Early 1990s Research Articles

Urbanism, discourse and class in Amdo Tibet: analysis of five Tibetan fictions as ethnography

ABSTRACT This article examines how Tibetans in the cultural region of Amdo experienced urbanization as a social process when it began intensifying in the region in the early 2000s. By using five pieces of Tibetan fiction as ethnographic data, this article looks at the process of urbanization from the angle of class, analyzing the formation of the urban Tibetan class in relation to social spaces in cities, and its structural position in society. This article further explores the subjectivity of urban Tibetans through the discourse and quoted speech of characters in fiction. In doing so, the article demonstrates that urbanization is occurring as a social process, and Lishaypa, or government workers, react to urbanization intensively as a class. This results in a new social demarcation being established among Tibetans, one based on urban residence and in which urban residents place themselves above rural villagers.

Single-Dose Drug Development Candidate for Schistosomiasis.

Aryl hydantoins were identified in the early 1980s as a promising antischistosomal chemotype. However, as exemplified by Ro 13-3978, this compound series produced antiandrogenic side effects on the host, a not unexpected outcome given their structural similarity to the antiandrogenic drug nilutamide. The two key advances in our optimization of Ro 13-3978 were swapping the aryl trifluoromethyl substituent with a difluoroethyl to abolish antiandrogenic effects and replacing the hydrogen atoms of the gem-dimethyl substructure with deuterium atoms to increase metabolic stability. Combining these two structural changes led to the discovery of single-dose drug candidate AR102, a compound with potent, selective, and broad-spectrum activity against schistosomes, a long pharmacokinetic half-life in preclinical species, and an acceptable safety profile.

The Multiplicity of Abortion Pills: Considering the Public Constructions of ru486 in Sweden

Abstract To this day, abortion pills are a contentious technology – used freely and legally in some countries while prohibited in others. Previous scholarship has shown abortion pills to be difficult to integrate into medical systems. Available since the early 1990s, little has been written on the early adoption of abortion pills in Sweden, one of the first countries to register the compound ru486 for use. This is remarkable if we consider what is at stake when introducing new abortion technologies – namely, the conditions for gender equality and the very tangible implications for maternal health. This article examines the Swedish process of acquiring ru486: mapping the varied actors invested in its use, and analysing the different constructions of abortion pills that were made in these networks. It argues that earlier reproductive research initiatives and their extensive press coverage helped to make registration possible for ru486 in the early 1990s. Comparisons between the constructions of ru486 in Canada and the U.S. illustrate a few key differences between the countries and show why, despite many similarities, Sweden was the first to officially acquire the drug.

Neo-Institutional Analyses of Criminal Legal Organizations and Policies

Since emerging in the late 1970s and early 1980s, neo-institutional theory has been a popular framework for understanding law, legal institutions, and policies on the books and in action. Neo-institutional theory has been particularly useful for explaining diverse criminal justice phenomena, from changes in penal law and policy statements to on-the-ground practices across police departments, courts, carceral facilities, and community corrections. This review describes how scholars of the criminal legal system have used neo-institutional theory and where there is room for further utilization. Additionally, it discusses how and why neo-institutional theory is particularly useful for sociolegal scholars, and not only those studying criminal legal organizations and policies.

The Development and Impact of AI-Generated Content in Contemporary Painting

The paper examines the evolution and impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the field of painting, tracing its ascent from the early 21st century. It highlights pivotal developments in AI-generated content (AIGC), starting with Harold Cohen's "AARON" program in the early 1990s, progressing to Yang Zhiping's introduction of generative adversarial networks (GANs) in 2000, and culminating in Robbie Barrat's innovative applications in 2018. These milestones underscore the swift progression and vast potential of AIGC for both technical innovation and artistic expression. This analysis delves into the current landscape of AIGC in painting, identifying key technological advancements such as deep learning, GANs, style transfer, adaptive algorithms, and augmented reality. These technologies have elevated artistic creation to unprecedented levels. However, AIGC also confronts significant challenges, including issues related to copyright and intellectual property, artistic ethics and originality, technical constraints, market acceptance, and socio-ethical and legal concerns. To address these challenges, the paper proposes several solutions: clarifying legal standards, establishing authorization mechanisms, fostering hybrid creative models, enhancing the diversity of training data, promoting public education and outreach, and developing professional training and ethical guidelines.

