The Colonial Official as Ethnographer; VOC Documents as Resources for Social History in Eastern Indonesia

The present article departs from the inherent problems of grasping the voice of the subaltern other in a colonial context. While postcolonial theoreticians have occasionally spoken pessimistically about the possibilities of reconstructing the agency of dominated categories of non-Westerners, recent research on early Southeast Asia has on the contrary envisaged new lines of inquiry through an ingenious use of the extant sources, preferably through interdisciplinary communication. But can we use the colonial archive in order to highlight social history in non-literate societies such as those of eastern Indonesia where the colonial texts do not resonate with the indigenous ones? This article scrutinizes materials from the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) post in Kupang (1653-1800) in order to find data USAble for such a history. It is argued that letters, reports, legal minutes, diaries, etcetera. have a good potential due to the regularity and minute detail of the record

The colonial official as ethnographer; VOC documents as resources for social history in eastern Indonesia

The present article departs from the inherent problems of grasping the voice of the subaltern other in a colonial context. While postcolonial theoreticians have occasionally spoken pessimistically about the possibilities of reconstructing the agency of dominated categories of non-Westerners, recent research on early Southeast Asia has on the contrary envisaged new lines of inquiry through an ingenious use of the extant sources, preferably through interdisciplinary communication. But can we use the colonial archive in order to highlight social history in non-literate societies such as those of eastern Indonesia where the colonial texts do not resonate with the indigenous ones? This article scrutinizes materials from the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) post in Kupang (1653-1800) in order to find data usable for such a history. It is argued that letters, reports, legal minutes, diaries, etcetera. have a good potential due to the regularity and minute detail of the record.Keywordscolonial archive, ethnography, VOC documents, social history, eastern Indonesia

Positive reinforcement in connection with training and handling of hens before blood sampling procedures

The welfare of laboratory animals is an important issue that has gained more and more attention in society. Laying hens (Gallus Gallus Domesticus) is one of the species that is used in animal testing. At the Swedish National Veterinary Institute (SVA) there are two flocks (15 hens in each) of the hybrid Bovans Robust hens; flock A around 18 months old and flock B around 20 weeks old at the start of the study. The staff at SVA had two concerns they wanted to address: the animals’ stress levels in flock A during blood sampling procedures and the insecurity of flock B during the presence of the animal technicians. Stress can have an undesired influence on the outcome of the studies that the animals are a part of at SVA, but also has negative consequences on animal welfare. Training with positive reinforcement has been used successfully for other species of laboratory animals, such as small rodents. Based on the positive results seen in other species, it could be used with the laying hens at SVA. The aim of this study was to reduce the stress the animals experience around blood sampling procedures, decrease the stress of the younger hens, as well as develop a training program the animal technicians can use for further training of the animals. In the first part of the study, the food preferences of each flock was decided by scattering a small amount of the enforcers (oats, meal worms, dried apple, fresh apple, smashed and dried peas, black pudding, and sweet corn) and observing the flock. For both flocks, oats, meal worms, fresh apple and corn were the most popular, the majority of the animals chose to eat these treats. From these results, oats and meal worms were chosen as the treats used in the following parts of the study. The next two parts of the study were conducted in parallel, and sessions were repeated over 9 days. One individual from flock A was trained to stand still and lie still using positive reinforcement (clicker and food treat) at the location used for the blood sampling procedures. The individual trained with positive reinforcement progressed positively throughout the study, increasing the time she could stand and lie still, from 0 seconds at session 1 to 2,4 seconds for standing still and 2,8 seconds for lying still at session 16. In an attempt to reduce the fear of humans in flock B, a person was placed in their corral with a bowl of a mix of oats and meal worms between their feet. Flock B’s courage increased steadily over the nine days of the study, by increasing their time spent near the human and treat bowl. At the end of the study, the vast majority Abstract of individuals were brave enough to approach the observer and take the enforcer from the bowl. The results indicated that progress can be seen after just a few days of repeated minute-long training sessions and that this type of positive reinforcement is a useful method for training laying hens

