Resistance and Assimilation: Transforming Security Roles of China’s Largest Muslim Minorities

China’s resurgence as an economic power has brought it increased interconnectivity to international global markets, and with it, increased exposure to transnational crimes. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the resulting increase in religious-inspired terrorist attacks have been of particular concern for the Chinese leadership. This paper aims to highlight the processes of resistance and assimilation of China’s two largest Muslim minorities, the Hui and Uyghur, in successive Chinese Empires since the eighth century CE and how critical events in the past two decades have affected the way in which the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has approached relations with its Muslim minority communities. The purpose is two-fold: to expose these groups’ stabilizing and destabilizing influence throughout the 1300 years of Muslim-Chinese coexistence, and to assess the effectiveness of the Chinese Communist Party’s Policies towards its Muslim minorities.     

All I Need is Shoe: An Investigation into the Obligatory Aspect of Sexual Object Fetishism

Using a mixed-methods approach, the authors explored whether individuals reporting sexual object fetishism require the presence of their fetish for sexual activity. In Study 1 (n = 63), a qualitative study, the majority of participants reported enjoying sexual activity without the fetishized object. However, sexual activities involving their fetish were preferred. In Study 2 (n = 195), the majority of participants reported having engaged in both fetish and nonfetish sexual activities, and that the fetish was not required for sexual arousal. On average, both fetish and nonfetish sexual activity were rated as sexually satisfying, although fetish sex was rated as more satisfying.     

Mapping Social Capital: A Critical Contextual Approach For Working With Low-Status Families

Promoting justice in therapeutic work with families demands an analysis of contextual factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, and social class in relationship to societal systems of power, privilege, and oppression. A broad understanding of these dynamics, however, is inadequate to inform our work with families whose social capital severely limits available life choices, social influence, and material resources. In this article, we describe working from a critical contextual perspective to consider how families gain and/or lose social capital through participation in multiple contexts. We introduce a technique for mapping social capitol within and across multiple systems as well as suggestions for interventions aimed at increasing the social well-being of low-status families. These include considering the dynamics of boundary crossing, recognizing and optimizing resistance to oppressive dynamics, finding ways to limit constraints and optimize opportunities, and developing webs of allies to support family functioning and access to resources. We offer the example of 13-year-old Pepe as a case in point.     

Privilege,Power, and Dungeons & Dragons: How Systems Shape Racial and Gender Identities in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

This article takes a cultural-historical approach to analyzing how systems shape the assumptions, identities, and experiences of their users. Focusing on how the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons is built on a system of play that has grown and shifted over the course of 40 years, this study emphasizes the central role that systems play in mediating the experiences of participants. By focusing on depictions of gender, race, and power in Dungeons & Dragons—as a singular cultural practice—this study highlights how researchers must attend to cultural production both around and within systems.     

Estimation of non-parametric regression in the analysis of the anti-inflammatory activity of diverse extracts of Sideritis foetens

SUMMARY A procedure to choose the best non-parametric estimator from among all nonparametric methods to fit regression curves is described. The methodology that is proposed prevents a lack of fit at the edges of the regression curve. The method is summed up in a few steps to facilitate its application by researchers. The procedure is applied to the determination of various curves that explain the anti-inflammatory activity of diverse extracts of Sideritis foetens and phenylbutazone against the time elapsed from the application of the agent which provokes the inflammation. Discussion shows that it is possible to obtain valid conclusions about the effects of the different products and to establish comparisons between them. Such conclusions are not possible when starting from the classical statistics methods usually employed in pharmacology.     

Dual-language characteristics and earnings: Male Mexican workers in the United States

This paper examines income differentials between native-born white males of non-Hispanic origins and Mexican American males of varying linguistic statuses. The analysis relies on conventional modeling techniques of the earnings process and the selected use of mother tongue, English fluency, and primary language usage to categorize the Mexican American population. The findings differ among the derived groups. Among Mexican immigrants, there does not appear to be any direct economic reward for speaking English. For the U.S.-born Chicanos, there is only a small economic advantage associated with being reared as an English monolingual, and there appears to be a clear disadvantage directly associated with being a Spanish-dominant bilingual.     

Syllabus review: procedures for strengthening racial,ethnic, and gender-related curriculum content

The issue of how one school of social work in the United States approached the systematic incorporation of racial/ethnic and gender-related content in its curriculum is the subject of this paper. American accreditation standards on curriculum content of the above issues are discussed, as are the impact of this process on the school's curriculum as well as increased faculty awareness.