Book Review: Taking Indian Lands: The Cherokee (Jerome) Commission, 1889-1893

William T. Hagan\u27s latest book examines the negotiations between the federal government and specific tribes in Indian Territory for the sale of tribal lands and the allotment of land to individual Indians. Encroachment by white settlers presented a major incentive for the federal government to complete these transactions expeditiously. Settlers as well as speculators applied significant pressure to organize Oklahoma into a territory and open the Cherokee Outlet. In response, on March 2, 1889, Congress passed an act creating the Cherokee Commission to negotiate the sale of lands by the Cherokees, Iowas, Pawnees, Poncas, T onakawas, Wichitas, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Sac and Fox, Potawatomis, Shawnees, and Kickapoos

Entangled interpretations and a transnational art exhibition:The case of (…) Ketsin! Art from the Kyrgyz Republic (Shoreditch, May 2013)

Through the case study of a visual arts exhibition on the Kyrgyz Revolution, (...) Ketsin! (May 2013), this article traces the complex set of factors that influence how a transnational exhibition is interpreted. Combining literatures on visual representation, the role of intentionality in authorship, and, museum and gallery studies, I propose here the notion of ‘entangled interpretations’ to convey the overlapping and muddled layers rather than discrete parts that together constitute interpretation. These layers comprise: the artworks; other works in the same genre and other works by the same artists; the exhibition design and display; the architecture of the venue; the artists’ intentions; the roles of commissioner, sponsor and curator; and, the split audience: original and intended

The political elite in Kazakhstan since independence (1991-1998): origins, structure and policies

This is an analysis of the post-independence Ka.zakhstani elite between 1991 and 1998. Exploratory in nature, the thesis seeks to demonstrate four main points. First, historical antecedents and concurrent socioeconomic and political forces partly explain the composition, recruitment and nature of Kazakhstan's post-independent political elite. Second, while the political elite displays a certain consensus in its cognitive orientations, its social origins have become less homogeneous and its interests increasingly fragmented as a result of socioeconomic change. Third, the structure of the elite has narrowed between 1991 and 1998; this closed elite, through careful recruitment policies, is ensuring its self-replication. Fourth, if some links can be made between elite origins, attitudes and behaviour, these are only of a tentative nature. These lines of enquiry are demonstrated in three sections: the historical antecedents and institutional sources of Kazakhstan's political elite (Section I); the degree of elite integration, in terms primarily of social homogeneity and recruitment (Section II); and the link, if any, between social structure and policies of the political elite (Section III). The study is based on Russian and Kazakh primary and secondary sources and on interviews with the political elite and a "panel of experts". After establishing the work's aims and limits, the first section defines the terms "political elite" and establishes the methodology employed to locate and analyse the political elite. Chapters 1.1 and 1.2 provide the historical and institutional context in which the post-independence political elite has operated. Chapter 11.1 addresses elite composition and structure according to dimensions of social background, in particular those of education, career, ethnicity and sub-ethnicity. Chapter 11.2 assesses the recruitment process since 1991. Section III assesses two major elite policy spheres of these last eight years: nation-building and economic reform. The conclusion aims to establish the degree of linkage between these three sections and briefly discusses the implications of elite structure and integration for the future stability of the regime

Business Disaster And Recovery Planning: An Illustrative Case Of A Corporate Accounts Payable Department

This paper presents a case that focuses on the Corporate Accounts Payable Department of a major corporation with the objective of reinforcing that organizations need business resumption plans for all units.  Textbooks tend to focus on the information technology area which may lead students to overlook the need for business resumption planning in other areas.  Students were asked to complete a set of case questions based on the case material. Comparisons of students’ responses to a questionnaire regarding business resumption planning showed that students who completed the case demonstrated a stronger understanding of the topic than those who did not

Toward better understanding the corporate innovation landscape in New Zealand using Industrial Research Ltd's "What's your problem New Zealand?": Competition data: analysis and propositions

This paper utilises a unique data set to investigate New Zealand’s corporate innovation landscape. It examines a sample of kiwi firms with true “innovative intent”, and their efforts to gain external R&D support from Industrial Research Limited (IRL), a Crown Research Institute. Aggregated data from over 100 applications to IRL’s “What’s Your Problem New Zealand?” competition, held in 2009, informs of these companies’ location, size, age, export orientation, sector, and research problem type. We divide the competition entrants into three categories: “strayers”, “contestants”, and “finalists”, and consider their aforementioned characteristics in relation to each other and, where possible, to the median New Zealand firm. From this, we advance 14 propositions regarding the nation’s corporate innovation landscape, and suggest some potential implications for policy makers