Eastern Indonesia and the Writing of History

The present article is a discussion of the proliferation of history-writing about eastern Indonesia (mainly Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Papua) and Timor-Leste during the last decades. While a substantial corpus of Portuguese historical writings on Timor-Leste appeared up to the 1970s, very little was done in respect to eastern Indonesia, at any rate after decolonization. However, a number of anthropologists have included studies of historical data in their work since the 1970s. The challenges from anthropology have contributed to a new output of historical research since the 1990s. The possibilities of the colonial archive to yield social and cultural data have been tested. Not least, the independence of Timor-Leste in 1999-2002 has been a catalyst for fresh studies. The article presents an overview of the themes and methodologies taken up since the late 20th century in works written in English, Dutch, Portuguese, French, German, and Indonesian. It is emphasized that a historian working in this area must take account of the resources of the colonial archive, as well as to alternative claims to the past – oral tradition, linguistics, heritage objects, and so on. In traditionally non-literate and small-scale societies, analyses of concurrent versions of history will be crucial in the mapping of the past.Cet article porte sur la prolifération des écrits historiques concernant l’Indonésie orientale (principalement Nusa Tenggara, les Moluques et la Papouasie) et Timor-Leste au cours des dernières décennies. Alors qu’un corpus substantiel d’écrits historiques portugais a été produit sur Timor-Leste jusque dans les années 1970, très peu de travaux concernaient l’Indonésie orientale, du moins après la décolonisation. Cependant, depuis les années 1970, un certain nombre d’anthropologues ont inclus dans leur travail des analyses de données historiques. Les défis de l’anthropologie ont contribué à un nouvel essor de la recherche historique depuis les années 1990. Les possibilités de produire des données sociales et culturelles à partir des archives coloniales ont été explorées. Mieux, l’indépendance du Timor-Leste en 1999-2002 a été un catalyseur pour de nouveaux travaux. L’article livre un aperçu des thèmes et des méthodologies adoptées depuis la fin du XXe siècle dans les œuvres écrites en anglais, en néerlandais, en portugais, en français, en allemand et en indonésien. Précisons que l’historien travaillant dans ce domaine doit tenir compte des sources des archives coloniales, ainsi que des revendications alternatives du passé — la tradition orale, la linguistique, les objets du patrimoine, etc. Dans ces sociétés traditionnellement non alphabétisées et de petite taille, les analyses des versions concurrentes de l’histoire sont cruciales pour la cartographie du passé

Lords of the land, lords of the sea; Conflict and adaptation in early colonial Timor, 1600-1800

European traders and soldiers established a foothold on Timor in the course of the seventeenth century, motivated by the quest for the commercially vital sandalwood and the intense competition between the Dutch and the Portuguese. Lords of the land, lords of the sea focuses on two centuries of contacts between the indigenous polities on Timor and the early colonials, and covers the period 1600-1800. In contrast with most previous studies, the book treats Timor as a historical region in its own right, using a wide array of Dutch, Portuguese and other original sources, which are compared with the comprehensive corpus of oral tradition recorded on the island. From this rich material, a lively picture emerges of life and death in early Timorese society, the forms of trade, slavery, warfare, alliances, social life, and so forth. The investigation demonstrates that the European groups, although having a role as ordering political forces, were only part of the political landscape of Timor. They relied on alliances where the distinction between ally and vassal was moot, and led to frequent conflicts and uprisings. During a slow and complicated process, the often turbulent political conditions involving Europeans, Eurasians, and Timorese polities, paved the way for the later division of Timor into two spheres of roughly equal size. Hans Hägerdal (1960) is a Senior Lecturer in History at the Linnaeus University, Sweden. He has written extensively on East and Southeast Asian history. Among his publications is Hindu rulers, Muslim subjects: Lombok and Bali in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (2001)

