International Nature Research Articles

What more can we learn from R&D alliances? A review and research agenda

R&D cooperation has become a core aspect of the innovation strategy of R&D-performing organisations over the last three decades. Globalization has increased the imperative to organise these cross-border, inter-firm agreements efficiently, and this has led to a cross-fertilisation of ideas from a variety of fields, including international business, management, geography and, more recently, psychology. The aim of this paper is to review and synthesise this literature to identify new directions for research. The breadth of the academic discussion has evolved towards a general consensus on governance choice decisions, motives for collaboration, partner selection decisions and performance implications. Despite having achieved some degree of clarity on these issues, the growing complexity and international nature of these alliances requires a multidisciplinary approach, both in relation to the theories to apply, as well as in the type of data needed.

Sympathetic collaboration and the made-for-US Philippine films of the 1950s to 1970s

Between the 1950s and 1970s, the Philippines became a prolific producer of low-budget films that were made almost exclusively for American audiences, as an array of subgenres such as war films, jungle horror, blaxploitation and women-in-captivity films found their way to drive-ins and grindhouses. Conscious of the tastes of exploitation film aficionados, these films pandered to their viewers by adopting the familiar conventions of stereotyping villains and heroes, exploiting storylines and genres popularized by mainstream cinema, and featuring the usual gore, hyped-up sex scenes and ‘schlock’ factors found in their American counterparts. They notably also appeared to narrate from the perspective of the white cinematic gaze, often participating in the self-orientalization of Southeast Asian wilderness and tribal life. Considering the highly international nature of Philippine cinema and the historical circumstances that shaped its postcoloniality and reactions to previous imperial encounters, the existence of these export films should not be entirely surprising. Notwithstanding Andrew Leavold’s observation that most Filipino pictures were produced for domestic consumption,1 the Philippine film industry, at least up to the 1980s, was arguably the most internationally oriented within Southeast Asia, with the country serving as the location for big-budget Hollywood productions, and with Filipino filmmakers making films featuring content conscious of international and intercultural contact. The export films2 can therefore be understood as a logical outcome to these industrial developments. By going into partnership with American producers and distributors, Filipino filmmakers seized on competitive advantages, such as lower production costs, the existence of skilled cinematic labour and, more importantly, the ability to shoot on location with sizeable numbers of locally hired extras. In this way these export films boasted higher production values than their American counterparts, especially when there was a requirement for exoticized settings and visual aesthetics.

Развитие коллективного характера акционерного общества как основа изменения отношения к его миноритарным акционерам

The historically collective character of the capital of the joint-stock company developed in the direction of the growth of the number of joint-stock companies and the associated increase in the number of shareholders and the number of shares to be issued. In modern conditions, the possibilities for a quantitative increase in the size of the share capital have already exhausted themselves sufficiently. There are qualitative changes associated with the deepening of the collective character of such capital. On the one hand, there is the emergence of this type of minority shareholders, behind which in fact are hiding large funds of collective investment. On the other hand, this is expressed in the processes of internationalization of jointstock companies and their transformation into transnational companies, i.e. when the composition of shareholders becomes more and more international. The national share market of one and the same company is turning into a global market because these shares through the issue of depositary receipts are able to address the stock markets of any other countries of the world. Owners of depositary receipts, like collective investors, often fall into the category of minority shareholders due to the fact that they have small blocks of shares. The collective and international nature of minority shareholders is an objective basis for the need to protect the rights of such shareholders already at the legislative level.

The internationalization of African firms: Opportunities, challenges, and risks

There has been a marked increase in the internationalization activities of African firms over the last two decades or so, resulting in the emergence of regional challenger firms that are aggressively competing with foreign multinationals in terrains historically dominated by the latter. However, our understanding of this phenomenon is limited, as empirical research examining the nature of internationalization of African firms is scarce, and research directly investigating drivers, outcomes, and boundary conditions of the internationalization of African firms is lacking. The goal of this special issue, therefore, is to contribute to the scholarly understanding of the increasingly prevalent internationalization of African firms. This guest editorial provides a summary of the six articles in this special issue, and highlights three broad thematic issues: internationalization opportunities for African firms (accelerated private‐sector development and regional integration, and ability to overcome institutional voids); internationalization challenges (global competitiveness challenges, limited management and cross‐cultural capabilities, and overcoming the liability of Africanness); and internationalization risks (losing focus on home markets and over‐internationalization).

