bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Interleukin-6 release from human abdominal adipose cells is regulated by thyroid-stimulating hormone: effect of adipocyte differentiation and anatomic depot
Authors: Antunes T. T. , Gagnon A. , Chen B. , Pacini F. , Smith T. J. , Sorisky A.
Published: May 2006

Adipose cells are extrathyroidal targets of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). TSH stimulates interleukin-6 (IL-6) release from adipocytes. We examined TSH responsiveness as a function of stage of differentiation or adipose tissue depot in cultured adipose cells and determined the effect of TSH on extrathyroidal IL-6 production in vivo. Stromal preadipocytes, isolated from human abdominal subcutaneous or omental adipose tissue, and their differentiated counterparts were studied. IL-6 protein concentration in the medium was measured after TSH stimulation. Basal IL-6 release was greater for preadipocytes than differentiated adipocytes, whether derived from subcutaneous or omental fat depots. A depot-dependent effect (omental > subcutaneous) on basal IL-6 release was observed for preadipocytes (1.6-fold, P < 0.05); a similar trend for differentiated adipocytes was not significant (6.2-fold, P > 0.05). IL-6 responsiveness to TSH was observed upon differentiation, but only for subcutaneous adipocytes (1.9-fold over basal, P < 0.001). To determine if TSH could stimulate IL-6 release from extrathyroidal tissues in vivo, we measured serum IL-6 levels from five thyroidectomized patients who received recombinant human (rh) TSH and found that levels increased by threefold on days 3 and 4 ( P < 0.05) after its administration. Our data demonstrate that stage of differentiation and fat depot origin affect basal and TSH-stimulated IL-6 release from adipose cells in culture. Furthermore, rhTSH elevates serum IL-6 response in thyroidectomized patients, indicating an extrathyroidal site of TSH action.
Intravenous Immunoglobulin: Striving for Appropriate Use
Authors: Kumar Arvind , Teuber Suzanne S. , Gershwin M. Eric
Published: May 2006

Background: Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is the mainstay therapy in human immune deficiency states characterized by qualitative and quantitative reductions in B cells. In addition, however, there is widespread use of IVIG in a number of other areas, including neuroimmunologic, infectious, dermatologic, hematologic, autoimmune, inflammatory and idiopathic disorders. In many of these cases, there are little objective data to support the use. Methods: We performed a review of more than 400 publications in PubMed using the key words ‘intravenous immunoglobulin’ and excluded publications that focused on immune deficiency, for which the indication for IVIG is already clear. Results: For a number of off-label indications, there is significant evidence of efficacy and IVIG has become the standard of care for many clinical syndromes other than immune deficiency. In some conditions, however, the data have not been well controlled or randomized and are often limited to case reports that are difficult to interpret. Although the critical shortage of IVIG of the last decade is no longer an issue, IVIG is expensive and not without risk. The use of IVIG should be based not only on clinical data, but also, and especially, on the biological rationale for its use. Conclusions: The appropriate use of IVIG is an important issue that is difficult to resolve, and will continue to challenge clinicians based on expense and potentially limited supply, including the intrinsic limitations of donor plasma. The establishment of national and international voluntary registries to report use of IVIG in disorders for which evidence is lacking would be a first step toward facilitating randomized, controlled clinical trials.
Endothelial and Epithelial Expression of Eotaxin-2 (CCL24) in Nasal Polyps
Authors: Schaefer D. , Meyer J.E. , Pods R. , Pethe W. , Hedderich J. , Schmidt C. , Maune S.
Published: May 2006

Background: Nasal polyposis is mostly associated with eosinophilia of mucosal tissue. This points to the implication of CC chemokines in nasal eosinophilia. Recently the CC chemokine eotaxin-2 (CCL24) was identified. This study was initiated to localize the cellular source, analyze expression of mRNA, and quantify protein synthesis of CCL24. Methods: Specimens of nasal inferior turbinates from controls and polypous tissue from patients suffering from chronic polypous sinusitis were collected. Furthermore, fibroblasts and epithelial cells were cultured. CCL24 protein was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and ELISA, expression of mRNA by SQ-RT-PCR. Results: CCL24 was observed in endothelial and epithelial cells. Specimens from patients expressed significantly (>2fold) more CCL24 mRNA than controls. Fibroblasts and unstimulated cells did not express CCL24 mRNA. Upon stimulation with TNF-α, INF-γ, IL-4, or costimulation with TNF-α and INF-γ CCL24 mRNA was significantly enhanced (3.2–19.6%). In controls, fibroblast, and unstimulated cells CCL24 protein was below detection limit. Most polyps comprised significant amounts of CCL24 (mean 0.24 ng/mg). TNF-α, INF-γ or IL-4 induced CCL24 protein (0.1–0.3 ng/ml) in epithelial cells. Costimulation with TNF-α and IL-4 (0.1–30 and 1–30 ng/ml, respectively) synergistically induced synthesis of CCL24 protein (0.18–0.31 ng/ml). Conclusion: In nasal polyps endothelial and epithelial cells are obviously the main source of CCL24, which was shown for transcription (mRNA) and production (protein) levels and was associated with diseases. Results gave evidence of CLL24- directed migration of cells from inside (the bloodstream) to the epithelial side (mucosa) in eosinophilic inflammatory diseases, e.g. nasal polyposis.
Frequency of Dementia Etiologies in Four Ethnic Groups
Authors: Hou Craig E. , Yaffe Kristine , Pérez-Stable Eliseo J. , Miller Bruce L.
Published: May 2006

