bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Systems analysis of rational actions and the delegation problems
Authors: Tondl Ladislav
Published: February 2011

The concept of rational action has usually been analyzed and explained in some theories stressing certain partial aspects of rational action, e.g. in sociological theories, in the domain of logic of action, etc. The presented paper emphasizes the role of systems approach distinguishing a specification of goals, basic functions of action, input prerequisites and achieved or achievable outputs. For any rational action there is typical what we can denote as ‘knowledge‐ladenness’ and ‘value‐laden‐ness’. The knowledge prerequisites include various domains of knowledge, especially ‘know‐what’, ‘know‐how’ and ‘know‐why’. The systems approach is useful in connection with automation problems and ‘delegation’ problems (i.e. processes of transmitting some components of human actions to computerized systems. Solving the delegation problems we have to evaluate not only the final results but also all main components of rational action.
Self‐cybernetics: Toward an integrated model of self‐concept processes
Authors: Sirgy M. Joseph
Published: February 2011

An attempt is made in this paper to develop a self‐cybernetic model of human behavior, explaining behavior in terms of self‐concept and cybernetics. The integrated model is essentially a self‐cybernetic system described as a cyclical process involving monitor, input, comparator, and output processes. The monitor component is described in terms of self‐monitoring; input component is described in terms of self‐perception; comparator component is described in terms of self‐evaluation; and the output of the self‐cybernetic system is described in terms of three psychological processes—behavior change, cognitive change, and information search. It is argued that a self‐cybernetic system can be analyzed as a series of self‐cybernetics cycles in time (t—1, t, t+1,…, t+n). Each self‐cybernetic cycle starts out with a self‐monitoring process that guides the person to monitor certain self‐related information from the environment and/or activates certain self‐expectancies from memory. The input serves to categorize the information as similar/dissimilar to self‐expectancies evoked from memory. Information that is self‐debasing attributed to the self and/or inconsistent with the evoked self‐expectancy produces a stress signal forcing the individual to take corrective action through (1) cognitive change, (2) behavior change, (3) information search, or (4) a comparator operation. Cognitive change essentially involves employing one of the following three coping strategies: (1) self‐concept differentiation, (2) self‐concept compartmentalization, or (3) self‐concept change. Behavior change involves decision making to engage in a course of action to reduce the stress. Information search involves entering into an information search cybernetic cycle having its own monitor, input, comparator, and output functions. A comparator operation involves a self‐evaluation in which the self‐perception (input) is evaluated in relation to a self‐expectancy (referent). Unfavorable self‐evaluations produce a stress signal which induces the person to engage in an output‐related operation—cognitive change, behavior change, or information search.
Morphostasis and morphogenesis: Contexts of design inquiry
Authors: Robb Fenton F.
Published: February 2011

The current understandings of the nature of organizational change and manager's perceptions of the risk involved in change are reviewed briefly. Consideration is given to the differences in the kinds of change and a call is made upon the new paradigm of emergence and the maximization of entropy production. The attempt is made to apply this to organizational change in order to demonstrate that change can become unmanageable under certain definable conditions; indeed that change methods can be dysfunctional. A plea is made for the dimension of the systemic properties of institutions to be added to the technical and social dimensions more often considered.
Systems activity in india
Authors: Ghosal Amitava
Published: February 2011

A review of activities in system sciences in India and their applications in various problems of real life has been given in this paper. Since India's independence in 1947, there has been an emphasis on systems thinking in formulating national plans. Yet systems and cybernetics have not made sufficient penetration in academic activities. The work of a few model organizations has been mentioned.
Self‐organization in hierarchically organized systems
Authors: Auger Pierre M.
Published: February 2011

Firstly, we study dynamical processes in a hierarchically organized set of interacting elements. We study inter‐levels couplings which can be of two types, bottom‐top and top‐bottom. We apply this general method to coupled individual and population dynamics in Ecology. We realize computer simulations of this example. The coupling between the two levels gives birth to nonlinear effects. Secondly, we study thermodynamical aspects and we show that the entropy of a hierarchically organized system is the sum of entropies associated to each of the hierarchical levels. We consider ensembles with equiprobable and non equiprobable states. These states probabilities are calculated from the transition graph of the dynamical model. In this way, we relate thermodynamical models of hierarchically organized systems to dynamical models. Then, we calculate the entropy variation resulting from a change in the transition graph of the dynamical model. We show that the entropy of a hierarchically organized system can be larger than the entropy of a non hierarchical system.
Self‐organization in human systems—a paradigm of ethics?
Authors: Smith Charles
Published: February 2011

This paper examines issues of ethics related to the application of the self‐organization paradigm to human systems. The argument is presented that, while self‐organizing processes may be vital to effectively managing social organizations within periods of turbulence and uncertainty, extreme caution is necessary in actions that are taken to initiate or amplify self‐organization processes in human systems Drawing upon Jantsch's original formulation of the self‐organization paradigm, indications arc provided of ways of attaining the benefits and minimizing the dangers related to self‐organization, by insuring that self‐organization processes contribute simultaneously to resource now and distribution, autonomy and to a sense of meaningfulness and connectedness among individuals and organizations in society. Using a Jungian perspective, the importance to self‐organization of individual reflection and access to the unconscious is discussed.
Placemaking: Urban landscape system management
Authors: Motloch John
Published: February 2011

