bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Complexities of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: A Case Study of Two Secondary Mathematics Teachers and Their ESOL Students
Authors: Leonard Jacqueline , Napp Carolina , Adeleke Shade
Published: December 2009

Culturally relevant pedagogy is not well understood as an instructional strategy in the mathematics classroom. This study reveals the challenges two teachers faced when they implemented a pilot project with ninth and tenth grade ESOL students. The task they envisioned as culturally relevant did not capture their ESOL students’ interests; rather, it caused both teachers and students to wrestle with tensions around cultural relevance. The major finding of this study is teachers’ beliefs and identities are complicated with CRP. Specifically, it changed two teachers’ beliefs about teaching mathematics and their role in the mathematics classroom. It also informed the teacher-researcher about the needs of teachers prior to implementing CRP. Although the task allowed ESOL students to acquire specific knowledge and to develop critical consciousness, it did little to enhance their cultural competence. Understanding the nuances of CRP will help teachers to better operationalize it (Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008).
A Critical Examination of Current Minimum Grading Policy Recommendations
Authors: Carifio James , Carey Theodore
Published: December 2009

In an effort to reduce failure and attrition rates and to increase on-time program completion and graduation rates, many schools are adopting a policy of assigning minimum grades. While justifications supporting the policy are often mathematical in nature, some proponents also claim the practice works to keep students motivated, hopeful, confident and optimistic. This paper explores these claims by comparing the stated reasons for grading practices and policies against several theories of learning and the secondary effects grades have on students. Key concepts from the models of achievement motivation, locus of control and self-efficacy, as well as consideration of the nature of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, lead to conclusions that there may be certain sub-populations of students who could benefit greatly from minimum grading practices and policies, particularly in certain (“high-risk”) courses and subject-matters. Ways to identify these students, courses and subject matters are presented and discussed, as are the general outlines of the formal exploratory and confirmatory studies that are needed to clarify and more precisely answer the several questions about minimum grading policies identified in this paper.
Gender and the Personal in Political Biography: Observations from a Dutch Perspective
Authors: Bosch Mineke
Published: December 2009

This article explores the differential meanings of “personal life” in political biographies of men and women, mainly based upon Dutch examples, but making use of international literature. Though there has been a tendency to use personal detail only as a means to advertise and popularize old-fashioned political biography, under the influence of the feminist slogan “the personal is political” serious historical biographies of male politicians have become enriched with all sorts of information on their private lives: their hobbies and habits, political tastes, and to some extent also their family life. In contrast, mainstream biographies of female politicians still suffer from an overpersonalization of public women in the past and the present. Serious biographical texts as well as biographical television documentaries on prominent female politicians (and professionals) still focus too easily on women’s civil status or their relation to men and family (married or not married, with or without children). This state of affairs makes gender sensitive historians aware of the pitfalls of writing about the private lives of their female political protagonists, and several intended biographies of prominent Dutch women even remain unwritten.
Josephine Baker’s “Rainbow Tribe”: Radical Motherhood in the South of France
Authors: Guterl Matthew Pratt
Published: December 2009

The politics of Josephine Baker’s adopted family cut cross the conventional divides between radical and conservative, transnational and national, and European and American. In studying her family, then, we can come to better understand the practices of diaspora and transnationalism in the twentieth century. We can more brightly illuminate the process of circulation, mediation, and translation that sat at the heart of Baker’s assemblage. And we can provide a more sharply focused analysis of Baker’s distinctive, celebrity-inflected feminism.
A Translocal Technology of the Self: Biographies of World Heroines and the Chinese Woman Question
Authors: Judge Joan
Published: December 2009

Western heroines became world heroines in the turn-of-the-twentieth-century Chinese social imaginary—universal stand-ins for the possibilities of modern womanhood. Reformers committed to resolving the Chinese woman question in this period used the dramatic stories of Joan of Arc, Madame Roland, and other foreign icons in the same way their literati forebears had used the two-millennia-long Chinese tradition of exemplary female biography: as a technology of the female self, a means of regulating and imagining feminine subjecthood. These later authors, nonetheless, shifted biography’s basic function and temporal thrust. Making it an instrument of self-creation rather than merely of emulation, they used it to advance competing aspirations for Chinese modernity, female heroism, and a strengthened nation. Their often conflicting representations of Western women’s lives ultimately expose fissures in China’s own national project. They also highlight the complex ways the female embodiment of the translocal West was integral to definitions of the non-Western local.
Sister Katie: The Memory and Making of a 1.5 Generation Working-Class Transnational
Authors: Merithew Caroline Waldron
Published: December 2009

Identifying the theoretical and chronological fault lines that divide immigration and women’s history, I use memory and biography to argue that assimilation and transnationalism in the 1.5 and second generations were not oppositional. In this article, I tell the story of an Italian immigrant who moved to the United States as a young child and who became a self-proclaimed “left winger.” I cast Katie’s story less from her own words as from the recollections of others who remade and remembered her from the 1930s until 1960. I argue that a working-class transnational’s identity was one that could move through large and small geographic spaces as well as take up the minds and hearts of men and women who made (or witnessed) global crossings. The identity of “transnationals”—those immigrants like Katie—might be described as slippery. They slipped through identities, highlighting and hiding different pieces of themselves at different moments and places. The construction of Katie over time comprised domains often imagined and experienced by many as contradictory or competing: the foreigner/the citizen, the personal/the political, the internationalist/the American, and the home/the community.
“How better could she serve her country?”: Cultural Translators, U.S. Women’s History, and Kang Cheng’s “An Amazon in Cathay”
Authors: Shemo Connie
Published: December 2009