Central Asia and the globalisation of the contemporary legal consciousness

What is the logic which governs the processes of legal globalization? How does the transnational proliferation of legal forms operate in the contemporary geo-juridical space? What are the main defining characteristics of the currently dominant mode of transnational legal consciousness and how can the concept of legal consciousness help us understand better the historical ebb and flow of the Western-led projects of good governance promotion in regions like Central Asia after the fall of the Soviet Union? Using Duncan Kennedy’s seminal essay Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought as its starting platform, this essay seeks to explore these and a series of other related questions, while also drawing on the work of the Greek Marxist lawyer-philosopher Nicos Poulantzas to help elucidate some latent analytical stress-points in Kennedy’s broader theoretical framework. Reacting against the neo-Orientalist tone adopted across much of the contemporary field of Central Asian studies, it develops an alternative account of the internal history of the legal-globalizational encounter between the Western-based reform entrepreneurs and the national legal-political elites in Central Asia in the post-1991 period, complementing it with a detailed description of the general institutional and discursive structures within which this encounter took place

Relationship between trying an electronic cigarette and subsequent cigarette experimentation in Scottish adolescents: a cohort study.

This project was funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) PHR project 10/3000/07.Background This study examines whether young never smokers in Scotland, UK, who have tried an e-cigarette are more likely than those who have not, to try a cigarette during the following year. Methods Prospective cohort survey conducted in four high schools in Scotland, UK during February/March 2015 (n=3807) with follow-up 1 year later. All pupils (age 11–18) were surveyed. Response rates were high in both years (87% in 2015) and 2680/3807 (70.4%) of the original cohort completed the follow-up survey. Analysis was restricted to baseline ‘never smokers’ (n=3001/3807), 2125 of whom were available to follow-up (70.8%). Results At baseline, 183 of 2125 (8.6%) never smokers had tried an e-cigarette and 1942 had not. Of the young people who had not tried an e-cigarette at baseline, 249 (12.8%) went on to try smoking a cigarette by follow-up. This compares with 74 (40.4%) of those who had tried an e-cigarette at baseline. This effect remained significant in a logistic regression model adjusted for smoking susceptibility, having friends who smoke, family members’ smoking status, age, sex, family affluence score, ethnic group and school (adjusted OR 2.42 (95% CI 1.63 to 3.60)). There was a significant interaction between e-cigarette use and smoking susceptibility and between e-cigarette use and smoking within the friendship group. Conclusions Young never smokers are more likely to experiment with cigarettes if they have tried an e-cigarette. Causality cannot be inferred, but continued close monitoring of e-cigarette use in young people is warranted.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Oral curcumin for Alzheimer's disease: tolerability and efficacy in a 24-week randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study

Introduction: Curcumin is a polyphenolic compound derived from the plant Curcuma Long Lin that has been demonstrated to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects as well as effects on reducing beta-amyloid aggregation. It reduces pathology in transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is a promising candidate for treating human AD. The purpose of the current study is to generate tolerability and preliminary clinical and biomarker efficacy data on curcumin in persons with AD. Methods: We performed a 24-week randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study of Curcumin C3 Complex® with an open-label extension to 48 weeks. Thirty-six persons with mild-to-moderate AD were randomized to receive placebo, 2 grams/day, or 4 grams/day of oral curcumin for 24 weeks. For weeks 24 through 48, subjects that were receiving curcumin continued with the same dose, while subjects previously receiving placebo were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to 2 grams/day or 4 grams/day. The primary outcome measures were incidence of adverse events, changes in clinical laboratory tests and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) at 24 weeks in those completing the study. Secondary outcome measures included the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study - Activities of Daily Living (ADCS-ADL) scale, levels of Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42 in plasma and levels of Aβ1-42, t-tau, p-tau181 and F2-isoprostanes in cerebrospinal fluid. Plasma levels of curcumin and its metabolites up to four hours after drug administration were also measured. Results: Mean age of completers (n = 30) was 73.5 years and mean Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score was 22.5. One subject withdrew in the placebo (8%, worsened memory) and 5/24 subjects withdrew in the curcumin group (21%, 3 due to gastrointestinal symptoms). Curcumin C3 Complex® was associated with lowered hematocrit and increased glucose levels that were clinically insignificant. There were no differences between treatment groups in clinical or biomarker efficacy measures. The levels of native curcumin measured in plasma were low (7.32 ng/mL). Conclusions: Curcumin was generally well-tolerated although three subjects on curcumin withdrew due to gastrointestinal symptoms. We were unable to demonstrate clinical or biochemical evidence of efficacy of Curcumin C3 Complex® in AD in this 24-week placebo-controlled trial although preliminary data suggest limited bioavailability of this compound. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00099710

GP participation in increasing uptake in a national bowel cancer screening programme: the PEARL project

Policy Research Unit (PRU) in Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early BRITISH JOURNAL OF CANCER The PEARL project The PRU receives funding for a research programme from the Department of Health Policy Research Programm