New German-language Nature Writing and the Language of Resonance and Reflection

Nature writing is traditionally a genre of non-fictional, essayistic writing which combines vivid natural descriptions, profound introspection and ethical musings. Since 2000, the New Nature Writing (NNW) has emerged in Europe rejecting the escapist, heroic and sometimes nationalist conventions of the original American genre. This article analyses three examples from German New Nature Writing (NNW) from the early 2000s: Laubwerk. Zur Poetik des Stadtbaums (‘The Poetics of the Urban Tree’) by Marion Poschmann (2018), Hafen von Greifswald (‘Port of Greifswald’) by Judith Schalansky (2018), and Wurzelstudien (‘Root Studies’) by Anna Ospelt (2020). As with its British counterpart, German NNW is characterised by ‘an attitude of mindfulness’ (Goldstein 2018) and a poetic perception of nature, and is filled with ‘protest energy’ (Fischer 2019). Our paper will argue that, despite the very distinct approaches of the authors, these texts demonstrate an astonishing similarity in their quest for a ‘language of resonance’ between humans and the plant co-world and in their creation of new spaces of nature-cultural resonances.

In vivo imaging of the human brain with the Iseult 11.7-T MRI scanner.

The understanding of the human brain is one of the main scientific challenges of the twenty-first century. In the early 2000s, the French Atomic Energy Commission launched a program to conceive and build a human magnetic resonance imaging scanner operating at 11.7 T. We have now acquired human brain images in vivo at such a magnetic field. We deployed parallel transmission tools to mitigate the radiofrequency field inhomogeneity problem and tame the specific absorption rate. The safety of human imaging at such high field strength was demonstrated using physiological, vestibular, behavioral and genotoxicity measurements on the imaged volunteers. Our technology yields T2 and T2*-weighted images reaching mesoscale resolutions within short acquisition times and with a high signal and contrast-to-noise ratio.

Korean street food in contemporary Indonesia: Glocalization in a semi-medium city

Korean street food in Indonesia is part of the ‘Korean Wave’ (hallyu) that hit Indonesia in the early 2010s. It is not difficult to find Korean street food in Indonesian cities. Korean street food has become part of urban culture in Indonesia. This research aims to analyze the existence of Korean street food in Indonesia using the concept of glocalization according to Roland Robertson. This research also analyze the glocalization of Korean street food in the local context in the form of halal Korean street food so that it is accepted and consumed by Indonesian people. This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach as a research strategy. Data collection was carried out by means of observation, interviews, and documentation. The result of this study has shown that through various forms of glocalization, Korean street food has become part of Indonesian society. Korean street food has carried out relative syncretism of food through a process of particularization as universalization. This process is carried out by adopting the halal concept in Korean street food. The results of this research contribute to understanding the glocalization of street food in adopting the halal concept.

Изменение количества удельных поселений в Шенкурском уезде Архангельской губернии в 1797–1863 годах

On the basis of office documents from the funds of the Russian State Historical Archive and the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, the change in the number of villages in the appanage group of volosts (Prikaz) and volosts of the Shenkursk uyezd of the Arkhangelsk province is investigated. It was revealed that 201 names of settlements disappeared in the uyezd in 1797-1863, including 61 between the V – VIII revisions, the remaining majority – between the VIII–X revisions. The reduction of settlements was a rather complicated phenomenon. It included the desolation of villages, mainly until the early 1930s, and the establishment of a small number of new settlements. However, most of the village names disappeared during the merger of several villages (from two to four) into one settlement, usually into a village. The opposite trend was also observed – division of villages into two settlements, which led to the emergence of new villages. Thus, the reduction in the number of appanage settlements very often entailed not their desolation, but the disappearance of only names. The characteristics of the reduction of appanage settlements in the Arkhangelsk province differed significantly from those in other provinces of Russia.

