Conferences Books

The content is a collection for many web vacuum coating papers.

Given the wide breadth of mathematics, it is natural that the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs would differ widely from institution to institution. The supervising faculty quite naturally want to engage in areas that they are interested in, so there is a wide variation in content and results. However, there are many things about the programs that are constant across organizations. The logistics of advertising the program, selecting the participants, determining the content and duration of the program, finding housing for the participants, and organizing social activities can be overwhelming. And this is if all goes well and there are no conflicts among the participants.
This book is a collection of post mortem reminiscences by faculty who have organized a summer REU. For the most part, they are a statement of how they organized their program, the math problems examined during the session and the results. Many of the results include published papers, so that would certainly be enough to consider them a success. They provide a good deal of sensible advice concerning the basics of how to organize the session and how to avoid some simple and routine problems.
The National Science Foundation funds the REU program and the goal is to expand interest in mathematics and to help prepare the next generation of math researchers. If you have a notion to organize an REU, then I recommend that you read some of the articles in this book before you proceed. It will go a long way in helping you decide if doing a session is something that you really want to do.

Punjabi Identity: Continuity and Change is a collection of papers presented at the 13th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies. Although the conference was held in France, the book reflects the UK-centric nature of current European research on the Punjab and Punjabis: only one contributor, CNRS Research Director Denis Matringe, is based outside the British Isles. Nonetheless, in issues addressed if not contributors' geography, this is a wide-ranging attempt to 'promote an integrated study of the "three Punjabs"' (p.1) of pre-independence, India and Pakistan, and the diaspora.

The book begins with two studies of colonialism's impact on Punjab. First is co-editor Ian Talbot's 'State, Society and Identity: The British Punjab, 1875-1937', an examination of the conflict between urban and rural political traditions in Punjab in which he succinctly describes the surprising success of the latter in resisting the torrent of modernising tendencies unleashed by the British, at least until faced by developments from outside the state during the Second World War. British and European influences are seen to have received a happier welcome in Matringe's 'Punjabi Lyricism and Sikh Reformism: Bhai Vir Singh's Poetry in the 1920s'. Here, the author reveals how local poets created a Punjab 'dripping with love and mysticism...[despite the] explosions of communal and political violence' (p.52) more commonly recorded-and therefore remembered-by the political authorities of the day.

The next five essays take up post-independence developments in a partitioned Punjab. In 'Pakistan or Punjabistan: Crisis of National Identity', Yunas Samad argues that the creation of the former was accompanied by the establishment of a still seemingly unshakable Punjabi hegemony. However, in the following essay, 'Punjabis in Sind: Identity and Power', Sarah Armstrong is at pains to point out that Punjabi identity in Sind is qualitatively different and must be understood as a mix of both Punjabi culture and, typically, resistance to local pro-Sindhi policies. The book's focus then shifts to East (Indian) Punjab. In 'Re-examining the Punjab Problem', co-editor Gurharpal Singh focuses on 'Sikh ethno-nationalism' (p.118) as a means of understanding the 1980s' outbreak of violence in Punjab. As such, he continues, India itself is best understood as an 'ethnic democracy in which 'hegemonic control and [violent] control is exercised over ethnic and religious minorities...' (p.122). Both Joyce Pettigrew and Shinder Singh Thandi then delve deeper into the actors involved in the recent violence afflicting Punjab. In 'The State and Local Groupings in the Sikh Rural Areas, Post-1984', Pettigrew reveals that most militant groups' concentration on vertical rather than horizontal loyalties and associations condemned them to isolation and eventual demise. In 'Counterinsurgency and Political Violence in Punjab, 1980-94', Thandi argues that only by returning to attempts at political and socio-economic rather than militaristic solutions will lasting peace be achieved in the region.

The concluding two essays look outside South Asia to the Punjabi diaspora. In 'Interrogating Identity: Cultural Translation, Writing, and Subaltern Politics', Arvind-pal Singh uses the experience of this particular diaspora to illustrate our need to 'rethink the colonial experience in a radically different way: namely in terms of what remains unthought in the process of cultural translation-indeed of translation as an interpretive process-given that language is the site of production of culture as a text' (pp.223-224). This is followed by 'The 1990s: A Time to Separate British Punjabi and British Kashmiri Identity', a study by Nasreen Ali, Pat Ellis and Zafar Khan which argues for just what the title suggests; the need for British policy-makers and others to differentiate between these two immigrant groups and, thus, the perception and treatment of their respective needs and agenda.

Most collections of essays stand or fall on the editor's critical faculties of selection. Many such works are too often self-selecting, a round-up of papers only tenuously related to one another, published together quickly and cheaply by contributors keen to get into print and publishers hopeful of catching readers of the latest trend. On the other hand, many readers are too often dissatisfied if virtually every article in a collection does not appear relevant to their particular area of interest.