Background/Aims: Research on dementia among ethnically diverse populations in the USA has focused primarily on Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia, but there are limited data on other neurodegenerative causes of dementia. Methods: To determine the frequency of neurodegenerative disorders in four ethnic groups, data collected at Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers of California for assessments between 1992 and 2002 were analyzed retrospectively. Cases of Alzheimer disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Parkinson disease and progressive supranuclear palsy were identified for 452 Asian and Pacific Islander, 472 Black, 675 Latino and 4,926 White patients. Results: The percentage of non-Whites diagnosed as having dementia with Lewy bodies was lower than that of Whites. Frontotemporal lobar degeneration was as common in Asians and Pacific Islanders compared to Whites, but less common in Blacks and Latinos. Progressive supranuclear palsy was more frequent in Asians and Pacific Islanders compared to Whites, but equally common in Blacks and Latinos. Conclusion: Additional study is needed on the social and biological factors that influence the diagnosis and prevalence of non-Alzheimer and nonvascular dementias among diverse ethnic groups.
Stability of CSF β-Amyloid1–42 and Tau Levels by APOE Genotype in Alzheimer Patients
Authors: Huey Edward D. , Mirza Nadeem , Putnam Karen T. , Soares Holly , Csako Gyorgy , Levy James A. , Copenhaver Brittany , Cohen Robert M. , Sunderland Trey
Published: May 2006

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) measures of β-amyloid1–42 and tau differ between patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and elderly normal controls. The effect of time and APOE genotype on these biomarkers continues to be elucidated. Methods: We assessed CSF β-amyloid1–42 and tau in 20 mild-to-moderate AD patients, 11 APOE Ε4+ and 9 APOE Ε4–, over a mean time of 3.8 years (range 1–11.1 years). Results: Over the period measured, CSF β-amyloid1–42 levels were lower in APOE Ε4+ compared to APOE Ε4– patients, and the levels decreased over time. Tau levels were stable over time and did not show an effect of APOE allele. Conclusions: While this is a limited clinical sample, the further decrease in CSF β-amyloid1–42 (i.e., more abnormal) combined with the CSF tau stability over a mean period of almost 4 years suggests that β-amyloid1–42 and tau maintain their potential usefulness as diagnostic biomarkers over time. These findings should be taken into account if CSF β-amyloid1–42 and tau are used as measures of treatment response.
Parameterization of Inversion Breakup in Idealized Valleys. Part II: Thermodynamic Model
Authors: Zoumakis N. M. , Efstathiou G. A.
Published: May 2006

A simple thermodynamic parameterization based on a modified version of the Whiteman and McKee inversion destruction model is presented to simulate the evolution of vertical temperature structure during the inversion breakup period in idealized valleys under clear, undisturbed weather conditions. The proposed method adopts simplified semiempirical parameterizations of radiation and surface energy budgets at the valley floor and sidewalls and an empirical scheme for the partitioning of energy in the valley atmosphere, eliminating the need for selecting arbitrary values for the adjustable model parameters. The model accurately simulates the changes with time of the height of the inversion top and the depth of the convective boundary layer during the breakup of nocturnal temperature inversions in a wide range of valley topography. The theoretical estimates were validated and compared with dynamical model predictions and actual measurements. Because of its simplicity and its fair agreement with observations, the proposed method may be useful in applications in boundary layer, air pollution, and complex terrain meteorology. It is recognized that more work is necessary before the validity of the suggested procedure can be fully established.
Observations of Small-Scale Turbulence and Energy Dissipation Rates in the Cloudy Boundary Layer
Authors: Siebert Holger , Lehmann Katrin , Wendisch Manfred
Published: May 2006

Tethered balloon–borne measurements with a resolution in the order of 10 cm in a cloudy boundary layer are presented. Two examples sampled under different conditions concerning the clouds' stage of life are discussed. The hypothesis tested here is that basic ideas of classical turbulence theory in boundary layer clouds are valid even to the decimeter scale. Power spectral densities S( f ) of air temperature, liquid water content, and wind velocity components show an inertial subrange behavior down to ≈20 cm. The mean energy dissipation rates are ∼10−3 m2 s−3 for both datasets. Estimated Taylor Reynolds numbers (Reλ) are ∼104, which indicates the turbulence is fully developed. The ratios between longitudinal and transversal S( f ) converge to a value close to 4/3, which is predicted by classical turbulence theory for local isotropic conditions. Probability density functions (PDFs) of wind velocity increments Δu are derived. The PDFs show significant deviations from a Gaussian distribution with longer tails typical for an intermittent flow. Local energy dissipation rates ɛτ are derived from subsequences with a duration of τ = 1 s. With a mean horizontal wind velocity of 8 m s−1, τ corresponds to a spatial scale of 8 m. The PDFs of ɛτ can be well approximated with a lognormal distribution that agrees with classical theory. Maximum values of ɛτ ≈ 10−1 m2 s−3 are found in the analyzed clouds. The consequences of this wide range of ɛτ values for particle–turbulence interaction are discussed.
Light Scattering by Single Natural Ice Crystals
Authors: Shcherbakov Valery , Gayet Jean-François , Baker Brad , Lawson Paul
Published: May 2006

