bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Molecular clonality and antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella entericaserovars Enteritidis and Infantis from broilers in three Northern regions of Iran
Authors: Rahmani Maral , Peighambari Seyed Mostafa , Svendsen Christina Aaby , Cavaco Lina M , Agersø Yvonne , Hendriksen Rene S
Published: April 2013

Background

Multidrug-resistantSalmonellastrains are frequently encountered problems worldwide with considerable increased occurrences in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and frequency of antimicrobial resistance and associated resistance genes inSalmonellaisolates from broiler farms in different regions of Iran covering a time period of four years.

Results

From 2007 to 2011, 36Salmonellastrains were isolated from broiler farms located in three northern provinces of Iran. The isolates were serotyped, antimicrobial susceptibility tested, and characterized for antimicrobial resistance genes associated to the phenotype. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was applied for comparison of genetic relatedness.

Two serovars were detected among the isolates;Salmonella entericaserovar Infantis (75%) andS.Enteritidis (25%). Thirty-four (94%) of the isolates exhibited resistance to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin caused by a single mutation in the quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR) ofgyrA. For all strains this mutation occurred in the codon of Asp87leading to a Asp87-Tyr, Asp87-Gly or Asp87-Asn substitutions. AllS.Infantis (n = 27) were resistant to tetracycline, spectinomycin, streptomycin, and sulfamethoxazole and harbored the associated resistance genes;tetA,dfrA14,aadA1, andsulI together with class 1 integrons. The isolates revealed highly similar PFGE patterns indicating clonal relatedness across different geographical locations.

Conclusion

The data provided fundamental information applicable when launching future control programs for broilers in Iran with the aim to conserve the effectiveness of important antimicrobials for treatment in humans.
Teaching IELTS Writing Module through English Debate: A Case Study in Thailand
Authors: Sanonguthai Suchada
Published: April 2013

The study explores how effective teaching IELTS writing module through English debate can be for 20 students in their last year in high at a private school in Thailand. The school has acquired Ms Cynthia Luo, a debate coach of the school, to teach Grade 12B academic writing course and this has made it possible for the students to brainstorm, discuss and debate over IELTS oriented issues before they start working on draft 1 and draft 2 of their essays. Three follow-up student interviews and the debate teacher interview were conducted. Active students responded positively to the use of debate in their writing class while expressing their concerns about academic vocabulary and paraphrasing skills. Passive students need more support during debate activities. Additional English activities are introduced for students' accuracy and fluency. The student participants took their IELTS mock test and their scores reflect effectiveness of debate activities in classroom while some of the students need to develop their classroom learning motivation.
The Construct Validity of a Test: A Triangulation of Approaches
Authors: Salehi Mohammad
Published: April 2013

Three approaches of validation enquiry were applied on the data obtained from a proficiency test carried out with 3,398 PhD candidates as a partial requirement for entering PhD program in Iran. The data obtained from the reading section were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The EFA yielded nine factors in the reading section. Furthermore, a design of multitrait-multimethod was also investigated, the traits being grammar and vocabulary and the methods, multiple choice and cloze test. The test demonstrated both convergent and discriminant validity. A third approach was intersubtest correlations as elaborated on by Alderson et al. (1995). For this, different sub-parts of the instrument were correlated with one another and with the total test. The test also showed construct validity as investigated via this approach. It can be concluded that the test had construct validity as revealed by these three approaches.
The Effect of Assessment Type (self vs. peer vs. teacher) on Iranian University EFL Students' Course Achievement
Authors: Khonbi Zainab Abolfazli , Sadeghi Karim
Published: April 2013

This research investigated the effect of self-, peer-, and teacher-assessment on Iranian undergraduate EFL students' course achievement. Four intact classes, including 82 students from Urmia, Tabriz, and Tabriz Islamic Azad universities were randomly assigned into one of the self-, peer-, teacher-assessment, or control groups. The students were pretested on their current Teaching Methods knowledge. After receiving relevant instruction and training, the first experimental group (N = 21) were involved in self-assessment activities, the second one (N = 23) were engaged with peer-assessment tasks, and the third one (N = 21) were subjected to teacher-assessment; however, the control group (N = 19) received no assessment-related treatment. The application of ANCOVA on the results of the achievement posttest indicated differences in the performances of peer-, self-, teacher-assessment, and the control groups F (3, 77) = 23.15, p = .05, in favour of peer-assessment. A medium effect size was found between the independent and dependent variables (partial eta squared= .47); however, the covariate, albeit significant (.03), had a small effect size (partial eta squared= .05). Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.
Neutrophils promote 6-sulfo LacNAc+ dendritic cell (slanDC) survival
Authors: Micheletti Alessandra , Costantini Claudio , Calzetti Federica , Camuesco Deseada , Costa Sara , Tamassia Nicola , Cassatella Marco A
Published: April 2013

