ridgeway, James. “Bush Takes a Ride in Reagan’s Wake.” Village Voice (10 June 2004). http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0423/mondo5.php>. Turner, Graeme, Frances Bonner, and P. David Marshall. Fame Games: The Production of Celebrity in Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000. Zinn, Howard. The Peoples’ History of the United States: 1492-Present. New York: Harper Perennial, 1995. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Howley, Kevin. "Always Famous: Or, The Electoral Half-Life of Ronald Reagan." M/C Journal 7.5 (2004). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0411/17-howley.php>. APA Style Howley, K. (Nov. 2004) "Always Famous: Or, The Electoral Half-Life of Ronald Reagan," M/C Journal, 7(5). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0411/17-howley.php>.

Abstract:

1991 An afternoon in late 1991 found me on a Sydney bus reading Brett Easton Ellis’ American Psycho (1991). A disembarking passenger paused at my side and, as I glanced up, hissed, ‘I don’t know how you can read that filth’. As she continued to make her way to the front of the vehicle, I was as stunned as if she had struck me physically. There was real vehemence in both her words and how they were delivered, and I can still see her eyes squeezing into slits as she hesitated while curling her mouth around that final angry word: ‘filth’. Now, almost fifteen years later, the memory is remarkably vivid. As the event is also still remarkable; this comment remaining the only remark ever made to me by a stranger about anything I have been reading during three decades of travelling on public transport. That inflamed commuter summed up much of the furore that greeted the publication of American Psycho. More than this, and unusually, condemnation of the work both actually preceded, and affected, its publication. Although Ellis had been paid a substantial U.S. $300,000 advance by Simon & Schuster, pre-publication stories based on circulating galley proofs were so negative—offering assessments of the book as: ‘moronic … pointless … themeless … worthless (Rosenblatt 3), ‘superficial’, ‘a tapeworm narrative’ (Sheppard 100) and ‘vile … p*rnography, not literature … immoral, but also artless’ (Miner 43)—that the publisher cancelled the contract (forfeiting the advance) only months before the scheduled release date. CEO of Simon & Schuster, Richard E. Snyder, explained: ‘it was an error of judgement to put our name on a book of such questionable taste’ (quoted in McDowell, “Vintage” 13). American Psycho was, instead, published by Random House/Knopf in March 1991 under its prestige paperback imprint, Vintage Contemporary (Zaller; Freccero 48) – Sonny Mehta having signed the book to Random House some two days after Simon & Schuster withdrew from its agreement with Ellis. While many commented on the fact that Ellis was paid two substantial advances, it was rarely noted that Random House was a more prestigious publisher than Simon & Schuster (Iannone 52). After its release, American Psycho was almost universally vilified and denigrated by the American critical establishment. The work was criticised on both moral and aesthetic/literary/artistic grounds; that is, in terms of both what Ellis wrote and how he wrote it. Critics found it ‘meaningless’ (Lehmann-Haupt C18), ‘abysmally written … schlock’ (Kennedy 427), ‘repulsive, a bloodbath serving no purpose save that of morbidity, titillation and sensation … pure trash, as scummy and mean as anything it depicts, a dirty book by a dirty writer’ (Yardley B1) and ‘garbage’ (Gurley Brown 21). Mark Archer found that ‘the attempt to confuse style with content is callow’ (31), while Naomi Wolf wrote that: ‘overall, reading American Psycho holds the same fascination as watching a maladjusted 11-year-old draw on his desk’ (34). John Leo’s assessment sums up the passionate intensity of those critical of the work: ‘totally hateful … violent junk … no discernible plot, no believable characterization, no sensibility at work that comes anywhere close to making art out of all the blood and torture … Ellis displays little feel for narration, words, grammar or the rhythm of language’ (23). These reviews, as those printed pre-publication, were titled in similarly unequivocal language: ‘A Revolting Development’ (Sheppard 100), ‘Marketing Cynicism and Vulgarity’ (Leo 23), ‘Designer p*rn’ (Manguel 46) and ‘Essence of Trash’ (Yardley B1). Perhaps the most unambiguous in its message was Roger Rosenblatt’s ‘Snuff this Book!’ (3). Of all works published in the U.S.A. at that time, including those clearly carrying X ratings, the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) selected American Psycho for special notice, stating that the book ‘legitimizes inhuman and savage violence masquerading as sexuality’ (NOW 114). Judging the book ‘the most misogynistic communication’ the organisation had ever encountered (NOW L.A. chapter president, Tammy Bruce, quoted in Kennedy 427) and, on the grounds that ‘violence against women in any form is no longer socially acceptable’ (McDowell, “NOW” C17), NOW called for a boycott of the entire Random House catalogue for the remainder of 1991. Naomi Wolf agreed, calling the novel ‘a violation not of obscenity standards, but of women’s civil rights, insofar as it results in conditioning male sexual response to female suffering or degradation’ (34). Later, the boycott was narrowed to Knopf and Vintage titles (Love 46), but also extended to all of the many products, companies, corporations, firms and brand names that are a feature of Ellis’s novel (Kauffman, “American” 41). There were other unexpected responses such as the Walt Disney Corporation barring Ellis from the opening of Euro Disney (Tyrnauer 101), although Ellis had already been driven from public view after receiving a number of death threats and did not undertake a book tour (Kennedy 427). Despite this, the book received significant publicity courtesy of the controversy and, although several national bookstore chains and numerous booksellers around the world refused to sell the book, more than 100,000 copies were sold in the U.S.A. in the fortnight after publication (Dwyer 55). Even this success had an unprecedented effect: when American Psycho became a bestseller, The New York Times announced that it would be removing the title from its bestseller lists because of the book’s content. In the days following publication in the U.S.A., Canadian customs announced that it was considering whether to allow the local arm of Random House to, first, import American Psycho for sale in Canada and, then, publish it in Canada (Kirchhoff, “Psycho” C1). Two weeks later, when the book was passed for sale (Kirchhoff, “Customs” C1), demonstrators protested the entrance of a shipment of the book. In May, the Canadian Defence Force made headlines when it withdrew copies of the book from the library shelves of a navy base in Halifax (Canadian Press C1). Also in May 1991, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), the federal agency that administers the classification scheme for all films, computer games and ‘submittable’ publications (including books) that are sold, hired or exhibited in Australia, announced that it had classified American Psycho as ‘Category 1 Restricted’ (W. Fraser, “Book” 5), to be sold sealed, to only those over 18 years of age. This was the first such classification of a mainstream literary work since the rating scheme was introduced (Graham), and the first time a work of literature had been restricted for sale since Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint in 1969. The chief censor, John Dickie, said the OFLC could not justify refusing the book classification (and essentially banning the work), and while ‘as a satire on yuppies it has a lot going for it’, personally he found the book ‘distasteful’ (quoted in W. Fraser, “Sensitive” 5). Moreover, while this ‘R’ classification was, and remains, a national classification, Australian States and Territories have their own sale and distribution regulation systems. Under this regime, American Psycho remains banned from sale in Queensland, as are all other books in this classification category (Vnuk). These various reactions led to a flood of articles published in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and the U.K., voicing passionate opinions on a range of issues including free speech and censorship, the corporate control of artistic thought and practice, and cynicism on the part of authors and their publishers about what works might attract publicity and (therefore) sell in large numbers (see, for instance, Hitchens 7; Irving 1). The relationship between violence in society and its representation in the media was a common theme, with only a few commentators (including Norman Mailer in a high profile Vanity Fair article) suggesting that, instead of inciting violence, the media largely reflected, and commented upon, societal violence. Elayne Rapping, an academic in the field of Communications, proposed that the media did actively glorify violence, but only because there was a market for such representations: ‘We, as a society love violence, thrive on violence as the very basis of our social stability, our ideological belief system … The problem, after all, is not media violence but real violence’ (36, 38). Many more commentators, however, agreed with NOW, Wolf and others and charged Ellis’s work with encouraging, and even instigating, violent acts, and especially those against women, calling American Psycho ‘a kind of advertising for violence against women’ (anthropologist Elliot Leyton quoted in Dwyer 55) and, even, a ‘how-to manual on the torture and dismemberment of women’ (Leo 23). Support for the book was difficult to find in the flood of vitriol directed against it, but a small number wrote in Ellis’s defence. Sonny Mehta, himself the target of death threats for acquiring the book for Random House, stood by this assessment, and was widely quoted in his belief that American Psycho was ‘a serious book by a serious writer’ and that Ellis was ‘remarkably talented’ (Knight-Ridder L10). Publishing director of Pan Macmillan Australia, James