General Desire Research Articles

Defying the IRA? Intimidation, Coercion and Communities during the Irish Revolution, by Brian Hughes

Brian Hughes here seeks to examine the means by which non-state militants, primarily the IRA, attempted to establish and maintain control over their communities during the Irish war of independence. He is also much interested in the forms of response which local people offered to address, and (at times) counter, these ambitions. His general idea is to map a rarely explored part of the landscape of revolutionary Ireland—that encompassing the large majority of the population who found themselves caught between the relatively small numbers of separatist guerrillas (perhaps no more than 3,000 at any one time) and the retreating forces of the United Kingdom state. In essence, he posits that this community, otherwise diverse, was united by a desire to avoid absolute commitment, by a willingness to elide loyalties where necessary and by a general desire to look out for itself. The book is meticulously researched, but is particularly effective when combining papers from the Bureau of Military History and the records of the Irish Grants Committee. Collating these Irish and British materials has enabled Hughes to expose the complex ways in which ordinary citizens, caught in the cross-fire of revolution, interpreted the course of events around them, as well as their own loyalties. A strikingly emblematic case is supplied by an egg-dealer from Arva, County Cavan, James McCabe, who simultaneously applied to both the Irish Free State and the British authorities for compensation arising out of the struggle of 1919–21. McCabe, a (long-) retired officer of the Royal Irish Constabulary, looked to the British Treasury-funded Irish Grants Committee for financial relief on the grounds of his service to the Crown; but he was also an Irish nationalist, who had a son active in the IRA, and he turned, too, to the Irish Free State authorities for financial redress, citing the family’s record in the revolution. Few were as bold as McCabe in seeking to milk the two competing jurisdictions for personal benefit; but his story does illustrate crisply the kind of ambiguous, alternate or sequential loyalties which characterised many at this time.

Geology, Myth, Media

Geology, Myth, Media A.J. Nocek (bio) This article argues for the relevance of mythical signification in our geological epoch. More than this, it contends that we need to revise our assumptions about media and communication systems in order to grasp the importance of myth in an era where the future of human and nonhuman life on the Earth is entirely uncertain. To make this case, I focus on the growing consensus in the sciences and theoretical humanities that mythical stories about geological and planetary processes cannot simply be disqualified or disregarded because they do not conform to the norms of modern scientific epistemology (e.g., Vitaliano; Piccardi and Masse). Whether these stories come to us from pre-modern civilizations and attempt to give sense and meaning to geological events such as natural disasters, or they have more contemporary roots in neo-pagan activism and feminist healing practices (e.g., Stengers; Salomonsen; Keller), there is a mounting need to account for the important ways in which myth has facilitated, and could still facilitate, meaningful engagements with the Earth's complex material transformations. There is little doubt that this urgency stems in large part from our shared anxiety over what is to come of the human species in our geological epoch (e.g., Lee; Scranton; Thacker), and the attendant need to piece together knowledge about the Earth before the advent of sophisticated modeling, as well as a more general desire to develop alternative (i.e., non-modern) material and epistemic practices in collaboration with the Earth's surface environments.1 This article addresses the varied and complex challenges that confront theories of planetary history and transformation that incorporate mythical storytelling into their epistemologies. The difficulties facing such efforts could not be more pronounced than they are in today's rancorous political climate, which has, and not unproblematically, been dubbed, "post-truth," and which has also mobilized various kinds of "fiction" to the detriment of the planet (e.g., Klein). In this context, I discuss how Roland Barthes was all too familiar with the myriad ways in which mythical signification in particular could be wedded to exploitative systems of power. In what follows, I address these and other challenges in what [End Page 84] I consider to be mutually informing "layers of complication" that give shape to the problem of incorporating mythic signification into our epistemologies of planetary and geological phenomena. For instance, I trace the limitations of modern science's attempt to integrate geological myths into its epistemic practices in the quickly emerging field of geomythology. I also consider the importance of expunging dangerous myths from our theories of planetary evolution. Along the way, I expose how media and communication theory is an invaluable resource for unpacking these layers of complication, mainly because it brings into sharp relief the communicative essentialisms underwriting our various theories of geomythology. In the end, I insist that it is actually our limited understanding of media and communication in the context of planetary and geological processes that stands in the way developing a robust theoretical framework for mythical signification in our current geological epoch. The work of Isabelle Stengers, Alfred North Whitehead, and contemporary media theory will prove especially useful for framing this argument. Layer 1: Geomythology as Geocommunication Unusual topography has often inspired myths about the formation and purpose of the Earth's surface. The island of Mangaia in the Cook Islands is a good example of this. At the center of the island is an eroded volcano surrounded by a "moat-like depression." According to one myth, the once "smooth and regular" island was formed as a result of a competition between the rain god and the sea god that caused tremendous erosion and mudslides (see Vitaliano, "Geomythology"). Another good example of the intersection of topography and myth is the Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Two Native American tribes living nearby tell a slightly different story about the tower's formation, but both accounts reference how they were able to flee the deadly grip of a very large bear because their deity answered their desperate plea and raised the Earth under their feet. To this day, the bear's claws are still visible in...