There is increasing evidence supporting the notion that neutrophils and other leukocytes establish cooperative actions in regulating innate and adaptive immune responses. In such a context, we have shown recently that human neutrophils amplify NK cell/slanDC-mediated cytokine production by directly costimulating IFN-γ production by NK cells, as well as by potentiating IL-12p70 release by slanDCs via CD18/ICAM-1 interactions. To gain more insights into the molecular bases of the neutrophil-mediated cytokine potentiation by NK cells and slanDCs under coculture conditions, we now report that neutrophils efficaciously maintain slanDC survival by contact-dependent mechanisms. Such a phenomenon occurs in the absence or presence of NK cells, which, in the presence of LPS and IL-2 or the IL-15/IL-18 combination, accelerates slanDC apoptosis significantly. Noteworthy, αICAM-1- and αCD18-neutralizing antibodies, previously shown to suppress IL-12p70 production by slanDCs and consequently, IFN-γ by NK cells under similar experimental conditions, did not minimally alter the neutrophil-mediated prosurvival effect on slanDCs. Altogether, data not only expand our knowledge on the interactions between human neutrophils and slanDCs but also prove that neutrophil-mediated promotion of slanDC survival and potentiation of slanDC-derived IL-12p70 occur via different mechanisms.
Familial Isolated Pituitary Adenomas (FIPA) and the Pituitary Adenoma Predisposition due to Mutations in the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Interacting Protein (AIP) Gene
Authors: Beckers Albert , Aaltonen Lauri A. , Daly Adrian F. , Karhu Auli
Published: April 2013

Pituitary adenomas are one of the most frequent intracranial tumors and occur with a prevalence of approximately 1:1000 in the developed world. Pituitary adenomas have a serious disease burden, and their management involves neurosurgery, biological therapies, and radiotherapy. Early diagnosis of pituitary tumors while they are smaller may help increase cure rates. Few genetic predictors of pituitary adenoma development exist. Recent years have seen two separate, complimentary advances in inherited pituitary tumor research. The clinical condition of familial isolated pituitary adenomas (FIPA) has been described, which encompasses the familial occurrence of isolated pituitary adenomas outside of the setting of syndromic conditions like multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 and Carney complex. FIPA families comprise approximately 2% of pituitary adenomas and represent a clinical entity with homogeneous or heterogeneous pituitary adenoma types occurring within the same kindred. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein (AIP) gene has been identified as causing a pituitary adenoma predisposition of variable penetrance that accounts for 20% of FIPA families. Germline AIP mutations have been shown to associate with the occurrence of large pituitary adenomas that occur at a young age, predominantly in children/adolescents and young adults. AIP mutations are usually associated with somatotropinomas, but prolactinomas, nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas, Cushing disease, and other infrequent clinical adenoma types can also occur. Gigantism is a particular feature of AIP mutations and occurs in more than one third of affected somatotropinoma patients. Study of pituitary adenoma patients with AIP mutations has demonstrated that these cases raise clinical challenges to successful treatment. Extensive research on the biology of AIP and new advances in mouse Aip knockout models demonstrate multiple pathways by which AIP may contribute to tumorigenesis. This review assesses the current clinical and therapeutic characteristics of more than 200 FIPA families and addresses research findings among AIP mutation-bearing patients in different populations with pituitary adenomas.
Raf-mediated cardiac hypertrophy in adultDrosophila
Authors: Yu Lin , Daniels Joseph , Glaser Alex E. , Wolf Matthew J.
Published: April 2013