Fraser, defended his decision to release American Psycho on the grounds that the book told important truths about society, arguing: ‘A publisher’s office is a clearing house for ideas … the real issue for community debate [is] – to what extent does it want to hear the truth about itself, about individuals within the community and about the governments the community elects. If we care about the preservation of standards, there is none higher than this. Gore Vidal was among the very few who stated outright that he liked the book, finding it ‘really rather inspired … a wonderfully comic novel’ (quoted in Tyrnauer 73). Fay Weldon agreed, judging the book as ‘brilliant’, and focusing on the importance of Ellis’s message: ‘Bret Easton Ellis is a very good writer. He gets us to a ‘T’. And we can’t stand it. It’s our problem, not his. American Psycho is a beautifully controlled, careful, important novel that revolves around its own nasty bits’ (C1). Since 1991 As unlikely as this now seems, I first read American Psycho without any awareness of the controversy raging around its publication. I had read Ellis’s earlier works, Less than Zero (1985) and The Rules of Attraction (1987) and, with my energies fully engaged elsewhere, cannot now even remember how I acquired the book. Since that angry remark on the bus, however, I have followed American Psycho’s infamy and how it has remained in the public eye over the last decade and a half. Australian OFLC decisions can be reviewed and reversed – as when Pasolini’s final film Salo (1975), which was banned in Australia from the time of its release in 1975 until it was un-banned in 1993, was then banned again in 1998 – however, American Psycho’s initial classification has remained unchanged. In July 2006, I purchased a new paperback copy in rural New South Wales. It was shrink-wrapped in plastic and labelled: ‘R. Category One. Not available to persons under 18 years. Restricted’. While exact sales figures are difficult to ascertain, by working with U.S.A., U.K. and Australian figures, this copy was, I estimate, one of some 1.5 to 1.6 million sold since publication. In the U.S.A., backlist sales remain very strong, with some 22,000 copies sold annually (Holt and Abbott), while lifetime sales in the U.K. are just under 720,000 over five paperback editions. Sales in Australia are currently estimated by Pan MacMillan to total some 100,000, with a new printing of 5,000 copies recently ordered in Australia on the strength of the book being featured on the inaugural Australian Broadcasting Commission’s First Tuesday Book Club national television program (2006). Predictably, the controversy around the publication of American Psycho is regularly revisited by those reviewing Ellis’s subsequent works. A major article in Vanity Fair on Ellis’s next book, The Informers (1994), opened with a graphic description of the death threats Ellis received upon the publication of American Psycho (Tyrnauer 70) and then outlined the controversy in detail (70-71). Those writing about Ellis’s two most recent novels, Glamorama (1999) and Lunar Park (2005), have shared this narrative strategy, which also forms at least part of the frame of every interview article. American Psycho also, again predictably, became a major topic of discussion in relation to the contracting, making and then release of the eponymous film in 2000 as, for example, in Linda S. Kauffman’s extensive and considered review of the film, which spent the first third discussing the history of the book’s publication (“American” 41-45). Playing with this interest, Ellis continues his practice of reusing characters in subsequent works. Thus, American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman, who first appeared in The Rules of Attraction as the elder brother of the main character, Sean – who, in turn, makes a brief appearance in American Psycho – also turns up in Glamorama with ‘strange stains’ on his Armani suit lapels, and again in Lunar Park. The book also continues to be regularly cited in discussions of censorship (see, for example, Dubin; Freccero) and has been included in a number of university-level courses about banned books. In these varied contexts, literary, cultural and other critics have also continued to disagree about the book’s impact upon readers, with some persisting in reading the novel as a p*rnographic incitement to violence. When Wade Frankum killed seven people in Sydney, many suggested a link between these murders and his consumption of X-rated videos, p*rnographic magazines and American Psycho (see, for example, Manne 11), although others argued against this (Wark 11). Prosecutors in the trial of Canadian murderer Paul Bernardo argued that American Psycho provided a ‘blueprint’ for Bernardo’s crimes (Canadian Press A5). Others have read Ellis’s work more positively, as for instance when Sonia Baelo Allué compares American Psycho favourably with Thomas Harris’s The Silence of the Lambs (1988) – arguing that Harris not only depicts more degrading treatment of women, but also makes Hannibal Lecter, his antihero monster, sexily attractive (7-24). Linda S. Kauffman posits that American Psycho is part of an ‘anti-aesthetic’ movement in art, whereby works that are revoltingly ugly and/or grotesque function to confront the repressed fears and desires of the audience and explore issues of identity and subjectivity (Bad Girls), while Patrick W. Shaw includes American Psycho in his work, The Modern American Novel of Violence because, in his opinion, the violence Ellis depicts is not gratuitous. Lost, however, in much of this often-impassioned debate and dialogue is the book itself – and what Ellis actually wrote. 21-years-old when Less than Zero was published, Ellis was still only 26 when American Psycho was released and his youth presented an obvious target. In 1991, Terry Teachout found ‘no moment in American Psycho where Bret Easton Ellis, who claims to be a serious artist, exhibits the workings of an adult moral imagination’ (45, 46), Brad Miner that it was ‘puerile – the very antithesis of good writing’ (43) and Carol Iannone that ‘the inclusion of the now famous offensive scenes reveals a staggering aesthetic and moral immaturity’ (54). Pagan Kennedy also ‘blamed’ the entire work on this immaturity, suggesting that instead of possessing a developed artistic sensibility, Ellis was reacting to (and, ironically, writing for the approval of) critics who had lauded the documentary realism of his violent and nihilistic teenage characters in Less than Zero, but then panned his less sensational story of campus life in The Rules of Attraction (427-428). Yet, in my opinion, there is not only a clear and coherent aesthetic vision driving Ellis’s oeuvre but, moreover, a profoundly moral imagination at work as well. This was my view upon first reading American Psycho, and part of the reason I was so shocked by that charge of filth on the bus. Once familiar with the controversy, I found this view shared by only a minority of commentators. Writing in the New Statesman & Society, Elizabeth J. Young asked: ‘Where have these people been? … Books of p*rnographic violence are nothing new … American Psycho outrages no contemporary taboos. Psychotic killers are everywhere’ (24). I was similarly aware that such murderers not only existed in reality, but also in many widely accessed works of literature and film – to the point where a few years later Joyce Carol Oates could suggest that the serial killer was an icon of popular culture (233). While a popular topic for writers of crime fiction and true crime narratives in both print and on film, a number of ‘serious’ literary writers – including Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Kate Millet, Margaret Atwood and Oates herself – have also written about serial killers, and even crossed over into the widely acknowledged as ‘low-brow’ true crime genre. Many of these works (both popular or more literary) are vivid and powerful and have, as American Psycho, taken a strong moral position towards their subject matter. Moreover, many books and films have far more disturbing content than American Psycho, yet have caused no such uproar (Young and Caveney 120). By now, the plot of American Psycho is well known, although the structure of the book, noted by Weldon above (C1), is rarely analysed or even commented upon. First person narrator, Patrick Bateman, a young, handsome stockbroker and stereotypical 1980s yuppie, is also a serial killer. The book is largely, and innovatively, structured around this seeming incompatibility – challenging readers’ expectations that such a depraved criminal can be a wealthy white professional – while vividly contrasting the banal, and meticulously detailed, emptiness of Bateman’s life as a New York über-consumer with the scenes where he humiliates, rapes, tortures, murders, mutilates, dismembers and cannibalises his victims. Although only comprising some 16 out of 399 pages in my Picador edition, these violent scenes are extreme and certainly make the work as a whole disgustingly confronting. But that is the entire point of Ellis’s work. Bateman’s violence is rendered so explicitly because its principal role in the novel is to be inescapably horrific. As noted by Baelo Allué, there is no shift in tone between the most banally described detail and the description of violence (17): ‘I’ve situated the body in front of the new Toshiba television set and in the VCR is an old tape and appearing on the screen is the last girl I filmed. I’m wearing a Joseph Abboud suit, a tie by Paul Stuart, shoes by J. Crew, a vest by someone Italian and I’m kneeling on the floor beside a corpse, eating the girl’s brain, gobbling it down, spreading Grey Poupon over hunks of the pink, fleshy meat’ (Ellis 328). In complete opposition to how p*rnography functions, Ellis leaves no room for the possible enjoyment of such a scene. Instead of revelling in the ‘spine chilling’ pleasures of classic horror narratives, there is only the real horror of imagining such an act. The effect, as Kauffman has observed is, rather than arousing, often so disgusting as to be emetic (Bad Girls 249). Ellis was surprised that his detractors did not