This paper applies systems and metasystems theory to urban landscape management and urban design, to move beyond the object‐level of design style to the meta‐level of paradigms, professional epistemologies, and urban ecological, physiological and psychological health. It explores: The city as incrementally designed system; the landscape and contemporary architecture as different system types; urban planning and design for placeness and sustainability; natural and human system carrying capacity, urban growth, and system health; external and internal contexts; and hard and soft implementation issues. It speaks for: An urban management hierarchy of meta‐systems, systems and project designers; the management of physical and cultural systems for human experience; and the synergism of human, structural, infrastructural and ecological systems for environmental and human health. It explores the role of design facilitators, and modified innovation‐intervention techniques used to manage healthy, innovative, responsive, sustainable and meaningful urban landscapes. It identifies the tasks of placemakers as system mctamodelers to include the integrated management of complex systems by facilitating second order change that moves the design professions beyond reductionist ‘project driven’ design; the development of management structures and implementation processes; and liaison with professional organizations to define their epistemologies. It also reviews on‐going efforts to manage urban placeness, and new processes for facilitating this management.
Design of the modern inquiring system
Authors: Van Gigch John P.
Published: February 2011

In ‘Design of the Modern Inquiring System’, the thinking of past philosophers and thinkers will be surveyed and discussed to discover how their logic and methods of reasoning can be used to design The Modern Inquring System — a system dedicated to the acquisition and production of knowledge and to the solution of contemporary systems problems. Authors interested in contributing to this section should contact the undersigned with the name of a system thinker they would like to feature.
Family stories as mechanisms of evolutionary guidance
Authors: Frantz Tad Goguen
Published: February 2011

Families have been functioning as systems of evolutionary guidance for themselves and their individual members since at least as far back as the hunter‐gatherer societies. Stories told by mothers to soothe their children have come down to us through the generations by means of the oral tradition. Bettleheim[4] detailed the power of such stories, our modern fairy tales, to assist young children with their psychosocial development, thus serving as mechanisms of evolutionary guidance for individuals. Bowen's[5] family systems theory delineates how families constrain or guide their own evolution by means of powerful and automatic patterns of emotional reactivity that are passed from generation to generation. Elizabeth Stone[9] has described how the stories families tell about themselves, the world and their relationship to it shape a family's organization, values, collective experience and identity, as well as the roles to be played out by individuals. This scholarly and clinical work is integrated and placed within the framework of Banathy's[2,3] notions about evolutionary guidance systems to suggest that the conscious collecting, sharing and recording of family lore (memories and myths family members tell about themselves) can promote individual and familial identity in addition to mental and social health. Family stories are thus conceptualized as powerful mechanisms of familial evolution and wellness.
Freedom and limits the fundamental theorem of system structure
Authors: Hollebone Bryan R. , Hough Robbin R.
Published: February 2011

In general, stable systems consist of particles whose motion is bound within the limits set by a confining influence. Any such system obeys six empirical laws of nature which together form the fundamental theorem of system structure. On any scale, this theorem defines the states that result from a rigid coupling of a particles position to its direction and speed. As they travel, the particles in any system periodically exchange kinetic for potential energy as they travel their allowed pathway of motion. Consider, for example, the pendulum whose potential energy is maximized at each end of its swing while its kinetic energy is maximized at the bottom of its swing. The most basic description of the shape of the particle's pathway is its representation within the space of the confining influence. The resulting dynamic geometries of particle states, the process of change between the states and the processes necessary to alter the system itself can all be described. Subsequently, the description of the particles and their confining influence permits the application of the theorem to any local system.
Specialization and socialization in hearing health care: Audiology
Authors: Robinson D. O.
Published: February 2011

The reciprocal proportions of socialism and specialization in the health care system should promote the effective delivery of treatment. This paper presents a brief history of specialization in medicine, and considers typical problems in the delivery of health care caused by medical and audiological specialization. A specific professional example from the field of audiology offers a detailed description of factors which adversely affect patient treatment. A functional model to achieve the appropriate relationship between specialized and general patient care is proposed, and a syllogistic conclusion is offered for consideration.
A formulation of a simulation modelling methodology
Authors: Sato Ryo
Published: February 2011

The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual basis of modeling of discrete event systems, that is, a guideline along which making models and their programs and modification of them are carried out.

For this purpose we formulate the three‐phase approach that was proposed as a methodology of discrete event simulation. Using this methodology, analysts model static interactions between entities in the target system and then make a program that shows dynamic aspects of the system. The formulation, based on the mathematical general systems theory, shows what determines the dynamics of a discrete event system resulting from the program, what information is used and how they are related in models in the methodology.