In response to stress and extracellular signals, the heart undergoes a process called cardiac hypertrophy during which cardiomyocytes increase in size. If untreated, cardiac hypertrophy can progress to overt heart failure that causes significant morbidity and mortality. The identification of molecular signals that cause or modify cardiomyopathies is necessary to understand how the normal heart progresses to cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling is essential for normal human cardiac function, and the inhibition of RTKs can cause dilated cardiomyopathies. However, neither investigations of activated RTK signaling pathways nor the characterization of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the adult fly heart has been previously described. Therefore, we developed strategies using Drosophila as a model to circumvent some of the complexities associated with mammalian models of cardiovascular disease. Transgenes encoding activated EGFRA887T, Ras85DV12 and Ras85DV12S35, which preferentially signal to Raf, or constitutively active human or fly Raf caused hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as determined by decreased end diastolic lumen dimensions, abnormal cardiomyocyte fiber morphology and increased heart wall thicknesses. There were no changes in cardiomyocyte cell numbers. Additionally, activated Raf also induced an increase in cardiomyocyte ploidy compared with control hearts. However, preventing increases in cardiomyocyte ploidy using fizzy-related (Fzr) RNAi did not rescue Raf-mediated cardiac hypertrophy, suggesting that Raf-mediated polyploidization is not required for cardiac hypertrophy. Similar to mammals, the cardiac-specific expression of RNAi directed against MEK or ERK rescued Raf-mediated cardiac hypertrophy. However, the cardiac-specific expression of activated ERKD334N, which promotes hyperplasia in non-cardiac tissues, did not cause myocyte hypertrophy. These results suggest that ERK is necessary, but not sufficient, for Raf-mediated cardiac hypertrophy.
Type XVIII collagen is essential for survival during acute liver injury in mice
Authors: Duncan Michael B. , Yang Changqing , Tanjore Harikrishna , Boyle Patrick M. , Keskin Doruk , Sugimoto Hikaru , Zeisberg Michael , Olsen Bjorn R. , Kalluri Raghu
Published: April 2013

The regenerative response to drug- and toxin-induced liver injury induces changes to the hepatic stroma, including the extracellular matrix. Although the extracellular matrix is known to undergo significant changes during the injury response, its impact on maintaining hepatocyte function and viability in this process remains largely unknown. We demonstrate that recovery from toxin-mediated injury is impaired in mice deficient in a key liver extracellular matrix molecule, type XVIII collagen, and results in rapid death. The type-XVIII-collagen-dependent response to liver injury is mediated by survival signals induced by α1β1 integrin, integrin linked kinase and the Akt pathway, and mice deficient in either α1β1 integrin or hepatocyte integrin linked kinase also succumb to toxic liver injury. These findings demonstrate that type XVIII collagen is an important functional component of the liver matrix microenvironment and is crucial for hepatocyte survival during injury and stress.
CO2 Reforming of Methane to Produce Syngas over γ-Al2O3-Supported Ni–Sr Catalysts
Authors: Al-Fatesh Ahmed Sadeq , Naeem Muhammad Awais , Fakeeha Anis Hamza , Abasaeed Ahmed Elhag
Published: April 2013

Dry reforming reactions have important environmental implications, since they can utilize and/or mitigate greenhouse gases. An experimental study was carried out to prepare suitable catalysts for dry reforming of methane. The Ni/γ-Al2O3 supported catalysts with strontium as a promoter (0.00–2.25 wt %) were prepared by a wet impregnation method. Various experimental techniques such as N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm, H2-TPR, CO2-TPD, XRD, TGA, O2-TPO, and SEM were applied for characterization of fresh and spent catalysts. The results of characterizations and catalyst activity test revealed that addition of Sr in Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst has dual effect; it improves the metal support interaction as well as enhances the Lewis basicity of the catalyst. This boost in basicity favors the chemisorption and dissociation of CO2 over the catalyst which in turn decreases the coke deposition. Amongst all tested catalysts, best results in terms of coke suppression were attained when 0.75% Sr loading was used, which showed 3.8% weight loss, less than half of that of the parent Ni–Al catalyst (8.2 wt %).
Merger Policy with Merger Choice
Authors: Nocke Volker , Whinston Michael D
Published: April 2013

We analyze the optimal policy of an antitrust authority towards horizontal mergers when merger proposals are endogenous and firms choose among alternative mergers. In our model, the optimal policy of an antitrust authority that seeks to maximize expected consumer surplus imposes a tougher standard on “larger” mergers, i.e., those involving firms with a larger pre-merger market share. The optimal policy is a response to a bias in firms' proposal incentives: firms always propose a larger merger when it is better for consumers than a smaller one, but sometimes will propose the larger one even when it is worse for consumers.
Inferior Good and Giffen Behavior for Investing and Borrowing
Authors: Kubler Felix , Selden Larry , Wei Xiao
Published: April 2013

The standard assumption that asset demand increases in income and decreases in price has its origin in Arrow's classic model with one risky and one risk free asset, where both are held long, and preferences exhibit decreasing absolute and increasing relative risk aversion. However if one allows shorting of the risk free asset or decreasing relative risk aversion, the risk free asset can not only fail to be a normal good but can be a Giffen good. This behavior can occur even for members of the popular HARA utility family. More generally, Giffen behavior can occur over multiple income ranges.
A Theory of Charitable Fund-Raising with Costly Solicitations
Authors: Name-Correa Alvaro J , Yildirim Huseyin
Published: April 2013

