Assessing the Information Needs of Rural People: The Development of an Action Strategy for Rural Librarians

published or submitted for publicatio

Free analysis and planar algebras

We study 2-cabled analogs of Voiculescu's trace and free Gibbs states on Jones planar algebras. These states are traces on a tower of graded algebras associated to a Jones planar algebra. Among our results is that, with a suitable definition, finiteness of free Fisher information for planar algebra traces implies that the associated tower of von Neumann algebras consists of factors, and that the standard invariant of the associated inclusion is exactly the original planar algebra. We also give conditions that imply that the associated von Neumann algebras are non-$\Gamma$ non-$L^2$ rigid factors

A modern day panopticon: using power and control theory to manage volunteer tourists in Bolivia

Volunteer tourism literature is yet to examine the impact of power and control practices on volunteer tourist compliancy. This paper contributes to closing this research gap by proposing and testing a new theoretical model of power and control practices. Drawing upon the previously un-synthesized theoretical contributions of Foucault (1979) and French & Raven (1959), the model presents power and control practices identified in the extant organizational literature. Using an auto-ethnographic approach, data was collected within a Bolivian volunteer-host community. Examination of results suggested mutually beneficial volunteer-host working relationships occur under ‘softer’ management practices. Our findings also offer insight into the salience of using reward-based management strategies as a control mechanism, as well as identifying two new control practices that emerged empirically. The research suggests several implications for the management of host communities towards creating more harmonious, efficient, and effective working relationships between volunteer tourists and hosts

Stereoisomer libraries: Total synthesis of all 16 stereoisomers of the pine sawfly sex pheromone by a fluorous mixture-synthesis approach

All 16 stereoisomers of the sex pheromone of pine sawfly (3,7,11-trimethylundecanol propanoate ester) have been synthesized on a 10- to 20-mg scale by a split-parallel fluorous mixture-synthesis approach. Spectral data obtained for all 32 compounds (16 alcohols and the corresponding propionates) matched well with published data, thereby validating the fluorous-tag encoding of diastereoisomers. This fluorous-tag encoding method is recommended for the efficient synthesis of multiple stereoisomers for spectroscopic studies, biological tests, or other structure-function relationships

Disarming the Allies of Imperialism: The State, Agitation, and Manipulation during China\u27s Nationalist Revolution, 1922-1949 (Book Review)

Book review by Thomas D. Curran. Murdock, M. G. (2006). Disarming the allies of imperialism: The state, agitation, and manipulation during China\u27s nationalist revolution, 1922-1949. Ithaca: East Asia Program, Cornell University

The Origins of the Great Leap Forward (Book review)

Book review by Thomas D. Curran. Domenach, J. L. (1995). The origins of the great leap forward: The case of one Chinese province. Boulder: Westview Press

A Study of Modern Mass Education Bureaus (Book Review)

Book review by Thomas D. Curran. Zhou, Huimei. 近代民众教育馆 = A Study of Modern Mass Education Bureaus. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2012. ISBN 9787303137077 (pbk.) Prof. Zhou’s book is a general history of the Mass Education Movement that the Guomindang government conducted in the 1920s and 1930s. Topics covered include the movement’s ideological objectives, its organizational characteristics, it activities, and its reception by and impact on local communities. The work is carefully balanced between exposition and analysis, and it is supported generously by evidence drawn from a wide range of primary sources. Those sources include government publications, local gazetteers, books, newspapers and general audience magazines, and the specialized publications of a variety of educational and mass education organizations

Transmitting the Ideal of Enlightenment: Chinese Universities since the Late Nineteenth Century (Book Review)

Book review by Thomas D. Curran. Mak, Ricarado K. S., ed. Transmitting the Ideal of Enlightenment: Chinese Universities Since the Late Nineteenth Century. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009. ISBN 978076184726

A Response to Professor Wu Zongjie’s ‘Interpretation, Autonomy, and Transformation: Chinese Pedagogic Discourse in a Cross-Cultural Perspective\u27

In response to an essay by Prof Wu Zongjie that was published in the Journal of Curriculum studies [43(5), (2011), 569–590], I argue that, despite dramatic changes that have taken place in the language of Chinese academic discourse and pedagogy, evidence derived from the fields of psychology and the history of Chinese educational reform suggest that patterns of Chinese thought and culture have proven resistant to change. Not only have deeply rooted tendencies to perceive the world in ways that may be distinguished from Western analogues persisted but, not unlike contemporary school reformers, educators in the early twentieth century typically found that their efforts to borrow Western models were frustrated by the alien nature of those models and the need to adapt them to Chinese realities; ultimately, the reformers had to accommodate their plans to the wishes of local patrons and the expectations of Chinese families. Thus, the lesson that contemporary Chinese educators may take from a study of the past is that, since elements borrowed from the West may have limited viability in China, they need not be excessively concerned that reforms will transform key elements of Chinese culture

The Jacquinot Safe Zone: Wartime Refugees in Shanghai

Book review by Thomas D. Curran. Ristaino, M. R. (2008). The Jacquinot safe zone: Wartime refugees in Shanghai. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978080475793