Happily, Punjabi Identity is mostly successful in avoiding the pitfalls listed above. This reader found virtually every article strong enough to stand on its own and together-with one or two exceptions-helpful in trying to understand how the divergent historical experiences, competing religious traditions and geographical differences of Punjabis both 'home and away' are all contributory parts of a common contemporary Punjabi identity. As such, the book succeeds in it stated aim of promoting an integrated study of the 'three Punjabs'.

Yet, just what Punjabi identity is (or may be argued to include) remains unanswered, and this collection would have benefited greatly from a concluding overview/exposition by co-editors Singh and Talbot. Nonetheless, students and scholars of this highly visible and vitally important community, both in South Asia and around the world, will find reading Punjabi Identity a rewarding experience.

i'm interesting in the foliations theor

This is an excellent book, an eye-opener for those of you new to the world of radar meteorology. Do no let the sight of an AMS journal should not scare you. It is heavy reading, but still comprehensive, interesting and informative. There are not many books on weather radar but this is the best. Recommended.

This book is a must for any true Red Raider! While I wasn't around when Tech was admitted to the SWC, I know what a huge impact it had for all of the athletic programs. The great thing about this book is that it chronicles not just the football or basketbal teams, but all of the athletes and teams in a variety of sports. If good photos and memories are what you are after, this is the book for you.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the biggest inter-governmental body of the Islamic world. It has 57 Muslim states as members in its folds with another three in observer capacity. It was established in 1969 when the Muslim leadership met at Rabat for the first Islamic summit to express solidarity against the Zionist action of arson at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. From then on, it gradually expanded both in scope and activities.

Today, the Organization can boast of four principal organs. The triennial Islamic Summit is the top decision-making body. It has held nine regular and one extraordinary sessions so far. The tenth Islamic summit is scheduled for December 2003 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The next is the Islamic Foreign Ministers Conference, known as the ICFM, an annual feature of the Islamic Conference. So far 28 regular and 11 extraordinary ICFMs have been held. The third principal organ is the Islamic General Secretariat, presently temporarily located at Jeddah, `pending the liberation of Jerusalem' which will be the OIC's permanent seat. The present Secretary General Abdul Waheed Belkaziz of Morocco is the eighth person to head the OIC Secretariat. The fourth and the last principal organ of the OIC, the Islamic International Court of Justice (IICJ) could not start functioning as yet, for want of necessary number of ratifications from the Muslim States.

In addition, there are around 44 subsidiary organizations under the OIC umbrella including permanent committees, specialized committees, specialized organs and affiliated institutions etc. Some prominent examples are the Islamic Development Bank, the Islamic News Agency, the Islamic Solidarity Fund, the Organization of Islamic Capitals, the Islamic Sports Federation, the Al-Quds Committee and various Islamic universities etc.

With such an impressive set-up, why has the OIC not become the United Nations of the Muslim World? Why has it not solved the various conflicts in the Muslim world? Why does it seem to be so impotent?

The questions like these have been answered for the first time by a new book by a young Pakistani scholar, Saad S.Khan. A momentous research volume, `Reasserting International Islam' is a new addition to the stream of knowledge about Islam and the modern political world. The book has for the first time filled the lacuna in the world of documented knowledge about the largest intra-Islamic world body.

Not only that, he for the first time discusses the role and activities of all the OIC organs and even various islamic organizations outside the OIC circle like the Rabita Alam al-Islami and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) etc. Compared to the earlier volumes on the topic, most of which are short monographs, the book is the only comprehensive work on Islamic organizations. In fact, it is a reference encyclopedia on the Islamic world bodies.

The book consists of three parts. The introductory chapter of the book sets the theme of the discussion by starting the debate on the Islamic concept of `ummah'. The author cites many writings on the subject to bring home the different connotations of the term with special reference to its use in the texts of Koran and the Hadith. The chapter also deals with the question as to whether the OIC is the modern day replacement of the Islamic institution of Caliphate.

The part I of the book deals with the OIC--- its origin, its structure, its bureaucracy (life-sketches of all the OIC Secretary Generals are also given), its political history and the most interesting chapter about the problems and weaknesses of the organization. The Part II of the book deals with 30 leading Islamic institutions of the Islamic world both within the OIC framework and outside it.

The concluding chapter is based on the assessment of the Islamic organizations, their current role and the future scope. This is the most interesting chapter where the author frankly gives his opinion about the future of the ummah. He agrees that the OIC is not the United Nations of the Muslims but avers that the significance of the OIC lies in the vast potential that it has, if its weaknesses as identified in the book are removed. Saad Khan believes that the structure of Muslim organizations is so elaborate that it leaves not much to be desired but the need is to make this more responsive to the Muslim needs in the current times.