We present a theory of charitable fund-raising in which it is costly to solicit donors. We fully characterize the solicitation strategy that maximizes donations net of fund-raising costs. It is optimal for the fund-raiser to target only the “net contributors”––donors who would give more than their solicitation costs. We show that as the income inequality increases, so does the level of the public good, despite a (potentially) non-monotonic fund-raising strategy. This implies that costly fund-raising can provide a novel explanation for the non-neutrality of income redistributions and government grants often found in empirical studies.
Dynamic Matching and Bargaining Games: A General Approach
Authors: Lauermann Stephan
Published: April 2013

Dynamic matching and bargaining games are models of decentralized markets with trading frictions. A central objective is to investigate how equilibrium outcomes depend on the level of frictions. In particular, does the trading outcome become Walrasian when frictions become small? Existing specifications of such games provide divergent answers. This paper presents a new characterization result for competitive allocations in quasilinear economies. The characterization result is used to investigate what causes these differences and to generalize insights from the analysis of specific matching and bargaining games. (JEL C73, C78, D82, D83)
Intermediary Asset Pricing
Authors: He Zhiguo , Krishnamurthy Arvind
Published: April 2013

We model the dynamics of risk premia during crises in asset markets where the marginal investor is a financial intermediary. Intermediaries face an equity capital constraint. Risk premia rise when the constraint binds, reflecting the capital scarcity. The calibrated model matches the nonlinearity of risk premia during crises and the speed of reversion in risk premia from a crisis back to precrisis levels. We evaluate the effect of three government policies: reducing intermediaries borrowing costs, injecting equity capital, and purchasing distressed assets. Injecting equity capital is particularly effective because it alleviates the equity capital constraint that drives the model's crisis. (JEL E44, G12, G21, G23, G24)
Public Monopoly and Economic Efficiency: Evidence from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's Entry Decisions
Authors: Seim Katja , Waldfogel Joel
Published: April 2013

We estimate a spatial model of liquor demand to analyze the impact of government-controlled retailing on entry patterns. In the absence of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, the state would have roughly 2.5 times the current number of stores, higher consumer surplus, and lower payments to liquor store employees. With just over half the number of stores that would maximize welfare, the government system is instead best rationalized as profit maximization with profit sharing. Government operation mitigates, but does not eliminate, free entry's bias against rural consumers. We find only limited evidence of political influence on entry. (JEL D42, D72, L11, L12, L43, L81)
Commercial Imperialism? Political Influence and Trade During the Cold War
Authors: Berger Daniel , Easterly William , Nunn Nathan , Satyanath Shanker
Published: April 2013

We provide evidence that increased political influence, arising from CIA interventions during the Cold War, was used to create a larger foreign market for American products. Following CIA interventions, imports from the US increased dramatically, while total exports to the US were unaffected. The surge in imports was concentrated in industries in which the US had a comparative disadvantage, not a comparative advantage. Our analysis is able to rule out decreased trade costs, changing political ideology, and an increase in US loans and grants as alternative explanations. We provide evidence that the increased imports arose through direct purchases of American products by foreign governments. (JEL D72, F14, F54, N42, N72)
Acute Onset Peripartum Cardiomyopathy in a Woman with Severe Pre-eclamptia: A Diagnostic Dilemma
Authors: Basak Sonela , Rudra Pallab
Published: April 2013

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a form of dilated cardiomyopathy that can present as acute life-threatening pulmonary oedema in late pregnancy or early puerperium, its diagnosis is mainly by exclusion of other causes. Morbidity is high due to the reduced physiological reserve in pregnancy. PPCM and severe pre-eclampsia can co-exist and their clinical presentation may overlap, making the diagnosis more difficult and often delayed, with potentially devastating consequences. Here, we would like to share our experience of such a case and present to the readers how we dealt with the challenge. As obstetricians we often do not resort to transthoracic echocardiography, which in our case prompted the diagnosis timely. Lateral thinking and a heightened suspicion does help. Proper diagnosis is extremely important not only for the immediate appropriate management but also for advising long-term lifestyle modifications to minimize risk and counselling for future pregnancy.
Electrophysiological properties of mouse and epitope-tagged human cardiac sodium channel Nav1.5 expressed in HEK293 cells
Authors: Reinhard Katja , Rougier Jean-Sébastien , Ogrodnik Jakob , Abriel Hugues
Published: April 2013

Background: The pore-forming subunit of the cardiac sodium channel, Nav1.5, has been previously found to be mutated in genetically determined arrhythmias. Nav1.5 associates with many proteins that regulate its function and cellular localisation. In order to identify more in situ Nav1.5 interacting proteins, genetically-modified mice with a high-affinity epitope in the sequence of Nav1.5 can be generated.