Developing Smart Regions

Transforming a city into a smart city is a long and complex process. If the aim is to modify large areas (regions/territories), the problem becomes significantly harder. Contrary to what might be expected, combining N smart cities within the same territory will not necessarily lead to a smart region. Although there are several smart-region experiments of an international nature, there is still no benchmark to facilitate this task. In the case of island territories, this task is made less complex due to the common problems that characterize them. This paper analyzes these characteristics, seeks common patterns and proposes a model for the smart development of island territories in an effort to harmonize and optimize the available resources by providing for smart planning that is more orderly, uniform and efficient. To compare the model, we used as a reference the Smart Island proposal designed by the government of Spain as part of its National Plan for Smart Cities (Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, 2015a).

New policy directions for global pond conservation

AbstractDespite the existence of well‐established international environmental and nature conservation policies (e.g., the Ramsar Convention and Convention on Biological Diversity) ponds are largely missing from national and international legislation and policy frameworks. Ponds are among the most biodiverse and ecologically important freshwater habitats, and their value lies not only in individual ponds, but more importantly, in networks of ponds (pondscapes). Ponds make an important contribution to society through the ecosystem services they provide, with effective conservation of pondscapes essential to ensuring that these services are maintained. Implementation of current pond conservation through individual site designations does not function at the landscape scale, where ponds contribute most to biodiversity. Conservation and management of pondscapes should complement current national and international nature conservation and water policy/legislation, as pondscapes can provide species protection in landscapes where large‐scale traditional conservation areas cannot be established (e.g., urban or agricultural landscapes). We propose practical steps for the effective incorporation or enhancement of ponds within five policy areas: through open water sustainable urban drainage systems in urban planning, increased incentives in agrienvironment schemes, curriculum inclusion in education, emphasis on ecological scale in mitigation measures following anthropogenic developments, and the inclusion of pondscapes in conservation policy.

Mathematics in the disciplines at the transition to university

Mathematics education is highly valued in advanced economies due to its role in developing skilled workforces, economic resilience and social wellbeing. However, university academics across disciplines regularly bemoan undergraduate students’ under-preparedness for the mathematical and quantitative demands of undergraduate degree programmes. In this paper we consider this issue. We begin with a research synthesis of relevant literatures on mathematics within university study in the natural sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) and social sciences (economics, geography, psychology) that highlights the international nature of this problem. We then develop an historical national case study of how mathematics for pre-university study in England has evolved, culminating in a recent policy move which mandates the assessment of mathematics within disciplines. Finally, by integrating these two distinct perspectives we discuss wider issues relating to mathematics for the transition to higher education.

Integrating embeddedness with dynamic capabilities in the internationalisation of fashion retailers

The paper presents an integration of the theoretical approaches of embeddedness and dynamic capabilities. Based on in-depth interviews with key informants of international fashion retail companies we show that dynamic capabilities enhance different types of embeddedness at different levels. Generic dynamic capabilities of adaptability and knowledge management play a role as they affect retailer-specific capabilities and societal, network and territorial forms of embeddedness. Integrating the two theoretical approaches provides new and deeper understanding of the nature of retail internationalization.