Hume, Passion, and Action by Elizabeth Radcliffe

Reviewed by: Hume, Passion, and Action by Elizabeth Radcliffe Katharina Paxman Radcliffe, Elizabeth. Hume, Passion, and Action. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xi + 230. ISBN 9780199573295. Hardback, $60.00. It is a challenge to write a book on a topic that has received extensive treatment in philosophical discourse—especially when said treatment has been varied in purpose, angle, and aim. Hume’s work on the relationship between passion and action is one such topic. Scholarship on this theme has ranged from historically situated interpretive work, to theoretical work that assumes a Kantian foil, to the robust discourse of contemporary Humean views (which themselves vary widely in their resemblance to the historical Hume). In her book, Hume, Passion, and Action, Elizabeth Radcliffe has taken on the complex task of writing on motivation in Hume with many of these perspectives in her sights, and it has resulted in a book that clearly and helpfully walks us through the complexities and interrelations of these discourses, while simultaneously making a case for her own interpretive take on Hume’s theory of motivation. Such a labor is not for the faint of heart, and Radcliffe does an exceptional job of carefully and systematically presenting the various discussions. But the real pay-off comes as one engages Radcliffe’s own arguments. She provides the reader with several important innovations in approaching the topic of Humean motivation, including a new defense of Hume’s commitment to the motivational impotence of belief and a careful analysis of what Hume requires for the motivational efficacy of a passion. Radcliffe’s interpretive arguments will surely advance the discourse on Hume’s account of passion and action. Given their presentation alongside an incredibly helpful overview of the relevant debates, this text should be treated as essential reading to anyone looking to further contribute to these discussions. Radcliffe positions herself as arguing for the “traditional reading” of Hume’s thesis concerning the impotence of reason to motivate: the assumption that neither reason considered as a process, nor its products, that is, beliefs, generate impulses to action. She starts by offering an analysis of which passions count as motives, and then offers an answer as to why only some passions motivate, arguing that a mental state that motivates must include a desire. This means, contrary to some interpretations, Hume finds his categories of direct and indirect passions to each include both motivating and non-motivating passions. She also emphasizes a third category of passion, “original” or natural instincts, which Hume identifies as kinds of general desires and “active principles.” Radcliffe describes these as dispositions “to acquire passions for particular objects” and “contribute to the formation of motivating passions” (55). [End Page 113] She then moves to consider Hume’s arguments for the motivational impotence of reason, considering both a variety of recent interpretations and placing Hume’s arguments in their historical context. She concludes that this argument is meant to apply to both reason and belief. This conclusion is further supported by a close treatment of Hume’s account of belief, where she takes seriously Hume’s identification of belief as an idea set apart from non-believed ideas phenomenologically, but not itself an impression, and carrying no impulse. Passions, on the other hand, are non-representative “original existences,” and can generate impulses. She points to Hume’s emphasis on the inability of reason to provide a contrary impulse to the passions, meaning that (contrary to many early modern rationalist theorists) it is in no position to act as counsel to the will or moderator of the passions. She then uses Hume’s Book 3 argument against moral rationalism to further illustrate that Hume takes only passions to be potential motives. She makes the case that Hume must be read as a moral internalist, meaning that he finds “morality on its own motivates” (115). She argues that our passions-based moral distinctions can provide impulse for action even “when we lack the appropriate natural virtue” that would otherwise lead us to act morally (11). This treatment also includes an interesting argument for a Humean account in which it is possible for reason to help us form beliefs about the content of...