understand that he was trying to be shocking, not offensive (Love 49), or that his overall aim was to symbolise ‘how desensitised our culture has become towards violence’ (quoted in Dwyer 55). Ellis was also understandably frustrated with readings that conflated not only the contents of the book and their meaning, but also the narrator and author: ‘The acts described in the book are truly, indisputably vile. The book itself is not. Patrick Bateman is a monster. I am not’ (quoted in Love 49). Like Fay Weldon, Norman Mailer understood that American Psycho posited ‘that the eighties were spiritually disgusting and the author’s presentation is the crystallization of such horror’ (129). Unlike Weldon, however, Mailer shied away from defending the novel by judging Ellis not accomplished enough a writer to achieve his ‘monstrous’ aims (182), failing because he did not situate Bateman within a moral universe, that is, ‘by having a murderer with enough inner life for us to comprehend him’ (182). Yet, the morality of Ellis’s project is evident. By viewing the world through the lens of a psychotic killer who, in many ways, personifies the American Dream – wealthy, powerful, intelligent, handsome, energetic and successful – and, yet, who gains no pleasure, satisfaction, coherent identity or sense of life’s meaning from his endless, selfish consumption, Ellis exposes the emptiness of both that world and that dream. As Bateman himself explains: ‘Surface, surface, surface was all that anyone found meaning in. This was civilisation as I saw it, colossal and jagged’ (Ellis 375). Ellis thus situates the responsibility for Bateman’s violence not in his individual moral vacuity, but in the barren values of the society that has shaped him – a selfish society that, in Ellis’s opinion, refused to address the most important issues of the day: corporate greed, mindless consumerism, poverty, homelessness and the prevalence of violent crime. Instead of p*rnographic, therefore, American Psycho is a profoundly political text: Ellis was never attempting to glorify or incite violence against anyone, but rather to expose the effects of apathy to these broad social problems, including the very kinds of violence the most vocal critics feared the book would engender. Fifteen years after the publication of American Psycho, although our societies are apparently growing in overall prosperity, the gap between rich and poor also continues to grow, more are permanently homeless, violence – whether domestic, random or institutionally-sanctioned – escalates, and yet general apathy has intensified to the point where even the ‘ethics’ of torture as government policy can be posited as a subject for rational debate. The real filth of the saga of American Psycho is, thus, how Ellis’s message was wilfully ignored. While critics and public intellectuals discussed the work at length in almost every prominent publication available, few attempted to think in any depth about what Ellis actually wrote about, or to use their powerful positions to raise any serious debate about the concerns he voiced. Some recent critical reappraisals have begun to appreciate how American Psycho is an ‘ethical denunciation, where the reader cannot but face the real horror behind the serial killer phenomenon’ (Baelo Allué 8), but Ellis, I believe, goes further, exposing the truly filthy causes that underlie the existence of such seemingly ‘senseless’ murder. But, Wait, There’s More It is ironic that American Psycho has, itself, generated a mini-industry of products. A decade after publication, a Canadian team – filmmaker Mary Harron, director of I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), working with scriptwriter, Guinevere Turner, and Vancouver-based Lions Gate Entertainment – adapted the book for a major film (Johnson). Starring Christian Bale, Chloë Sevigny, Willem Dafoe and Reese Witherspoon and, with an estimated budget of U.S.$8 million, the film made U.S.$15 million at the American box office. The soundtrack was released for the film’s opening, with video and DVDs to follow and the ‘Killer Collector’s Edition’ DVD – closed-captioned, in widescreen with surround sound – released in June 2005. Amazon.com lists four movie posters (including a Japanese language version) and, most unexpected of all, a series of film tie-in action dolls. The two most popular of these, judging by E-Bay, are the ‘Cult Classics Series 1: Patrick Bateman’ figure which, attired in a smart suit, comes with essential accoutrements of walkman with headphones, briefcase, Wall Street Journal, video tape and recorder, knife, cleaver, axe, nail gun, severed hand and a display base; and the 18” tall ‘motion activated sound’ edition – a larger version of the same doll with fewer accessories, but which plays sound bites from the movie. Thanks to Stephen Harris and Suzie Gibson (UNE) for stimulating conversations about this book, Stephen Harris for information about the recent Australian reprint of American Psycho and Mark Seebeck (Pan Macmillan) for sales information. References Archer, Mark. “The Funeral Baked Meats.” The Spectator 27 April 1991: 31. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. First Tuesday Book Club. First broadcast 1 August 2006. Baelo Allué, Sonia. “The Aesthetics of Serial Killing: Working against Ethics in The Silence of the Lambs (1988) and American Psycho (1991).” Atlantis 24.2 (Dec. 2002): 7-24. Canadian Press. “Navy Yanks American Psycho.” The Globe and Mail 17 May 1991: C1. Canadian Press. “Gruesome Novel Was Bedside Reading.” Kitchener-Waterloo Record 1 Sep. 1995: A5. Dubin, Steven C. “Art’s Enemies: Censors to the Right of Me, Censors to the Left of Me.” Journal of Aesthetic Education 28.4 (Winter 1994): 44-54. Dwyer, Victor. “Literary Firestorm: Canada Customs Scrutinizes a Brutal Novel.” Maclean’s April 1991: 55. Ellis, Bret Easton. American Psycho. London: Macmillan-Picador, 1991. ———. Glamorama. New York: Knopf, 1999. ———. The Informers. New York: Knopf, 1994. ———. Less than Zero. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985. ———. Lunar Park. New York: Knopf, 2005. ———. The Rules of Attraction. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. Fraser, James. :The Case for Publishing.” The Bulletin 18 June 1991. Fraser, William. “Book May Go under Wraps.” The Sydney Morning Herald 23 May 1991: 5. ———. “The Sensitive Censor and the Psycho.” The Sydney Morning Herald 24 May 1991: 5. Freccero, Carla. “Historical Violence, Censorship, and the Serial Killer: The Case of American Psycho.” Diacritics: A Review of Contemporary Criticism 27.2 (Summer 1997): 44-58. Graham, I. “Australian Censorship History.” Libertus.net 9 Dec. 2001. 17 May 2006 http://libertus.net/censor/hist20on.html>. Gurley Brown, Helen. Commentary in “Editorial Judgement or Censorship?: The Case of American Psycho.” The Writer May 1991: 20-23. Harris, Thomas. The Silence of the Lambs. New York: St Martins Press, 1988. Harron, Mary (dir.). American Psycho [film]. Edward R. Pressman Film Corporation, Lions Gate Films, Muse Productions, P.P.S. Films, Quadra Entertainment, Universal Pictures, 2004. Hitchens, Christopher. “Minority Report.” The Nation 7-14 January 1991: 7. Holt, Karen, and Charlotte Abbott. “Lunar Park: The Novel.” Publishers Weekly 11 July 2005. 13 Aug. 2006 http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA624404.html? pubdate=7%2F11%2F2005&display=archive>. Iannone, Carol. “PC & the Ellis Affair.” Commentary Magazine July 1991: 52-4. Irving, John. “p*rnography and the New Puritans.” The New York Times Book Review 29 March 1992: Section 7, 1. 13 Aug. 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/lifetimes/25665.html>. Johnson, Brian D. “Canadian Cool Meets American Psycho.” Maclean’s 10 April 2000. 13 Aug. 2006 http://www.macleans.ca/culture/films/article.jsp?content=33146>. Kauffman, Linda S. “American Psycho [film review].” Film Quarterly 54.2 (Winter 2000-2001): 41-45. ———. Bad Girls and Sick Boys: Fantasies in Contemporary Art and Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Kennedy, Pagan. “Generation Gaffe: American Psycho.” The Nation 1 April 1991: 426-8. Kirchhoff, H. J. “Customs Clears Psycho: Booksellers’ Reaction Mixed.” The Globe and Mail 26 March 1991: C1. ———. “Psycho Sits in Limbo: Publisher Awaits Customs Ruling.” The Globe and Mail 14 March 1991: C1. Knight-Ridder News Service. “Vintage Picks up Ellis’ American Psycho.” Los Angeles Daily News 17 November 1990: L10. Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. “Psycho: Wither Death without Life?” The New York Times 11 March 1991: C18. Leo, John. “Marketing Cynicism and Vulgarity.” U.S. News & World Report 3 Dec. 1990: 23. Love, Robert. “Psycho Analysis: Interview with Bret Easton Ellis.” Rolling Stone 4 April 1991: 45-46, 49-51. Mailer, Norman. “Children of the Pied Piper: Mailer on American Psycho.” Vanity Fair March 1991: 124-9, 182-3. Manguel, Alberto. “Designer p*rn.” Saturday Night 106.6 (July 1991): 46-8. Manne, Robert. “Liberals Deny the Video Link.” The Australian 6 Jan. 1997: 11. McDowell, Edwin. “NOW Chapter Seeks Boycott of ‘Psycho’ Novel.” The New York Times 6 Dec. 1990: C17. ———. “Vintage Buys Violent Book Dropped by Simon & Schuster.” The New York Times 17 Nov. 1990: 13. Miner, Brad. “Random Notes.” National Review 31 Dec. 1990: 43. National Organization for Women. Library Journal 2.91 (1991): 114. Oates, Joyce Carol. “Three American Gothics.” Where I’ve Been, and Where I’m Going: Essays, Reviews and Prose. New York: Plume, 1999. 232-43. Rapping, Elayne. “The Uses of Violence.” Progressive 55 (1991): 36-8. Rosenblatt, Roger. “Snuff this Book!: Will Brett Easton Ellis Get Away with Murder?” New York Times Book Review 16 Dec. 1990: 3, 16. Roth, Philip. Portnoy’s Complaint. New York: Random House, 1969. Shaw, Patrick W. The Modern American Novel of Violence. Troy, NY: Whitson, 2000. Sheppard, R. Z. “A Revolting Development.” Time 29 Oct. 1990: 100. Teachout, Terry. “Applied Deconstruction.” National Review 24 June 1991: 45-6. Tyrnauer, Matthew. “Who’s Afraid of Bret Easton Ellis?” Vanity Fair 57.8 (Aug. 1994): 70-3, 100-1. Vnuk, Helen. “X-rated? Outdated.” The Age 21 Sep. 2003. 17 May 2006 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/19/1063625202157.html>. Wark, McKenzie. “Video Link Is a Distorted View.” The Australian 8 Jan. 1997: 11. Weldon, Fay. “Now You’re Squeamish?: In a World as Sick as Ours, It’s Silly to Target American Psycho.” The Washington Post 28 April 1991: C1. Wolf, Naomi. “The Animals Speak.” New Statesman & Society 12 April 1991: 33-4. Yardley, Jonathan. “American Psycho: Essence of Trash.” The Washington Post 27 Feb. 1991: B1. Young, Elizabeth J. “Psycho Killers. Last Lines: How to Shock the English.” New Statesman & Society 5 April 1991: 24. Young, Elizabeth J., and Graham Caveney. Shopping in Space: Essays on American ‘Blank Generation’ Fiction. London: Serpent’s Tail, 1992. Zaller, Robert “American Psycho, American Censorship and the Dahmer Case.” Revue Francaise d’Etudes Americaines 16.56 (1993): 317-25. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Brien, Donna Lee. "The Real Filth in : A Critical Reassessment." M/C Journal 9.5 (2006). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0610/01-brien.php>. APA Style Brien, D. (Nov. 2006) "The Real Filth in American Psycho: A Critical Reassessment," M/C Journal, 9(5). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0610/01-brien.php>.