Methods: In this short study, we (1) compared the biophysical properties of the sodium current (INa) generated by the mouse Nav1.5 (mNav1.5) and human Nav1.5 (hNav1.5) constructs that were expressed in HEK293 cells, and (2) investigated the possible alterations of the biophysical properties of the human Nav1.5 construct that was modified with specific epitopes.

Results: The biophysical properties of mNav1.5 were similar to the human homolog. Addition of epitopes either up-stream of the N-terminus of hNav1.5 or in the extracellular loop between the S5 and S6 transmembrane segments of domain 1, significantly decreased the amount of INa and slightly altered its biophysical properties. Adding green fluorescent protein (GFP) to the N-terminus did not modify any of the measured biophysical properties of hNav1.5.

Conclusions: These findings have to be taken into account when planning to generate genetically-modified mouse models that harbour specific epitopes in the gene encoding mNav1.5.
Police Direct Entry and the Search for Talent — A Historical Perspective
Authors: Kernaghan Paul
Published: April 2013

The ‘Direct Entry’ schemes proposed by Tom Winsor have generated widespread and passionate debate, with most contributors being totally opposed to the concept. This article analyses the Direct Entry (Inspector and Superintendent) Schemes but additionally highlights the little-known but significant experience of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Cadet Officer programme. That programme was designed to attract well educated young men, with clear command potential, to a career in policing. However, its eventual demise was the result of a failure to adapt it to the changing needs of society. The article supports the case for the Direct Entry (Inspector) Scheme but rejects the need for the Direct Entry (Superintendent) Scheme. It also argues for the police service to adopt a clear theoretical model, based on the British Army's concept of ‘officership’, to address current problems and to underpin any new recruitment schemes.
The Police Officer as Social Scientist — Some Reflections
Authors: Donnelly Daniel
Published: April 2013

Against a background of increasing central government control of policing in the UK, there has never been a greater need for insightful research into the modern police service. While acknowledging that substantial and meaningful police research has been undertaken in recent decades – this paper argues that there is a case for a more formal introduction of social sciences and methods into the police organisation. Part of such a move would be engaging police officers in regular in-house research, whether in partnership with academia or not. This would lead the organisation to question regularly why they do things and, more importantly, why it is they are being asked to do things. This paper offers some reflections on police research, the role of the researcher and participant observation.
The Safer Sutton Partnership Service: Blueprint for the Future?
Authors: Lewis Chris
Published: April 2013

The Safer Sutton Partnership Service (SSPS) is a unique partnership between the London Borough of Sutton and the Metropolitan Police Service. It brings staff together within a single structure and provides services in the field of community safety, and tackling drugs and alcohol abuse. This paper looks at the history of SSPS and its likely future in the light of the continued reduction in resources, the community safety fund no longer being ringfenced and the election of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).

It concludes that this could lead to fundamental changes in police structures and behaviour, e.g. the possibility that some PCCs could be tempted to seek political popularity and reelection by giving lower priority to community safety partnerships, on the grounds that solving crime is more popular than preventing crime.

Based upon SSPS’ success over many years, the paper aims to show that partnership services such as SSPS give extremely good value for money and their use should be extended rather than curtailed.
‘Too Well-Travelled’, Not Well-Formed? The Reform of ‘Criminality Information Sharing’ in the UK
Authors: Grace Jamie
Published: April 2013

The UK Supreme Court will eventually have to pass judgment on the compliance of the legal and policy framework for ‘criminality information sharing’ with the stipulations of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and perhaps in relation to more than one area of practice within public protection work. Parliament should recognise that there is a groundswell of judicial (and academic) opinion which suggests that, if the current legal framework regulating the sharing of information for the purposes of public protection is lawful, even in the face of criticism from the European Court of Human Rights, then an intolerable level of uncertainty as to the issue of that legality has now been reached.

This paper addresses the root causes of this legal uncertainty, and argues for statutory reform to revisit even recent tinkering with the law in this area. In an overview of both a body of common law, in the form of a series of key decisions from the courts, as well as the tensions between two tracts of legislation, promoting public protection and human rights values occasionally at odds with one another, this piece examines the crucial issue of the retention of criminality information and the idea of individual (offender) consultation over its use in public protection work.
How the horror film broke its promise: Hyperreal horror and Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust
Authors: Anderson Donald L.
Published: April 2013