The Bully in the Pulpit: Donald Trump's Leadership of Public Opinion

Donald Trump came to office with more experience as a self-promoter and public personality than any previous chief executive. He is undeniably skilled at dominating the news. If such skills were critical for leading the public, we should have found him successfully doing so, especially on policies that should not have been difficult sells to the American people. What Ie found instead was a president who consistently failed to gain the public’s backing for either his policies or his own handling of them. Indeed, he seemed to turn the public in the opposite direction. He made an unpopular health care policy popular and the health care policies he backed unpopular. Similarly, in the face of a general desire to control our borders and protect the country from terrorists, Trump managed to alienate the public from his immigration policies. At the same time, he made a tax cut for nearly all taxpayers and businesses unpopular. Some of the president’s problems may be the result of lack of competence in the art of governing (a subject I will explore elsewhere). Yet we cannot deny that the president simply has not been able to move the American people to support his priority policies, providing further evidence that presidential power is not the power to persuade.

Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan: Historical Perspectives and New Horizons ed. by Patrick W. Galbraith, Thiam Huat Kam, Björn-Ole Kamm

Reviewed by: Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan: Historical Perspectives and New Horizons ed. by Patrick W. Galbraith, Thiam Huat Kam, Björn-Ole Kamm Ben Whaley (bio) Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan: Historical Perspectives and New Horizons. Edited by Patrick W. Galbraith, Thiam Huat Kam, and Björn-Ole Kamm. Bloomsbury, London, 2015. xxxii, 199 pages. $114.00, cloth; $39.95, paper; $30.99, E-book. Editors Patrick W. Galbraith, Thiam Huat Kam, and Björn-Ole Kamm’s Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan: Historical Perspectives and New Horizons is a welcome and highly useful edited volume that encourages readers to rethink the often taken for granted figure of the “otaku.” It begins [End Page 133] with the assumption that while the word “otaku” will likely be familiar to anyone with an interest in contemporary Japanese pop culture, there is little agreement over what the term signifies. To some, otaku are simply fans of Japanese manga (print comics), anime (animation), videogames, and related subcultures, both inside and outside Japan—a rough analogue for Western “nerds” or “geeks.” To others, otaku are extremely knowledgeable specialists who, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, are often thought to be “poor at interacting with others.”1 At worst, they represent potentially violent youth with a dangerous inability to differentiate between fantasy and reality. That the figure of the otaku resists easy classification and analysis is a point that this volume capitalizes on beautifully, by clearly demonstrating how discourses about otaku have, since their inception, been the subject of debate and, furthermore, how these debates (both past and present) are central for understanding the critical stakes of the term. A central aim of the volume is to “de-naturalize” otaku from its ubiquity in the Japanese pop cultural lexicon by reinscribing the word within key moments in contemporary Japan when it was under active debate (p. 1). Organizationally, the book’s ten essays are grouped by decade of significance (the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s), and a particular strength of the critical entries is that they are wide-ranging in content and represent varied methodological approaches, making them useful to scholars from different disciplines. For those in Japan studies, the numerous English-language translations of Japanese texts about otaku are a valuable inclusion, with highlights being the two selections by Okada Toshio, a well-known authority on otaku culture. This review briefly addresses each essay in order of appearance and concludes with some general comments about the volume as a whole. The collection begins with a section dedicated to the 1980s and Patrick W. Galbraith’s “‘Otaku Research’ and Anxiety About Failed Men.” Galbraith discusses the beginnings of the otaku debate by examining the initial appearance of the term in four installments of “‘Otaku’ no kenkyū” (Otaku research), a column primarily written by manga and anime fan Nakamori Akio and published in 1983 in the niche magazine Manga burikko. Galbraith shows how Nakamori coined the term “otaku” first in critique of obsessive pop culture fans, only to later refine the term to refer to “failed men” who prefer fictional anime characters and are sexually uninterested in real women. The essay documents how an orientation toward fictional characters arose in the 1970s and 1980s from a more general desire for “cuteness” and “girl-ness” in two-dimensional images, which came to be reflected in girl characters that blended the visuality of shōjo manga with light eroticism (pp. 24–25). Galbraith briefly mentions a male manga artist [End Page 134] who visualizes his female characters from the viewpoint of a girl character within his manga (p. 26). This discussion of the messy layers of gendered identification with fictional characters proves insightful and more could be done to expand on this topic. Yamanaka Tomomi’s “Birth of ‘Otaku’: Centering on Discourse Dynamics in Manga Burikko” builds on Galbraith’s entry to show a variety of reader responses in the aftermath of the “‘Otaku’ no kenkyū” columns, including outcry over the term and treatment of otaku as discriminatory, and readers’ initial self-identification as otaku. Yamanaka suggests that the then editor of Manga burikko, Ōtsuka Eiji (who has written the volume’s foreword), used the reader-submission section of...