More concretely, a simulation program used in the three‐phase approach is formulated as a state space representation whose state space consists of queue and a set of internal records. Those records hold internally‐set occurrence times of activities in corresponding entities. The role which activity interaction diagrams play as static skeleton models in the methodology is explicitly shown in terms of its simulation program.
Change and evolution
Authors: Katsenelinboigen A.
Published: February 2011

A general systems theorist may be interested in the analysis of development paradigms evolved by different sciences. What mechanisms account for the changes, selection, and reinforcement of the traits selected for — these are the kind of questions that the development paradigms are designed to answer. This article aims to evaluate the impact that the paradigms in economics have had on biology. Malthus' conceptual framework of economics, which had as its centerpiece the idea of selection, exerted a powerful influence on Darwin's theory of evolution. For a long time biology and economics also shared the presupposition of the random nature of changes in their respective domains of phenomena.

Economic science has now offered up new paradigms which focus primarily on some orderly mechanisms of change, and treat the sphere of R&D, as one chiefly responsible for changes, as a separate concern. The field of R&D, organically linked with the rest of the economy, consists of distinct stages, each with its own peculiar performance mechanism. Some, but only some, of these mechanisms may work on the principle of random changes.

It is this structured nature of the processes in the “mutative” system of the economy that may be of greatest interest to biology, where the idea of random changes still predominates. Recent breakthroughs in molecular biology, and specifically the discovery of jumping genes, Z‐genes, etc., made it possible to hypothesize the existence in the organism of some orderly mechanisms responsible for changes. Structures within these mechanisms not only ensure the preservation of accumulated experience and growth, but also the creation of new features; it seems to me, that survival and growth must be subordinated to development. This hypothesis may also illuminate the causes of diseases that result from various breakdowns in these structure. One possible example of such a systematic malfunction is cancer.
Mankind as society, an example of a nonequilibrium system: Reflections on a theory of structure and pattern formation
Authors: Fliedner Dietrich
Published: February 2011

— Like every biotic, species mankind constitutes an extremely complex nonequilibrium system. This paper tries to gain an insight into its structure. Recognizable organizational patterns are the definable social populations (family, community, urban population, people, cultural population, etc.); they are ordered hierarchically. The social population is in itself a nonequilibrium system. Its structure can most appropriately be achieved by reducing it to the essentials and establishing a model. Within this “basic system” the flow of information and energy, the structuring processes connected with self‐organization etc. is described by a set of formulae (Tabs. 1–4; Fig. 1). The “basic system” can be regarded as a module that can also be used to form complex structures, above all the superior nonequilibrium system: Mankind as society (Fig. 2). This is a task for the future.
Preparation of microporous starch by glucoamylase and ultrasound
Authors: Wu Yun , Du Xianfeng , Ge Honghua , Lv Zhen
Published: February 2011

Microporous starch was prepared from corn starch by glucoamylase catalysis combined with ultrasonic treatment. Twenty milliliters of starch slurries (40, 60, and 80% w/w) were treated with 0.05% v/v glucoamylase (enzyme activity >100 000 U/g), or a combination of 0.05% v/v glucoamylase with ultrasound at 100 W (20% power), 200 W (40% power), and 300 W (60% power) for 10, 30, and 50 min concurrently or sequentially. Degree of hydrolysis and degree of oil absorption were applied as indexes to evaluate the quality of the microporous starch. The microstructures, crystalline structures, and pasting properties of microporous starch were studied by SEM, XRD, and rapid visco analyzer (RVA), respectively. The results indicated that the preferred combination was sonication at 200 W (40% power) for 50 min during glucoamylase digestion with 40% slurry concentration. The results of this study provide an efficient method for microporous starch production.
Physicochemical properties of sweetpotato starch
Authors: Zhu Fan , Yang Xinsun , Cai Yi‐Zhong , Bertoft Eric , Corke Harold
Published: February 2011

Sweetpotato starch is high‐yielding, but has limited development and uses. In this study, physicochemical properties of sweetpotato starch from 11 representative genotypes with diverse geographic origins in China were characterized and showed wide variations. Apparent amylose contents measured by iodine binding ranged from 23.3 to 26.5%, by gel permeation chromatography after debranching from 17.5 to 23.9%, and true amylose content by concanavalin A binding from 15.9 to 22.5%. In vitro digestibility varied from 29.5 to 41.2%. Swelling power and water solubility index were highly correlated (r2 = 0.88). Gelatinization peak temperature and enthalpy ranged from 75.4 to 79.7°C, and 7.6 to 13.6 J/g, respectively. Pasting peak and cold paste viscosities varied from 268 to 469 RVU, and 170 to 284 RVU. Amylose contents were highly correlated to digestibility, pasting, and thermal parameters.
Effects of type of polymerization catalyst system on the degradation of polyethylenes in the melt state. Part 1: Unstabilized polyethylenes (including metallocene types)
Authors: Sánchez Karmele del Teso , Allen Norman S. , Liauw Christopher M. , Johnson Brian
Published: February 2011