During the South Pole Ice Crystal Experiment, angular scattering intensities (ASIs) of single ice crystals formed in natural conditions were measured for the first time with the polar nephelometer instrument. The microphysical properties of the ice crystals were simultaneously obtained with a cloud particle imager. The observations of the scattering properties of numerous ice crystals reveal high variability of the ASIs in terms of magnitude and distribution over scattering angles. To interpret observed ASI features, lookup tables were computed with a modified ray tracing code, which takes into account the optical geometry of the polar nephelometer. The numerical simulations consider a wide range of input parameters for the description of the ice crystal properties (particle orientation, aspect ratio, surface roughness, and internal inclusions). A new model of surface roughness, which assumes the Weibull statistics, was proposed. The simulations reproduce the overwhelming majority of the observed ASIs features and trace very well the quasi-specular reflection from crystal facets. The discrepancies observed between the model and the experimental data correspond to the rays, which pass through the ice crystal and are scattered toward the backward angles. This feature may be attributed to the internal structure of the ice crystals that should be considered in modeling refinements.
Tropical Cyclogenesis Associated with Rossby Wave Energy Dispersion of a Preexisting Typhoon. Part I: Satellite Data Analyses*
Authors: Li Tim , Fu Bing
Published: May 2006

The structure and evolution characteristics of Rossby wave trains induced by tropical cyclone (TC) energy dispersion are revealed based on the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) data. Among 34 cyclogenesis cases analyzed in the western North Pacific during 2000–01 typhoon seasons, six cases are associated with the Rossby wave energy dispersion of a preexisting TC. The wave trains are oriented in a northwest–southeast direction, with alternating cyclonic and anticyclonic vorticity circulation. A typical wavelength of the wave train is about 2500 km. The TC genesis is observed in the cyclonic circulation region of the wave train, possibly through a scale contraction process.

The satellite data analyses reveal that not all TCs have a Rossby wave train in their wakes. The occurrence of the Rossby wave train depends to a certain extent on the TC intensity and the background flow. Whether or not a Rossby wave train can finally lead to cyclogenesis depends on large-scale dynamic and thermodynamic conditions related to both the change of the seasonal mean state and the phase of the tropical intraseasonal oscillation. Stronger low-level convergence and cyclonic vorticity, weaker vertical shear, and greater midtropospheric moisture are among the favorable large-scale conditions. The rebuilding process of a conditional unstable stratification is important in regulating the frequency of TC genesis.
Tropical Wave Driving of the Annual Cycle in Tropical Tropopause Temperatures. Part I: ECMWF Analyses
Authors: Kerr-Munslow A. M. , Norton W. A.
Published: May 2006

A quantitative examination of the annual cycle in the tropical tropopause temperatures, tropical ascent, momentum balance, and wave driving is performed using ECMWF analyses to determine how the annual cycle in tropical tropopause temperatures arises. Results show that the annual cycle in tropical tropopause temperatures is driven by the annual variation in ascent and consequent dynamical (adiabatic) cooling at the tropical tropopause. Mass divergence local to the tropical tropopause has the dominant contribution to ascent near the tropical tropopause. The annual cycle in mass divergence, and the associated meridional flow, near the tropical tropopause is driven by Eliassen–Palm (EP) flux divergence, that is, wave dissipation. The EP flux divergence near the tropical tropopause is dominated by stationary waves with both the horizontal and vertical components of the EP flux contributing. However, the largest annual cycle is in the divergence of the vertical EP flux and in particular from the contribution in the vertical flux of zonal momentum. These results do not match the existing theory that the annual cycle is driven by the wave dissipation in the extratropical stratosphere, that is, the stratospheric pump. It is suggested that the annual cycle is linked to equatorial Rossby waves forced by convective heating in the tropical troposphere.
Economic Nationalism and Maritime Policy in Norway
Authors: Fougner Tore
Published: May 2006

While celebrating recent efforts to redefine ‘economic nationalism’ by placing nationalism and national identity — rather than the state or illiberal economic policies — at its core, this article takes issue with the tendency to provide an unnecessarily narrow specification of a new research agenda on economic nationalism. More specifically, it argues that the agenda should concern not merely how national identities and nationalism influence economic policies and processes, but also how the latter can influence the former. An argument is also made for this twoway relationship to be conceived in constitutive terms, and a study of the efforts to develop a maritime policy in Norway in the mid-1990s is presented to show the usefulness of this reformulated research agenda on economic nationalism.
A Distributed Feedback Mechanism to Regulate Wall Construction by a Robotic Swarm
Authors: Stewart Robert L. , Russell R. Andrew
Published: May 2006