Abstract:

Resources currently available to the scientific community that may be of interest for endocrinology research are described briefly here. More information is available through The Endocrine Society Home Page (http://www.endo-society.org) or the information provided below. HUMAN TISSUE AND BIOLOGIC SPECIMEN RESOURCES NCI - Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN) The NCI Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN) provides normal, benign, precancerous, and cancerous human tissue to the scientific community for biomedical research. Specimens are collected according to the investigator’s individual protocol. Information provided with the specimens includes routine histopathologic and demographic data. The CHTN can also provide a variety of tissue microarrays. Contact the CHTN Web site at http://www-chtn.ims.nci.nih.gov, or 1-866-GO2-CHTN (1-866-462-2486). NCI - Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource (CBCTR) The NCI Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource (CBCTR) can provide researchers with access to formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary breast cancer specimens, with associated pathologic, clinical, and outcome data. All specimens are evaluated for pathologic diagnosis by CBCTR pathologists using standard diagnostic criteria. The collection is particularly well suited for validation studies of diagnostic and prognostic markers. The CBCTR also makes available breast cancer tissue microarrays designed by NCI statisticians to provide high statistical power for studies of stage-specific markers of breast cancer. Contact CBCTR’s Web site at http://cbctr.nci.nih.gov, or contact Steve Marroulis at Information Management Services, Inc.: telephone: (301) 680-9770; e-mail: marrouliss@imsweb.com NCI - Cooperative Prostate Cancer Tissue Resource (CPCTR) The NCI Cooperative Prostate Cancer Tissue Resource (CPCTR) can provide access to over 4,000 cases of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary prostate cancer specimens, with associated pathology and clinical data. Fresh-frozen tissue is also available with limited clinical follow-up information. In addition, slides from prostate cancer tissue microarrays with associated pathology and clinical data are now available. Contact the CPCTR Web site at http://www.prostatetissues.org, or contact Steve Marroulis at Information Management Services, Inc.: telephone: (301) 680-9770; e-mail: marrouliss@imsweb.com NCI - AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) The AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) provides qualified researchers with tissue, cell, blood, and fluid specimens, as well as clinical data from patients with AIDS and cancer. The specimens and clinical data are available for research studies, particularly those that translate basic research findings to clinical application. Contact the ACSR Web site (http://acsr.ucsf.edu/) or Dr. Kishor Bhatia, (301) 496-7147; e-mail: bhatiak@mail.nih.gov NCI - Breast and Ovarian Cancer Family Registries (CFRs) The Breast and Ovarian CFRs facilitate and support interdisciplinary and population-based research on the identification and characterization of breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes, with particular emphasis on gene-gene and gene-environment interaction research. Available from the registries are: a) family history, epidemiologic and clinical data, b) updates on cancer recurrence, morbidity and mortality in participating families, and c) biospecimens, including plasma, lymphocytes, serum, DNA, Guthrie cards or buccal smears, and paraffin blocks of tumor tissue. For further information on these registries, contact the CFR Web site (http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BCFR) or (301) 496-9600. NCI - Specimen Resource Locator The NCI Specimen Resource Locator (http://cancer.gov/specimens) is a database that helps researchers locate specimens for research. The database includes resources such as tissue banks and tissue procurement systems with access to normal, benign, precancerous, and/or cancerous human tissue covering a wide variety of organ sites. Researchers specify the types of specimens, number of cases, preservation methods, and associated data they require. The Locator will search the database and return a list of tissue resources most likely to meet their requirements. When no match is obtained, the researcher is referred to the NCI Tissue Expediter [(301) 496-7147; e-mail: tissexp@mail.nih.gov]. The Tissue Expediter is a scientist who can help match researchers with appropriate resources or identify appropriate collaborators when those are necessary. NIDDK - Biologic Samples from Diabetic Study Foundation A portion (1/3) of all stored nonrenewable samples (plasma, serum, urine) from subjects enrolled in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) is available for use by the scientific community to address questions for which these samples may be invaluable. Announcements for using this resource appear in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts periodically. Inquiries may be addressed to: Catherine C. Cowie, Ph.D., Director, Diabetes Epidemiology Program, NIDDK, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Room 691, MSC 5460, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892-5460. Phone: (301) 594-8804; fax: (301) 480-3503; e-mail: cowiec@extra.niddk.nih.gov NIDDK - NIDDK Central Repositories (Diabetes Prevention Study) The NIDDK Central Repositories have selected biosamples from the DPT-1 (The Diabetes Prevention Type 1) study that are available to qualified investigators through an application process. These samples are supplied for research purposes only, not for therapeutic, diagnostic, or commercial uses. Information about how to apply for these materials can be obtained from the NIDDK Central Repositories by contacting Ms. Helen Ray of RTI, 1-919-316-3418, or hmp@rti.org. Direct scientific-technical inquiry to the Project Officer of the NIDDK Central Repositories, Dr. Rebekah Rasooly, at phone: (301) 594-6007; e-mail: rr185i@nih.gov Visit the Repositories Web site at http://www.niddkrepository.org. NICHD - Brain and Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders The purpose of the Bank is to collect, preserve, and distribute human tissues to investigators interested in autism and developmental disorders; normal tissues may be available for other research purposes. Further information can be obtained at www.btbank.org. The contact persons are H. Ron Zielke or Sally Wisniewsky, University of Maryland (1-800-847-1539), and Carol Petito or Stephanie Lojko, University of Miami (1-800-592-7246). NICHD - Reproductive Tissue Sample Repository (RTSaR) The Reproductive Tissue Sample Repository (RTSaR) is a virtual repository with online tissue sample acquisition capabilities. The RTSaR provides investigators with real-time access to human and nonhuman primate tissue and fluid inventories from four tissue bank facilities that are supported through the Specialized Cooperative Centers Program in Reproduction Research. The tissue banks are located at the University of California, San Diego (human ovary bank), Stanford University (human endometrium and DNA bank), Johns Hopkins University (male reproductive tissues and fluids), and the Oregon National Primate Research Center (nonhuman primate tissues). The web site for the RTSaR is https://rtsar.nichd.nih.gov/rtsar/login. If you wish to access the RTSaR, you can request an id and password to access the system by contacting the network administrator at RTSaR@mail.nih.gov Once you access the system, contact information for each bank is provided. Access is open to all investigators living in North America who are supported by research and research training grants from the NIH. One id and password will be provided to each principal investigator that can be utilized by any person working in the P.I.’s laboratory, or, in the case of institutional training grants (T32) and institutional career development award programs (K12), any person supported by the aforementioned awards. NCRR - Human Tissues and Organs Resource (HTOR) The Human Tissues and Organs Resource (HTOR) cooperative agreement supports a procurement network developed by the National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI), a not-for-profit organization. By collaborating with various medical centers, hospitals, pathology services, eye banks, tissue banks, and organ procurement organizations, HTOR provides a wide variety of human tissues and organs—both diseased and normal—to researchers for laboratory studies. Such samples include tissues from the central nervous system and brain, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, eyes, bone, and cartilage. For further information, consult the NDRI Web site (www.ndri.com) or contact Dr. John T. Lonsdale at NDRI, 8 Penn Center, 8th Floor, 1628 