This article revisits a 1912 short story by Kang Cheng, a Chinese female missionary physician prominent in both the United States and China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Scholars have interpreted this story as evidence of Kang’s uncritical acceptance of American missionary emphasis on women serving the nation only through work for other women and children. Placing the story in the context of the history of Kang’s medical work, this article argues that Kang’s ideology is more accurately seen as a synthesis between late-nineteenth-century Chinese nationalist and American missionary thought. Even while supporting the missionary enterprise, she challenged notions of racial hierarchy embedded in much missionary practice. The article ultimately addresses the question of the historical treatment of women who functioned as cultural translators, arguing that attention to such women is essential as the field of U.S. women’s history becomes more transnational.
The Well and the Web: Phantoms of Community and the Mediatic Public Sphere
Authors: Culbert John
Published: December 2009

"The Well and the Web" examines a number of media watershed events in which the sense of community in crisis, threatened by new technologies of communication, is expressed in sensationalistic dramas of young lives in mortal danger. From the advent of live TV news to the rise of web-based interactivity, the figure insistently invoked in such scenes of crisis is that of a girl fallen into a well. This theme is echoed in the recent films Ringu and The Ring , whose horror premise makes explicit the necropolitics (Mbembe) underpinning the conventional discourse of community and televisual spectatorship. Drawing on The Phantom Public Sphere (Robbins) and new media theory (Doane, Latham, Poster), I argue that the discourse of community and morality betrays a haunted logic that must engage with contemporary theories of virtuality and spectrality (Derrida). The horror genre's tropes of the viral and the ghost provide the means to articulate a postmodern ethics of spectatorship that, attuned to trauma and the duplicity of discourse, can challenge necropolitics and extend hospitality to the phantoms that haunt the mediatic public sphere.
Irreducible Vagueness: Mixed Worlding in Diller & Scofidio's Blur Building
Authors: Ekman Ulrik
Published: December 2009

This article argues that Blur Building, Diller & Scofidio's architectural project for the Swiss Expo 2002, demonstrated performatively and interactively how contemporary worldmaking involves cultural and technological invention and construction both, implying our cultural co-evolution with ubiquitous computing and media such that "worlding" must today be approached and approximated as a question of realities that mix virtuality and actuality. This article not only touches upon the actual inventions produced in this project--with its atmospheric architecture of tensegrity structures, its vast artifactual mist-cloud, its bio-genetic pumping system, its smart weather system, and its complex systems for ubicomp surveillance and wearable computing--but also goes on to problematize the implications of mixed realities for existing notions of practical contextuality or the "life world." Specifically, it is argued that mixed worlding in an epoch of calm ubiquitous computing necessarily confronts us with a lived experience ( Erlebnis ) of embodiment whose irreducible vagueness stems from a transduction of the imperceptible and the unimaginable, i.e., from a being-among in originary tactility as that which affects and animates us and remains structurally earlier than or ahead of any commonsensical hermeneutic horizon of conscious, linguistic, or discursive meaning.
New Media Critical Homologies
Authors: Lennon Brian
Published: December 2009

New media studies, we might say, has discovered temporality. After fifteen years in which its cultural dominant was presentist prognostication, even a kind of bullying, the field has folded on itself with such new guiding concepts as the "residuality," the "deep time" or "prehistory," and the "forensic imagination" of a new media now understood as after all always already new. This essay rereads the legacy of hyperfiction pioneer and demiurge Michael Joyce through Fredric Jameson's call, twenty years ago, for a "deeper comparison" than new media studies is yet ready to make, even today. It argues that new media studies, as a disturbance in both the practices and production regimes of humanistic discipline, is and always has been best thought less as an emergent field than as a site of such double vision. If we still want to consider Joyce's work a founding moment in new media literary studies in the U.S., we will have to recognize the radical untimeliness of, and at, that foundation: the extent to which the negativity of Joyce's secession from this emergent field must be understood not as the end of his influence in it, but in antinomian fashion, as its beginning again.
The effect of boat propeller scarring intensity on genetic variation in a subtropical seagrass species
Authors: Larkin Patrick D. , Heideman Krista L. , Burfeind Dana D. , Stunz Gregory W.
Published: December 2009

We report here the effect of one form of disturbance, boat propeller scarring, on genetic variation in the subtropical seagrass Halodule wrightii. We developed an amplified fragment length polymorphism assay to measure genetic variation in plots representing four levels of scarring intensity: reference (0% scarring), low (1–5%), moderate (5–15%) and severe (>15%). Although we found severely scarred plots to have the lowest, and moderately scarred plots to have the highest, mean genetic diversity estimates (H
e, P), differences among scarring levels were found to be non-significant (α=0.05). Analysis of molecular variance also showed no significant effect of scarring intensity. While propeller scarring can cause significant habitat loss, scarring intensities of up to 20% may not yet have seriously affected those factors (population size, flowering density, recruitment, gene flow) that strongly influence population genetic variation. The relatively recent occurrence of this type of disturbance, however, could mean that any long-term effects have yet to be detected.
Detection and quantitation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in EDTA whole blood samples using automated sample preparation and real time PCR
Authors: Raggam Reinhard B. , Wagner Jasmin , Bozic Michael , Michelin Birgit D.A. , Hammerschmidt Sandra , Homberg Cordula , Kessler Harald H.
Published: December 2009

Background: Detection and quantitation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in EDTA whole blood samples has gained significance in the routine diagnostic laboratory.