Nest construction is an impressive achievement for social insects. They employ templates (or pat terns) in the environment to guide construction tasks and robot swarms can use similar mechanisms. Early work examined how a spatio-temporal varying template can be utilized by a swarm of minimalist robots to build the framework for a linear wall. From this, it became clear that a method for regulating construction in a variable environment was needed. To this end, a social insect inspired distributed feedback mechanism is proposed and verified. Direct and indirect transfer of information between individuals, through the use of signals and cues, is shown to facilitate closure of a feedback loop allowing the system to operate close to optimally. Perturbation experiments demonstrate the robotic swarm's ability to adapt to environmental changes. The work described in this paper provides the basis for a distributed robotic system capable of constructing any given planar structure—a goal implicit in many of the suggested applications for collective construction.
Landscape as a Provocation
Authors: Massey Doreen
Published: May 2006

This article opens with a story of the mobility and varied temporalities of a particular landscape and uses this to reflect on a range of issues that revolve around the different kinds of ‘grounding’ that are appealed to in sociocultural, political and academic life. It reflects upon the relations between human and natural sciences, the nature of appeals between them, and the important, but often questionable, place within this of particular political positions. It goes on to query the role of ‘Nature’ as a grounding to place and landscape and stresses the potentially differential effectivities of contrasting temporalities – between, for example, the temporalities of the taskspace and the temporalities of tectonics. Nonetheless, the argument continues, there are indeed provocations from the moving rocks to the nature of scientific discourse and to debates within political philosophy. It concludes with a conceptualization of both landscape and place as events.
Landscape, Myth and Time
Authors: Hirsch Eric
Published: May 2006

This article demonstrates the inherent relations between landscape, myth and time. Here I follow the lead of anthropologists such as Lévi-Strauss and Wagner and historians like Simon Schama. In particular, I highlight that what goes on ‘inside’ of myths is systematically connected to what occurs ‘outside’: how the intimate features of landscape form a kind of prism through which wider influences might be understood. The article considers two tidibe narratives from the Fuyuge people of highland Papua. These mythic narratives emerged at different moments in the colonial and postcolonial state project. Each narrative portrays features of landscape that simultaneously disclose a unique presence of time. This ‘time’ is different from the progress-orientated ‘time’ of government or missionaries. And yet, as I show, both are connected: through the ways government and missionaries transformed the Fuyuge people and their landscape, and how the Fuyuge landscape and tidibe came to reveal these ‘outside’ influences.
Animated Images
Authors: Jones Andy
Published: May 2006

Although the temporality of the landscape has become a major concern for archaeologists, the temporal quality of art images has not been fully appreciated. This issue is especially pressing when we analyse prehistoric rock art in a landscape setting. This article offers a critique of current semiological approaches to prehistoric art and suggests an alternative in the study of signs as indexes as proposed by the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. An indexical analysis of prehistoric rock art and its relationship to monuments in the landscape of Kilmartin, Argyll, Scotland provides an enriched understanding of the relationships produced by marking the landscape.
Borders and Bordering
Authors: Newman David
Published: May 2006

The renaissance of border studies during the past decade has been characterized by a crossing of disciplinary borders, bringing together geographers, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, literary scholars, legal experts, along with border practitioners engaged in the practical aspects of boundary demarcation, delimitation and management. This growth in border studies runs contrary to much of the globalization discourse which was prevalent during the late 1980s and early 1990s, positing a new ‘borderless’ world, in which the barrier impact of borders became insignificant. The article points to the common use of terminology which can create a shared border discourse among a diverse group of scholars, such as boundary demarcation, the nature of frontiers, borderlands and transition zones, and the ways in which borders are crossed. The article also discusses the reclosing of borders which is taking place as a result of 9/11 as part of the stated war against global terror.
Boundary Maintenance, Border Crossing and the Nature/Culture Divide
Authors: Inglis David , Bone John
Published: May 2006

In recent times developments in the natural sciences and in the sphere of environmental politics have compelled social scientists, and also some natural scientists, to rethink the relations that hitherto have been held, in Western thought generally and within particular disciplines, to characterize ‘nature’ on the one side and ‘culture’ on the other. This article considers the history of this conceptual boundary and looks at new conceptualizations of nature/culture, stimulated by developments both in biotechnology and in the ongoing controversies about environmental degradation. It argues that while some of the contributions to reconfiguring, or abolishing, the nature/ culture division have been productive and stimulating of new ways of conceiving the world, there has nonetheless been an unfortunate tendency for social scientists to bring to bear inherited analytic dispositions on biotechnological and environmental matters. Instead of using these issues as means of challenging social scientific disciplinary dogmas and of engaging in constructive rapprochement with natural scientists, social scientists have in their analyses of such matters often merely asserted the hegemony of ‘culture’ over ‘nature’, and thus in effect the superiority of social scientific over natural scientific conceptualizations of the world. Far from overcoming the nature/culture boundary, social scientists have too often merely asserted the primacy of the sorts of subject matters and analytic techniques they feel comfortable with, rather than subjecting their practices to fully reflexive self-scrutiny.
Strategic Interaction among EU Governments in Active Labor Market Policy-making
Authors: Franzese Robert J. , Hays Jude C.
Published: May 2006