General sexual desire, but not desire for uncommitted sexual relationships, tracks changes in women’s hormonal status

Several recent longitudinal studies have investigated the hormonal correlates of both young adult women's general sexual desire and, more specifically, their desire for uncommitted sexual relationships. Findings across these studies have been mixed, potentially because each study tested only small samples of women (Ns = 43, 33, and 14). Here we report results from a much larger (N = 375) longitudinal study of hormonal correlates of young adult women's general sexual desire and their desire for uncommitted sexual relationships. Our analyses suggest that within-woman changes in general sexual desire are negatively related to progesterone, but are not related to testosterone or cortisol. We observed some positive relationships for estradiol, but these were generally only significant for solitary sexual desire. By contrast with our results for general sexual desire, analyses showed no evidence that changes in women’s desire for uncommitted sexual relationships are related to their hormonal status. Together, these results suggest that changes in hormonal status contribute to changes in women's general sexual desire, but do not influence women's desire for uncommitted sexual relationships.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Scene

F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Scene

Decisions and attitudes regarding participation and proxy in clinical trials among patients with impaired cognitive function.

Background Medical decision-making capacity is impaired in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. Medical decision-making capacity depends on many different cognitive functions and varies due to situation and cognitive, social, and emotional status of the patient. Our aim was to analyze dementia patients’ capacity to estimate risks and benefits in different clinical trials and determine how cognitive decline affects their attitude toward possible participation and proxy consent. Methods Groups: Alzheimer’s disease (n = 20), mild cognitive impairment (n = 21) and healthy controls (n = 33). Two hypothetical clinical trials, a standardized interview and three visual analogue scales were used to investigate decisions, estimations, reasoning, and attitudes. Results A general positive attitude toward participation in clinical trials was shown among all groups. Both patients and controls motivated possible participation as “own-benefit” in the low-risk trial and to “help-others” in the high-risk trial. Individuals who accepted to participate in the high-risk trial scored lower in medical decision-making capacity in comparison to participants who would not have participated (p < .01). Patients in the Alzheimer’s disease but not mild cognitive impairment and healthy control groups underestimated risks and overestimated benefits in the high-risk/low-benefit trial (p < .05). A family member was most frequently chosen as possible proxy (91%). Conclusions Medical decisions and research consent should be interpreted with caution in patients who are already in early stages of dementia, as the patients’ acceptance to participate in high-risk trials may be due an insufficient decisional capacity and risk analysis, accelerated by a general desire to make good to society. We emphasize the use of a standardized tool to evaluate medical decisional capacity in clinical research.

Labeling Food Processes: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

AbstractConsumers are increasingly exposed to labels communicating specific processing aspects of food production, and recent state and federal legislation in the United States has called for making some of these labels mandatory. This article reviews the literature in this area and identifies the positive and negative aspects of labeling food processes. The good parts are that, under appropriate third‐party or governmental oversight, process labels can effectively bridge the informational gap between producers and consumers, satisfy consumer demand for broader and more stringent quality assurance criteria, and ultimately create value for both consumers and producers. Despite the appeal of the “Consumer Right to Know” slogan, process labeling also can have serious unintentional consequences. The bad parts are that consumers can misinterpret these labels and thus misalign their personal preferences and their actual food purchases. The ugly parts are that these labels can stigmatize food produced with conventional processes even when there is no scientific evidence that they cause harm, or even that it is compositionally any different. Based on this review of the literature, we provide three policy recommendations: (i) mandatory labeling of food processes should occur only in situations in which the product has been scientifically demonstrated to harm human health; (ii) governments should not impose bans on process labels because this approach goes against the general desire of consumers to know about and have control over the food they are eating, and it can undermine consumer trust of the agricultural sector; and (iii) a prudent policy approach is to encourage voluntary process labeling, perhaps using smart phone technology similar to that proposed in 2016 federal legislation related to foods containing ingredients that were genetically engineered.