JFK Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19103. Phone: (800) 222-6374, ext. 271; fax: (215) 557-7154; e-mail: jlonsdale@ndriresource.org The NDRI Web site is http://www.ndri.com. NCRR - Islet Cell Resource (ICR) With support from NCRR, 10 Islet Cell Resource (ICR) centers isolate, purify, and characterize human pancreatic islets for subsequent transplantation into patients with type I diabetes. The ICR centers procure whole pancreata and acquire relevant data about donors; improve islet isolation and purification techniques; distribute islets for use in approved clinical protocols; and perfect the methods of storage and shipping. In this way, the centers optimize the viability, function, and availability of islets and help clinical researchers capitalize on the recently reported successes in islet transplantation. Information on submitting requests for islet cells can be obtained from Mr. John Kaddis, ICR Coordinating Center Project Manager, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, California 91010. Phone (626) 359-8111, ext. 63377; fax: (626) 471-7106; e-mail: jkaddis@coh.org The Coordinating Center hosts a Web site at http://icr.coh.org. NIA - SWAN Repository (longitudinal, multiethnic study of women at midlife including the menopausal transition) The SWAN Repository is a biologic specimen bank of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). The SWAN cohort was recruited in 1996/1997 and consists of 3302 African-American, Caucasian, Chinese, Hispanic, and Japanese women. The SWAN Repository contains more than 350,000 blood and urine specimens generated from the study participants’ annual visits (8 visits to date), at which time medical and health history, psychosocial measures, biological measures, and anthropometric data were and are being collected. In addition, a subset of the participants are providing urine samples, collected daily over the length of one menstrual cycle, each year. More than 900,000 of these samples are in the SWAN Repository and are available to researchers who wish to study the midlife and menopausal transition. Additionally, a DNA sample repository is also available and includes DNA as well as transformed B-lymphoblastoid cell lines from more than 1800 of the participants. To learn more about the SWAN Repository and how to apply to use SWAN Repository specimens, contact the Web site at http://www. swanrepository.com or Dr. MaryFran Sowers, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Epidemiology Dept., (734) 936-3892; e-mail: mfsowers@umich.edu HUMAN AND ANIMAL CELL AND BIOLOGIC REAGENT RESOURCES NIDDK - National Hormone and Peptide Program The National Hormone and Peptide Program (NHPP) offers peptide hormones and their antisera, tissues (rat hypothalami), and miscellaneous reagents to qualified investigators. These reagents are supplied for research purposes only, not for therapeutic, diagnostic, or commercial uses. These materials can be obtained from Dr. A. F. Parlow of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Research and Education Institute, Torrance, CA. A more complete description of resources within this program is provided in The Endocrine Society journals. Direct scientific-technical inquiry to NHPP Scientific Director, Dr. Al Parlow, at phone: (310) 222-3537; fax: (310) 222-3432; e-mail: parlow@humc.edu Visit the NHPP Web site at http://www.humc.edu/hormones. NICHD - National Hormone and Pituitary Program (see NIDDK listing) Following is a list of reagents currently available through the resources of NICHD: Androgen receptor and peptide antigen Recombinant monkey (cynomolgus) and baboon luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone and antisera. NIA - Aging Cell Bank To facilitate aging research on cells in culture, the NIA provides support for the Aging Cell Bank located at the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, NJ. The Aged Cell Bank provides fibroblast, lymphoblastoid, and differentiated cell lines from a wide range of human age-related conditions and other mammalian species, as well as DNA from a limited subset of cell lines. For further information, the Aged Cell Bank catalog can be accessed at http://locus.umdnj.edu/nia or contact Dr. Donald Coppock at 1-800-752-3805. NCRR - Various Cell Repositories NCRR maintains the following cell repository resources: National Cell Culture Center, National Stem Cell Resource, and the Yeast Genetic Stock Center. Further information regarding these resources may be obtained through the NCRR Web site at: www.ncrr.nih.gov/ncrrprog/cmpdir/BIOLOG.asp. ANIMAL RESOURCES NIA - Aging Rodent Resources NIA maintains both rat and mouse colonies for use by the scientific community. The animals available range in age from 1 to 36 months. A repository of fresh-frozen tissue from the NIA aged rodent colonies is stocked with tissue from mouse and rat strains, including caloric-restricted BALB/c mice. The NIA also maintains a colony of calorically restricted rodents of selected genotypes, which are available to the scientific community. For further information, please refer to the Aged Rodent information handbook at http://www.nia.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/ScientificResources/AgedRodentColoniesHandbook/ or contact the Office of Biological Resources and Resource Development order desk. Phone: (301) 496-0181; fax: (301) 402-5597; e-mail: rodents@nia.nih.gov NIA - Aged Rodent Tissue Bank The rodent tissue bank contains flash-frozen tissues from rodents in the NIA aged rodent colonies. Tissue is collected from rodents at 4 or 5 age points throughout the lifespan. Tissue arrays are also available. Information is available at http://www.nia.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/ScientificResources/AgedRodentTissueBankHandbook/. NCRR - Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers (MMRRC) The Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) Program consists of centers that collectively operate as a one-stop shop to serve the biomedical research community. Investigators who have created select mutant mouse models may donate their models to an MMRRC for broad dissemination to other investigators who request them for noncommercial research investigations related to human health, disease, and treatments. The NCRR Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM) supports the MMRRCs, which are electronically linked through the MMRRC Informatics Coordinating Center (ICC) to function as one facility. The ICC, located at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, ME, provides database and other informatics support to the MMRRC to give the research community a single entry point to the program. Further information can be obtained from the Web site at http://www.mmrrc.org, or from Franziska Grieder, D.V.M., Ph.D., Division of Comparative Medicine, NCRR. Phone (301) 435-0744; fax: (301) 480-3819; e-mail: griederf@ncrr.nih.gov NCRR - Induced Mutant Mouse Resource (IMR) The Induced Mutant Mouse Resource (IMR) at The Jackson Laboratory provides researchers with genetically engineered mice (transgenic, targeted mutant, retroviral insertional mutant, and chemically induced mutant mice). The function of the IMR is to select, import, cryopreserve, maintain, and distribute these important strains of mice to the research community. To improve their value for research, the IMR also undertakes genetic development of stocks, such as transferring mutant genes or transgenes to defined genetic backgrounds and combining transgenes and/or targeted mutations to create new mouse models for research. Over 800 mutant stocks have been accepted by the IMR. Current holdings include models for research on cancer, immunological and inflammatory diseases, neurological diseases and behavioral disorders, cardiovascular diseases, developmental disorders, metabolic and other diseases, reporter (e.g. GFP) and recombinase (e.g. cre/loxP) strains. About 8 strains a month are being added to the IMR holdings. A list of all strains may be obtained from the IMR Web site: www.jax.org/resources/documents/imr/. Online submission forms are also available on that site. All mice can be ordered by calling The Jackson Laboratory’s Customer Service Department at 1-800-422-MICE or (207) 288-5845 or by faxing (207) 288-6150. NIDDK - Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers The mission of the Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers is to provide the scientific community with standardized, high-quality metabolic and physiologic phenotyping services for mouse models of diabetes, diabetic complications, obesity, and related disorders. Researchers can ship mice to one of the four Centers (University of Cincinnati, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University) and obtain on a fee-for-service basis a range of complex exams used to characterize mouse metabolism, blood composition, energy balance, eating and exercise, organ function and morphology, physiology, and histology. Many tests are done in living animals and are designed to elucidate the subtle hallmarks of metabolic disease. Information, including a complete list of available tests, can be found at www.mmpc.org, or contact Dr. Maren R. Laughlin, NIDDK, at (301) 594-8802; e-mail: Maren.Laughlin@nih.gov; or Dr. Kristin Abraham, NIDDK, at (301) 451-8048; e-mail: abrahamk@extra.niddk.nih.gov NCRR - National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) are a network of eight highly specialized facilities for nonhuman primates (NHP) research. Funded by grants through NCRR’s Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM), each center, staffed with experienced research and support staff, provides the appropriate research environment to foster the development of NHP models of human health and disease for biomedical investigations. The NPRCs are affiliated with academic institutions and are accessible to eligible biomedical and behavioral investigators supported by research project grants from the National Institutes of Health and other sources. Further information may be obtained from the notice, Procedures for Accessing Regional Primate Research Centers, published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts at http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not97-014.html, or from John Harding, Ph.D., National Primate Research Centers and AIDS Animal Models Program, Division of Comparative Medicine, NCRR. Phone: (301) 435-0744; fax: (301) 480-3819; e-mail: hardingj@mail.nih.gov NIA - Nonhuman Primates, Aging Set-Aside Colony NIA maintains approximately 200 nonhuman primates (M. mulatta) at four National Primate Research Centers (see above) for conducting research on aging. These animals range in age from 18 to 35 years. While these animals are predominantly reserved for non-invasive research, exceptions can be made to this policy. For further information, please contact Dr. Nancy Nadon, Office of Biological Resources and Resource Development, NIA. Phone: (301) 402-7744; fax: (301) 402-0010; e-mail: nadonn@nia.nih.gov NIA - Nonhuman Primate (NHP) Tissue Bank and Aging Database The NIA developed two new resources to facilitate research in the NHP model. The NHP tissue bank contains fresh-frozen and fixed tissue donated by primate centers around the country. Information is available at http://www.nia.