Methods: In this study, the analytical and clinical performance of the artus

®
EBV RG PCR kit in conjunction with automated sample preparation on the QIAsymphony
®
SP instrument was evaluated.

Results: When the accuracy of the new test system was tested, all results were found to be within ±0.5 log10 unit of the expected panel results. Determination of linearity showed a quasilinear curve over 4 log units. The lower limit of detection was determined to be 391 EBV DNA copies/mL in EDTA whole blood. The between day imprecision ranged from 18% to 66%, and the within run imprecision ranged from 11% to 50%. When clinical samples were tested and the results compared with those obtained with the routinely used easyMAG™ sample preparation and EBV R-gene™ test system, 60 samples tested positive and 31 samples tested negative by both assays. Nineteen samples were found to be positive using the QIAsymphony
®
sample preparation and artus

®
EBV RG PCR test system only, and no samples tested positive with the routinely used test system only.

Conclusions: The QIAsymphony
®
sample preparation and artus

®
EBV RG PCR test system is suitable for the detection and quantitation of EBV DNA in EDTA whole blood in the routine diagnostic laboratory.

Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:413–8.
The Chromatin-Remodeling Protein Osa Interacts With CyclinE in Drosophila Eye Imaginal Discs
Authors: Baig Jawaid , Chanut Francoise , Kornberg Thomas B , Klebes Ansgar
Published: December 2009

Coordinating cell proliferation and differentiation is essential during organogenesis. In Drosophila, the photoreceptor, pigment, and support cells of the eye are specified in an orchestrated wave as the morphogenetic furrow passes across the eye imaginal disc. Cells anterior of the furrow are not yet differentiated and remain mitotically active, while most cells in the furrow arrest at G1 and adopt specific ommatidial fates. We used microarray expression analysis to monitor changes in transcription at the furrow and identified genes whose expression correlates with either proliferation or fate specification. Some of these are members of the Polycomb and Trithorax families that encode epigenetic regulators. Osa is one; it associates with components of the Drosophila SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex. Our studies of this Trithorax factor in eye development implicate Osa as a regulator of the cell cycle: Osa overexpression caused a small-eye phenotype, a reduced number of M- and S-phase cells in eye imaginal discs, and a delay in morphogenetic furrow progression. In addition, we present evidence that Osa interacts genetically and biochemically with CyclinE. Our results suggest a dual mechanism of Osa function in transcriptional regulation and cell cycle control.
Genetic Control of Photoperiod Sensitivity in Maize Revealed by Joint Multiple Population Analysis
Authors: Coles Nathan D , McMullen Michael D , Balint-Kurti Peter J , Pratt Richard C , Holland James B
Published: December 2009

Variation in maize for response to photoperiod is related to geographical adaptation in the species. Maize possesses homologs of many genes identified as regulators of flowering time in other species, but their relation to the natural variation for photoperiod response in maize is unknown. Candidate gene sequences were mapped in four populations created by crossing two temperate inbred lines to two photoperiod-sensitive tropical inbreds. Whole-genome scans were conducted by high-density genotyping of the populations, which were phenotyped over 3 years in both short- and long-day environments. Joint multiple population analysis identified genomic regions controlling photoperiod responses in flowering time, plant height, and total leaf number. Four key genome regions controlling photoperiod response across populations were identified, referred to as ZmPR1–4. Functional allelic differences within these regions among phenotypically similar founders suggest distinct evolutionary trajectories for photoperiod adaptation in maize. These regions encompass candidate genes CCA/LHY, CONZ1, CRY2, ELF4, GHD7, VGT1, HY1/SE5, TOC1/PRR7/PPD-1, PIF3, ZCN8, and ZCN19.
A Single Unpaired and Transcriptionally Silenced X Chromosome Locally Precludes Checkpoint Signaling in theCaenorhabditis elegansGerm Line
Authors: Jaramillo-Lambert Aimee , Engebrecht JoAnne
Published: December 2009