In this article I build on discussions of the masochistic viewing model offered by film scholars Gaylyn Studlar and Steven Shaviro by arguing that horror films operate on an implied promise between the viewer and the images on the screen. Despite witnessing sequences of violence and
death viewers may still leave the theatre with the comforting thought that what was witnessed on-screen was an illusion. Visual pleasure in the horror film is permitted by the promise that such pleasure is not at the expense of genuine suffering. Ruggero Deodato’s 1980 film, Cannibal
Holocaust repeatedly breaks its promise to the horror film viewer. The film contains sequences of both animals and humans being killed. In the breaking of this promise, the film does two things: first, it equates images of both staged and genuine death through the hyperreal effects of the
film’s complex narrative structure; second, it is the hyperrealism of the film (rather than its ‘realism’) that allows for visual pleasure to result from the equalization of images of genuine and staged death. My article explores how genuine death functions within the hyperreal
film world of Cannibal Holocaust and theorizes the consequence this function poses for visual pleasure.
Coito ergo sum: Serbian sadism and global capitalism in A Serbian Film
Authors: Featherstone Mark
Published: April 2013

In this piece, I propose to explore the meaning of the recent controversial Serbian horror film A Serbian Film (Spasojevic, 2010), which depicts the horror of sadistic sexual violence on a hardcore porn/snuff shoot in the former Yugoslav Republic of Serbia. In the first section of the
article, I seek to explore the basic historical context, which must frame any attempt to understand the film. In other words, it is impossible to read the film without possessing an understanding of the Yugoslav or Serbian context through which it finds its significance. In the second section
of the article, I deepen this analysis through a discussion of the politics of what we might call Serbian sadism, before complicating this is the third section of the piece by suggesting that it is possible to see the idea of the Serbian monster as a western construct set up to hide the truth
of the monstrosity of global capitalist culture. Finally, I conclude in the view that A Serbian Film is a representation of Serbia’s past, neo-liberal capitalism’s present, and their potential future together in a world where ‘fucking’ the other is perfectly normal
and indeed the best way to ensure competitive advantage. Herein resides the meaning of the article’s title – coito ergo sum, ‘I fuck therefore, I am’.
BOOK REVIEW
Authors: Wetmore Kevin J.
Published: April 2013

AMERICAN SILENT HORROR, SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY FEATURE FILMS, 1913–1929, JOHN T. SOISTER AND HENRY NICOLELLA WITH STEVE JOYCE AND HARRY H. LONG, RESEARCHER/ARCHIVIST BILL CHASE (2012) Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland, 830 pp., 2 volumes, ISBN: 978-0-7864-3581-4,
p/bk, $95.00, £80.50 (print), ISBN: 978-0-7864-8790-5, $95.00, £80.50 (e-book)
A warning to England: Monstrous births, teratology and feminine power in Elizabethan broadside ballads
Authors: Hagen Ross
Published: April 2013

This article examines Elizabethan broadside ballads depicting ‘monstrous’ birth defects as expressions of societal unease concerning the rule of women in late sixteenth-century England. It deals particularly with a surge in these publications during the early reign of Elizabeth
I. These one-page reports interpreted the birth defects as reflecting God’s disapproval of both individual and collective sins, and the authors urged the populace to repent. The essay explores the concept of the ‘prodigious’ monster in Renaissance thought, especially as a
reflection of the feminine imagination, and its use in religious propaganda as a visible expression of divine wrath. Noting several parallels between the twentieth-century depictions of monstrous femininity and the treatment of birth in 1970s ‘body horror’ films such as The Brood
(Cronenberg, Montréal 1979), the essay argues that the focus on birth in these ballads is reflective of tensions between the strict gender roles in wider society and questions of Elizabeth’s succession in sixteenth-century England.
City of the living dead: The Old English Andreas as urban horror narrative
Authors: Bintley Michael D. J.
Published: April 2013

Wild and unforgiving natural landscapes are well known to be the haunts of monsters in Old English poetry, even by those who have not read much Anglo-Saxon literature. Less well known is the urban landscape of the Vercelli Book’s Andreas, in which a crumbling city, carved in stone,
plays host to the Satan-worshipping cannibal Mermedonians. This article argues that the Andreas poet, who drew on the monsters of Beowulf and their ilk when he translated his Latin narrative into English, also made significant use of poetic descriptions of urban landscapes. The ruinous presence
of these – a ubiquitous feature of the landscape in early medieval England – had already left an enduring mark on Old English elegy. When the Andreas poet rehoused his monsters in one of these places, he not only created one of the most powerful settings in the Anglo-Saxon corpus,
but also, inadvertently, the first surviving urban horror story in English literature.
Antichrist, misogyny and witch burning: The Nordic cultural contexts
Authors: Badley Linda
Published: April 2013