The contribution of digitalization to non-inclusive growth in Japan. A Régulationist perspective on post-industrial dynamics

While inclusive growth has been considered a major characteristic of post-war Japan, this is no more the case since the early 1990s as the country transitioned to a post-industrial economy. This paper seeks to explain that digitalization is a primary drive of growing inequalities in post-industrial Japan and argues for incorporating the digital divide into the investigation of changing economic structures and growth patterns. We mobilize the Régulation theoretical framework, which posits that the impact of technology on growth and inequality regimes is not homogenous across countries and over time. Our empirical investigation combines macro-level data and institutional perspective with case study of the hospitality sector, in line with the Régulationist concept of the ‘anthropogenic’ mode of development. Our major conclusion is that digitalization, in the specific Japanese context, is leading to non-inclusive growth patterns through its effects on the wage-labour nexus, in an idiosyncratic way.

Decolonizing the Academic Study of Science and Religion? Engaging Wynter’s Epistemic Disobedience

With roots in the early 1960s, decoloniality as a sub-sect of postcolonial studies made successful attempts at redefining and unearthing essentially Western conceptualizations of knowledge and knowledge formation across different fields of endeavor. Many academic disciplines have benefited from decolonial studies’ self-reflective theories and deconstructive approaches, and religion and science should not be an exception. Within religion and science as an academic field, Western and European intellectual frames have been overwhelmingly presented as definitive of globalized perspectives and knowledge, especially the definition of “religion” and “science” within the academic field. The subtle but evident impact of adopting Western epistemology as ‘the’ definitive reference frame for all peoples and cultures is the transposition of colonial and overtly Eurocentric conceptualizations and definitions of what religion and science mean as perfunctory for what religion and science should mean within non-Western frames as well as a disregard for the latter. This has led to the presentation (or overrepresentation, according to Sylvia Wynter) of a single homogenized perspective for meaning-making and interpretation of topics and themes within the field, a decision which has not only significantly impacted the field, in terms of ongoing dialectics about the relationship between religion and science, but which has also seen the exclusion of other forms of beneficial epistemic reference frames, which have been viewed as subaltern. Drawing from Wynter’s epistemic disobedience, this paper highlights decolonial approaches for engaging in the academic study of science and religion, and which will advance the path towards delinking the field from Euro-Western conceptualizations. This will unravel the rich epistemic formation within non-Western knowledge frames and the inclusion of which will greatly enrich and redefine the academic study of religion and science in the days ahead.

Contribution of Vocational Educational Training on Promoting Self Employment in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania

The study was based on the contribution of vocational educational training to promoting self-employment in Tanzania in Morogoro Municipality. Specifically, the study determined the relevance of skills acquired and the skills actualized by Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) Graduates and the Constraints that hinder the VETA graduates from getting into self-employment. This study was guided by a human capital theory which was propounded by Gary Becker and Theodore Schultz, in the 1950s and early 1960s. The theory states that “the more one invests in his/her education, the more returns one should receive in the form of earnings. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. Qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis and quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive analysis including index scale measurement. The findings indicated that self-employed VETA graduates performed their duties to generate income for their livelihood. There were different specializations that VETA graduates had, some specialized in driving, however, they were not employed as drivers, and instead, they were self-employed as motorcycle drivers driving commercial motorcycles. The relevance of the skills acquired and the skills actualized was determined by the curriculum used and what was taught in colleges. Also, VETA students have higher expectations of getting employment after graduation. The study concluded that the skills acquired by the VETA graduates are the most likely to be the activities performed by VETA graduates in generating income for their family livelihood. It also concluded that VETA graduates experienced similar constraints when taught about self-employment. The government should make sure that the colleges have advanced and more current equipment to make sure students are well up-to-date with current technology

Neuroscience of the Human Thalamus Related to Acute Pain and Chronic 'Thalamic' Pain.