An international clinical study of ability and disability in ADHD using the WHO-ICF framework

This is the fourth and final study designed to develop International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, and children and youth version, ICF-CY) core sets for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To investigate aspects of functioning and environment of individuals with ADHD as documented by the ICF-CY in clinical practice settings. An international cross-sectional multi-centre study was applied, involving nine units from eight countries: Denmark, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Taiwan. Clinicians and clinical researchers rated the functioning level of 112 children, adolescents and adults with ADHD using the extended ICF-CY checklist version 2.1a. The ratings were based on a variety of information sources, such as medical records, medical history, clinical observations, clinical questionnaires, psychometric tests and structured interviews with participants and family members. In total, 113 ICF-CY categories were identified, of which 50 were related to the activities and participation, 33 to environmental factors and 30 to body functions. The clinical study also yielded strengths related to ADHD, which included temperament and personality functions and recreation and leisure. The study findings endorse the complex nature of ADHD, as evidenced by the many functional and contextual domains impacted in ADHD. ICF-CY based tools can serve as foundation for capturing various functional profiles and environmental facilitators and barriers. The international nature of the ICF-CY makes it possible to develop user-friendly tools that can be applied globally and in multiple settings, ranging from clinical services and policy-making to education and research.

Governance Options to Enhance Ecosystem Services in Cocoa, Soy, Tropical Timber and Palm Oil Value Chains

Dutch policies have advocated sustainable commodity value chains, which have implications for the landscapes from which these commodities originate. This study examines governance and policy options for sustainability in terms of how ecosystem services are addressed in cocoa, soy, tropical timber and palm oil value chains with Dutch links. A range of policies addressing ecosystem services were identified, from market governance (certification, payments for ecosystem services) to multi-actor platforms (roundtables) and public governance (policies and regulations). An analysis of policy narratives and interviews identified if and how ecosystem services are addressed within value chains and policies; how the concept has been incorporated into value chain governance; and which governance options are available. The Dutch government was found to take a steering but indirect role in all the cases, primarily through supporting, financing, facilitating and partnering policies. Interventions mainly from end-of-chain stakeholders located in processing and consumption countries resulted in new market governance, notably voluntary sustainability standards. These have been successful in creating awareness of some ecosystem services and bringing stakeholders together. However, they have not fully addressed all ecosystem services or stakeholders, thus failing to increase the sustainability of value chains or of the landscapes of origin. We argue that chains sourced in tropical landscapes may be governed more effectively for sustainability if voluntary, market policy tools and governance arrangements have more integrated goals that take account of sourcing landscapes and impacts along the entire value chain. Given the international nature of these commodities. These findings have significance for debates on public-private approaches to value chain and landscape governance.

What are the practitioners’ views about past marine science communication to the public? An example from Portugal

This study focused on the marine science communication done in the past to the general audiences in Portugal, through interviews with practitioners.More specifically, it aimed to identify perceived events, initiatives and actors, ways of communication used and their impact, and priorities for future communication. Data collection involved 14 semi-structured interviews with marine science communicators from different institutions, backgrounds, ages, geographical regions and stages of career. Findings showed that the World Exhibition “Expo 98” in 1998, the Lisbon Oceanarium, and the international nature documentaries were considered as crucial elements in this communication, with frequent mentions to the pioneers King Charles and biologist Luiz Saldanha, to the centenary Aquarium Vasco da Gama and to museums related with the sea. Practitioners considered that television, aquariums and museums, as well as events involving hands-on activities were the most important ways of doing science outreach, but also argued that more communication, strategic thinking and originality is needed.

MAMOPLASTIA DE AUMENTO: ABORDAJE FISIOTERAPÉUTICO

En la actualidad, el número de cirugías estéticas realizadas en el país sigue en aumento, específicamente aquellas que van encaminadas en el mejoramiento de la apariencia de los senos por su relación con la belleza en la cultura latina; cada vez este tipo de intervención se está llevando a cabo en personas de edades tempranas, casi cercanas a la adolescencia. El objetivo de esta investigación es dar a conocer la importancia del abordaje e intervención fisioterapéutica, partiendo de las principales complicaciones generadas por la realización de la cirugía estética de mamoplastia de aumento en la fase postoperatoria, siendo en este caso la contractura capsular. Para ello se llevó a cabo la revisión de diversos artículos científicos de carácter internacional y de diferentes bases de datos con el fin de cumplir el objetivo propuesto en la investigación. Asimismo, se denotó que mientras más temprana sea la intervención por parte del fisioterapeuta a través del drenaje linfático manual, la aplicación de ultrasonido y la inducción miofascial, existen mayores posibilidades de reducir las complicaciones relacionadas con la cirugía estética e incorporación del paciente a sus actividades cotidianas. Palabras clave: Cirugía plástica, mamoplastia de aumento, fisioterapia dermatofuncional, contractura capsular, intervención fisioterapéutica.

