The Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Belgium, France and the Netherlands

The question of why and how gentiles rescued Jews during the Nazi period has been a consistent element in the wider historiography of the Holocaust ever since 1945, not least after the creation of Yad Vashem and the identification and recognition of non-Jews as "Righteous among the Nations". Research on the Holocaust has identified, and continues to identify, individuals who meet the criteria laid down for the award, and the shelves of books devoted to memoirs bear witness to its continued popularity with the book-buying public. However, study of the topic to date has been very narrowly defined, either as sociological enquiry into the nature of altruism, or as the history of a relatively small number of dedicated individuals. This paper attempts to outline the importance of a wider context for the study of rescue under three headings. Firstly, it focuses on the linkages between rescue activities and other forms of resistance during the occupation period. Secondly, it demonstrates the importance of a regional rather than a national approach to the topic. Finally it examines how "rescue" can be seen as having a tradition; for example in the case of Belgium from the experiences of occupation in the First World War, and in the Netherlands from longer-standing rural social traditions of helping those in need.     

College Women and Personal Goals: Cognitive Dimensions that Differentiate Risk-Reduction Sexual Decisions

As the twenty-first century begins, a high level of participation in premarital sexual intercourse by college women is well-documented. But, in the research exploring risk-reduction sexual behaviors, the relationship of cognitive abilities to responsible sexual behavior has been under-researched. Anonymous questionnaires were administered to 626 never-married, heterosexual women at a midwestern university to examine personal goal-setting, a cognitive variable postulated to be related to risk-reduction sexual behavior. Women who frequently set goals were more religious, optimistic about life, conservative in sexual attitudes, comfortable with their sexuality, and more psychologically sexually satisfied. Those who less often set goals were more likely to drink alcohol prior to sexual intercourse, become more intoxicated, and less likely to ask if new sex partners had STI(s). The cognitive variable, goal-setting, did differentiate college women who made responsible sexual decisions from those who engaged in risk-taking sexual behaviors.Professor Emerita of Family and Consumer Science, Texas State University-San Marcos. Received her PhD from the University of Texas, Austin in Child Development and Family Relations and is a Certified Marriage and Family Therapist, American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and licensed in the State of Texas. Her research interests include sexual attitudes and behavior of college students, adoption attitudes of unmarried pregnant teens, and teen pregnancy/parenting programs.University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Received his PhD from the University of Florida in Family Sociology and is a Clinical Fellow, American Academy of Clinical Sexologists and Fellow, National Council on Family Relations. His research interests include sexual attitudes and behavior of college students, adoption attitudes of unmarried pregnant teens, female sexual adjustment, and perceptions of the female physiological sexual response.     

Private and public choices in public education: An investigation of trustee effects

The paper applies the concepts of the horizon problem, agency costs, monitoring, and special interest incentives to trustee management of public schools and higher education. We examine whether South Carolina's 1984 Education Improvement Act, a major restructuring of educational organization and spending in South Carolina, is related to the ratio of pupils in private versus public schools. We employ 30 years of county level data in South Carolina, and we uncover several things. There is no statistically credible relation between public school expenditures per pupil and the private school/public school enrollment ratio. However, we do find that the directed changes in rules, organizational structure, and incentives mandated by the 1984 Educational Improvement Act are associated with a reduction in the relative number of children attending private school. We interpret this to mean that the features of the law requiring better accountability and the like were perceived by parents to make for better education while the increased money spent was only a transfer to teachers or some other groups; we find that organization matters more than money.     

General-Purpose Aid in New York State: Targeting Issues and Measures

This article explores key questions about targeted versus distributiveaid policies within the context of New York's general-purposestate aid program. Development of that program over the pastforty years shows ebbs and flows of support for both targetedand distributive approaches. Intense policy debates concerninglocal fiscal policies occur as part of annual state budget negotiations,although recently, New York policymakers have favored targetedapproaches. Yet the traditional measures of targeting governmentalneeds, such as differences in fiscal capacity and effort, havebeen expanded to emphasize differences in service responsibilities.Strong, and perhaps ironic, parallels are also evident betweenNew York's program and the now defunct federal revenue sharingprogram.     

Huiyun Feng,Kai He and Xiaojun Li,How China Sees the World: Insights from China’s International Relations Scholars

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

Types of Violence against Women and Factors Influencing Intimate Partner Violence in Togo (West Africa)

Violence against women has been recognized as an important social and human rights issue that affects all cultures and societies. Although this issue has been more frequently studied in high-income countries, such as the United States, the scholarly research of violence against women in Africa, especially West Africa, has been scarce. Using a representative sample, this study examined violence against women in Togo, particularly the types of violence that Togolese women endure, and factors that affect a Togolese woman’s chance of being victimized by her intimate partner. The findings indicated that Togolese women experienced different forms of violence. Also, some covariates at the individual level significantly affected a woman’s risk of experiencing intimate partner violence. Several policy recommendations have been made.

Solid-phase cation exchange extraction of basic drugs from the urine of racing greyhounds

The extraction of basic drugs from the urine of racing greyhounds has been carried out for many years using solvent extraction. This paper describes an extraction method that utilises a cation exchange column. Fourteen basic drugs were introduced onto the column in their ionised form, washed with organic and aqueous solvents and eluted with basic methanol. Three drugs, cyclizine, procaine and quinine were determined in authentic samples from racing greyhounds. A comparison of the solid-phase method with liquid-liquid extraction showed an increase in the efficiency of extraction and a reduction in both the time and cost incurred. The method requires a minimal volume of sample and solvent, little glassware and is easily automated.     

Frayed Connections,Fraught Projections: The Troubling Work of Shirin Neshat

Moore discusses the work of visual artist Shirin Neshat exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery, London, from July to September 2000, which comprised the photographic series Women of Allah and the video installation trilogy Turbulent, Rapture and Fervor . Her emphasis is on the way in which Neshat's work addresses the critical issues of positioning, representation and cross-cultural reception. The exhibition was marketed as referring to 'the social, cultural, and religious codes of Muslim societies in general, and Iranian society in particular'. Moore argues, however, that the images tend to project a departicularized cultural context that encourages a neo-orientalist interpretation. She first analyses Women of Allah in terms of symbolic projections of womanhood during the Islamic revolution in Iran and in light of post-revolutionary gendered realities. A critique is also mounted of Neshat'snostalgic self-investment in the revolutionary scene. In a discussion of the later video trilogy, Moore disentangles gendered and cross-cultural binaries in order to theorize the space between the dual screens. Her conclusion is that this intermediate space figures the ambivalence of a displaced cultural perspective. As such, it forces a spectatorial enactment of the frayed or troubled connections that the artist makes between two cultural locales.