Value at Risk for Emerging Markets' Funds

Value at Risk is a commonly used risk measure which calculates the smallest losses you risk to lose from having an asset, given a certain risk level and time period. Even though Value at Risk is applicable to all different types of assets, some studies suggest that this risk measure is not suitable for developing countries/emerging markets. This is because these countries’ assets generate very obscure or questionable return data. This essay applies some Value at Risk-models on top-performing funds from a number of low- and middle income countries in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, and examines how well they fit these models. We calculate basic VaR for three confidence levels and two respective distributions (Normal distribution and Student’s t-distribution), and compare these with GARCH and EGARCH models with the same distributions and confidence levels. We also calculate VaR with the historical simulation (HS) method. We calculate all values both with respect to short and long position. Our results indicate that no kind of model works significantly well for the countries’ funds in general. The models applicable to most countries were of the basic VaR and HS kind. We also find that the highest confidence level, 99%, was the one generating most acceptable models

Multiple gene expression by chromosomal integration and CRE-loxP mediated marker recycling in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Multiple gene expression can be introduced in a yeast strain with using only two markers by means of the two new vectors described, the expression vector pB3 PGK and the CRE recombinase vector pCRE3. The pB3 PGK has a zeocin-selectable marker flanked by loxP sequences and an expression cassette consisting of the strong PGK1 promoter and the GCY1 terminator. The gene of interest (YFG1) is cloned between the promoter and terminator of pB3 PGK. The pB3 PGK-YFG1 is integrated into the genome by a single restriction cut within the YFG1 gene and integrated in the YFG1 locus. The strain is further transformed with the pCRE3 vector. The CRE recombinase expressed from this vector removes the zeocin marker and makes it possible to use the pB3 PGK vector over again in the same strain after curing of the pCRE3 vector. The 2 micro -based pCRE3 carries the aureobasidin A, zeocin and URA3 markers. pCRE3 is easily cured by growth in nonselective medium without active counterselection. The screening for loss of the chromosomal zeocin marker, as well as curing of the pCRE3 vector, is done in one step, by scoring zeocin sensitivity. This can be done because the zeocin marker is present in both the pB3 PGK and pCRE3. The S. cerevisiae pentose phosphate pathway genes RK11, RPE1, TAL1, and TKL1 were cloned in pB3 PGK and integrated in the locus of the respective gene, resulting in simultaneous overexpression of the genes in the xylose-fermenting S. cerevisiae strain TMB3001.(undefined

Nutrient requirements of lactococci in defined growth media

Many attempts have been made for the last six decades to design defined media for species of the lactococcus group. The general outcome of the studies suggests that this group is heterogeneous with respect to specific requirements for nutrients. Lactococcal species are limited in various metabolic pathways. Early attempts to trace the required nutrients were not always successful because of the poor quality of analysis and the presence of impurities in the medium components

Increased expression of the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway and gluconeogenesis in anaerobically growing xylose-utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fermentation of xylose to ethanol has been achieved in <it>S. cerevisiae </it>by genetic engineering. Xylose utilization is however slow compared to glucose, and during anaerobic conditions addition of glucose has been necessary for cellular growth. In the current study, the xylose-utilizing strain TMB 3415 was employed to investigate differences between anaerobic utilization of glucose and xylose. This strain carried a xylose reductase (<it>XYL1 </it>K270R) engineered for increased NADH utilization and was capable of sustained anaerobic growth on xylose as sole carbon source. Metabolic and transcriptional characterization could thus for the first time be performed without addition of a co-substrate or oxygen.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Analysis of metabolic fluxes showed that although the specific ethanol productivity was an order of magnitude lower on xylose than on glucose, product yields were similar for the two substrates. In addition, transcription analysis identified clear regulatory differences between glucose and xylose. Respiro-fermentative metabolism on glucose during aerobic conditions caused repression of cellular respiration, while metabolism on xylose under the same conditions was fully respiratory. During anaerobic conditions, xylose repressed respiratory pathways, although notably more weakly than glucose. It was also observed that anaerobic xylose growth caused up-regulation of the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway and gluconeogenesis, which may be driven by an increased demand for NADPH during anaerobic xylose catabolism.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Co-factor imbalance in the initial twp steps of xylose utilization may reduce ethanol productivity by increasing the need for NADP+ reduction and consequently increase reverse flux in glycolysis.</p