The association of posterior thalamic strokes with the presence of chronic 'thalamic' pain, was described in the early 1900s and revisited in a recent review of these patients. Acute pain in corporal structures is associated with the spinothalamic tract (STT) which originates in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, while that associated with cranial structures is associated with the spinal division of the trigeminal nucleus. These pathways terminate in the ventral posterior nucleus (VP) including its posterior and inferior subnuclei, and its core which is classically associated with tactile and haptic functions. In medial nuclei (medial dorsal and intralaminar) receptive fields are large and stimulation evokes diffuse unpleasant sensations and pain while neurons in these nuclei subserve cognitive processes of attention, alerting, and conditioning. In the lateral nuclei neurons have small receptive and projected fields and high resolution of responses to somatic stimuli. Neurons in the lateral nuclei respond to stimuli producing pain, temperature, and visceral sensations while stimulation evokes similar sensations. Small strokes in VP core versus structures located inferior and posterior are associated with 'thalamic' pain and decreased tactile, painful and cold sensations, and with decreased evoked potentials for painful (laser) heat and median nerve stimulation (electrical). Lesions of VP, but not Vmpo, are associated with 'thalamic' pain, contrary to the recent 'disinhibition' model. We review the evidence that the lateral nuclei are associated with multiple processes including tactile, nociceptive, visceral and thermal content of stimuli, while the medial nuclei are related to cognitions about those stimuli.

Determinants of growth and measures to prevent professional crime in Russia in 1917 – early 1920s

Determinants of growth and measures to prevent professional crime in Russia in 1917 – early 1920s

A review of the knowledge structure and trends in research on the interlinkages between the rule of law and environmental sustainability

AbstractThe interplay between nature and human activities is important for both human well‐being and the health of our planet. The rule of law is central to maintaining harmony between environmental needs and human endeavors. Since the early 1990s, particularly after the Earth Summit in 1992, there has been an increased interest in the relationship between environmental sustainability and legal frameworks. This has led to a significant expansion in the field, encompassing a wide array of research. Despite the field's growth, there is still a lack of review papers that explore its knowledge structure and evolution. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the literature by employing the Visualization of Similarities (VOS) viewer software. We identify key thematic areas within the field, highlight influential authors and journals, and specify major contributing countries and institutions. The findings show that the initial focus was on limited themes, which later gave way to an acknowledgment of the multidimensional nature of the subject. Certain themes, such as environmental emissions and governance, retain prominence. Among the focal themes, sustainability, climate change, and democracy are particularly influential in shaping the field's trajectory. Despite this evolution, certain aspects of both concepts, such as waste and water management, fundamental rights and justice system, and the importance of socio‐economic factors, remain underrepresented. This study offers valuable insights into the linkage between the rule of law and environmental sustainability themes and the associated themes.

Feminization of labour migration from Uzbekistan to Turkey: the role of neoliberal policies, patriarchy and social networks

ABSTRACT This paper mainly explores the intricate dynamics of the feminization of migration from Uzbekistan to Turkey. The implementation of neoliberal policies in Uzbekistan since the early 2000s has resulted in a significant rise in labour migration, concurrently changing the traditional pattern of male-dominated migration and fostering a shift toward the feminization of migration, especially in Turkey. Data was collected through extensive fieldwork carried out in both countries, where we conducted face-to-face interviews with migrants, employers, policymakers and other key stakeholders. In exploring the interplay of neoliberalism, family dynamics, gender roles and social networks, this study reveals a noteworthy pattern observed among Uzbek female migrants in Turkey. The findings indicate that while migration offers economic independence and emancipation at first, many ultimately find themselves perpetuating age-old patriarchal norms in the destination country – coined as ‘patriarchal reaffirmation’ to describe the dilemma of escaping patriarchy yet finding oneself trapped in it once again.

Tracing Sanna kvinnor across the Nordic Theatre Landscape: Intermediaries and Forces of Circulation

Abstract Established historiographical accounts suggest that, following Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, plays by women playwrights made Swedish theatre into a feminist tribune for a brief period in the early 1880s but that their relevance had diminished by the latter half of the decade. By examining the circulation of Anne Charlotte Leffler’s Sanna kvinnor [True Women], 1883, in Nordic theatre between 1883 and 1925, this article critically evaluates these prevalent accounts by inclusively and comprehensively exploring previously overlooked empirical sources in now-digitized newspaper databases. This return to the archives aims at mapping the circulation of Sanna kvinnor, investigating the crucial forces driving its dissemination across the Nordic theatrical landscape, by considering the most important intermediaries: Danish playwright and priest Jens Christian Hostrup and his wife Elisabeth, and Swedish actor Emil Hillberg.