Effect of Ingredients on the Quality of Gluten-Free Sorghum Pasta.

Sorghum is an underutilized cereal in human food production, despite its flour being a potential gluten-free (GF) source in the development of several foods. Thus, the aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the effects and interactions of different ingredients on cooking quality and texture of GF pasta. Egg albumen (A), egg powder (E), xanthan gum (X), and pregelatinized corn starch (P) were used as ingredients, and Box-Behnken experimental design was applied to study the effects of these ingredients on pasta cooking behavior, color, and texture attributes. Responses were fitted to a second order polynomial equation, and multivariable optimization was performed using maximization of general desirability. Next, optimal formulations were validated, compared with two commercial gluten-free pastas by sensory evaluation, and finally, an industrial assay was carried out. Regression coefficients indicated that A and P improved cooking properties while A and E contributed the most to improving the pasta textural properties. As, X and P effects varied depending on the kind of sorghum flour used, the optimal formulations levels were different, but in both cases these models were satisfactory and capable of predicting responses. The industrial assay was carried out with white sorghum flour because it showed a higher acceptability in the sensory evaluation than brown sorghum flour pasta. This industrially made pasta resulted in slightly better cooking properties than the laboratory produced one, with the formulation adapting well to the conventional wheat pasta industrial process. Gluten-free sorghum pasta was produced, showing good cooking and textural properties and being a suitable option for gluten-sensitive individuals.

Multivariate pattern analysis of event-related potentials predicts the subjective relevance of everyday objects.

Potentially decision-relevant stimuli have been proposed to undergo immediate semantic processing. The current study investigated whether information regarding the general desirability ('Wanting') of visually presented 'everyday' objects was rapidly and automatically processed. Participants completed a foreground task while their electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded, and task-irrelevant images were presented in the background. Following this, participants rated the images with regards to Wanting and the potentially related attributes of Relevance, Familiarity, Aesthetic Pleasantness and Time Reference. Multivariate pattern classification was used to predict the ratings from patterns of EEG data. Prediction of Wanting and Relevance was possible between 100 and 150ms following stimulus presentation. The other dimensions could not be predicted. Wanting and Relevance ratings were highly correlated and displayed similar feature weight maps. The current results suggest that the general desirability and subjective relevance of everyday objects is rapidly and automatically processed for a wide range of visual stimuli.

The International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Presents Abstracts from Its Annual Meeting Due North: Aligning Biobanking Practice with Evolving Evidence and Innovation May 9–12, 2017 Toronto, Canada

The International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Presents Abstracts from Its Annual Meeting Due North: Aligning Biobanking Practice with Evolving Evidence and Innovation May 9–12, 2017 Toronto, Canada

The effect of minority threat on risk management and the “new disciplinology” in schools

BackgroundDiscipline in U.S. public schools has been mirroring patterns observed in the U.S. criminal justice system. Educational and criminal justice institutions have not only become increasingly punitive and exclusionary despite decreasing rates of misbehavior and crime, but have also produced dramatic racial and ethnic disparities in who is punished relative to representations in the larger national population. Rocque and Snelling argue that these phenomena are the product of a general desire for risk management. PurposeI argue that much of the punitiveness observed concurrently in educational and criminal justice institutions is actually the result of minority threat and its influence on perceptions of risk that may accompany minority composition of schools and communities. ResultsEvaluation of research on racial threat and the “new disciplinology” makes it seem likely that racial composition is increasing policy makers' and administrators' desire for risk management as an institutional goal, which subsequently cultivates support for the punitive punishment that disproportionately targets minorities. ConclusionsPunitive educational and criminal justice policies should be revised to diminish the likelihood that they will be implemented in a discriminatory manner. Further, restorative practices in both settings have promising outcomes not just for racial and ethnic minorities, but for communities as a whole.