The last part of the book is composed of annexures. It contains the OIC Charter, the Islamic Declaration of Human Rights, the final communiqués of all the Islamic Summit Conferences held hitherto and many charts about the Muslim composition in the country-wise population of different parts of the world. This coupled with detailed list of Abbreviations, an elaborate Glossary and a comprehensive Bibliography enhance the worth of the book. This third section, in fact, makes the book a required library item and a compulsory reference for anyone who wishes to embark on any topic of research related to the modern Muslim world.

Here a word about the author, Saad S.Khan, is a bureaucrat by profession but a scholar by temperament. His published research papers and his lectures on Islam and international politics in universities in different parts of the world, are well-acknowledged now. He calls this book his labor of love.

To gain an insight into his thinking, one is tempted to specially mention the chapters 6 and 8 in Part I of the volume under review. The former gives a political history including the Palestine dispute, the Bosnian tragedy, the Iran-Iraq war etc. The account is lucid, argumentative and convincing. For instance, he blows the myth that Muslim world has done nothing for the cause of Jerusalem. About the Iran-Iraq war, he narrates in detail the efforts by the Muslim ummah to bring about a cessation in fratricidal hostilities and laments the fact that the two sides lost a lot by not heeding to the OIC peace initiatives. He also tells us the true and heretofore hidden story about how the Muslim world saved Bosnia from extinction. The chapter also discussed the Islamic worldview on major questions including `terrorism', `human rights' and `disarmament'.

The chapter 8 goes on to identify the major problems that have compromised the effectiveness of the Islamic Conference. He proves that financial quagmire is the biggest impediment in the way of an effective OIC. He then recounts various incidents showing, what he calls, the bloc-politics in the Muslim nations. He also tells us how many Muslim states compromised Islamic aims on the altar of petty national interests.

One tends to recommend the book, a fruit of many years of research, to both the pessimists and the optimists about Islamic revival. The book has brought a refreshing objectivity to the topic. It is a boon to the students and scholars alike and will be of ample use for the policy-makers also.

The foreword of the book has been written by John L.Esposito, an authority on Islam, in the United States. A noted scholar and an author of eight valuable books on Islam, Dr. Esposito is a professor at the Georgetown University and the Director of the Centre for Christian-Muslim Understanding. I would conclude my review with his view that whatever shape the concept of Islamic Ummah-hood takes in the future, Saad Khan's book would remain a required reading.

The essays in this collection are mostly in English with two in Italian. They are well edited and represent readable discussions of the impact upon studies of Aristotle during the Renaissance revival of new sources for Greek commentaries of the Philosopher and the Greek text without the intervention of Averroes.

This book is a collection of Chandler's essays that have been published in various journals over the years. Chandler is a Business Historian at Harvard. My favorite essay is "The Role of Business in the U.S.: A Historical Survey" originally published in "Daedalus" in 1969. In it, Chandler says that business went through four stages: 1) from merchant to wholesaler; 2) from wholesaler to manufacturer; 3) from manufacturer to manager; and 4) from manager to sharing w/government. The last is probably synonymous with corporatism.

Merchants were pre-1800 and were Hamiltonians who called themselves Federalists, but were actually opposed to federalism and wanted a strong central government instead.

Wholesalers were financiers of long-term growth from 1800 to 1850. They pressured the state and municipal governments to issue or guarantee bonds. They even persuaded the state to build and operate transport facilities, with the average man footing the bill. Wholesalers were sectional, not national, which was evident in wholesalers versus planters (North versus the South).

From 1850 to 1900, manufacturers rose to dominance. Wholesalers were no longer needed. Bankers and railroads along with vertical consolidation caused the demise of the wholesaler. High start-up investment made entry difficult. During this time, the corporate mode of business oranization began growing in popularity. It was easier to move up through the military-like ranks of a corporation than to make one's own business. It is interesting to note that by 1894, U.S. output equalled that of Britain, France and Germany combined!

From 1900 to the Present, the manager mode arose because businesses were being swallowed by corporations. And corporations are not operated by the owners; they are operated by hired managers. Managers are an economic elite, according to Chandler. They used government to finance their projects (public money is the average man's money), used government to protect them from foreign competition, and used government's central banking system beginning in 1913.

In the 1930s, Chandler detected government cooperation with corporations (or what I would call corporatism). About all Chandler had to say about this early form of corporatism was that corporations were unable to alleviate the Depression, so he favored government intervention as a remedy. It is interesting to note that the government, like its child - the corporation, was just as unable to alleviate the Depression; in fact, government intervention prolonged it.

Chandler ends with his survey without drawing conclusions. He says "Such analyses are properly left to social scientists and businessmen". So he get 4 stars for his history, but not a fifth for failing to interpret what it all means.

This article is freely available on the Real Time Delphi homepage (Google it!). The Real Time Delphi site has other relevant resources, including software to make this method work.