In many organisms, female and male meiosis display extensive sexual dimorphism in the temporal meiotic program, the number and location of recombination events, sex chromosome segregation, and checkpoint function. We show here that both meiotic prophase timing and germ-line apoptosis, one output of checkpoint signaling, are dictated by the sex of the germ line (oogenesis vs. spermatogenesis) in Caenorhabditis elegans. During oogenesis in feminized animals (fem-3), a single pair of asynapsed autosomes elicits a checkpoint response, yet an unpaired X chromosome fails to induce checkpoint activation. The single X in males and fem-3 worms is a substrate for the meiotic recombination machinery and repair of the resulting double strand breaks appears to be delayed compared with worms carrying paired X chromosomes. Synaptonemal complex axial HORMA domain proteins, implicated in repair of meiotic double strand breaks (DSBs) and checkpoint function, are assembled and disassembled on the single X similarly to paired chromosomes, but the central region component, SYP-1, is not loaded on the X chromosome in males. In fem-3 worms some X chromosomes achieve nonhomologous self-synapsis; however, germ cells with SYP-1-positive X chromosomes are not preferentially protected from apoptosis. Analyses of chromatin and X-linked gene expression indicate that a single X, unlike asynapsed X chromosomes or autosomes, maintains repressive chromatin marks and remains transcriptionally silenced and suggests that this state locally precludes checkpoint signaling.
Patterns of Work and Retirement Among Pediatricians Aged ≥50 Years
Authors: Merline Alicia C. , Cull William L. , Mulvey Holly J. , Katcher Avrum L.
Published: December 2009

OBJECTIVE: This study examined patterns of work and retirement among older pediatricians, including the determinants of part-time work and retirement, as well as extended participation in the pediatrician workforce.

METHODS: A mail survey regarding recent and expected workforce participation was distributed to American Academy of Pediatrics members who were aged ≥50 years. A total of 1158 (72%) responded, 1114 (70%) of whom were included in these analyses. Analyses examined levels of engagement in medicine, retirement plans, and differences between men and women and primary care pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists.

RESULTS: Providing or planning to provide patient care past age 65 was reported by 45% of the respondents. Engaging in part-time work was increasingly more common with age and may represent a step toward retirement for many. In this sample, women were more likely to work part-time (32% vs 18% of men) and less likely to work past age 65 (26% vs 57% of men). When compared with primary care pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists worked more hours per week (59 vs 53) but spent a smaller percentage of their time on patient care (63% vs 82%).

CONCLUSIONS: Part-time work and reduced work hours in anticipation of retirement are options that are used and desired by older pediatricians. Results of this study suggest that making provisions for gradual reduction in work hours or other forms of phasing out of the workforce could benefit the practice of pediatrics by extending the career length of the most experienced pediatricians.
Resective Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery in Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome
Authors: Lee Yun Jin , Kang Hoon-Chul , Lee Joon Soo , Kim Shin Hye , Kim Dong-Seok , Shim Kyu-Won , Lee Yun-Ho , Kim Tae Seung , Kim Heung Dong
Published: December 2009

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of resective pediatric epilepsy surgery for Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS).

METHODS: We analyzed clinical data of 27 children and adolescents who had LGS and underwent resective epilepsy surgery despite abundant (>30% of preoperative interictal and/or ictal epileptiform discharges) generalized or generalized contralateral maximal and multiregional electroencephalogram abnormalities.

RESULTS: On high-resolution MRI, cerebral lesions were noted in 23 (85.2%) patients but not in 4 (14.8%) patients. The age of patients at the time of surgery was between 1.7 and 17.3 years (mean: 7.8 years). Surgeries were lobar or multilobar resection in 21 (77.8%) patients and hemispherotomy in 6 (22.2%). At a mean of 33.1 months' postoperative follow-up, 16 (59.3%) patients had no seizures and 4 (14.8%) had infrequent seizures. Of 4 patients without brain abnormalities found on MRI, 2 patients became seizure-free after resective surgery was performed on the basis of electrophysiologic studies and concordant results in other multimodal neuroimages. Malformation of cortical development was the most common pathology and was seen in 20 (74.1%) patients, but 2 (7.4% patients) did not show any abnormal pathology. Sixteen (72.7%) patients, including 14 who had no seizures and 2 who had infrequent seizures after surgery, showed an increase in developmental quotient. No clinical profile was significantly associated with postoperative seizure-free rate.

CONCLUSIONS: Resective epilepsy surgery should be considered for children with LGS, despite abundant generalized and multiregional electroencephalogram abnormalities.
Biological and Environmental Predictors of Behavioral Sequelae in Children Born Preterm
Authors: Conrad Amy L. , Richman Lynn , Lindgren Scott , Nopoulos Peg
Published: December 2009

OBJECTIVE: By using behavioral outcome measures of children who were born preterm, we evaluated differences between children who were born at term and children who were born at extremely low (ELBW; <1000 g) and very low birth weights (VLBW; 1000–1499 g) and assessed the relationship of birth weight, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability to behavioral outcome.

METHODS: We studied a total of 104 children (aged 7–16 years). Of these, 49 had a preterm birth (31 of ELBW and 18 of VLBW). The remaining 55 were healthy control subjects. Children were administered tests of cognitive ability. Parents and teachers completed behavioral assessments. Multivariate analyses of covariance assessed differences between children who were born at term and those who were born of ELBW and of VLBW on behavioral measures. Hierarchical linear regressions were used to assess relationships among biological (birth weight), environmental (socioeconomic status), intellectual, and behavioral variables.