Several polyethylene resins namely, high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) (Phillips metal oxide catalyst) and linear low‐density polyethylenes (LLDPE) (formed by using Ziegler‐Natta and metallocene catalyst technologies), were used in order to acquire insight into the effect of different polymerization catalyst systems on the production of degradation products during melt processing. Infrared spectroscopy, color measurement, hydroperoxide determination, and melt flow rate measurement were used to monitor the degradation as a function of the number of passes through a twin‐screw extruder. The metallocene PEs were shown to exhibit superior melt stability relative to Phillips HDPE. The latter showed high levels of hydroperoxide formation. The superior thermo‐oxidative stability of the metallocene PEs was attributed to low levels of metallic catalyst residues, together with low vinyl unsaturation content. In all of the PEs examined, the rate of crosslinking was greater than that of chain scission. IR spectroscopy indicated that crosslinking (most prevalent in the Phillips HDPE) proceeded via the addition of macroradicals to vinyl unsaturation. The Ziegler‐Natta LLDPE showed an intermediate tendency for crosslinking but notable formation of trans‐vinylidene and the most noticeable color development. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers
Effective capacity of a correlated Nakagami‐m fading channel
Authors: Wang Qing , Wu Dapeng , Fan Pingyi
Published: February 2011

The grail of next‐generation wireless networks is providing real‐time services for delay‐sensitive applications, which require that the wireless networks provide QoS guarantees. The effective capacity (EC) proposed by Wu and Negi provides a powerful tool for design of QoS provisioning mechanisms. In this paper, we intend to generalize their formula for the effective capacity of a correlated Rayleigh fading channel; specifically, we derive a closed form approximate EC formula for a special correlated Nakagami‐m fading channel, for which the inverse of the correlation coefficient matrix is tridiagonal. To verify its accuracy via simulation, we develop a Green‐matrix based approach, which allows us to analytically obtain the effective capacity (given the joint probability density function of a correlated Nakagami‐m fading channel) while being able to simulate the corresponding channel gain process. Simulation results show that our EC formula is accurate. Furthermore, to facilitate the application of the EC theory to the design of practical QoS provisioning mechanisms, we propose a simple algorithm for estimating the EC of an arbitrary correlated Nakagami‐m fading channel, given channel measurements; simulation results demonstrate the accuracy of our proposed EC estimation algorithm showing its suitability in practice. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Coverage analysis for target localization in camera sensor networks
Authors: Liu Liang , Ma Huadong , Zhang Xi
Published: February 2011

Camera sensor networks have recently emerged as a critical research topic. In this paper, we investigate the coverage problem for camera sensor networks. Specially, compared to the coverage problem for target detection which has been intensively studied, this paper studies the coverage problem from the perspective of target localization. We first propose a novel localization‐oriented sensing model based on the perspective projection of the camera sensors. Then, under the random uniform deployment strategy, we analyze how the probability of the localization‐oriented coverage (L‐coverage for short) changes with the sensors number and the parameters of the proposed sensing model. Finally, we conduct extensive simulations to validate our model and theoretical analysis about L‐coverage probability. The obtained results show that our scheme can be effectively applied for practical scenarios. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hidden node collision recovery protocol for low rate wireless personal area networks
Authors: Zhang Shengzhi , Yoo Sang‐Jo
Published: February 2011

Referring to most media access control (MAC) protocols in low rate personal area networks (LR‐WPANs), there is no hidden node collision avoidance mechanism utilized. Quantitative analysis in this paper based on the IEEE 802.15.4 specification shows a high probability of the continuous hidden node collisions (CHNCs), which seriously decreases network throughput. Based on this observation, we propose a cost‐efficient recovery mechanism to achieve fast self‐healing when LR‐WPANs suffer CHNCs, while introducing no overhead when there are no collisions. Simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed protocol in terms of network throughput and power saving. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rogers v. commissioner: Do multiple “wrongs” make patients' rights?
Authors: Gutheil Thomas G.
Published: February 2011

The final version of an important right‐to‐refuse‐treatment case leaves paradox and puzzlement in its wake.
Patient access to mental health records: Impact on clinical practice
Authors: Schwartz Harold I. , Rachlin Stephen
Published: February 2011

The trend toward increasing patients' access to their own mental health records has changed charting practices and influenced patient care, with mixed results.
The long‐term treatment of young schizophrenics in a community support program
Authors: Test Mary Ann , Knoedler William H. , Allness Deborah J.
Published: February 2011

The clinical research unit from which the Training in Community Living model came is now investigating long‐term use of the model in the treatment of young adults with schizophrenic disorders.
Structural analysis of compounds with actions similar to local anesthetics and antipsychotic phenothiazines in yeast
Authors: Uesono Yukifumi , Toh‐e Akio , Kikuchi Yoshiko , Terashima Ichiro
Published: February 2011