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/ScientificResources/NHPTissueBankHandbook.htm. The Primate Aging Database provides an internet accessible database with data from thousands of primates around the country. It can be used to investigate the effect of age on a variety of parameters, predominantly blood chemistry and husbandry measurements. The site is password protected. The URL is http://ipad.primate.wisc.edu. NIA - Obesity, Diabetes and Aging Animal Resource (USF-ODARC) The NIA supports a colony of aged rhesus macaques, many of which are obese and/or diabetic. This is a long-term colony of monkeys housed at the University of South Florida’s Obesity, Diabetes and Aging Research Center. They have been extensively and longitudinally characterized for general health variables, blood chemistry, food intake, and body weight. Diabetic monkeys are tested daily for urine glucose and ketone levels, and prediabetic monkeys are tested weekly. Data for some of the monkeys extend as far back as 15 years. This unique resource is available for collaborative studies. ODARC has a significant amount of stored tissue collected at necropsy and stored blood/plasma collected longitudinally. Serial blood collection or tissue collection at necropsy can also be performed prospectively. Testing and imaging can also be performed on the monkeys. Inquiries regarding collaborative studies using the ODARC colony should be directed to: Barbara C. Hansen, Ph.D., Director, Obesity, Diabetes and Aging Research Center, University of South Florida, All Children’s Hospital, 801 6th Street South #9340, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Phone: (727) 767-6993; fax: (727) 767-7443; e-mail: bchansen@aol.com NCRR - Various Animal Resources NCRR maintains the following animal resources: Animal Models and Genetic Stocks, Chimpanzee Biomedical Research Program, NIH Animal Genetic Resource, and the Specific Pathogen Free Macaque Breeding and Research Program. Further information regarding these and other resources may be obtained through the NCRR Web site at www.ncrr.nih.gov/comparative_med.asp. MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES NCRR - National Gene Vector Laboratories (NGVLs) The National Gene Vector Laboratories (NGVLs), with core funding from NCRR, serve as a resource for researchers to obtain adequate quantities of clinical-grade vectors for human gene transfer protocols. The vector types include retrovirus, lentivirus, adenovirus, adeno-associated virus, herpes-virus, and DNA plasmids. The NGVLs consist of three vector production centers at: Baylor College of Medicine; City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute; and Indiana University, which also serves as the Coordinating Center for all the laboratories. Two additional laboratories conduct toxicology studies for NGVL-approved investigators. These laboratories are located at the Southern Research Institute and the University of Florida. Additional information about the process for requesting vector production and/or pharmacology/toxicology support should be directed to Ms. Lorraine Matheson, NGVL Project Coordinator, Indiana University School of Medicine. Phone: (317) 274-4519; fax: (317) 278-4518; e-mail: lrubin@iupui.edu The NGVL Coordinating Center at Indiana University also hosts a Web site at http://www.ngvl.org. NCRR - General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) The General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) are a national network of 82 centers that provide optimal settings for medical investigators to conduct safe, controlled, state-of-the-art in-patient and out-patient studies of both children and adults. GCRCs also provide infrastructure and resources that support several career development opportunities. Investigators who have research project funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other peer-reviewed sources may apply to use GCRCs. Because the GCRCs support a full spectrum of patient-oriented scientific inquiry, researchers who use these centers can benefit from collaborative, multidisciplinary research opportunities. To request access to a GCRC facility, eligible investigators should initially contact a GCRC program director, listed in the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) Clinical Research Resources Directory (www.ncrr.nih.gov/ncrrprog/clindir/crdirectory.asp). Further information can be obtained from Anthony R. Hayward, M.D., Director, Division for Clinical Research Resources, National Center for Research Resources at NIH. Phone: (301) 435-0790; e-mail: haywarda@ncrr.nih.gov

Abstract:

Abstract Resources currently available to the scientific community that may be of interest for endocrinology research are described briefly here. More information is available through The Endocrine Society Home Page (http://www.endo-society.org) or the information provided below. HUMAN TISSUE AND BIOLOGIC SPECIMEN RESOURCES NCI - Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN) The NCI Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN) provides normal, benign, precancerous, and cancerous human tissue to the scientific community for biomedical research. Specimens are collected according to the investigator’s individual protocol. Information provided with the specimens includes routine histopathologic and demographic data. The CHTN can also provide a variety of tissue microarrays. Contact the CHTN Web site at http://www-chtn.ims.nci.nih.gov, or 1-866-GO2-CHTN (1-866-462-2486). NCI - Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource (CBCTR) The NCI Cooperative Breast Cancer Tissue Resource (CBCTR) can provide researchers with access to formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary breast cancer specimens, with associated pathologic, clinical, and outcome data. All specimens are evaluated for pathologic diagnosis by CBCTR pathologists using standard diagnostic criteria. The collection is particularly well suited for validation studies of diagnostic and prognostic markers. The CBCTR also makes available breast cancer tissue microarrays designed by NCI statisticians to provide high statistical power for studies of stage-specific markers of breast cancer. Contact CBCTR’s Web site at http://cbctr.nci.nih.gov, or contact Steve Marroulis at Information Management Services, Inc.: telephone: (301) 680-9770; e-mail: marrouliss@imsweb.com. NCI - Cooperative Prostate Cancer Tissue Resource (CPCTR) The NCI Cooperative Prostate Cancer Tissue Resource (CPCTR) can provide access to over 4,000 cases of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary prostate cancer specimens, with associated pathology and clinical data. Fresh-frozen tissue is also available with limited clinical follow-up information. In addition, slides from prostate cancer tissue microarrays with associated pathology and clinical data are now available. Contact the CPCTR Web site at http://www.prostatetissues.org, or contact Steve Marroulis at Information Management Services, Inc.: telephone: (301) 680-9770; e-mail: marrouliss@imsweb.com. NCI - AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) The AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) provides qualified researchers with tissue, cell, blood, and fluid specimens, as well as clinical data from patients with AIDS and cancer. The specimens and clinical data are available for research studies, particularly those that translate basic research findings to clinical application. Contact the ACSR Web site (http://acsr.ucsf.edu/) or Dr. Kishor Bhatia, (301) 496-7147; e-mail: bhatiak@mail.nih.gov. NCI - Breast and Ovarian Cancer Family Registries (CFRs) The Breast and Ovarian CFRs facilitate and support interdisciplinary and population-based research on the identification and characterization of breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes, with particular emphasis on gene-gene and gene-environment interaction research. Available from the registries are: a) family history, epidemiologic and clinical data, b) updates on cancer recurrence, morbidity and mortality in participating families, and c) biospecimens, including plasma, lymphocytes, serum, DNA, Guthrie cards or buccal smears, and paraffin blocks of tumor tissue. For further information on these registries, contact the CFR Web site (http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BCFR) or (301) 496-9600. NCI - Specimen Resource Locator The NCI Specimen Resource Locator (http://cancer.gov/specimens) is a database that helps researchers locate specimens for research. The database includes resources such as tissue banks and tissue procurement systems with access to normal, benign, precancerous, and/or cancerous human tissue covering a wide variety of organ sites. Researchers specify the types of specimens, number of cases, preservation methods, and associated data they require. The Locator will search the database and return a list of tissue resources most likely to meet their requirements. When no match is obtained, the researcher is referred to the NCI Tissue Expediter [(301) 496-7147; e-mail: tissexp@mail.nih.gov]. The Tissue Expediter is a scientist who can help match researchers with appropriate resources or identify appropriate collaborators when those are necessary. NIDDK - Biologic Samples from Diabetic Study Foundation A portion (1/3) of all stored nonrenewable samples (plasma, serum, urine) from subjects enrolled in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) is available for use by the scientific community to address questions for which these samples may be invaluable. Announcements for using this resource appear in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts periodically. Inquiries may be addressed to: Catherine C. Cowie, Ph.D., Director, Diabetes Epidemiology Program, NIDDK, 6707 Democracy Blvd., Room 691, MSC 5460, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892-5460. Phone: (301) 594-8804; fax: (301) 480-3503; e-mail: cowiec@extra.niddk.nih.gov. NIDDK - NIDDK Central Repositories (Diabetes Prevention Study) The NIDDK Central Repositories have selected biosamples from the DPT-1 (The Diabetes Prevention Type 1) study that are available to qualified investigators through an application process. These samples are supplied for research purposes only, not for therapeutic, diagnostic, or commercial uses. Information about how to apply for these materials can be obtained from the NIDDK Central Repositories by contacting Ms. Helen Ray of RTI, 1-919-316-3418, or hmp@rti.org. Direct scientific-technical inquiry to the Project Officer of the NIDDK Central Repositories, Dr. Rebekah Rasooly, at phone: (301) 594-6007; e-mail: rr185i@nih.gov. Visit the Repositories Web site at http://www.niddkrepository.org. NICHD - Brain and Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders The purpose of the Bank is to collect, preserve, and distribute human tissues to investigators interested in autism and developmental disorders; normal tissues may be available for other research purposes. Further information can be obtained at www.btbank.org. The contact persons are H. Ron Zielke or Sally Wisniewsky, University of Maryland (1-800-847-1539), and Carol Petito or Stephanie Lojko, University of Miami (1-800-592-7246). NICHD - Reproductive Tissue Sample Repository (RTSaR) The Reproductive Tissue Sample Repository (RTSaR) is a virtual repository with online tissue sample acquisition capabilities. The RTSaR provides investigators with real-time access to human and nonhuman primate tissue and fluid inventories from four tissue bank facilities that are supported through the Specialized Cooperative Centers Program in Reproduction Research. The tissue banks are located at the University of California, San Diego (human ovary bank), Stanford University (human endometrium and DNA bank), Johns Hopkins University (male reproductive tissues and fluids), and the Oregon National Primate Research Center (nonhuman primate tissues). The web site for the RTSaR is https://rtsar.nichd.nih.gov/rtsar/login. If you wish to access the RTSaR, you can request an id and password to access the system by contacting the network administrator at RTSaR@mail.nih.gov. Once you access the system, contact information for each bank is provided. Access is open to all investigators living in North America who are supported by research and research training grants from the NIH. One id and password will be provided to each principal investigator that can be utilized by any person working in the P.I.’s laboratory, or, in the case of institutional training grants (T32) and institutional career development award programs (K12), any person supported by the aforementioned awards. NCRR - Human Tissues and Organs Resource (HTOR) The Human Tissues and Organs Resource (HTOR) cooperative agreement supports a procurement network developed by the National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI), a not-for-profit organization. By collaborating with various medical centers, hospitals, pathology services, eye banks, tissue banks, and organ procurement organizations, HTOR provides a wide variety of human tissues and organs—both diseased and normal—to researchers for laboratory studies. Such samples include tissues from the central nervous system and brain, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, eyes, bone, and cartilage. For further information, consult the NDRI Web site (www.ndri.com) or contact Dr. John T. Lonsdale at NDRI, 8 Penn Center, 8th Floor, 1628 JFK Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19103. Phone: (800) 222-6374, ext. 271; fax: (215) 557-7154; e-mail: jlonsdale@ndriresource.org. The NDRI Web site is http://www.ndri.com. NCRR - Islet Cell Resource (ICR) With support from NCRR, 10 Islet Cell Resource (ICR) centers isolate, purify, and characterize human pancreatic islets for subsequent transplantation into patients with type I diabetes. The ICR centers procure whole pancreata and acquire relevant data about donors; improve islet isolation and purification techniques; distribute islets for use in approved clinical protocols; and perfect the methods of storage and shipping. In this way, the centers optimize the viability, function, and availability of islets and help clinical researchers capitalize on the recently reported successes in islet transplantation. Information on submitting requests for islet cells can be obtained from Mr. John Kaddis, ICR Coordinating Center Project Manager, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 E. Duarte Road, Duarte, California 91010. Phone (626) 359-8111, ext. 63377; fax: (626) 471-7106; e-mail: jkaddis@coh.org. The Coordinating Center hosts a Web site at http://icr.coh.org. NIA - SWAN Repository (longitudinal, multiethnic study of women at midlife including the menopausal transition) The SWAN Repository is a biologic specimen bank of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). The SWAN cohort was recruited in 1996/1997 and consists of 3302 African-American, Caucasian, Chinese, Hispanic, and Japanese women. The SWAN Repository contains more than 350,000 blood and urine specimens generated from the study participants’ annual visits (8 visits to date), at which time medical and health history, psychosocial measures, biological measures, and anthropometric data were and are being collected. In addition, a subset of the participants are providing urine samples, collected daily over the length of one menstrual cycle, each year. More than 900,000 of these samples are in the SWAN Repository and are available to researchers who wish to study the midlife and menopausal transition. Additionally, a DNA sample repository is also available and includes DNA as well as transformed B-lymphoblastoid cell lines from more than 1800 of the participants. To learn more about the SWAN Repository and how to apply to use SWAN Repository specimens, contact the Web site at http://www.swanrepository.com or Dr. MaryFran Sowers, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Epidemiology Dept., (734) 936-3892; e-mail: mfsowers@umich.edu. HUMAN AND ANIMAL CELL AND BIOLOGIC REAGENT RESOURCES NIDDK - National Hormone and Peptide Program The National Hormone and Peptide Program (NHPP) offers peptide hormones and their antisera, tissues (rat hypothalami), and miscellaneous reagents to qualified investigators. These reagents are supplied for research purposes only, not for therapeutic, diagnostic, or commercial uses. These materials can be obtained from Dr. A. F. Parlow of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Research and Education Institute, Torrance, CA. A more complete description of resources within this program is provided in The Endocrine Society journals. Direct scientific-technical inquiry to NHPP Scientific Director, Dr. Al Parlow, at phone: (310) 222-3537; fax: (310) 222-3432; e-mail: parlow@humc.edu. Visit the NHPP Web site at http://www.humc.edu/hormones. NICHD - National Hormone and Pituitary Program (see NIDDK listing) Following is a list of reagents currently available through the resources of NICHD: Androgen receptor and peptide antigen Recombinant monkey (cynomolgus) and baboon luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone and antisera. NIA - Aging Cell Bank To facilitate aging research on cells in culture, the NIA provides support for the Aging Cell Bank located at the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, NJ. The Aged Cell Bank provides fibroblast, lymphoblastoid, and differentiated cell lines from a wide range of human age-related conditions and other mammalian species, as well as DNA from a limited subset of cell lines. For further information, the Aged Cell Bank catalog can be accessed at http://locus.umdnj.edu/nia or contact Dr. Donald Coppock at 1-800-752-3805. NCRR - Various Cell Repositories NCRR maintains the following cell repository resources: National Cell Culture Center, National Stem Cell Resource, and the Yeast Genetic Stock Center. Further information regarding these resources may be obtained through the NCRR Web site at: www.ncrr.nih.gov/ncrrprog/cmpdir/BIOLOG.asp. ANIMAL RESOURCES NIA - Aging Rodent Resources NIA maintains both rat and mouse colonies for use by the scientific community. The animals available range in age from 1 to 36 months. A repository of fresh-frozen tissue from the NIA aged rodent colonies is stocked with tissue from mouse and rat strains, including caloric-restricted BALB/c mice. The NIA also maintains a colony of calorically restricted rodents of selected genotypes, which are available to the scientific community. For further information, please refer to the Aged Rodent information handbook at http://www.nia.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/ScientificResources/AgedRodentColoniesHandbook/ or contact the Office of Biological Resources and Resource Development order desk. Phone: (301) 496-0181; fax: (301) 402-5597; e-mail: rodents@nia.nih.gov. NIA - Aged Rodent Tissue Bank The rodent tissue bank contains flash-frozen tissues from rodents in the NIA aged rodent colonies. Tissue is collected from rodents at 4 or 5 age points throughout the lifespan. Tissue arrays are also available. Information is available at http://www.nia.