Conceptualising conflicts in cyberspace

ABSTRACTThe article conceptualises political conflict in cyberspace. Thus far, scholarship has focussed on the analysis of (unilateral) cyberattacks, measuring their scope and impact, especially in Western industrialised countries. But cyber conflict, defined here as an incompatibility of stated intentions between actors which guides their use of computer technologies to harm the other, has received much less attention. Our conceptual approach builds on the work done by Valeriano and Maness and others in the field of cyber conflict measurement. We argue, however, that the interactive, international and inter-agential nature of cyber conflicts has not been captured sufficiently in recent scholarship. By providing a new methodology to address the problems of information bias, attribution and the neglect of non-state actors, we hold that variance in cyber conflict dynamics as well as spill-over effects between off- and online conflicts may be better captured with the new approach. Our work seeks to extend the understanding of state and non-state conflict behaviour in cyberspace and our methodology may inform further extensive data collections.

The Great Battle of Intellectual Property versus State Sovereignty – Is Philip Morris v Uruguay a Good Referee?

Scholars have examined the ramifications of the recent arbitral award from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”), Philip Morris v Uruguay, in the context of its implications for State sovereignty and the right to regulate. This award is also key in respect to developing the Fair and Equitable Treatment (“FET”) paradigm common in investment arbitrations, yet in recent discussions on the FET standard, Philip Morris v Uruguay has been only briefly mentioned and there nothing in the literature analyzing precisely this case and the trifold interaction between FET, the right to regulate, and intellectual property rights. With the recognition of the importance of intellectual property rights to innovation, development, and international harmony as well as the increasing entanglement of intellectual property with human rights, the resolution of disputes involving intellectual property rights is ever more crucial and nuanced. Given its flexible and international nature, investment arbitration has the potential to be an ideal avenue for resolving intellectual property disputes. The original intent of developing the field of investor-state arbitration was to help developing countries attract foreign capital. Due to the way in which the field of investment arbitration has progressed, these same developing countries, instead, are fearing that this system will either lead them into bankruptcy or undermine their sovereignty. When intellectual property is considered to be an important public policy tool in itself, the question becomes to what extent these rights take precedence over other factors such as public interest and a State’s sovereign rights. Philip Morris v Uruguay affirms that wealthy multinational corporations cannot always bully smaller countries. While this award is a significant step in reinforcing a State’s right to regulate in the public interest, this mere recognition is not sufficient to fully prevent the “regulatory chill” which has been resulted from numerous arbitral awards favoring investor’s rights. In the context of the newly emerging intellectual property investment arbitrations, particularly in the absence of a system of precedence, what is needed is a systematic and clear delineation on the nuances of the FET criterion.