The European Union (EU) recently committed to becoming ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world.’ Active labor market (ALM) policies are a critical part of the European Employment Strategy (EES) – the plan designed to achieve this objective. ALM policies entail several possible externalities that, spilling across national boundaries, may create incentives for European governments to free ride off the efforts of their neighbors. We provide empirical evidence that the national best-response functions for ALM spending (worker-training programs in particular) are indeed downward sloping; an increase in expenditures in one country decreases equilibrium expenditures in its neighbors. Therefore, levels of ALM spending may well be too low, notwithstanding the mildly increasing coordination fostered through the EES framework. Stronger enforcement procedures may be necessary if the European Union is to achieve its EES objectives.
Monetary Policy Autonomy in European Non-Euro Countries, 1980–2005
Authors: Plümper Thomas , Troeger Vera E.
Published: May 2006

We argue that the European currency union (ECU) reduced the de facto monetary policy autonomy of EU countries abstaining from introducing the euro. The large share of imports from euro zone countries renders a close alignment of monetary policy to the interest rate set by the European Central Bank (ECB) necessary if the monetary authorities of countries outside the ECU want to impede the import of inflation from the euro zone or a declining competitiveness of the domestic industry. In turn, the increasing role of the euro as an international reserve medium equal to the US dollar reduced the monetary policy autonomy of countries importing more goods and services from the euro zone than from the dollar zone. An empirical analysis of monetary policy in the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden lends support to our theoretical argument. Analysing the shortterm adjustments of central bank interest rates in these three EU countries, which did not introduce the euro, we show that these countries' monetary policies more closely follow the ECB's policy than they followed the Bundesbank's policy before 1994. In addition, we demonstrate the diminishing influence of the dollar on monetary policy in the UK, Denmark and Sweden since the countries of the Economic and Monetary Union harmonized monetary policies.
Some Theological Issues around Child Protection
Authors: Reid Duncan
Published: May 2006

This short piece seeks to offer a theological framing to the issues raised by Garth Blake in his very fine article ‘Child Protection and the Anglican Church of Australia’. What are some of the theological issues behind the current state of affairs with regard to child protection, and the church's attempts to remedy past failures to protect the children in its care? Very briefly I want to mention several clusters of theological issues: responsibility, or the duty of care; forgiveness and betrayal of trust; sin and scapegoating; gospel and law; and the problem of meaning.
Attitudes of direct care staff towards external professionals, team climate and psychological wellbeing
Authors: Rose John , Ahuja Apninder Kaur , Jones Christopher
Published: May 2006

Relationships with external professionals may be an important factor in the psychological wellbeing of care staff. A questionnaire to measure team climate and staff wellbeing was developed, tested and revised. Seventy-two direct care staff completed the revised questionnaire, which had acceptable levels of internal consistency. Significant correlations were found between care staff attitudes towards professionals and levels of team climate and psychological wellbeing.The pattern of relationships was explored by path analysis. Further work is needed on the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.There is a clear association between attitudes to professionals and team climate and between some aspects of climate and psychological wellbeing. Professionals should adopt collaborative ways of working based on problem-solving approaches with staff teams, with the aim of delivering improved quality of care to residents.
Age at death of people with an intellectual disability in Ireland
Authors: Lavin K. Emer , McGuire Brian E. , Hogan Michael J.
Published: May 2006

This study examined the age at death of people with an intellectual disability in Ireland. Using data from the National Intellectual Disability Database, the average age at death of 1120 people who died between 1996 and 2001 was 45.68 years, with no difference in lifespan between men and women. A more severe level of intellectual disability predicted shorter lifespan. In general, those requiring lower levels of day-to-day support and supervision had a longer lifespan.Those living in the family home had the shortest lifespan while those in hospital residential environments had the longest lifespan.Those not attending any day service had a longer lifespan than those attending a range of day services.There were also differences in age at death across different health board regions.These findings are discussed in light of their implications for service planning.
Effects of an education programme on family participation in the rehabilitation of children with developmental disability
Authors: Wong S. Y. , Lai Alice C. , Martinson Ida , Wong Thomas K. S.
Published: May 2006

The growth and development of children with developmental disability depend very much on the parents.The present study was designed to examine whether family-focused education could enhance parental skills, knowledge and competency.The enhancement would in turn result in greater parental participation in the rehabilitation process of these children.The parental needs of Chinese parents were reviewed for the formulation of the Family-Focused Education Programme, which was then implemented, and evaluated using a pre-test/post-test control group design. Forty parents were invited to participate in the study using a convenience sampling technique.The mean scores of these variables were in the direction of increasing after the programme, though repeated measures ANOVA did not indicate any statistically significant changes in parenting knowledge, attitude and stress. It was apparent that the Family-Focused Education Programme enhanced parental competence. Undoubtedly, the family-focused approach is crucial for enhancing parenting competency, and education is fundamental to enabling parents.
Old issues and new directions
Authors: Rapaport Joan , Manthorpe Jill , Hussein Shereen , Moriarty Jo , Collins Jean
Published: May 2006