Policy as planned? The implementation of welfare-to-work programs in Manitoba and Ontario

New fiscal pressures, rising neo-conservatism, and a general desire to reinterpret social rights and responsibilities have led to the emergence of welfare-to-work policies in Canada and internationally. This paper seeks to understand welfare-to-work and, most importantly, its implementation. The paper begins with a look at the rich literature on the emergence of welfare-to-work, making an important distinction between “insertion” models and “workfare” models. In either format, welfare-to-work indicates a marked shift away from social rights towards an emphasis on personal obligation and responsibility. While the “new welfare” has received considerable attention, the implementation of such policies is a neglected area. This paper argues that studying implementation is crucial to the outcomes of policy reform : policy is, effectively, remade on the ground level. Understanding the importance of street-level bureaucracy, the paper questions whether the shift in welfare is replicated in implementation and how it varies across systems and models. Utilizing qualitative data from two months of non-participant observation and over 40 interviews with welfare-to-work participants and workers in Manitoba and Ontario, the paper argues that the interactions between workers and clients can greatly alter the focus and nature of significant pieces of welfare-to-work policies. The paper argues that discretion at the implementation level, mitigated by time, information and attitude, is crucial in understanding the impact of policy. It concludes by discussing the implications of the findings on the importance of discretion. The implications include positing a role for street-level bureaucrats in devising policy to ensure effective implementation and also questioning to what degree we can understand welfare reform in the past two decades without significant implementation data.

But It Did Sink, You Understand What I Mean’: Topography of the Titanic

While post-Agreement Belfast has been undergoing an urban facelift, characterised by numerous modern property developments, tourist-centric initiatives and a general desire to eradicate the negative elements of the past with the aim of making Belfast a better place for the future, there has been a failure to address the real problems of segregation and socio-economic divide within post-conflict Belfast. This article looks at how Kai-Olaf Hesse’s Topography of the Titanic exposes some of the major flaws and lacunae in the city’s regeneration programme.

But It Did Sink, You Understand What I Mean’: Topography of the Titanic

While post-Agreement Belfast has been undergoing an urban facelift, characterised by numerous modern property developments, tourist-centric initiatives and a general desire to eradicate the negative elements of the past with the aim of making Belfast a better place for the future, there has been a failure to address the real problems of segregation and socio-economic divide within post-conflict Belfast. This article looks at how Kai-Olaf Hesse’s Topography of the Titanic exposes some of the major flaws and lacunae in the city’s regeneration programme.

Stigma Toward People with Mental Illness as Potential Sexual and Romantic Partners

The general desire for social distance from people with mental illness is one common expression of stigma. Evolutionary theory predicts that mental illness should reduce the desirability of potential mates, but social distancing in the context of sexual and romantic relationships remains to be systematically explored. In order to test this and other evolutionary predictions, two studies examined perceptions of people with mental illness as short-term sexual mates and long-term romantic mates. Study 1 examined perceptions of people with schizophrenia (N = 168), depression (N = 164), and mental illness in general (N = 134) in terms of the traits typically possessed by desirable mates. For the majority of traits, participants evaluated people with mental illness as having significantly lower potential as short-term and long-term mates than the average person. Study 2 asked participants (N = 363) to evaluate personal advertisements depicting someone with mental or physical illness who was either high or low in physical attractiveness. Participants evaluated the person with mental illness as having lower than average potential as a mate, especially in terms of a long-term relationship. The results of the two studies provide preliminary evidence that stigma extends to perceptions of people with mental illness in a manner consistent with evolutionary theory.

Personal determinants of life style: psychological valeology

Personal determinants of life style are examined in psychotherapeutic discourse. Several ideas are determined 1) in culture the value of “maturity” is lost, the normative approach is replaced by tolerance; 2) rising and expanding of two phenomena is observed: devaluation of the adulthood and total infantilisation; 3) the difficulties in articulation of general desirability of the life style: some factors of life style development that cannot explain the formation of the effective style are examined. In the article the topological model of the psychological field is presented, the concept of "emotional scheme" and its structure are defined, namely: experiences, physical manifestations, system of early memories, person’s interpretation of his or her life, motivational tendencies. It is not possible to change the life style without changing the emotional scheme and all its components. The clinical observation regarding the formation of a life style based on a fixed emotional scheme is presented. The connection of all components of the emotional scheme with some types of life style such as "active activity", "active serving", "passive serving", "strangeness", "suffering" is provided in the article. In addition, the connection between the emotional scheme and the characterological styles is analyzed. The fixed and specific for a type of character of the experience and experiences of the primary "block" are not identical: they are in terms of the ontological "objectivity" and the phenomenological perspective. The perspective of further research is the clarification of the relationship between, on the one hand, the concepts of "characterological style" and "emotional scheme", and, on the other hand, "characterologically relevant emotion" and the primary "blocked" experience.

