Diversity and commonality in national identities: an exploratory analysis of cross-national patterns

Issues of boundary maintenance are implicit in all studies of national identity. By definition, national communities consist of those who are included but surrounded (literally or metaphorically) by those who are excluded. Most extant research on national identity explores criteria for national membership largely in terms of official or public definitions described, for example, in citizenship and immigration laws or in texts of popular culture. We know much less about how ordinary people in various nations reason about these issues. An analysis of cross-national (N = 23) survey data from the 1995 International Social Science Program reveals a core pattern in most of the countries studied. Respondents were asked how important various criteria were in being 'truly' a member of a particular nation. Exploratory factor analysis shows that these items cluster in terms of two underlying dimensions. Ascriptive/objectivist criteria relating to birth, religion and residence can be distinguished from civic/voluntarist criteria relating to subjective feelings of membership and belief in core institutions. In most nations the ascriptive/objectivist dimension of national identity was more prominent than the subjective civic/voluntarist dimension. Taken overall, these findings suggest an unanticipated homogeneity in the ways that citizens around the world think about national identity. To the extent that these dimensions also mirror the well-known distinction between ethnic and civic national identification, they suggest that the former remains robust despite globalization, mass migration and cultural pluralism. Throughout the world official definitions of national identification have tended to shift towards a civic model. Yet citizens remain remarkably traditional in outlook. A task for future research is to investigate the macrosociological forces that produce both commonality and difference in the core patterns we have identified.

Activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha enhances cell death in cultured cerebellar granule cells

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPAR alpha) is a member of the steroid hormone receptor superfamily. In rodents, PPAR alpha. alters genes involved in cell cycle regulation in hepatocytes. Some of these genes are implicated in neuronal cell death. Therefore, in this study, we examined the toxicological consequence of PPAR alpha activation in rat primary cultures of cerebellar granule neurons. Our studies demonstrated the presence of PPAR alpha mRNA in cultures by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. After 10 days in vitro, cerebellar granule neuron cultures were incubated with the selective PPAR alpha activator 4-chloro-6-(2,3-xylidino)2-pyrimidinylthioacetic acid (Wy-14,643). The inherent toxicity of Wy-14,643 and the effect of PPAR alpha activation following toxic stimuli were assessed. In these studies, neurotoxicity was induced through reduction of extracellular [KCl] from 25 mM to 5.36 mM. We observed no inherent toxicity of Wy-1 4,643 (24 hr) in cultured cerebellar granule cells. However, after reduction of [KCl], cerebellar granule cell cultures incubated with Wy-14,643 showed significantly greater toxicity than controls. These results suggest a posssible role for PPAR(x in augmentation of cerebellar granule neuronal death after toxic stimuli. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Anxious futures: Magpie2 and 'new generationalism' in Australian youth-specific theatre

The field of contemporary youth-specific theatre in Australia is one of change and, in some cases, anxiety. While Drama Studies continue to grow in popularity in schools, previously conventional developmental paradigms have become less mandatory for theatre, for, by, and about young people outside the school context. Instead, 'new generation' approaches in youth-specific performance are placing greater value on young people's own preferences in cultural activity. Yet this development is being tempered and further complicated by a cultural 'generationalism', particularly in larger arts organization as the youth sector becomes a more integral part of marketing strategies for the future. The resulting ambiguity in the representation, value, and positioning of young people and youth-specific arts in Australia's theatre industry is considered by focusing on Magpie2, a former youth-specific company attached to the State Theatre Company of South Australia. Magpie2 ceased operation in 1998 after experimenting with a 'new generation' approach to theatre for young people in the State Theatre realm. Both the artistic policy of Magpie2 Director, Benedict Andrews, and the critical reception of his two productions in 1997, Future Tense and Features of Blown Youth, demonstrate how competing systems of cultural value characterize the field of youth-specific theatre in Australia.

The breeding-season diet of wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax) in western New South Wales and the influence of Rabbit Calicivirus Disease

A total of 2071 individual prey items were identified from 34 active and 55 inactive wedge-tailed eagle nests following the 1995, 1996 and 1997 breeding seasons. Overall, the eagle's diet was comparable to that reported in other studies within semi-arid regions, with rabbits, reptiles and macropods accounting for 47.8, 22.6 and 13.7% of prey items, respectively. In spring 1996 rabbit calicivirus moved into the study area, resulting in a 44-78% reduction in rabbit abundance (Sharp et al. 2001). An index was developed to enable the time since death for individual prey items to be approximated and a historical perspective of the eagle's diet to be constructed. Rabbits constituted 56-69% of dietary items collected during the pre-rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD) samples, but declined to 31% and 16% in the two post-RCD samples. A reciprocal trend was observed for the proportion of reptiles in the diet, which increased from 8-21% of pre-RCD dietary items to 49-54% after the advent of RCD. Similarly, the proportion of avian prey items was observed to increase in the post-RCD samples. These data suggested that prey switching may have occurred following the RCD epizootic. However, a lack of data on the relative abundances of reptiles and birds prevented an understanding of the eagle's functional responses to be developed and definitive conclusions to be drawn. Nevertheless, the eagles were observed to modify their diet to the change in rabbit densities by consuming larger quantities of native prey species.

Noninvasive measurement of cerebral bioimpedance for detection of cerebral edema in the neonatal piglet

The association of sustained cerebral edema with poor neurological outcome following hypoxia-ischaemia in the neonate suggests that measurement of cerebral edema may allow early prediction of outcome in these infants. Direct measurements of cerebral impedance have been widely used in animal studies to monitor cerebral edema, but such invasive measurements are not possible in the human neonate. This study investigated the ability of noninvasive cerebral impedance measurements to detect cerebral edema following hypoxia-ischaemia. One-day-old piglets were anaesthetized, intubated and ventilated. Hypoxia was induced by reducing the inspired oxygen concentration to 4-6% O-2. Noninvasive cerebral bioimpedance was measured using gel electrodes attached to the scalp. Cerebral bioimpedance was also measured directly by insertion of two silver-silver chloride electrodes subdurally. Noninvasive and invasive measurements were made before, during and after hypoxia. Whole body impedance was measured to assess overall fluid movements. Intracranial pressure was measured continuously via a catheter inserted subdurally, as an index of cerebral edema. There was good agreement between noninvasive and invasive measurements of cerebral impedance although externally obtained responses were attenuated. Noninvasive measurements were also well correlated with intracranial pressure. Whole body impedance changes did not account for increases in noninvasively measured cerebral impedance. Results suggest that noninvasive cerebral impedance measurements do reflect intracranial events, and are able to detect cerebral edema following hypoxia-ischaemia in the neonate. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.