This article describes and discusses 27 interviews that explored perceptions of the effectiveness of advocacy services for people with learning disabilities in the UK.The views of stakeholders on the current position of advocacy services, how services are evaluated and recommendations for change are central themes in the analysis of the interviews.The discussion suggests that although evaluation of effectiveness is increasingly important in the light of policy change and funding constraints, it is not universally in place and available tools are considered to be inadequate for the task.The explanation of this may lie in the continuing debates over the meaning and purpose of evaluation and fears that it is one-dimensional. Future investment and commitment to advocacy schemes will need to address these issues.
Facile Preparation of Water-Soluble Chitin from Chitosan
Authors: Kurita Keisuke , Koyama Yoshiyuki , Nishimura Shin-ichiro , Kamiya Mami
Published: May 2006

A simple and efficient procedure for the preparation of water-soluble chitin was developed by controlled partial N-acetylation of chitosan. Acetylated chitosans with about 50% substitution prepared in a highly swelled state exhibited high water-solubility, and the procedure proved much superior to the conventional one.
New Molecular Conductors, α- and β-(EDT-TTF)[Ni(dmit)2] Metal with Anomalous Resistivity Maximum vs. Semiconductor with Mixed Stacks
Authors: Kato Reizo , Kobayashi Hayao , Kobayashi Akiko , Naito Toshio , Tamura Masafumi , Tajima Hiroyuki , Kuroda Haruo
Published: May 2006

Two donor-acceptor type molecular conductors, α- and β-(EDT-TTF)[Ni(dmit)2] (EDT-TTF = ethylenedithiotetrathiafulvalene, dmit = 4,5-dimercapto-1,3-dithiole-2-thione) have been electrochemically obtained. The α-form has a segregated column structure and is a metal with an anomalous resistivity maximum around 14 K. The curve-fitting analysis of the polarized reflectance spectra shows a small anisotropy of the oscillator strength in the ab plane. The β-form is a semiconductor with a mixed-stacking structure.
Reaction of Dimethyloxosulphonium Methylide with o-Hydroxybenzylideneanilines. A Facile Synthesis of 3-Amino-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans
Authors: Nadir Upender K , Chaurasia Brijnath P , Sharma Raman L
Published: May 2006

o-Hydroxybenzylideneanilines react with dimethyloxosulphonium methylide to give 3-amino-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans in good yields.
The geometry of k-harmonic manifolds
Authors: Nicolodi Lorenzo , Vanhecke Lieven
Published: May 2006

An n-dimensional Riemannian manifold is called k-harmonic for some integer k, 1 ≤ k ≤ n - 1, if the k-th elementary symmetric functions of the principal curvatures of small geodesic spheres are radial functions. We prove that k-harmonic manifolds are necessarily 2-stein and show that locally symmetric manifolds which are k-harmonic for one k, are k-harmonic for all k. We then establish some results relating the harmonic and k-harmonic conditions for the class of non-compact harmonic non-symmetric spaces constructed by Damek and Ricci. We also discuss other notions of k-harmonicity and the problem of their equivalence.
CR singularities of real threefolds in ℂ4
Authors: Coffman Adam
Published: May 2006

CR singularities of real threefolds in ℂ4 are classified by using holomorphic coordinate changes to transform the quadratic part of the real defining equations into one of a list of normal forms. In the non-degenerate case, it is shown that a real analytic manifold near a CR singular point is formally equivalent to a real algebraic model. Some degenerate cases also have this property.
A Comparison of Acoustic Cues in Music and Speech for Three Dimensions of Affect
Authors: Ilie Gabriella , Thompson William Forde
Published: May 2006

Using a three-dimensional model of affect, we compared the affective consequences of manipulating intensity, rate, and pitch height in music and speech. Participants rated 64 music and 64 speech excerpts on valence (pleasant-unpleasant), energy arousal (awake-tired), and tension arousal (tense-relaxed). For music and speech, loud excerpts were judged as more pleasant, energetic, and tense than soft excerpts. Manipulations of rate had overlapping effects on music and speech. Fast music and speech were judged as having greater energy than slow music and speech. However, whereas fast speech was judged as less pleasant than slow speech, fast music was judged as having greater tension than slow music. Pitch height had opposite consequences for music and speech, with high-pitched speech but lowpitched music associated with higher ratings of valence (more pleasant). Interactive effects on judgments were also observed. We discuss similarities and differences between vocal and musical communication of affect, and the need to distinguish between two types of arousal: energy and tension.
Production and Perception of Musical Intervals
Authors: Vurma Allan , Ross Jaan
Published: May 2006

This Article Reports Two Experiments. In the first experiment, 13 professional singers performed a vocal exercise consisting of three ascending and descending melodic intervals: minor second, tritone, and perfect fifth. Seconds were sung more narrowly but fifths more widely in both directions, as compared to their equally tempered counterparts. In the second experiment, intonation accuracy in performances recorded from the first experiment was evaluated in a listening test. Tritones and fifths were more frequently classified as out of tune than seconds. Good correspondence was found between interval tuning and the listeners responses. The performers themselves evaluated their performance almost randomly in the immediate post-performance situation but acted comparably to the independent group after listening to their own recording. The data suggest that melodic intervals may be, on an average, 20 to 25 cents out of tune and still be estimated as correctly tuned by expert listeners.
Dance, Gender and Psychoanalysis: Martha Graham's Night Journey
Authors: Burt Ramsay
Published: May 2006

