Finding voice within the gender order

There are many different viewpoints and discourses that pay claim to understanding the nature of gender. Few topics have generated as much interest within the social sciences, as well as in the popular media. In the spirit of Kurt Lewin, we know that the theories we hold have practical implications for how we live and act. For this reason, it is useful to explore the background of these theoretical foundations as a way to introduce the articles in this issue and relate them to the ongoing gender debates in organizational and social science. After briefly summarizing the essentialist view, sex role theory, and social constructionist theory, I will summarize the thrust of the four articles in this journal, frame them within the context of the constructionist perspective, and suggest how they add to this important debate

A sketch of Theodore R. Sarbin's life

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ni.25.2.10schTed Sarbin was born on May 8, 1911 in Cleveland, Ohio. He died on August 31, 2005, in Carmel, California. He was born into a poor Jewish family from eastern Europe, and died at his home — beloved by his friends and family, and acclaimed by his professional colleagues as a psychologist of distinction. This article traces the course of his life — with special attention to the formative influences in his education as a psychologist. As a psychologist, he became a significant critical voice — arguing for a psychology that would embrace narrative as a principle of understanding human life, and contextualism, as opposed to mechanism, as a world view

Impact of Religious Factors in Nebraska Adoptions

I. Introduction … A. In General … B. Empirical Studies … 1. Nebraska Adoption Agencies … 2. Nebraska County Judges II. Crossing Religious Lines; The Natural Mother vs. the Adoptive Parents … A. Non-Dedicated Child; Adoptive Parents’ Religion Differs from Natural Mother … B. Dedicated Child; Adoptive Parents of Different Faith … C. Instructed Child; Adoptive Parents of Different Faith … 1. Common Basic Faith of Adoptive Parents Differs from Child’s Instruction … 2. One Adoptive Parent Has Same Faith as Child’s Instruction … 3. Adoptive Parents and Child of Different Branch of Protestant Faith III. Religiously Mixed Marriages … A. Sociological Research … B. Judicial Case Law … C. Agency and Judicial Concern in Nebraska Adoption Cases IV. Church Membership and Attendance … A. The View of the Church … B. Religion and Behavior … C. Religion and Marriage … D. Percentage of Population Religiously Interested … E. Agency and Judicial Concern in Nebraska Adoption Cases V. Atheists and Agnostics VI. Conclusio

Toward Transformative Dialogue

Drawing from a social constructionist theoroetical orientation and a range of congenial practices, we propose the concept of transformative dialogue which stresses relational responsibility, self-expression, affirmation, coordination, relfexivity, and the co-creation of new realities. We see conversational moves that accomplish these aims as highly promising; at the same time there is no attempt in the present article to suggest these as ultimate solutions to employ in situations of conflict. The present is an attempt to generate a potentially useful vocabulary rather than a strict set of rules for negotiating among incommensurate realities

Holonomy observables in Ponzano-Regge type state sum models

We study observables on group elements in the Ponzano-Regge model. We show that these observables have a natural interpretation in terms of Feynman diagrams on a sphere and contrast them to the well studied observables on the spin labels. We elucidate this interpretation by showing how they arise from the no-gravity limit of the Turaev-Viro model and Chern-Simons theory.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

Lorentzian spin foam amplitudes: graphical calculus and asymptotics

The amplitude for the 4-simplex in a spin foam model for quantum gravity is defined using a graphical calculus for the unitary representations of the Lorentz group. The asymptotics of this amplitude are studied in the limit when the representation parameters are large, for various cases of boundary data. It is shown that for boundary data corresponding to a Lorentzian simplex, the asymptotic formula has two terms, with phase plus or minus the Lorentzian signature Regge action for the 4-simplex geometry, multiplied by an Immirzi parameter. Other cases of boundary data are also considered, including a surprising contribution from Euclidean signature metrics.Comment: 30 pages. v2: references now appear. v3: presentation greatly improved (particularly diagrammatic calculus). Definition of "Regge state" now the same as in previous work; signs change in final formula as a result. v4: two references adde

A report on a new home for the New England Museum of Natural History

Thesis (M. Arch)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1940.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 30).by Frank J. Barrett.M.Arc

On the Expansions in Spin Foam Cosmology

We discuss the expansions used in spin foam cosmology. We point out that already at the one vertex level arbitrarily complicated amplitudes contribute, and discuss the geometric asymptotics of the five simplest ones. We discuss what type of consistency conditions would be required to control the expansion. We show that the factorisation of the amplitude originally considered is best interpreted in topological terms. We then consider the next higher term in the graph expansion. We demonstrate the tension between the truncation to small graphs and going to the homogeneous sector, and conclude that it is necessary to truncate the dynamics as well.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, published versio

Comparison of high-specific-activity ultratrace 123/131I-MIBG and carrier-added 123/131I-MIBG on efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and tissue distribution

Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is an enzymatically stable synthetic analog of norepinephrine that when radiolabled with diagnostic ((123)I) or therapeutic ((131)I) isotopes has been shown to concentrate highly in sympathetically innervated tissues such as the heart and neuroendocrine tumors that possesses high levels of norepinephrine transporter (NET). As the transport of MIBG by NET is a saturable event, the specific activity of the preparation may have dramatic effects on both the efficacy and safety of the radiodiagnostic/radiotherapeutic. Using a solid labeling approach (Ultratrace), noncarrier-added radiolabeled MIBG can be efficiently produced. In this study, specific activities of >1200 mCi/micromol for (123)I and >1600 mCi/micromol for (131)I have been achieved. A series of studies were performed to assess the impact of cold carrier MIBG on the tissue distribution of (123/131)I-MIBG in the conscious rat and on cardiovascular parameters in the conscious instrumented dog. The present series of studies demonstrated that the carrier-free Ultratrace MIBG radiolabeled with either (123)I or (131)I exhibited similar tissue distribution to the carrier-added radiolabeled MIBG in all nontarget tissues. In tissues that express NETs, the higher the specific activity of the preparation the greater will be the radiopharmaceutical uptake. This was reflected by greater efficacy in the mouse neuroblastoma SK-N-BE(2c) xenograft model and less appreciable cardiovascular side-effects in dogs when the high-specific-activity radiopharmaceutical was used. The increased uptake and retention of Ultratrace (123/131)I-MIBG may translate into a superior diagnostic and therapeutic potential. Lastly, care must be taken when administering therapeutic doses of the current carrier-added (131)I-MIBG because of its potential to cause adverse cardiovascular side-effects, nausea, and vomiting