Introduction: Empires in the Eighteenth Century

Introduction:Empires in the Eighteenth Century Sean Moore, Editor (bio) Predictions of the death of postcolonial theory and empire studies have been rife for about twenty years, crystallized in a roundtable in PMLA in 2007 titled "The End of Postcolonial Theory?"1 Data on what articles readers of the electronic form of this journal are downloading, however, indicate that what Jean-Francois Bayart pejoratively called the "carnaval académique" of postcolonial studies goes on.2 For example, Ramesh Mallipeddi's postcolonial essay "Spectacle, Spectatorship, and Sympathy in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko" (ECS 45.4, Summer 2012) was by far the most downloaded article from this journal on Project Muse in 2017. The article had over 800 "clicks"—almost twice as many as the second most popular essay last year, Nicholas Hudson's "From 'Nation' to 'Race': The Origin of Racial Classification in Eighteenth-Century Thought" (ECS 29.3, Spring 1996), which itself engaged with postcolonial theory's concern for the construction of identity. That these are older articles (one six years and the other twenty-two), before the deaths of postcolonial luminaries such as my dissertation director Srinivas Aravamudan, does not so much suggest that recent content has not also held appeal. Rather, the continuing popularity of these and other articles on similar topics demonstrate that readers crave engagement with analyses of empire and are sometimes reaching further back to find it. But not always. Indeed, ECS 50.1 (Fall 2016), an issue that featured commemorative essays on the work of Aravamundan, ranks among the top five issues of the journal downloaded in 2017, part of a distinguished cluster of issues that also features one (ECS 50.3, Spring 2017) dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Bernard Bailyn's The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. While this data does not indicate that our readers are [End Page 1] exclusively interested in colonialism and related issues—the next most viewed essays during 2017 were about the French Revolution, feminist approaches to Eliza Haywood's Fantomina, and the Enlightenment Anthropocene—it does tell us that research into race and imperialism is central to our readership. One explanation for this fact might be that the top three institutions downloading articles in 2017 were outside of the United States: the University of Toronto (1364 "clicks"), Cambridge (618), and Oxford (577). While this proves that Eighteenth-Century Studies is a premier international journal (though none of the top twenty-five downloading institutions was in a non-Anglophone country), it also may indicate an appreciation for the international and cosmopolitan nature of the histories of empires that postcolonialism provides. This is not to say that this "market" data should influence "thought" (in Brett Levinson's formulation) and what we publish.3 But through it we should be able to discern how both people within the field and those outside it who are interested in the eighteenth-century origins of empires use the journal. If we were to let the data tell us what to print, it would be, like the metrics on enrollments and other issues now being used at universities, a case of the tail wagging the dog rather than the other way around. This practice lacks leadership and drowns out diversity of thought in the name of the commodification of students. In short, if we did that we would be like the news media, creating content based on what they know their audiences are watching and reading rather than coming up with new ideas of their own; we would follow rather than lead. We are in the Humanities, and are not a branch of the media; our books and articles about the past teach people to be critical readers of it. This special issue on Empire, initially planned by the previous editorship of Steven Pincus and Amy Dunagin, therefore comes at a serendipitous time for the journal's new editors and for the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) itself as we contemplate submissions. In the little more than a year of the University of New Hampshire's management of the journal, we have seen submissions ranging from architectural history, gardening history, literary celebrity, musicology, contemporary descriptions of ballet...

