Lee Points Research Articles

Globalization and Secession

Globalization and free trade seem like good ideas. In the economic marketplace, companies and governments need to compete on a global scale in order to survive. Are there down-sides to globalization? Steven Lee argues that globalization can lead to loss of self-determination and vulnerability to international economic forces. While the loss of control is mainly economic, Lee points out that it can also be political, legal, and cultural, as well. Also, at least in the short run, the rich nations may get richer and the poor nations poorer. The question then becomes, is globalization still worth it, or should some regions secede economically (pull out of WTO, NAFTA, EU) in order to regain self-control? Lee considers the philosophical bases upon which regions or governments may opt to secede.

Women in computing history

Exciting inventions, innovative technology, human interaction, and intriguing politics fill computing history. However, the recorded history is mainly composed of male achievements and involvements, even though women have played substantial roles. This situation is not unusual. Most science fields are notorious for excluding, undervaluing, or overlooking the accomplishments of their female scientists [1, 16, 17, 22]. As J.A.N. Lee points out, it is up to the historians and others to remedy this imbalance (see this issue [14]). Some steps have been taken towards this goal through publishing biographies on women in technology [2, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24], also see this issue [7], and through honoring the pioneers with various awards such as the GHC'97 Pioneering Awards (Figure 1), the WITI Hall of Fame, and the AWC Lovelace Award. A few online sites contain biographies of women in technology, shown in Table 1 below. However, even with these resources, many women who have contributed significantly to computer science are still to be discovered.

THE CIRCLE IS SACRED : A MEDICINE BOOK FOR WOMEN

Review by Katharine English Freelance Writer and Regular Environmental Contributor to Point Communications, Inc. and COLORS Magazine, 1363 McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA. TEL: 415-922-1144, Fax: 415-922-9553. Lee, Scout Cloud, Ed.D, THE CIRCLE IS SACRED : A MEDICINE BOOK FOR WOMEN, Tulsa, OK: Council Oak Books, 1995. 272 pp. US$17.95 paper ISBN: 0-933031-97-1. Scout Cloud Lee is a woman of many talents. Trained as a recreational therapist (and author of several books on the subject), she now works primarily as a motivational speaker, focusing her work on personal development and dream-stalking, the Native American concept for what more conventional Westerners might call listening to your inner voice. But that's not all. Lee is also a spiritual healer -- or Medicine Woman -- and a singer. And with the publication of this book, she joins a growing list of authors who are providing members of a troubled age with new tools for living, grounded in age-old wisdom. The time of the gun and the rifle are over, says Lee in the book's preface. The time of the Medicine Power is here (8). Lee's Medicine Power is an interesting marriage of traditional Native American ritual, Christian referencing and New Age folk lore. While the mix may baffle some readers, or seem an odd contradiction to others, in its own strange way, it works. Starting with a broad overview of the need for ritual in daily life, Lee offers a series of practical steps toward spiritual awakening and healing: honoring the Earth and the Creator with ritualized, individual prayer, creating alters and sacred space, ceremonial dancing, sweat lodges, healing circles, and an important primer on Earth etiquette. It's easy to see how Western ideas of Christianity complement Lee's approach. Ritual prayer has always played a part in Christian ceremony; Rome uses incense, while Native American tradition calls for sagebrush. And Lee's altars allow the introduction of personal, individualized offerings, so that the inclusion of an effigy of Jesus of Nazareth in no way precludes a rock from Mother Earth, a feather from an eagle, or a handwritten poem expressing a personal sentiment. Lee's point seems to be empowerment through inclusivity, demolition of social and ritualistic barriers and a basic celebration of life. These concepts can seem foreign to a cynical Western audience crippled by the media and a largely out-of-touch traditional Church body politic. Unconditional love of life and ritual without walls, are uncommon practices within the hallowed confines of most religious institutions, despite biblical teachings to the contrary. But perhaps the most fundamental and moving aspect of Lee's spiritual guide is her unflinching certainty about the Earth's inseparable bond with all that we worship and revere as sacred. In fact, it is the very root of what we call holy, and the entity that will ultimately set us free from our (ironically enough) Earth- bound troubles.

Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Heart Disease-Reply

In Reply. —Lee is concerned that a risk of heart disease due to ETS exposure needs to be confirmed prior to developing risk assessments. However, confirmation is a relative matter. The weight of evidence supporting the ETS—heart disease association is accumulating; studies to date are reasonably well-designed and consistent. If there is a 25% excess risk for never-smokers living with smokers, as the data suggest, then this is a much more serious public health problem than the ETS—lung cancer issue, which has been the focus of most of the discussion to date. The purpose of my article was to draw attention to this point. Confounding by heart disease risk factors may be a problem in the ETS—heart disease studies. However, while Lee points out that two of the largest studies had no data on important risk factors, 1,2 he fails to draw attention to two other large cohort studies (with

Comments, with reply, on 'Performance of coherent optical receivers' by J.R. Barry and E.A. Lee

The commenter shows how nonzero extinction ratios affect the performance of an otherwise ideal on-off keyed (OOK) communication system. In their reply, J.R. Barry and E.A. Lee point out that by using these results, experimenters will be able to state accurately what fraction of their sensitivity deviation from the ideal quantum limit is due to the nonzero extinction ratio. The ideal ten-photon quantum limit for OOK measures the number of photons per bit required by an ideal system-including the transmitter and channel, and not just the detector-to achieve a BER of 10/sup -9/. Barry and Lee agree with the commenter that it is not a useful benchmark for detectors alone; it is, however, a useful benchmark for the entire system.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Conflicting analysis of a ?Conflicting commons?: Reply

Dwight Lee ' s commen t on my art icle raises an issue which he and I have discussed in fo rma l ly in ano the r context . Perhaps , I now see the assumpt ions of his mode l and can br idge the appa ren t gul f that separa tes our two analyses . Firs t , I will poin t out that ren t -maximiz ing diversi ty wherein basic proper ty rights are pro tec ted can a rguab ly conta in less f reedom in an abs t rac t sense the absence o f external ly imposed cons t ra in ts than where some m o d i c u m of law and order exists. Cons ider , for example , the typical family ' s rules regarding meal t imes and child behavior . Also , cons ider the typical f irm and the many rules and p rocedures designed to maximize weal th. Now, expand those thoughts to a larger society. I suggest that l iberty expands , though uncons t ra ined f reedom may cont rac t . I do not see this as a 'h igh ly implaus ib le resul t , ' a po in t Lee himself , in a way, denies in his discussion o f his Figure 1 where he shows ren t -maximiz ing f reedom at F2, an a m o u n t less than F 3. S imply put , when o p p o r t u n i t y cost is cons idered in his model , a lesser a m o u n t of f reedom is der ived. But this is a mino r difference, I believe. The m a j o r d i f ference between us lies in the s tar t ing poin t o f our analyses , a poin t that was not made clear in my article. Lee ' s Figure 2, for example , starts at F 3, the l imit o f the ' t r agedy t r a p ' in his Figure 1. Once a society is p lagued with to ta l ana rchy unl imi ted f reedom bow will they move f rom the t rap? As Lee points out correct ly I believe, a dedica ted rentmaximiz ing gove rnmen t walk ing on the scene at that poin t , somehow having power to act, would take steps to reduce the scope o f ind iv idua l act ion only so long as the gains at the marg in were greater than the costs. In his analysis , he shows marg ina l mon i to r ing costs to be zero at F 3. In my

Crabs of the tidal beach at Lee Point, Darwin

Crabs of the tidal beach at Lee Point, Darwin

Marfan's Syndrome

ABSTRACT To the Editor.— Lee's points are well taken and possibly we should have stated that the diagnosis of Marfan's syndrome was suggested rather than warranted by our findings. Until a more precise definition of a basic defect (as in homocystinuria) is demonstrated in Marfan's syndrome, there will continue to be confusion surrounding incomplete or forme fruste cases. A recent example is a case of Marfan's syndrome with chronic atrial flutter1 which failed to exhibit ocular disease, positive family history, or what Lee would call typical aortic disease.The abnormality in the small coronary arteries of patients with Marfan's syndrome as described by James et al2 must make one highly suspicious of Marfan's syndrome in a patient with arachnodactaly and a cardiac conduction defect. Sinclair has mentioned cataracts in Marfan's syndrome, but is not clear if they were in association with ectopia lentis or not.3 Our patient was believed to