Race/Ethnicity Concordance Between Patients and Physicians

The growth of our population, especially the older than 65 segment, require more health providers. Moreover, compared to whites, persons of racial/ethnic minorities have less favorable clinical outcomes and this may be related to access to health care. Racial/ethnic concordance between physicians and patients improve outcomes and satisfaction with medical care. New medical schools have been opened, some schools have increased the size of the entering class, and there is the general desire to increase the enrollment and graduation of minority groups' physicians. This report summarizes current progress made in this area.

Children’s Literature and the Avant-Garde ed. by Elina Druker and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer

Reviewed by: Children’s Literature and the Avant-Garde ed. by Elina Druker and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer Julia L. Mickenberg (bio) Children’s Literature and the Avant-Garde, edited by Elina Druker and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2015. Merely perusing the table of contents made it clear that essays in this book would be essential sources for an essay I was writing for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia on “Radical Children’s Literature,” and, reading the book itself, I was not disappointed. This is an important book. Children’s Literature and the Avant-Garde is self-consciously international in its approach, although its focus is on Europe. The volume emerged from a conference on Children’s Literature and the European Avant-Garde, held in Sweden in September 2012. Despite the explicit focus on Europe, the conference call for papers suggests that the impact of the European avant-garde on non-European children’s literature should be investigated as well; however, when it comes to this volume, outside of Europe, only the United States and Britain, which may or may not be considered part of Europe, are represented, although the Soviet Union seems to play a larger role than the conference organizers had originally anticipated. Divided into three sections, “Vanguard tendencies in the early twentieth century,” “The impact of the Russian avant-garde,” and “Postbellum avant-garde children’s books,” this volume’s eleven chapters are richly illustrated with color plates, adding immeasurably to the book’s quality and utility, and contributing to a growing scholarly literature that recognizes children’s literature’s connection to modernism, postmodernism, and the avant-garde, a literature the editors cite in their excellent introduction. Notably, much of this scholarship and the works themselves are not published in English, making the volume under review especially valuable. Editors Elina Druker and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer explain that the term “avant-garde” emerged in late nineteenth-century France to designate progressive and politically engaged art and literature, but note that the term has had various meanings in different times and places. Their overarching definition of avant-garde is “a spatial-temporal network that has constituted an artistic alternative to hegemonic art since the beginning of the twentieth century, with peaks in the 1910s and 1920s and again in the 1950s and 1960s, which still lives on in contemporary art” (4). Applied in the context of this book, they add: “avant-garde ideas about children’s literature often reflect a general desire to break free from artistic boundaries and labels, but also from previous norms in children’s literature and traditional conceptions [End Page 248] of childhood, similar to the concept of ‘radical children’s literature’ explained in Reynolds (2007).” In her book of that title, Kimberley Reynolds defines “radical children’s literature” as boundary breaking in terms of form and/or content. Finally, they emphasize—and individual essays in the book confirm this point—that avant-garde ideas in children’s books are always related to “movements in arts, education, social systems, and ideologies” (8). Chapters are rooted in varying national and transnational contexts, with some focusing on individual authors or texts and others offering more of a general overview. Marilynn Olson’s marvelously rich and provocative essay on “John Ruskin and the mutual influences of children’s literature and the avant-garde” actually does both of these things by focusing on an individual who had a wide-ranging influence. Olson tackles an earlier period than any other essays, making it a good choice as the volume’s opening chapter. Although Ruskin is a focus for her essay, Olson more broadly “looks at childhood as a touchstone for the overthrow of Academic standards in painting, at children’s books and their influence on those who became avant-garde artists and thinkers, and at the power of the Victorian avant-garde to influence the ideals of the twentieth-century picturebook” (20). She points to Ruskin’s influence on the pre-Raphaelites, early examples of England’s avant-gardes, and also on William Morris and, through him in particular, on the Arts and Crafts movement. Ruskin’s emphasis on art and beauty as tools of social reform, as...