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/ScientificResources/AgedRodentTissueBankHandbook/. NCRR - Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers (MMRRC) The Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) Program consists of centers that collectively operate as a one-stop shop to serve the biomedical research community. Investigators who have created select mutant mouse models may donate their models to an MMRRC for broad dissemination to other investigators who request them for noncommercial research investigations related to human health, disease, and treatments. The NCRR Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM) supports the MMRRCs, which are electronically linked through the MMRRC Informatics Coordinating Center (ICC) to function as one facility. The ICC, located at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, ME, provides database and other informatics support to the MMRRC to give the research community a single entry point to the program. Further information can be obtained from the Web site at http://www.mmrrc.org, or from Franziska Grieder, D.V.M., Ph.D., Division of Comparative Medicine, NCRR. Phone (301) 435-0744; fax: (301) 480-3819; e-mail: griederf@ncrr.nih.gov. NCRR - Induced Mutant Mouse Resource (IMR) The Induced Mutant Mouse Resource (IMR) at The Jackson Laboratory provides researchers with genetically engineered mice (transgenic, targeted mutant, retroviral insertional mutant, and chemically induced mutant mice). The function of the IMR is to select, import, cryopreserve, maintain, and distribute these important strains of mice to the research community. To improve their value for research, the IMR also undertakes genetic development of stocks, such as transferring mutant genes or transgenes to defined genetic backgrounds and combining transgenes and/or targeted mutations to create new mouse models for research. Over 800 mutant stocks have been accepted by the IMR. Current holdings include models for research on cancer, immunological and inflammatory diseases, neurological diseases and behavioral disorders, cardiovascular diseases, developmental disorders, metabolic and other diseases, reporter (e.g. GFP) and recombinase (e.g. cre/loxP) strains. About 8 strains a month are being added to the IMR holdings. A list of all strains may be obtained from the IMR Web site: www.jax.org/resources/documents/imr/. Online submission forms are also available on that site. All mice can be ordered by calling The Jackson Laboratory’s Customer Service Department at 1-800-422-MICE or (207) 288-5845 or by faxing (207) 288-6150. NIDDK - Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers The mission of the Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers is to provide the scientific community with standardized, high-quality metabolic and physiologic phenotyping services for mouse models of diabetes, diabetic complications, obesity, and related disorders. Researchers can ship mice to one of the four Centers (University of Cincinnati, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University) and obtain on a fee-for-service basis a range of complex exams used to characterize mouse metabolism, blood composition, energy balance, eating and exercise, organ function and morphology, physiology, and histology. Many tests are done in living animals and are designed to elucidate the subtle hallmarks of metabolic disease. Information, including a complete list of available tests, can be found at www.mmpc.org, or contact Dr. Maren R. Laughlin, NIDDK, at (301) 594-8802; e-mail: Maren.Laughlin@nih.gov; or Dr. Kristin Abraham, NIDDK, at (301) 451-8048; e-mail: abrahamk@extra.niddk.nih.gov. NCRR - National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) are a network of eight highly specialized facilities for nonhuman primates (NHP) research. Funded by grants through NCRR’s Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM), each center, staffed with experienced research and support staff, provides the appropriate research environment to foster the development of NHP models of human health and disease for biomedical investigations. The NPRCs are affiliated with academic institutions and are accessible to eligible biomedical and behavioral investigators supported by research project grants from the National Institutes of Health and other sources. Further information may be obtained from the notice, Procedures for Accessing Regional Primate Research Centers, published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts at http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not97-014.html, or from John Harding, Ph.D., National Primate Research Centers and AIDS Animal Models Program, Division of Comparative Medicine, NCRR. Phone: (301) 435-0744; fax: (301) 480-3819; e-mail: hardingj@mail.nih.gov. NIA - Nonhuman Primates, Aging Set-Aside Colony NIA maintains approximately 200 nonhuman primates (M. mulatta) at four National Primate Research Centers (see above) for conducting research on aging. These animals range in age from 18 to 35 years. While these animals are predominantly reserved for non-invasive research, exceptions can be made to this policy. For further information, please contact Dr. Nancy Nadon, Office of Biological Resources and Resource Development, NIA. Phone: (301) 402-7744; fax: (301) 402-0010; e-mail: nadonn@nia.nih.gov. NIA - Nonhuman Primate (NHP) Tissue Bank and Aging Database The NIA developed two new resources to facilitate research in the NHP model. The NHP tissue bank contains fresh-frozen and fixed tissue donated by primate centers around the country. Information is available at http://www.nia.nih.gov/ResearchInformation/ScientificResources/NHPTissueBankHandbook.htm. The Primate Aging Database provides an internet accessible database with data from thousands of primates around the country. It can be used to investigate the effect of age on a variety of parameters, predominantly blood chemistry and husbandry measurements. The site is password protected. The URL is http://ipad.primate.wisc.edu. NIA - Obesity, Diabetes and Aging Animal Resource (USF-ODARC) The NIA supports a colony of aged rhesus macaques, many of which are obese and/or diabetic. This is a long-term colony of monkeys housed at the University of South Florida’s Obesity, Diabetes and Aging Research Center. They have been extensively and longitudinally characterized for general health variables, blood chemistry, food intake, and body weight. Diabetic monkeys are tested daily for urine glucose and ketone levels, and prediabetic monkeys are tested weekly. Data for some of the monkeys extend as far back as 15 years. This unique resource is available for collaborative studies. ODARC has a significant amount of stored tissue collected at necropsy and stored blood/plasma collected longitudinally. Serial blood collection or tissue collection at necropsy can also be performed prospectively. Testing and imaging can also be performed on the monkeys. Inquiries regarding collaborative studies using the ODARC colony should be directed to: Barbara C. Hansen, Ph.D., Director, Obesity, Diabetes and Aging Research Center, University of South Florida, All Children’s Hospital, 801 6th Street South #9340, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Phone: (727) 767-6993; fax: (727) 767-7443; e-mail: bchansen@aol.com. NCRR - Various Animal Resources NCRR maintains the following animal resources: Animal Models and Genetic Stocks, Chimpanzee Biomedical Research Program, NIH Animal Genetic Resource, and the Specific Pathogen Free Macaque Breeding and Research Program. Further information regarding these and other resources may be obtained through the NCRR Web site at www.ncrr.nih.gov/comparative_med.asp. MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES NCRR - National Gene Vector Laboratories (NGVLs) The National Gene Vector Laboratories (NGVLs), with core funding from NCRR, serve as a resource for researchers to obtain adequate quantities of clinical-grade vectors for human gene transfer protocols. The vector types include retrovirus, lentivirus, adenovirus, adeno-associated virus, herpes-virus, and DNA plasmids. The NGVLs consist of three vector production centers at: Baylor College of Medicine; City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute; and Indiana University, which also serves as the Coordinating Center for all the laboratories. Two additional laboratories conduct toxicology studies for NGVL-approved investigators. These laboratories are located at the Southern Research Institute and the University of Florida. Additional information about the process for requesting vector production and/or pharmacology/toxicology support should be directed to Ms. Lorraine Matheson, NGVL Project Coordinator, Indiana University School of Medicine. Phone: (317) 274-4519; fax: (317) 278-4518; e-mail: lrubin@iupui.edu. The NGVL Coordinating Center at Indiana University also hosts a Web site at http://www.ngvl.org. NCRR - General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) The General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs) are a national network of 82 centers that provide optimal settings for medical investigators to conduct safe, controlled, state-of-the-art in-patient and out-patient studies of both children and adults. GCRCs also provide infrastructure and resources that support several career development opportunities. Investigators who have research project funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other peer-reviewed sources may apply to use GCRCs. Because the GCRCs support a full spectrum of patient-oriented scientific inquiry, researchers who use these centers can benefit from collaborative, multidisciplinary research opportunities. To request access to a GCRC facility, eligible investigators should initially contact a GCRC program director, listed in the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) Clinical Research Resources Directory (www.ncrr.nih.gov/ncrrprog/clindir/crdirectory.asp). Further information can be obtained from Anthony R. Hayward, M.D., Director, Division for Clinical Research Resources, National Center for Research Resources at NIH. Phone: (301) 435-0790; e-mail: haywarda@ncrr.nih.gov.