Now Jocasta kneels on the floor at the foot of the bed and then she rises with her leg close to her breast and to her head, and her foot way beyond her head, her body open in a deep contraction. I call this the vaginal cry; it is the cry from her vagina. It is either the cry for her lover, her husband, or the cry for her children. The dance proceeds but there are small intimacies that I have never revealed in words. All of these things mean a tremendous amount to me. I don't talk about them much because people might think I'm a little cuckoo. But as other people took over the dance it seemed necessary to explain the certain small mysteries that animate the instant in the reliving of the tale. (Graham 1991, 214)

Martha Graham wrote this passage about the opening of Night Journey (1947) in her autobiography Blood Memory (1991). Night Journey tells the story of Jocasta who at the end of her life is reluctantly forced by the blind prophet Tiresias to relive the most significant and thus painful moments of her life. Graham too, at the end of her own life, seems almost to have been forced, perhaps by time or perhaps by the obligation to fulfil a publisher's contract, to write her autobiography (1). There is a nice symmetry here.
Images of Isadora: The Search for Motion
Authors: Jowitt Deborah
Published: May 2006

It is far back, deep down the centuries that one's spirit passes when Isadora Duncan dances; back to the very morning of the world, when the greatness of soul found free expression in the body, when the rhythm of motion corresponded with the rhythm of sound, when the movements of the human body were one with the wind and the sea, when the gestures of a woman's arm was as the unfolding of a rose petal, the pressure of her foot upon the sod as the drifting of a leaf to earth.

Isadora Duncan inspired many such passages of fervid prose among her admiring contemporaries. From the beginning of her career, around the turn of the twentieth century, to her death in a bizarre automobile accident in 1927, those who saw her dance were less interested in writing about what she actually did than in presenting their bedizened responses to her.

Yet even as she evoked a fragrant never-never land, this American was creating a contemporary image for the stage dancer. Not a steely-legged virtuoso whipping off pirouettes, not a coquettish quasi-virgin, not a disembodied nymph, but a noble-spirited woman, bold, yet pliant — tree to use her imagination and her body as she wished.
The Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet
Authors: Garafola Lynn
Published: May 2006

More than any other era in the history of ballet, the nineteenth century belongs to the ballerina. She haunts its lithographs and paintings, an ethereal creature touched with the charm of another age. Yet even when she turned into the fast, leggy ballerina of modern times, her ideology survived. If today the art of ballet celebrates the danseur nearly as often as the danseuse, it has yet to rid it aesthetic of yesterday's cult of the eternal feminine. Like her nineteenth-century forbear, today's ballerina, an icon of teen youth, athleticism, and anorexic vulnerability, incarnates a feminine ideal defined overwhelmingly by men.
Packaging Doris Humphrey or A Question of Form: Nona Schurman Shares Her Thoughts on Doris Humphrey's Choreography
Authors: Hausler Barbara
Published: May 2006

Nona Schurman, one of the foremost authorities on the Humphrey style and technique, studied and danced with the Humphrey-Weidman concert group from the late 1930s to the mid 1940s. Now a tireless octogenarian, Schurman still uses the movement principles developed by modern dance pioneer Doris Humphrey as the basis of her teaching and choreographic work. Co-author of Modern Dance Fundamentals (1), a technical manual based on Humphrey-Weidman principles, Schurman is currently writing a book on choreographic devices which will complement Humphrey's seminal work on the subject, The Art of Making Dances (2).

“The way to understand Doris,” Nona Schurman has said, “is to see her dances. We can talk all we want, but Doris is revealed through her work” (3). The clues to understanding the dances lie less in their specific performance or production features than in the technique and choreographic structures Humphrey employed. It is in the form of Humphrey's dances, Schurman feels, that the enduring essence of Doris Humphrey, the dance thinker, can be found.

Doris Humphrey was declared by Walter Terry to be America's “prima choreographa assoluta” more than four decades ago (4), and she is still recognized today as a master choreographer. This is perhaps due to the many college recontructions of her work and despite the fact that few companies keep her dances in active repertory. Besides being remarkably creative (5), Humphrey was enormously innovative, shaping choreographic change even before her launch into independence with Charles Weidman and Pauline Lawrence, through the development and extension of “music visualizations” with Ruth St. Denis at Denishawn. As an independent artist, she continued to revolutionize the art of choreography, creating a “library of masterworks” (6) which included dances in silence, dances with a vocal chorus and alternative sound accompaniment, and dances with speech, with music and with song.
An Eclogue of Giovanni Quatrario
Authors: Leonard Grant W.
Published: May 2006