RESULTS: Children who were born at term had fewer parent reports of hyperactivity/inattention and depression/anxiety symptoms than children of ELBW and VLBW. Teacher ratings were not significant between groups. Birth weight was consistently the strongest predictor of parent ratings of behavioral outcome, and intelligence level did not seem to mediate this relationship.

CONCLUSIONS: Negative behavioral sequelae of preterm birth remain significant in middle childhood and adolescence, although the contribution of multiple factors to neurobehavioral outcome is complex. Research to assess these relationships, integrated with anatomic and functional neuroimaging, is needed to advance knowledge and improve outcomes for children who are born preterm.
Interaction of Glyphosate and Pelargonic Acid in Ready-to-Use Weed Control Products
Authors: Wehtje Glenn , Altland James E. , Gilliam Charles H.
Published: December 2009

Glyphosate-based, ready-to-use weed control products often contain pelargonic acid (PA) at a concentration equivalent to that of the glyphosate. It remains unclear what benefit, if any, this combination provides. Greenhouse experiments using large crabgrass, yellow nutsedge, longstalked phyllanthus, and prostrate spurge were conducted to determine whether the addition of PA improved weed control efficacy compared to glyphosate alone. Glyphosate was applied at a series of rates, ranging from 0.11 to 1.12 kg ae/ha, either alone or with an equal rate of PA. Addition of PA to glyphosate was synergistic only in longstalked phyllanthus and yellow nutsedge, and this synergism was manifested only as an increase in the amount of early (i.e., 5 to 7 d after treatment) visual injury. Conversely, longer-term control and control of regrowth was either not affected or reduced by the addition of PA. We conclude that the addition of PA to glyphosate in ready-to-use weed control products is neither warranted nor justified. However, we also note that the increase in early injury that was observed in only two of the four species evaluated could be an important attribute for the consumers for which these products are targeted.
Seeding Rate Effects on Weed Control and Yield For Organic Soybean Production
Authors: Place George T. , Reberg-Horton Samuel Chris , Dunphy Jim E. , Smith Adam N.
Published: December 2009

The organic grain sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of the organic market, but farmers in the mid-Atlantic cannot meet the organic grain demand, including the demand for organic soybean. Weed management is cited by farmers as the largest challenge to organic soybean production. Recent soybean population studies show that lower seeding rates for genetically modified organism soybean farmers provide maximum economic return due to high seed technology fees and inexpensive herbicides. Such economic analysis may not be appropriate for organic soybean producers due to the absence of seed technology fees, stronger weed pressures, and price premiums for organic soybean. Soybean seeding rates in North Carolina have traditionally been suggested at approximately 247,000 live seeds/ha, depending on planting conditions. Higher seeding rates may result in a more competitive soybean population and better economic returns for organic soybean producers. Experiments were conducted in 2006 and 2007 to investigate seeding rates of 185,000, 309,000, 432,000, and 556,000 live seeds/ha. All rates were planted on 76-cm row spacing in organic and conventional weed management systems. Increased soybean seeding rates reduced weed ratings at three of the five sites. Increased soybean seeding rates also resulted in higher yield at three of the four sites. Maximum economic returns for organic treatments were achieved with the highest seeding rate in all sites. Results suggest that seeding rates as high as 556,000 live seeds/ha may provide organic soybean producers with better weed control, higher yield, and increased profits.
Influence of Herbicide and Application Timing on Blackberry Control
Authors: Ferrell J. A. , Sellers B. A. , MacDonald G. E. , Kline W. N.
Published: December 2009

Blackberry is a troublesome species across much of the southeastern United States. Control of blackberry with the pyridine herbicides is often variable among different locations. Experiments were conducted to determine whether application timing, either spring or fall, affected efficacy of the pyridine herbicides triclopyr, fluroxypyr and picloram, and metsulfuron. The pyridine herbicides provided greater control when applied in the fall. At 12 mo after treatment, fluroxypyr plus picloram and fluroxypyr plus triclopyr provided 83% control when applied in the fall and 65% when applied in the spring. Conversely, metsulfuron provided 85% control, and application timing was not significant. Although metsulfuron effectively controls blackberry, it is also highly injurious to bahiagrass. Therefore, chlorosulfuron was tested to determine whether it would provide blackberry control while not injuring bahiagrass. Blackberry control with chlorosulfuron was similar to metsulfuron. These data indicated blackberry control in bahiagrass pastures can be effectively accomplished with chlorosulfuron.
Evaluation of Aortic Stiffness (Aortic Pulse–Wave Velocity) Before and After Elective Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair Procedures: A Pilot Study#
Authors: Paraskevas Kosmas I , Bessias Nikolaos , Psathas Chrysovalantis , Akridas Konstantinos , Dragios Theodoros , Nikitas Georgios , Andrikopoulos Vassilios , Mikhailidis Dimitri P , Kyriakides Zenon S
Published: December 2009

Background:

The main clinical criterion for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair operations is an AAA diameter ≥5.5 cm. When AAAs increase in size, specific changes occur in the mechanical properties of the aortic wall. Pulse-wave velocity (PWV) has been used as an indicator of vascular stiffness. A low PWV may predict AAA rupture risk and is an early predictor of cardiovascular mortality.