Local anesthetics and antipsychotic phenothiazines cause a rapid shutdown of both actin polarization and translation initiation in yeast cells, like some environmental stresses. These compounds all have an amphiphilic structure, surfactant activity and the ability to lyse yeast cells. To elucidate the structures responsible for the shutdown activity and cell lysis, we investigated a variety of amphiphiles. In the hydrophobic region, the straight alkyl structure was sufficient for the shutdown of actin polarization and translational initiation. In the hydrophilic region of the straight alkyl compounds, cationic trimethyl ammonium (TMA) and non‐ionic hydroxyl structure (alcohols) shut down both reactions, while an anionic structure, sulphate, with a long alkyl chain (≥C6) shut down actin polarization only. On the compounds that shut down both reactions, including the clinical drugs, TMA compounds and alcohols, the potencies of shutdown and lysis exponentially increased with increasing the number of carbons in the hydrophobic region, whereas safety was affected by the structures of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions. These results indicate that the yeast system can easily evaluate clinical drugs, and provide a structural basis for designing compounds to shut down intracellular reactions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Synthesis, Characterization, and Photoluminescence Properties of a Planar Copper Triazolate Coordination Polymer with Cyanide as Co‐Ligand
Authors: Zhu Ai‐Xin , Xu Quan‐Qing , Liu Feng‐Yi , Qi Xiao‐Lin
Published: February 2011

A new copper coordination polymer [Cu3(CN)(dmtz)2] (1) (Hdmtz = 3,5‐dimethyl‐1,2,4‐triazole) was solvothermally synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy, X‐ray power diffraction, and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. The single‐crystal diffraction analysis shows that compound 1 belongs to the orthorhombic space group Pmmn, and exhibits a 2D planar framework constructed by the ligand dmtz and cyanide anions, in which the cyanide anion was generated from in situ decomposition of acetonitrile. The photoluminescent study indicates that 1 emits strong blue‐green luminescence with long emission lifetimes in the solid state at room temperature.
Six‐year monitoring of pine ectomycorrhizal biomass under a temperate monsoon climate indicates significant annual fluctuations in relation to climatic factors
Authors: Okada Keiichi , Okada Sachiko , Yasue Koh , Fukuda Masaki , Yamada Akiyoshi
Published: February 2011

Ectomycorrhizas (EM) are among the most active components of forest soil biomass because they represent the dominant soil carbon efflux from forests. However, temporal patterns of EM biomass in relation to climatic factors and host tree growth remain unclear. We sampled EM and fine roots of pine each month for 6 years (May 2003 to June 2009) in a 40–50‐year‐old Pinus densiflora forest in Japan. Tree ring width of host pines in the plot was measured to assess the chronological sequence of annual tree growth. EM biomass was not stable during the 6 years of monitoring and seasonal patterns were indistinct. Multiple correlation analyses revealed that the autumn precipitation in the previous year was the most determinative factor of EM biomass in the current year, with a negative correlation. In contrast, tree ring width generally showed a stable annual growth pattern throughout the monitoring period. Clarification of such a carbon allocation pattern is important in understanding forest carbon dynamics under a temperate monsoon climate.
Age at onset in bipolar disorder: Investigation of the role of TaqIA polymorphism of DRD2 gene in a Sardinian sample
Authors: Squassina A. , Manchia M. , Costa M. , Chillotti C. , Ardau R. , Del Zompo M. , Severino G.
Published: February 2011

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a highly heterogeneous and heritable psychiatric illness. Age at onset has been shown to be a powerful tool for dissecting both the phenotypic and genetic complexity of BD. In this article, we present findings from an association study between the DRD2 TaqIA polymorphism and age at onset, showing that both alleles and genotypes at this locus associate with early onset BD.
Intensive care in psychiatry
Authors: Winkler D. , Naderi-Heiden A. , Strnad A. , Pjrek E. , Scharfetter J. , Kasper S. , Frey R.
Published: February 2011

Psychiatric intensive care is supposed to offer treatment and to hold patients with psychiatric illness, if they pose a threat to themselves or to others. Besides treating the underlying psychiatric diagnoses, it is also necessary to take care of severe somatic comorbidity, which is often impeded by patients’ limited ability to cooperate. Treatment often requires the administration of sedative medication and occasionally the use of medical restraints. Involuntary commitment, involuntary treatment and the usage of physical restraints is regulated by national mental health laws. Medical professionals working in the field of psychiatric intensive care must have expert knowledge in the fields of psychopharmacology and intensive care medicine. Treatment concepts should be aimed to provide optimized care for psychiatric inpatients in a potentially life-threatening phase of their illness. This article outlines current clinical practice at the psychiatric intensive care unit of the Medical University of Vienna (Austria). Furthermore, we present diagnoses, diagnostic procedures and specific treatments of a sample of 100 consecutive inpatients treated in the years 2008 and 2009 at this ward.
Impression management in survey responding: Easier for collectivists or individualists?
Authors: Riemer Hila , Shavitt Sharon
Published: February 2011