Of the six Latin eclogues of Giovanni Quatrario of Sulmona (1336-1402), the second is a pastoral dialogue between a boy and an old shepherd who on closer inspection prove to be Quatrario himself and Francesco Petrarca. The poem, ill-written though it is, has considerable intrinsic interest and even some importance for the history of humanism, showing as it does the veneration felt among younger men for the dean of Italian (and more especially neo-Latin) letters; but to explain both its odd tone and its position in neo-Latin literature it is necessary to deal briefly with some matters of background.
Thomas Shelton, Translator of Don Quixote
Authors: Knowles Edwin B.
Published: May 2006

In 1878 A. J. Duffield, then preparing his translation of Don Quixote (1881), addressed a letter to Notes and Queries:

Thomas Shelton. Could any of your readers furnish me with an account of this old English worthy? He was not only the first translator into English of Don Quixote, but the first of all translators; and it would be a disgrace to us if we cannot discover who he was and what other works he did.

Apparently the risk of national disgrace was an ineffectual stimulus, for three years later H. E. Watts, whose own translation followed Duffield's in 1886, also sent a query to the same journal: ‘Who was Thomas Shelton, the first translator of Don Quixote, and where is any information to be got of him?’ These were the first occasions in the two and a half centuries since his translation appeared in London in 1612 that any one had publicly expressed any curiosity about Thomas Shelton.
The Humanist as Scholar and Politian's Conception of the Grammaticus
Authors: Scaglione Aldo
Published: May 2006

At ego malim somnia Politiani, quam quae Scala sobrius, summoque studio elaboravit

(Erasmus)

Despite many an earnest effort to preserve the Burckhardtian idea of the Renaissance in the course of a full century of historical research (1960 was the centennial year of Burckhardt's masterpiece), the picture of this cultural unit has undoubtedly been more sharply focused in detail, but it has also grown so much more vague in its general lines as to cause a certain amount of despair with regard to the possibility of defining this period in precise distinction from the middle ages. A global ‘definition’ of the period (as of any other period) has been proved to be impossible. The ‘idea’ of the age, the positive formulation of its spirit and essential characteristics must be the result of a view of the ensemble of its various elements, many of which, taken in isolation, can find sources and even relative parallels in preceding centuries.
Some Early Poems of Antonio Geraldini
Authors: Richards J. F. C.
Published: May 2006

Antonio Geraldini is well known for his eclogues, which have been reprinted in modern times. But there is another group of his poems which illustrates an early phase of his life. Since these poems have been previously unknown, it seems worth while to print them now. There are thirteen of them (531 lines) and they are contained in a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Lat. misc. e 81, ff. 85r-96v. They are written in nine different metres; four are in Sapphics (1, 3, 6, 11), two are in elegiacs (12,13), and there is one poem in each of the following metres: lesser Asclepiad (2), first Asclepiad (8), second Asclepiad (4), third Asclepiad (10), Alcmanian (5), fourth Archilochian (9), and Phalaecean (7).
Allegory as a Form of Wit1
Authors: Dundas Judith
Published: May 2006

The line of wit, I would contend, includes Spenser as well as Donne. But that statement is meaningless until some sort of significance is attached to the word 'wit’ that would make it apply to poets now felt to be very different. I do not propose to summarize Rosemond Tuve's Elizabethan and Metaphysical Imagery, or repeat in brief her attempt to show that the Elizabethan and metaphysical poets were operating under the same poetic theory. Rather, I should like to take a little semantic excursion to find what uses of the word 'wit’ make it as applicable to Spenser as to Donne. It is curious that the metaphysical poets, even inferior ones such as Cleveland and Cowley, may still be described as witty. To the extent that we apply this word to poets who may be singularly unamusing but who are ingenious, we have accepted its seventeenth-century use. But Spenser witty? No, indeed. Yet in his own day his reputation for ‘fine Poeticall inuention, and most exquisit wit’ was unrivaled.
Double Translation in English Humanistic Education
Authors: Miller William E.
Published: May 2006

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the most important study in the English grammar schools was Latin. The fact is well known, and so are the reasons for it. The pedagogical methods are, however, generally not easy to learn in detail. The writings of some educational theorists and the statutes of certain schools present a fragmentary picture of these methods, but an adequate account has yet to be written. This paper deals with the method called ‘double translation', an educational tool which some of the best teachers in England employed with great effect, but one which was quickly blunted in the hands of less able instructors. Double translation has received some attention from students of English Renaissance education, notably Foster Watson and T. W. Baldwin. Some misunderstanding of the method has arisen because of a confusion between double translation and ‘imitation'.
The Authorship of the Vita Anonyma of Leon Battista Alberti
Authors: Watkins Renée
Published: May 2006

The Vita anonyma of Leon Battista Alberti published in 1751 by Lorenzo Mehus is undoubtedly the finest source for the character as well as the life of this versatile thinker of the early Renaissance. It is a document of individualism, pride, and hope—so much so that Burckhardt merely had to restate its contents to make of Alberti's life a veritable paradeigma of Renaissance character as he saw it.

Students of Alberti have long discussed the question, who wrote this remarkable biography? Bonucci, in 1844, publishing it again as part of the Opere volgari of Alberti, claimed that the Vita was actually an autobiography, disguised, of course, by the use of the third person.