Methods:

We investigated the prognostic value of PWV before and after elective AAA repair procedures. Twenty four patients scheduled for an open AAA repair underwent a preoperative carotid-femoral aortic PWV measurement. A second aortic PWV measurement was carried out 6 months postoperatively.

Results:

The mean aortic PWV increased from 7.84 ± 1.85 preoperatively to 10.08 ± 1.57 m/sec 6 months postoperatively (mean change: 2.25; 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 3.1 m/sec; p<0.0001). The preprocedural PWV measurement did not correlate with AAA diameter (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient ρ=0.12; p=0.59).

Conclusions:

Whether the increase in aortic PWV postoperatively suggests a decreased cardiovascular risk following AAA repair remains to be established. Aortic PWV should also be investigated as an adjunct tool for assessing AAA rupture risk.
Hypotheses & Dynamics in the Pathogenesis of Neurodegenerative Disorders
Authors: M. Agius Lawrence
Published: December 2009

This book presents a series of clinical and pathologic observations that are thought to contribute to progressive incremental severity in neuronal cell loss and tissue atrophy in the cerebral cortex. The book includes a critical reappraisal of lesions in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. Common disorders such as cardiovascular disease appear to be prime inducing agents in neurodegenerative diseases. These observations should help researchers to reevaluate the investigative approach towards diseases of the central nervous system. The style follows the current text adopted by morphologists in terms that allow for further investigation by research workers. The text represents an attempt to generate a refreshing viewpoint of end stage CNS disorders that follow a long pre-clinical pathogenic course implicating common generically related and interacting etiologic agents. This book is meant to be a useful guide for researchers and clinicians interested in the development and treatment of CNS disorders.
Development of Distance Computing Environment for Parallel Processing
Authors: Misbahuddin Syed , Noor Fazal
Published: December 2009

Parallel processing is a form of computing in which a number of activities are carried out
concurrently on multiple machines so that the time required to solve a given problem is reduced. The advent
of low cost high performance Pentium machines and PC based LINUX operating system have attracted many
researchers to explore parallel processing experiments on PCs. This chapter provides the complete experience
of building a LINUX cluster and its application in mapping some parallel algorithms. This chapter discusses
comprehensive procedure of cluster development. It discusses the procedure of linear expansion of a cluster
to n nodes. Furthermore, the chapter describes the experience of replacing an existing node if it either fails or
needs to be replaced by another powerful node.
Wireless Sensor Networks: Fundamentals, Technology and Applications
Authors: Ikram Nassar , Durrani Shakeel , Sajid Hasan , Saeed Husnain
Published: December 2009

Sensing makes us aware of our ambient environment with amazing precision and speed. The influx
of multitude attributes is processed in real time that makes us act in an exceptionally coordinated and timely
manner. This human capability has influenced researchers worldwide trying to imitate this intricate delicacy
of nature. Such a concept of global sensing and actuation is what the world has been waiting for, which has
emerged in the form of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). This chapter delves into the whole spectrum of
WSNs; explaining in detail the constituents (sensors, processor, transceiver etc) of sensor node,
characteristics, survey of existing platforms, network dynamics and topology, energy matters and applications
of WSNs. Applications of WSN have been given special consideration to show how WSN can revolutionize
living standards, safety and our environment concurrently being more economically beneficial. Extensive due
diligence has been carried out to ensure the right technology for the right application, with comparison to
existing solutions and supported by real life deployments. In the end, a macro level insight of emerging
branches (WMSN and WSAN) of WSNs provides a glimpse into the future of WSN.
Stability of Liquid-Liquid Stratified Microchannel Flow under the Effects of Boundary Slip
Authors: You Xue-Yi , Zheng Jing-Ru
Published: December 2009

The effects of boundary slip on the stability of viscosity-stratified microchannel flow are investigated. In this approach, the boundary slip is considered by Navier slip assumption and the stability of the flow is studied by the small disturbance theory. Numerical results indicate that the stability of stratified microchannel flow is enhanced by boundary slip and it is controlled by boundary slip, the ratio of viscosity, surface tension and interface location.
Hormetic Effects of Reactive Oxygen Species by Exercise: A View from Animal Studies for Successful Aging in Human
Authors: Goto Sataro , Radák Zsolt
Published: December 2009

Numerous anti-aging measures have been proposed to cope with age-associated decline of physiological functions and/or onset of diseases, mostly based on free radical (or oxidative stress) theory of aging, though no robust scientific data have been reported to extend human healthspan. This is due to dual (harmful as well as essential) roles of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to a body. Regular moderate exercise provides benefits upregulating defense against oxidative stress in good balance between the opposing dual roles. Sources of ROS in exercise appear to be not only mitochondria as often claimed but also enzymatic reactions catalyzed by NADPH oxidase and other oxidases. It may, therefore, be possible to mimic this aspect of exercise to promote the defense for healthspan extension by other means such as modest alcohol consumption that could upregulate activity of enzymes against oxidative stress.
Pregabalin as an adjunct to phenobarbital, potassium bromide, or a combination of phenobarbital and potassium bromide for treatment of dogs with suspected idiopathic epilepsy
Authors: Dewey Curtis W. , Cerda-Gonzalez Sofia , Levine Jonathan M. , Badgley Britton L. , Ducoté Julie M. , Silver Gena M. , Cooper Jocelyn J. , Packer Rebecca A. , Lavely James A.
Published: December 2009

Objective—To assess tolerability and short-term efficacy of oral administration of pregabalin as an adjunct to phenobarbital, potassium bromide, or a combination of phenobarbital and potassium bromide for treatment of dogs with poorly controlled suspected idiopathic epilepsy.