Three experiments indicate that collectivistic people (or those who come from Eastern cultures) have an easier time giving appropriate answers on surveys than do individualists (or those who come from Western cultures). This means that it is easier to disrupt the efforts of individualists to give appropriate responses. The research highlights how cultural factors influence survey response processes, and that individualists and collectivists engage in impression management through different psychological mechanisms. This has implications for marketing, advertising, and consumer choice.
Blood vessel maturation, vascular phenotype and angiogenic potential in malignant melanoma: One step forward for overcoming anti‐angiogenic drug resistance?
Authors: Helfrich Iris , Schadendorf Dirk
Published: February 2011

Angiogenesis is a pivotal process for growth, invasion and spread of the majority of solid tumors including melanoma. Anti‐angiogenic agents have not been systematically tested in patients with advanced melanoma. Clinical efficacy of angiogenesis inhibitors targeting endothelial cells has not been as affirmative as initially hoped and improved clinical outcomes have been observed in combination with chemotherapy or additional drugs for many types of human cancer. However, angiogenesis is not only dependent on endothelial cell invasion and proliferation, it also requires pericyte coverage of vascular sprouts for stabilization and maturation of vascular walls. Recent data suggest that pericytes might be able to confer resistance to anti‐vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy. This review will focus on the significance of the vascular phenotype but also on the impact of pericyte‐mediated vessel maturation for the susceptibility to anti‐angiogenic therapy, including malignant melanoma, which we identified as crucial factor regarding therapeutic efficacy.
Immunologic functions as prognostic indicators in melanoma
Authors: Bouwhuis Marna G. , ten Hagen Timo L.M. , Eggermont Alexander M.M.
Published: February 2011

Outcome in melanoma patients with advanced disease is poor and systemic treatment seems to benefit only a subset of patients. Predictive markers identifying these patients are currently not available. Early studies showed an association of immune‐related side effects such as vitiligo and autoimmune thyroiditis with response to IL‐2 or IFNα treatment. However, conflicting data have been reported as well, mentioning the effect of a higher rate of immune‐related toxicities during prolonged administration of the drug in responders. The review discusses the prognostic significance of autoimmunity during various forms of immunotherapy and stresses the importance of correcting for guarantee‐time bias. In addition, other immune‐related factors which have been associated with melanoma prognosis such as, CRP, white blood cell count, absolute lymphocyte count and human leukocyte antigen will be reviewed as well. A better understanding of the immune system and the host‐tumor interactions should ultimately lead to more effective treatment. A major challenge expected to be addressed in future is proving ways to uncouple tumor immunity from autoimmunity.
Tyrosinase related protein 1 (TYRP1/gp75) in human cutaneous melanoma
Authors: Ghanem Ghanem , Fabrice Journé
Published: February 2011

Melanoma prognosis is based on specific pathological features at the primary lesion. In metastatic patients, the extent of lymph node involvement is also an important prognosis indicator. Many progression markers both in tissues and serum, including circulating tumor cells, have been studied and new molecular markers are awaited from high‐throughput screenings to discriminate between clinical stages and predict disease progression.

The present review focuses on human tyrosinase related protein 1 also known as gp75 glycoprotein (Tyrp1/gp75), a melanosomal protein involved in the pigmentary machinery of the melanocyte and often used as differentiation marker, with a special emphasis on its emerging roles in the malignant melanocyte and melanoma progression.
Melanoma and vitamin D
Authors: Field Sinead , Newton-Bishop Julia A.
Published: February 2011

Vitamin D is a fat‐soluble steroid hormone, which is essential to health and for which epidemiological studies suggest a role in autoimmune disease, infections, cardiovascular disease and cancer. It is ingested in foods such as oily fish and supplements, so that average levels vary between countries, but most individuals worldwide make most of their vitamin D as a result of the effects of sun exposure on the skin. Many studies in different populations around the world have in recent years shown that sub‐optimal levels of vitamin D (<70 nmol/L) are common. A series of epidemiological studies have suggested that low vitamin D levels increase the risk of cancers, particularly of the breast and gastrointestinal tracts, so that there has been much interest in understanding the effects of vitamin D on cancer cells. Vitamin D binds to the vitamin D receptor (VDR) resulting in transcription of a number of genes playing a role in inhibition of MAPK signalling, induction of apoptosis and cell‐cycle inhibition, and therefore vitamin D has anti‐proliferative and pro‐apoptotic effects in cells of many lineages. It also has suppressive effects on adaptive immunity and is reported to promote innate immunity. Here we review data on vitamin D and melanoma. There are in vitro data, which suggest that vitamin D has the same anti‐proliferative effects on melanoma cells as have been demonstrated in other cells. We have reported data to suggest that vitamin D levels at diagnosis have a role in determining outcome for melanoma patients. There is a curious relationship between melanoma risk and sun exposure where sunburn is causal but occupational sun exposure is not (at least in temperate climes). Seeking to understand this, we discuss data, which suggest (but by no means prove) that vitamin D might also have a role in susceptibility to melanoma. In conclusion, much remains unknown about vitamin D in general and certainly about vitamin D and melanoma. However, the effects of avoidance of suboptimal vitamin D levels on cancer cell proliferation are likely to be beneficial to the melanoma patient. The possible results of high vitamin D levels on the immune system remain unclear however and a source of some concern, but the data support the view that serum levels in the range 70–100 nmol/L might be a reasonable target for melanoma patients as much as for other members of the population.
Comparative effects of glucose and xylose on blood pressure, gastric emptying and incretin hormones in healthy older subjects
Authors: Vanis Lora , Hausken Trygve , Gentilcore Diana , Rigda Rachael S. , Rayner Christopher K. , Feinle-Bisset Christine , Horowitz Michael , Jones Karen L.
Published: February 2011