Arbitration (Arbitral Tribunal): History and Legal Nature

Since the ancient times, has been considered as an institution of peace and justice. Rene David noted that the essence of was not to maintain the rule of law, but to ensure harmony between people. Arbitration is a society-oriented institution of dispute resolution. However, the history of this institution shows that the legal regulation of its activities always depended on the state. Currently, there is no generally accepted definition of arbitration, although some legal acts both international and national nature reflect attempts to give a legal notion of this institution. At the doctrinal level, there are four established approaches to arbitration: contractual, procedural, mixed and autonomous. The author of this article examines the legal nature of in a historical aspect, starting with the countries of the Ancient World and Medieval Europe. An attempt has been made to compare the history, legislative, organizational and legal bases of in Russia and Switzerland. Despite the differences in the traditions of arbitral tribunals in these countries, this comparison is quite correct for the author. In Switzerland, (the arbitral tribunal) has a fairly long history, and the legislative regulation of its activities is devoid of internal contradictions. In addition, the Swiss legislator promptly makes changes in regulatory legal acts to provide more favorable conditions for proceedings to the disputing parties in order to attract to Switzerland commercial organizations seeking to resolve their conflicts in this country. Since 2012 some changes in the law on have come into force in Switzerland, and new Rules of have been adopted by the Swiss Chambers of Commerce. In contrast to Switzerland, in Russia the first legal acts in the field of private commercial were enacted only after 1990. The Russian legal concept of commercial disputes resolution today partially reflects the concept of Soviet arbitration, where it means state arbitration. In the Russian Federation till now, there are state courts. However, the subject of this study will be a different arbitration, the creation of which is provided by Federal Law No. 382 of December 29, 2015 On Arbitration (arbitration proceeding) in the Russian Federation. In accordance with this law, the term arbitration may have at least two meanings. This term, on the one hand, refers to a procedure or method of dispute resolution, on the other - an authority or institution that resolves a dispute and makes a decision on it. The new law on provides definitions of arbitration, arbitral tribunal and institution, but at the same time contains many contradictions with the current legislation. The author makes a well-founded conclusion that is a private legal method of dispute resolution, whose decision is mandatory for the parties that apply to it, and by regulating its activities, the Russian legislator is trying to create a favorable environment for the resolution of such disputes. At the same time, the Federal law of December 29, 2015 provides for the dependence of (arbitral tribunal) on the state.

ТРАНСКОРДОННЕ ПРИРОДООХОРОННЕ СПІВРОБІТНИЦТВО УКРАЇНИ ТА КРАЇН ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО СОЮЗУ

The experience of international cooperation in the development of transboundary nature conservation territories of Ukraine and the EU countries on the example of the Eastern Carpathians biosphere reserve was analyised in article. The characteristic of the organization and functioning national nature parks of Uzhansky, Bieschadsky and Poloniny is given. The assessment of environmental activities within these objects was conducted and it was suggested to borrow some provisions of international experience for the development in Ukrainian part of the Eastern Carpathians biosphere reserve, as well as for other transboundary nature conservation territories. It is necessary to organize scientific research work, to initiate educational and volunteer programs on natureconservation, to exchange experience of international environmental work. Important in this case will be the opening and equipment of international tourist and nature trails, a dense network of which has long existed in Europe. Problems of scientific substantiation of the expansion of existing protected territories, as well as planning new, the organization of an independent transboundary monitoring of the state of ecosystems are particularly relevant to all transboundary regions of Ukraine. For the Carpathian region the problems of control over illegal felling in the Uzhansky National Park, the observance of the environmental regime of certain massifs of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, the proliferation of the reserve regime of the Svydovets massif for the whole Basin of the Chorna Tysa river are very important. More attention should be paid to the preservation of ethnographic features of the Carpathians, the development of ecological consciousness of local inhabitants and the population of Ukraine as a whole, their responsibility for the preservation of unique national natural conditions and resources. The solution of the above problems to a large extent depends on the geographers who should participate directly in the study and planning of the development of transboundary protected areas. Only through joint efforts of international cooperation Ukraine's naturally reserved fund will become a multifunctional part of the Pan-European ecological network.

Internationalization of African SMEs: Context, Trends and Challenges

There has been an important increase in the international and inter-continental operations of African SMEs over the last decade, because of the emergence of regional “champions”, able to compete with foreign multinationals, present in the continent since many decades, but also because of the emergence of innovative and creative SMEs, capable to meet the market needs of various consumers of Africa. Understanding the particular international business landscape in Africa draws attention to several ignored research questions and research aspects, requiring further research and exploration, to contextualize the SMEs’ internationalization of African firms. This paper highlights relevant areas/aspects needed while studying the internationalization of SMEs, by bringing back the historical context of the continent. Next, this paper contributes to the understanding of the internationalization of African SMEs by analyzing the trends and opportunities of the research in this field. Finally, the challenges and the risks of the internationalization of African firms will be analyzed, in order to set the limits of the nature of internationalization of the continent’s SMEs.