Design—Open-label, noncomparative clinical trial.

Animals—11 client-owned dogs suspected of having idiopathic epilepsy that was inadequately controlled with phenobarbital, potassium bromide, or a combination of these 2 drugs.

Procedures—Dogs were treated with pregabalin (3 to 4 mg/kg [1.4 to 1.8 mg/lb], PO, q 8 h) for 3 months. Number of generalized seizures in the 3 months before and after initiation of pregabalin treatment was recorded. Number of responders (≥ 50% reduction in seizure frequency) was recorded, and seizure frequency before and after initiation of pregabalin treatment was compared by use of a nonparametric Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Results—Seizures were significantly reduced (mean, 57%; median, 50%) after pregabalin administration in the 9 dogs that completed the study; 7 were considered responders with mean and median seizure reductions of 64% and 58%, respectively. Adverse effects for pregabalin were reported in 10 dogs. Mean and median plasma pregabalin concentrations for all dogs were 6.4 and 7.3 μg/mL, respectively.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Pregabalin may hold promise as a safe and effective adjunct anticonvulsant drug for epileptic dogs poorly controlled with the standard drugs phenobarbital or potassium bromide. Adverse effects of pregabalin appeared to be mild. Additional studies with larger numbers of dogs and longer follow-up intervals are warranted.
The Use of Carbon-14 and Tritium For Peat and Water Dynamics Characterization: Case of Čepkeliai Peatland, Southeastern Lithuania
Authors: Mažeika Jonas , Guobytė Rimantė , Kibirkštis Gintautas , Petrošius Rimantas , Skuratovič Žana , Taminskas Julius
Published: December 2009

The present investigation conducted in Čepkeliai peatland (south-eastern Lithuania) deals with two radioisotope methods - carbon-14 (14C) and tritium (3H). 14C was applied to peatland chronology and sedimentation rate estimation and 3H to peat water dynamics characterization. According to 14C data, peatland development began since 12650-11350 years cal BP and peat accumulation since 10550-9700 years cal BP with peat accumulation rate of 0.27-0.79 mm/year in the central part of the peatland. The peat water mean residence time and basic groundwater flow was estimated to be respectively about 27±6 years and 62±15 mm based on 3H data. The obtained data showed relatively undisturbed natural condition of Čepkeliai peatland in the studied sites.
Silicate-carbonate-salt liquid immiscibility and origin of the sodalite-haüyne rocks: study of melt inclusions in olivine foidite from Vulture volcano, S. Italy
Authors: Panina Liya , Stoppa Francesco
Published: December 2009

Melt inclusions in clinopyroxenes of olivine foidite bombs from Serra di Constantinopoli pyroclastic flows of the Vulture volcano (Southern Italy) were studied in detail. The rocks contain abundant zoned phenocrysts and xenocrysts of clinopyroxene, scarce grains of olivine, leucite, haüyne, glass with microlites of plagioclase and K-feldspar. The composition of clinopyroxene in xenocrysts (Cpx I), cores (Cpx II), and in rims (Cpx III) of phenocrysts differs in the content of Mg, Fe, Ti, and Al. All clinopyroxenes contain two types of primary inclusion-pure silicate and of silicate-carbonate-salt composition. This fact suggests that the phenomena of silicate-carbonate immiscibility took place prior to crystallization of clinopyroxene. Homogenization of pure silicate inclusions proceeded at 1 225 – 1 190°C. The composition of conserved melts corresponded to that of olivine foidite in Cpx I, to tephrite-phonolite in Cpx II, and phonolite-nepheline trachyte in Cpx III. The amount of water in them was no more than 0.9 wt.%. Silicate-carbonate inclusions decrepitated on heating. Salt globules contained salts of alkali-sulphate, alkali-carbonate, and Ca-carbonate composition somewhat enriched in Ba and Sr. This composition is typical of carbonatite melts when decomposed into immiscible fractions. The formation of sodalite-haüyne rocks from Vulture is related to the presence of carbonate-salt melts in magma chamber. The melts conserved in clinopyroxenes were enriched in incompatible elements, especially in Cpx III. High ratios of La, Nb, and Ta in melts on crystallization of Cpx I and Cpx II suggest the influence of a carbonatite melt as carbonatites have extremely high La/Nb and Nb/Ta and this is confirmed by the appearance of carbonatite melts in magma chamber. Some anomalies in the concentrations and relatives values of Eu and especially Ga seems typical of Italian carbonatite related melts. The mantle source for initial melts was, most likely, rather uniform, undepleted and was characterized by a low degree of melting and probable presence of garnet in restite.
The Marx of Anti-Oedipus
Authors: Tynan Aidan
Published: December 2009

