African Art: What and to Whom? Anxieties, Certainties, Mythologies

It has taken nearly a whole century to publish two books on African art that recognize the continent as a complex cultural unit within which there is diversity, A History of Art in Africa (Blackmun Visona, M et al, 2001) and Africa, The Art of a Continent (Phillips, T. 1995). Why it taken so long far North and East Africa past and present to be included in texts labeled African art? Why were they not recognized as African? India, also a place of diversity of race and ethnicity, has not similarly treated. The assumptions underlying the norms a representation of Africa were deeply rooted, their influence scholarship related to African art and culture was profound and, even if attenuated at present, persistent. They have impacted on the organization of information related to Africa, influencing from cataloging, the content of texts and videos, to museum layout exhibitions. Only by becoming conscious of the pervasive power of this hidden curriculum can we take steps to counter its influence. Those underlying assumptions are symptomatic of European fear5aJlII desires related to African identity

The OpenPicoAmp : an open-source planar lipid bilayer amplifier for hands-on learning of neuroscience

Neuroscience education can be promoted by the availability of low cost and engaging teaching materials. To address this issue, we developed an open-source lipid bilayer amplifier, the OpenPicoAmp, which is appropriate for use in introductory courses in biophysics or neurosciences dealing with the electrical properties of the cell membrane. The amplifier is designed using the common lithographic printed circuit board fabrication process and off-the-shelf electronic components. In addition, we propose a specific design for experimental chambers allowing the insertion of a commercially available polytetrafluoroethylene film. This experimental setup can be used in simple experiments in which students monitor the bilayer formation by capacitance measurement and record unitary currents produced by ionic channels like gramicidin A. Used in combination with a low-cost data acquisition board this system provides a complete solution for hands-on lessons, therefore improving the effectiveness in teaching basic neurosciences or biophysics.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures and supplementary information (9 files including one movie). Added references, added figure, corrected typos, corrected board components list, more detailled implementation documen

Multicultural Reservations, Hybrid Avenues: Reflecting on Culture in Art Education

This paper examines the role of hybridity in culture as it relates to art education. Curriculum strategies in art education are based essentially on pluralist premises. Such strategies recognize diversity, honor differences, and try to redress the inequitable Eurocentric models of the past. Nevertheless, even in their most critical forms they reproduce a scheme of culture that subtly confirms the established order of Modern hierarchies, and fail to capture the fluid, hybrid, and uneven character of culture. Margaret Archer\u27s theories of culture, society, and change are among the most insightful to date. Taking them on board will ensure that our curricula be grounded in more realistic concepts of culture and agency, from which art educators can build truly equitable curricula that recognize the implication of identities in each other. The first part of this paper looks at the kind of ideas about culture that form the basis of discourse in art education about multiculturalism. I assert that in art education cultural theory is encumbered by its reliance on concepts that capture the plural aggregate nature of culture, and by a failure to incorporate effectively the hybrid character of culture into their theories. As a result art education copes inadequately with culture\u27s paradoxical nature. Cultures can be distinguished, but on closer inspection, what looks like an organic compound reveals itself to be a mixture of differences. The second part proposes that Margaret Archer\u27s theory of culture and her method of accounting for cultural change, are better and sounder premises for reflecting on culture, and creating curricula that cope equitably with issues of diversity, and with rapid or slow cultural change. In the third section of the paper I, so to speak, put flesh on the bones of Archer\u27s theory by exploring historical examples that elucidate her ideas. The examples also illustrate how inequitable hierarchies of discrimination, albeit in subtle-but for that reason more intransigent-forms are perpetuated

Losing Face

When Al makes an offer to Betty that Betty observes and rejects, Al may “lose face”. This loss of face (LoF) may cost Al utility, either directly or through reputation effects. This can lead to fewer offers and inefficiency in the context of bilateral matching problems, e.g., the marriage market, research partnering, and international negotiations. We offer a simple model with asymmetric information, a continuous signal of an individual’s binary type, and a linear marriage production function. We add a primitive LoF term, characterize the stable equilibria, compare the benchmark without LoF to a case where only one side is vulnerable to LoF, and present comparative statics. A small amount of LoF has no effect on low types’ behavior, but, will make high types on both sides more selective. A stronger LoF drives high types out of the market, and makes low types reverse snobs, further reducing welfare. LoF also makes rejecting strictly preferred to being rejected, making the “high types reject” equilibrium stable. We can eliminate the effects of LoF by letting the vulnerable side move second, or setting up a “Conditionally Anonymous Environment” that only reveals when both parties say yes. We motivate our model with a variety of empirical examples, and we suggest policy and managerial implications

An Overheated Debate: The Influence of Premillennial Apocalyptic Rhetoric on Climate Reform Discourse in the United States