Jazz Internationalism: Literary Afro-Modernism and the Cultural Politics of Black Music by John Lowney

Reviewed by: Jazz Internationalism: Literary Afro-Modernism and the Cultural Politics of Black Music by John Lowney J. D. Porter John Lowney. Jazz Internationalism: Literary Afro-Modernism and the Cultural Politics of Black Music. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 2017..246 pp. $28.00. Much recent scholarship in global modernism has turned away from explaining the modernist credentials of this or that author from the literary “periphery” and toward explaining the dependence of modernism on the entire world system that produced a periphery in the first place. The idea is that no part can exist without the others; modernism is a function of the whole system of relations. John Lowney adopts a similar approach his latest book, Jazz Internationalism: Literary Afro-Modernism and the Cultural Politics of Black Music. The simplest way to summarize the book is Lowney’s comparatively modest claim that it “reconsiders the significance of jazz for Afro-modernist literature from the New Negro Renaissance through the radical social movements of the 1960s” (4); but en route, he tackles some of the thorniest problems in Afro-modernist and jazz studies today, not least of which is the precise relationship to the “internationalism” that modifies his central topic. In a wide-ranging Introduction that could itself serve as a useful pedagogical tool, Lowney organizes existing scholarship on Afro-modernist internationalism into three broad groups: the “black Atlantic,” the Marxist, and the diasporic. He claims all three models as an influence on this book, and argues convincingly for their compatibility; ultimately, however, they serve as a foundation for his major claim: that jazz has played a major role in both the modernism and the internationalism under examination, whether as a practical medium of cultural exchange or as a more abstract intellectual and aesthetic model. Lowney supplements this overview of the field with a close attention to detail in the historicist mode. This is probably most evident in the first chapter, on Claude McKay. Lowney observes that early reviewers of McKay’s novel Home to Harlem scarcely paid any attention to the fact that a major character is a Haitian immigrant—a trend that persists in critical work on McKay to this day. Lowney draws a parallel with the emergence of the U. S. occupation of Haiti as a cause célèbre for African American intellectuals and activists in the New Negro era, followed by its odd departure from the headlines, even as the occupation continued. These two erasures show the difficulty of attending to the complex, international nature of the African diaspora in the modernist era, and Lowney argues that this is precisely the problem that McKay tries to solve. McKay’s “radical black internationalist social vision” (57) restages primitivist conceptions of global African culture as both the “international vanguard” (37) behind modernist movements like Futurism and Impressionism and the antidote to the modern horrors of life in the Western world. Jazz plays a key role for McKay, not only as a form that can cross cultural and linguistic divides, but also as an intellectual model for a “harmonious mode of collectivity” (56), in opposition to its colonial roots. This is a theme that recurs throughout Lowney’s book, including in the epilogue, which examines the Caribbean/French/American experiences of the characters in Paule Marshall’s The Fisher King. If participation in the jazz world enables these [End Page 337] characters to move to the Parisian metropole, it is the international nature of Afro-modernist culture that helps to make jazz what it is: the Caribbean (and European) influences on both the characters and the music (New Orleans is, after all, something like a Caribbean city, and imbued with French and Latin American musical traditions) are yet another reminder not just that Afro-modernism formed largely in the colonies, but also that modernism in general is contingent on the existence of colonies at all. Lowney is at his best when he turns his attention to the specific forms of jazz and its literatures. He is a careful close reader with an expert eye for minute technical correspondence between literary and musical forms, whether discussing the “explosive imagery and fragmentary lines” (145) of Bob Kaufman’s Charlie...

EMC personality profile

This year the EMC Society decided to hold the IEEE International Symposium on EMC, Signal Integrity and Power Integrity (SIPI) in conjunction with the 9th Asia-Pacific EMC (APEMC) Symposium in May 2018 in Singapore. In my opinion this is an excellent sign to demonstrate the international nature of our professional society. Therefore, I dedicate this Personality Profile column to introduce a colleague from Asia. The person I would like to introduce you to is Professor Wen-Yan Yin from Zhejiang University (ZJU), located in Hangzhou, China.