Postprandial hypotension is an important disorder for which current management is suboptimal. In healthy older subjects, oral and small-intestinal glucose administration decreases blood pressure (BP), and the magnitude of the reduction is dependent on the rate of glucose entry into the small intestine and, possibly, the release of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). There is little information about the effects of other carbohydrates, particularly those poorly absorbed, on BP. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of drinks containing xylose, glucose or water alone on BP, gastric emptying (GE), incretin hormone secretion, glycaemia and insulinaemia in healthy older subjects. A total of eight healthy older subjects (aged 65–75 years) had simultaneous measurements of BP (DINAMAP), GE (three-dimensional ultrasound), blood glucose, serum insulin, GLP-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP), on three separate occasions, in a double-blind, randomised order. On each day, subjects consumed a 300 ml drink of water, glucose (50 g) ord-xylose (50 g). Glucose (P = 0·02), but not xylose (P = 0·63), was associated with a fall in BP. There was no difference in the GE of glucose and xylose (P = 0·47); both emptied slower than water (P < 0·001). Xylose had minimal effects on blood glucose, serum insulin or serum GIP, but was more potent than glucose in stimulating GLP-1 (P = 0·002). In conclusion, in healthy older subjects, xylose empties from the stomach at the same rate as glucose, but has no effect on BP, possibly because it is a potent stimulus for GLP-1 release. Xylose may be considered as an alternative sweetener to glucose in the management of postprandial hypotension.
Flying with a ‘death sentence’ on board: electrophoretic detection of braconid parasitoid larvae in migrating winged grain aphids,Sitobion avenae(F.)
Authors: Walton M.P. , Loxdale H.D. , Allen-Williams L.J.
Published: February 2011

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of enzymes (carboxylesterases) was used for the first time to monitor rates of parasitism in airborne alate (winged) grain aphid,Sitobion avenae(F.) population samples collected by suction trapping in Hertfordshire, UK. Using previously described electrophoretic ‘keys’, the species of hymenopterous parasitoids present in individual aphids were identified and found to beAphidius ervi(Haliday) and/orAphidius rhopalosiphi(De Stephani Perez) (Braconidae). Entomophthoralean fungal infection was also detected using this approach. Aphidiid wasp parasitism was detected from early June to mid-August and fungal infection from late June to late July. The results are discussed in relation to parasitoid population structure and dynamics, especially (i) the fact that winged aphids passively transport the early stages of their braconid parasitoids and fungal pathogens, potentially to newly-founded colonies, which may directly impact on the dual aphid-parasitoid populations genetics; and (ii) the approach used to collect and assay parasitised and fungal infected aphids involving both suction trapping and electrophoretic testing may have potential in assessing the level and efficacy of these biological control agents in integrated pest management (IPM) schemes to combat cereal aphid outbreaks.
The Journée du Dix AoÛt as Witnessed by a Yankee Merchant
Authors: CHEW WILLIAM L.
Published: February 2011

James Price, Massachusetts Yankee and successful Boston merchant, visited Paris in August 1792, just when the French Revolution was entering into a new and ominous phase. On a trip designed to combine business with pleasure, he ended up witnessing the famous Journée du Dix AoÛt (Tenth of August) – dubbed the “Second French Revolution” by contemporaries – when provincial militia and national guards assaulted the Tuileries palace, massacred the king's Swiss Guards, and toppled the Bourbon monarchy from its centuries-old throne. As a fairly unbiased and certainly perspicacious observer – though with moderate revolutionary sympathies – Price must be included in the list of more famous, and more highly partisan, American witnesses of revolution, notably Thomas Jefferson, John Trumbull, and Gouverneur Morris. Specific topics addressed by Price include women during the Revolution, the dynamic between crowd action and attempts of municipal authorities at control, and the development of a Revolutionary fashion. Price's fascinating diary is not only a running account of events surrounding the fateful Tenth, but also an evaluation and commentary of an outsider, combined with a lively eyewitness description of the Revolutionary street scene. Not included in Marcel Reinhard's standard study on the Journée du Dix, Price's hour-by-hour chronology provides a valuable corroboration of and supplement to Reinhard. His account notes also provide insight into the eighteenth-century Continental travel habits of Americans on the “Grand Tour” and on business.
Evolution of the bump-on-tail instability in compressing plasma
Authors: SCHMIT P. F. , MOONEY C. R. , DODIN I. Y. , FISCH N. J.
Published: February 2011