In the controversy surrounding Lars von Trier’s Antichrist (2009), the film’s rich Nordic cultural heritage has been largely overlooked. Often labelled misogynistic, the film challenges audiences with an issue that Judeo Christian and contemporary post-feminist culture alike
disavow: fear of the chthonic feminine. With this issue in mind, I explore the film’s reflection of a conflicted obsession with the unruly feminine, witch trials and pagan recidivism exemplified in a number of key texts by Trier’s Scandinavian antecedents, including August Strindberg,
Benjamin Christensen, Carl Th. Dreyer and Ingmar Bergman, as well as Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Swedish’ film Offret/The Sacrifice (1986) and Trier’s own Medea (1988), based on a Dreyer script. The films specifically explore a residual tension between modern
Christian/secular and pagan beliefs and a commingled fear of and desire for the return of the repressed pagan code while often empathizing with the (female) witch’s point of view. Both echoing and upending this cinematic tradition, Antichrist is an open acknowledgement of Trier’s
Scandinavian roots.
A transnational history of Finnish cinema – rethinking the study of a small nation cinema
Authors: Bacon Henry
Published: April 2013

The notion of the transnational has challenged ideas about the nation and national cinema. The article outlines revisionist issues in a research project on transnationalism and Finnish cinema. Finnish cinema is an exemplary transnational object of study as a small nation cinema with
a relatively small number of films, which have been documented through exhaustive archival work.
Art+science: An emerging paradigm for conceptualizing changes in consciousness
Authors: Jacques Claudia
Published: April 2013

Maurits Cornelis Escher’s 1938 lithograph, Cycle, illustrates what mathematical physicist Roger Penrose calls ‘impossible objects’. The illusion of three-dimensionality, the innovative use of tessellation, and the incorporation of traditionally figurative elements
induce the viewer to perceive the lithographic print as depicting a visually plausible reality built on the deconstructive metamorphosis of man into cube. It is Escher’s ability to paradoxically combine the radical oppositions of man and cube, landscape and geometric abstraction into
an apparently harmonious composition where shapes repeat with subtle variation and almost imperceptibly transition into radically different shapes that I want to use as a visual paradigm for conceptualizing the shifts in human consciousness in the digital age. Roger Penrose, path-breaking
theorist of consciousness as a physical but non-computational process, was inspired by and inspired Escher. Penrose’s provisional concepts of consciousness, time and space can be visually compared to Escher’s earlier man-cube renderings, where each of these individual design elements
allows the transition to another shape. In other words, Penrose’s theories, like Escher’s design concepts, illustrate a moment of transition in consciousness theory. As in Escher’s Cycle, the individual elements are being continually redefined, reshaped and revealed. Each
may be a unique distortion of the previous, but this does not mean that it is disconnected or independent of the final outcome. These distortions are transitional elements that lead us visually to the other side of the composition. Radical transformations and developing connectedness in the
boundaries between art, technology and science function like the individual elements in Escher’s Cycle. As we try to define the shifts in human consciousness occurring in the digital age, visually speaking, we are focusing on only one element right in the middle of an Escher metamorphosis,
unable to see exactly how this element will be part of the completed design. This thought can be both frightening and liberating: frightening because we humans are used to relying on boundaries and predictable outcomes to feel a sense of control, liberating because anything and everything
is possible and the changes will occur naturally as part of the transition. If Escher teaches us anything, it is that each piece in the meta-morphosis is needed to complete the big picture.
The immersive dome environment (IDE): Old concept in a new light or a new hybrid medium to enhance human cognitive faculty?
Authors: Buczek Isabella
Published: April 2013

The 360° medium, an immersive dome-based video projection environment (immersive dome environment (IDE)) also called ‘fulldome’, is often seen as an old concept of a traditional planetarium setting. This article invites the reader to look at it as a unique, hybrid media
format, which opens new ways of perception.
A categorization of synthetic experiences
Authors: Aguilera Julieta
Published: April 2013

The diversity of designs and techniques used to build environments around the human perceptual system in order to immerse people in complex synthetic experiences has created a variety of approaches. Some of the experiences may immerse the person in structures that cannot be physically
accessed otherwise because of scale or time. Others may bring together different phenomena that do not normally happen simultaneously. In this article I attempt to categorize the kinds of experiences that are being built around our bodies and minds utilizing devices that extend our senses
and cognitive structures, thus mediating the way we experience and think to better understand the world around us.
On extended sentience and cross-cultural communication and how to generate new narratives of the human subject
Authors: Johansson Kathrine Elizabeth Lorena
Published: April 2013

In this article I will relate the kinetic sculpture Hylozoic Ground by architect Phillip Beesley and a collaborative group to theoretical and philosophical studies concerning the human subject. I will ask the deep philosophical question what is life? with the expectancy of a close relationship
between ‘life’ and ‘consciousness’. Under inspiration from Yair Neuman and Søren Brier, I operate with the idea that ‘life’ and ‘consciousness’ would be directly related to communication processes in the body of both physically measurable
and physically immeasurable kinds. And that such communication processes are best described by modelling a hierarchy of qualitatively different, but co-dependent kinds of communication.
The seventh century: Iranian action in the late antiquity from the Sasanian to the contemporary era
Authors: Zamanzadeh Nasim
Published: April 2013