Вклад Н.И. Воробьева в районирование этнографических групп чувашей (по данным этнографии)

N.I. Vorobyev made a great contribution to the comparative study of the history of settlement and traditional culture of the ethnographic groups of the Chuvash, their interethnic interaction with the contacted ethnoses. He identified three ethnographic complexes based on the features, both those that had archaic signs and newly formed ones. Regarding the history of the formation of ethnographic groups, the researcher argued that the population of the north-east of the Chuvash Volga region perceived more southern Turkic influences in their everyday life, began to differ in language and way of life from the north-western population, although they retained commonality with it in the main elements of language, culture and lifestyle. His conclusion that the main ethnographic groups of the Chuvash, as he considered the upper Viryal and lower Anatri, were finally formed during the 15th century in the northern regions of Chuvashia as a result of the rapprochement of the indigenous population of these areas with newcomers from the south, cannot be considered justified. The work of ethnographic expeditions in the Chuvash regions in the late 1940s and early 1950s, she showed that the archaic complex was most characteristic of the costume of the middle-aged Chuvash Anat enchi, although N.I. Vorobyev considered them an average or mixed ethnographic group. In general, he represented that group as part of the Anatri, who changed their way of life under the influence of borrowing from the Tatars. The author’s team, under the guidance of the scholar, developed in detail the classification of the Chuvash into groups and subgroups based on folk costume. N.I. Vorobyev for the first time identified three subgroups as part of anatri. The border zone between Anatri and anat yenchi, which was not clearly defined by its predecessors, in particular G.I. Komissarov, N.I. Vorobyev, was also not resolved. The riding costume was formed as a result of interaction with the mountain Mari people, although many features that unite it primarily with the anat Enchi costume were not replaced in it. The authors emphasise that the striking external differences that were recorded in the riding Chuvash northwestern subgroups and grassroots chuvashki hirti. They did not violate the common cultural community of the Chuvash people. It should be noted that the task of a more detailed substantiation of cultural and linguistic areas at the level of subgroups within the ethnographic groups of the Chuvash, divided into four subgroups in the upper zone and three in the middle and lower ones, unresolved by the expeditions of the late 1940s – early 1950s, remains relevant.

«Любование стариной» в эпоху «великого перелома»: Н.И. Воробьев и преподавание этнографии в вузах Казани (1920-е – начало 1930-х гг.)

The paper examines the teaching activities of the famous ethnographer, geographer, researcher of the ethnography of the Tatars and other peoples of the Volga region, Nikolay Iosifovich Vorobyev, at Kazan University and the Eastern Pedagogical Institute in the 1920s – early 1930s. His role in organising special departments of these universities, where ethnography and related disciplines (anthropology, anthropogeography, ethnology, etc.) were taught, is shown. The views on ethnographic education of the Kazan teaching community, students and authorities at various levels are described. The paper shows that in the first years of the Soviet rule, ethnography was taught in large quantities at several Kazan institutes of higher education – Kazan University, North-Eastern Archaeological and Ethnographic Institute, and Eastern Pedagogical Institute. The main initiators of including ethnographic disciplines in the curriculum of institutes were employees of Kazan University, including N.I. Vorobyev. However, officials of the RSFSR People’s Commissariat for Education considered ethnography as a discipline that studies ‘backward peoples’ and ‘relicts’, and did not see it as a means of ideological education of students. Therefore, the number of hours assigned to this subject was reduced quite quickly. N.I. Vorobyev and his colleagues proposed a number of educational departments projects (geographical and museum-ethnographic sections of the Eastern Pedagogical Institute) in order to preserve ethnographic education in Kazan. As a result of their efforts, students of the Physics and Mathematics Department of Kazan University and the Eastern Department of the Eastern Pedagogical Institute studied ethnography and related subjects until its ‘defeat’ on the cusp of the 1920s and 1930s.

Undergraduate journals and conferences: Pathways to understanding the economics profession

The Issues in Political Economy (IPE) journal and related conference sessions were established in the early 1990s as outlets for undergraduates to present and publish peer-reviewed research in economics. By providing opportunities to attend and present at professional conferences, referee papers, and edit journal issues, IPE reflects authentic practices within the profession. In this article, the authors describe the benefits that accrue to students who participate in the public dissemination of research, explain how IPE operates, offer some descriptive evidence of its success over the years, and conclude by describing how several departments have leveraged IPE to complement their curricula and build sustainable cultures of undergraduate research at their institutions.