Through particle-in-cell simulations, the evolution of the bump-on-tail instability (BoTI) is studied for plasma subject to one-dimensional mechanical compression. It is shown that the final state of BoTI differs from that described by quasilinear theory for stationary bulk plasma and can depend on the compression history. The transformation of thermal energy into wave energy increases the plasma compressibility, thereby decreasing the amount of mechanical work required to compress the plasma to a specified size. Also, the energy spectrum of the excited modes can be tailored by choosing a particular compression scenario, offering a new technique for manipulating plasmas mechanically.
Directions and beliefs of self-presentational bias
Authors: Funder David C.
Published: February 2011

The target article tends to conflate self-deception and self-enhancement, but biased self-presentation can be negative as well as positive. Self-deceiving self-diminishers may be depressed and non-self-deceiving self-diminishers may project false modesty. The article's otherwise brilliant argument for the advantages of self-deceptive self-enhancement for deceiving others may underemphasize the risks it entails for poor decision making.
Two problems with “self-deception”: No “self” and no “deception”
Authors: Kurzban Robert
Published: February 2011

While the idea that being wrong can be strategically advantageous in the context of social strategy is sound, the idea that there is a “self” to be deceived might not be. The modular view of the mind finesses this difficulty and is useful – perhaps necessary – for discussing the phenomena currently grouped under the term “self-deception.”
Self-deception: Adaptation or by-product?
Authors: Mercier Hugo
Published: February 2011

By systematically biasing our beliefs, self-deception can endanger our ability to successfully convey our messages. It can also lead lies to degenerate into more severe damages in relationships. Accordingly, I suggest that the biases reviewed in the target article do not aim at self-deception but instead are the by-products of several other mechanisms: our natural tendency to self-enhance, the confirmation bias inherent in reasoning, and the lack of access to our unconscious minds.
Conscious thinking, acceptance, and self-deception
Authors: Frankish Keith
Published: February 2011

This commentary describes another variety of self-deception, highly relevant to von Hippel & Trivers's (VH&T's) project. Drawing on dual-process theories, I propose that conscious thinking is a voluntary activity motivated by metacognitive attitudes, and that our choice of reasoning strategies and premises may be biased by unconscious desires to self-deceive. Such biased reasoning could facilitate interpersonal deception, in line with VH&T's view.
The weightless hat: Is self-deception optimal?
Authors: Khalil Elias L.
Published: February 2011

There are problems with the thesis of von Hippel & Trivers (VH&T): (1) It entails that self-deception arises from interpersonal deception – which may not be true; (2) it entails that self-deception is optimal – which is not necessarily so; and (3) it entails that interpersonal deception is optimum – which may not be true.
Scaling the Period Eye: Oscar Drude and the Cartographical Practice of Plant Geography, 1870s–1910s
Authors: Güttler Nils Robert
Published: February 2011

Argument

The historiography of botanical maps has mainly concentrated on their alleged “golden age,” on maps drawn by famous first-generation plant geographers. This article instead describes botanical maps after the age of discovery, and detects both a quantitative explosion and qualitative modification in the late nineteenth century. By spotlighting the case of the plant geographer Oscar Drude (1852–1933), I argue that the dynamics of botanical mappings were closely linked to a specific milieu of knowledge production: the visual culture of Imperial Germany. The scientific upgrading of maps was stimulated by a prospering commercial cartographical market as well as a widespread practice of mediating between professionals and amateurs via maps in the public sphere. In transferring skills and practices from these “popular” fields of knowledge to scientific domains, botanists like Oscar Drude established maps as an indispensable element of botanical observation. This wholesale dissemination of botanical maps had thus a formative influence on collective perception – the botanist's “period eye” – regarding plant distribution.
Summer–winter transitions in Antarctic ponds I: The physical environment
Authors: Hawes Ian , Safi Karl , Sorrell Brian , Webster-Brown Jenny , Arscott David
Published: February 2011

Meltwater ponds are one of the most widespread aquatic habitats in ice-free areas of continental Antarctica. While most studies of such systems occur during the Antarctic summer, here we report on ice formation and water column attributes in four meltwater ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf during autumn, when they went from ice-free to > 80 cm thickness of ice. Ice thickness grew at an average rate of 1.5 cm d-1in all ponds and as ice formed, salts and gases were excluded. This resulted in conductivity rising from 3–5 to > 60 mS cm-1and contributed to the ebullition of gases. Incorporation of gas bubbles in the ice resulted in a high albedo and under-ice irradiance declined faster than incident, the former falling below 1 W m-2(daily average) by early April. After two months of ice formation, only 0–15% of the volume of each pond was still liquid, although this represented 5–35% of the pond sediment area, where much of the biological activity was concentrated. We suggest that the stresses that the freezing process imposes may be as important to structuring the biotic communities as those during the more benign summer growth period.