The meeting of Deleuze and Guattari in 1969 is generally used to explain how the former's thought became politicised under the influence of the latter. This narrative, however useful it might be in explaining Deleuze's move away from the domain of academic philosophy following the upheavals of May 1968, has had the effect of de-emphasising the conceptual development which occurred between Difference and Repetition and Anti-Oedipus. Worst of all, it has had the effect of reducing the role of Marx's philosophy to the superficial level of political alibi, impoverishing our understanding of its importance with respect to the conceptual assemblage of Anti-Oedipus. This paper attempts to restore Marx's relevance to Deleuze and Guattari's project by understanding Anti-Oedipus through the Marxian categories of production, distribution, surplus-value and consumption, and argues for a conception of schizoanalysis which does not relegate the name of Marx to the garbage heap of poststructuralist intellectual strategy.
Methyl 6-Methyl-4-(4-iodophenyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-thioxo-5-pyrimidinecarboxylate
Authors: Pan Ning , Zhang Wenwen , Liu Qingjian
Published: December 2009

Methyl 6-methyl-4-(4-iodophenyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-thioxo-5-pyrimidinecarboxylate has been synthesized via Biginelli reaction of 4-iodobenzaldehyde, methyl acetoacetate and thiourea, promoted by microwave irradiation in the presence of iodine under solvent-free conditions in high yield and good purity.
Measurement of Crown Cover and Leaf Area Index Using Digital Cover Photography and Its Application to Remote Sensing
Authors: Pekin Burak , Macfarlane Craig
Published: December 2009

Digital cover photography (DCP) is a high resolution, vertical field-of-view method for ground-based estimation of forest metrics, and has advantages over fisheye sensors owing to its ease of application and high accuracy. We conducted the first thorough technical appraisal of DCP using both single-lens-reflex (DSLR) and point-and-shoot cameras and concluded that differences result primarily from the better quality optics available for the DSLR camera. File compression, image size and ISO equivalence had little or no effect on estimates of forest metrics. We discuss the application of DCP for ground truthing of remotely sensed canopy metrics, and highlight its strengths over fisheye photography for testing and calibration of vertical field-of-view remote sensing.
Economy and Sustainability—How Economic Integration Stimulates Stringent Environmental Regulations
Authors: Tosun Jale , Knill Christoph
Published: December 2009

The interaction between economic integration and environmental policy has become an important issue in the last few years. Despite the considerable scholarly attention this topic attracted, actual government responses in terms of environmental policy outputs remain largely untouched by both theoretical and empirical work. To fill this gap, we suggest a theory-based disaggregation of the compound variable economic integration for deriving more precise expectations on its differential impact on environmental policy arrangements. In doing so, we show that economic integration may indeed trigger the promulgation of more demanding environmental regulations. To illustrate our arguments empirically, we analyze the development of Turkish clean air policy between 1975 and 2005.
Antibody-Mediated Fcγ Receptor-Based Mechanisms of HIV Inhibition: Recent Findings and New Vaccination Strategies
Authors: Holl Vincent , Peressin Maryse , Moog Christiane
Published: December 2009

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is one of the most devastating pandemics worldwide. Today, the major route of infection by HIV is sexual transmission. One of the most promising strategies for vaccination against HIV sexual infection is the development of a mucosal vaccine, which should be able to induce strong local and systemic protective immunity. It is believed that both humoral and cellular immune responses are needed for inducing a sterilizing protection against HIV. Recently, passive administration of monoclonal neutralizing antibodies in macaques infected by vaginal challenge demonstrated a crucial role of FcγRs in the protection afforded by these antibodies. This questioned about the role of innate and adaptive immune functions, including ADCC, ADCVI, phagocytosis of opsonized HIV particles and the production of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, in the mechanism of HIV inhibition in vivo. Other monoclonal antibodies - non-neutralizing inhibitory antibodies - which recognize immunogenic epitopes, have been shown to display potent FcγRs-dependent inhibition of HIV replication in vitro. The potential role of these antibodies in protection against sexual transmission of HIV and their biological relevance for the development of an HIV vaccine therefore need to be determined. This review highlights the potential role of FcγRsmediated innate and adaptive immune functions in the mechanism of HIV protection.
DOES STATE CONTROL AFFECT MANAGERIAL INCENTIVES? EVIDENCE FROM CHINA'S PUBLICLY LISTED FIRMS
Authors: Lin Chen , Su Dongwei
Published: December 2009

Using data for 1203 publicly listed firms in China during 1999–2002, this paper empirically investigates whether and to what extent state control affects managerial incentives, including managerial compensation and CEO turnover. The paper finds that CEO turnover is negatively related to both current and lagged firm performance as measured by ROA and RPE (Relative Performance Evaluation) for non‐state‐controlled firms, while insensitive to performance measures for state‐controlled firms. In addition, CEO compensation is positively related to firm performance, but state ownership and control weaken this positive relation. Moreover, state control reduces the effectiveness of internal governance mechanisms such as the board of directors and supervisory committee. Overall, empirical results in the paper indicate that state ownership and control weaken managerial incentives and internal monitoring among publicly listed firms in China.