Despite decades of scientific research and increased civil and governmental calls for reform, the United States continues to spiral toward climate catastrophe. Apocalyptic rhetoric helps us understand how even the most pressing environmental and societal threats are perceived differently according to audiences\u27 rhetorical and ideological frameworks. Drawing on the work of Barry Brummett and Kenneth Burke, I argue that the premillennial sub-genre of apocalyptic rhetoric constitutes a rhetorical frame through which many secular climate reformers and evangelical Christians make sense of the environmental and societal impacts of climate change. In chapters that analyze secular and Christian climate reform discourse and apocalyptic evangelical discourse produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, I demonstrate through rhetorical analysis that apocalyptic rhetoric is a persistent frame through which citizens make sense of not only climate change but other perceived threats. I suggest that by attending to the influence of apocalyptic rhetoric on the production and reception of climate change and climate reform discourse, climate reform rhetors may be positioned to produce environmental discourse that is more likely to engage (or at least not alienate) a wider variety of U.S. audiences, especially evangelical Christians. Drawing upon the findings of environmental rhetoric and communication scholars, I outline a series of rhetorical strategies that may be used to more productively engage not just climate resistant audiences but a variety of audiences whose attitudes toward a particular societal problem are characterized by intense ideological resistance. Despite the potential for such strategies to create possibilities for rhetorical engagement, I suggest that the influence of premillennialism on U.S. climate action leads us to reconsider the role of deliberative democratic discourse as a means of resolving such large-scale, pressing problems in the public sphere. I conclude this project by reflecting on the implications of apocalyptic rhetoric for climate reform discourse within the U.S. more generally, as well as the structural inequities that continue to fuel such resistance among evangelical Christian audiences

Systematics of moths in the genus Catocala (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) IV. Nomenclatorial stabilization of the Nearctic fauna, with a revised synonymic check list

The taxonomy of the Nearctic species in the genus Catocala is reviewed, and a revised check list presented. A total of 101 species is recognized, with a synonymy comprising 357 names. The status of 61 available names is assessed, with designation and illustration of 41 lectotypes and 5 neotypes. Taxonomic changes include 23 new synonymies, 3 revised synonymies, 8 new statuses and 1 revised status. Two subspecies are elevated to species rank (Catocala carissima Hulst, 1884 and Catocala luctuosa Hulst, 1884), 15 subspecies are synonymized, and another 15 species are either downgraded to subspecies or synonymized

Magnetization reversal and spin dynamics exchange in biased F/AF bilayers probed with complex permeability spectra

The spin dynamics of the ferromagnetic pinned layer of ferro-antiferromagnetic coupled NiFe/MnNi bilayers is investigated in a broad frequency range (30 MHz-6 GHz). A phenomenological model based on the Landau-Lifshitz equation for the complex permeability of the F/AF bilayer is proposed. The experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions. We show that the resonance frequencies, measured during the magnetization, are likewise hysteretic.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

The topological structure of scaling limits of large planar maps

We discuss scaling limits of large bipartite planar maps. If p is a fixed integer strictly greater than 1, we consider a random planar map M(n) which is uniformly distributed over the set of all 2p-angulations with n faces. Then, at least along a suitable subsequence, the metric space M(n) equipped with the graph distance rescaled by the factor n to the power -1/4 converges in distribution as n tends to infinity towards a limiting random compact metric space, in the sense of the Gromov-Hausdorff distance. We prove that the topology of the limiting space is uniquely determined independently of p, and that this space can be obtained as the quotient of the Continuum Random Tree for an equivalence relation which is defined from Brownian labels attached to the vertices. We also verify that the Hausdorff dimension of the limit is almost surely equal to 4.Comment: 45 pages Second version with minor modification

The Retirement Adjustment Process: Changes in the Well-being of Male Retirees Across Time

The purpose of this prospective study was to (1) evaluate the impact of retirement, (2) monitor the change in adjustment across time, and (3) identify the resources predictive of short- and long-term adjustment in retirement. A sample of 117 male retirees was assessed on indices of physical and psychological health, perceived control, retirement satisfaction, and life satisfaction at 2-4 months preretirement, 1 year post-, and 6-7 years postretirement. The results provided support for a positive impact of retirement, as retirees evidenced increases in well-being during the first year. There was also evidence of a retirement adjustment process, in that aspects of well-being (i.e., psychological health) changed from short- to long-term retirement. Finally, physical health, income, and voluntary retirement status predicted short-term adjustment, while internal locus of control was an additional resource for long-term adjustment. Changes in resources over time also differentially predicted short- and long-term adjustment (e.g., an increase in internal locus of control predicted an increase in activity satisfaction at 1 year but not at 6-7 years postretirement

The Indianapolis Foundation Library Partners

In 1989 an anonymous bequest of nearly $15 million was made to The Indianapolis Foundation, creating the Library Fund, which would be used to support Marion County libraries. This group, which would come to be called The Indianapolis Foundation Library Partners, was made up of the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library (IMCPL); the libraries of all of the public, private, and parochial high schools in Marion County; and the libraries of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Marian College, and the University of Indianapolis. The donor stipulated that that The Indianapolis Foundation “shall give preference to projects which cannot be met by the operating budgets of the recipient institutions.” Further, the donor expressed a hope that, “in exercising its discretion, the Foundation will emphasize provision of books and other library materials rather than the employment of personnel and the construction of buildings.” Thus the proceeds of the Library Fund were to be used for new, innovative, and collaborative projects. Core library operation expenses and building projects were excluded. This remarkable gift created a resource, now valued at approximately$25 million and producing approximately $1.25 million a year, that is truly unique. Since its beginning in 1989, the Library Fund has made over$16 million in grants to Marion County libraries. This resource in turn fostered a collaborative environment among the libraries and librarians in Marion County that is also unique. In this article we describe the history of The Indianapolis Foundation Library Partners, its current programs, and its growth over the years