The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past.(William Faulkner)This article investigates ‘transcultural tendencies’ and ‘transmedial transaction’ between the Sasanian, the last dynasty to rule the Persian plateau, and the Muslims who conquered
this land. These transactions and exchanges took place during the seventh century in the Ērānshahr distributing lots of different features, cultures, languages, religions, sciences and artistic achievements by the Persian people and sharing them with Muslim territories from the
East to the West. The article also investigates the Shu’ubiyya parties, which were a non-Arab Muslim response to the privileged status of Arabs within them that would later become Sufism. The protest approach travelled in its haptic spaces from ancient Iranian times to the present day,
carrying the same habits and cultures, and among protesters characterizes contemporary artists in particular. In my study, I have classified them and decoded their artistic practices. Through this article, I investigate them by looking to contemporary art practices, which contain protest language,
and identifying common ground with Sufism ideology. I bring them into the light, through a non-Islamic perspective that carries a lot of truth and spirituality, which I found both Iranian people and the global culture at large need to be reacquainted with. People need to understand how and
why this perspective matters in the modern world, as well as the ways in which it is relevant. How does or would it affect the world of Internet, new media, the mix of old and new media in today’s and tomorrow’s cultures? The Sasanian Empire fell to Arab Muslims, and consequently
the ‘transcultural tendencies’ took place around the beginning of the seventh century (AD 628) with the death of the last great Sassanid kings of Shahanshah Khusroparviz. I wish to take up the challenge of understanding more of Iranian history at the moment of transition that occurred
at the end of the Sassanid epoch. This era (historical–cultural period) can be said to have characterized the beginning of the Islamic period. The question is how did this newborn culture, an outgrowth of this ‘transactive’ movement, spread through contemporary Iranian lifestyle?
The social properties of media arts in an open source era
Authors: Yuan Xiaoying Juliette
Published: April 2013

‘Six Degrees of Separation’ is analogous to what we have come to know as the origins of the ‘social network’ (social network service, social network software or SNS). In our time, the application of the ‘social network’ has become a common mode of
living shared ubiquitously by different societies, cultures and communities. With the popularity of open source technology, the creation of social networks is no longer the exclusive domain of professional computer programmers. In China, social networking has also become the new focus of new
media artists, who are extremely sensitive to materials and creative media. The current article bases its analysis on the collaboration between American artist Max Kazemzadeh and the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation Beijing in the exhibition of Max’s interactive work ‘Wishing
Well’ in China, trying to showcase the intriguing interaction between the social network service, human beings and Chinese society, and inviting the reader to re-examine the role and duties of an artist in our time.
Paulista: A networked translocal sonic performance between São Paulo and Belfast
Authors: Hickmann Felipe , Chaves Rui
Published: April 2013

First performed in June 2011, Paulista used fixed and mobile streaming technology to create a translocal, musical and sonic performance linking SARC (Belfast/Northern Ireland), LAMI (São Paulo/Brazil) and Paulista Avenue, in the heart of São Paulo’s city centre.
By discussing the performative and compositional strategies employed in this work, we aim at highlighting the central role played by the network in articulating notions of liveness and dramaturgy, as well as fostering new ideas and processes to engage dislocated spaces in shared musical practice.
Humanoide Laufmaschinen
Authors: Buschmann Thomas , Ewald Alexander , Schwienbacher Markus , Favot Valerio , Ulbrich Heinz
Published: April 2013

Der Beitrag gibt einen Überblick der Forschung an voll aktuierten, humanoiden Laufmaschinen. Neben einer allgemeinen Einführung wird ein kurzer Abriss der Geschichte humanoider Roboter gegeben. Die bekanntesten Systeme werden nach Forschungszentren gegliedert vorgestellt. Aufbauend auf einer kurzen Einführung zu grundlegenden Aspekten der Dynamik des zweibeinigen Gehens werden die am weitesten verbreiteten Strategien zur Laufregelung dargestellt. Am Ende des Artikels wird auf einige offene Fragestellungen eingegangen.
Crystal structure of 10-bromo-9-phenylanthracene–anthracene-9,10- dione (2:1), (C20H13Br)(C7H4O), C27H17BrO
Authors: Li Hong-Mei , Wang Zhi-Qiang , Xu Chen
Published: April 2013

C27H17BrO, triclinic, P1̅ (no. 2), a = 9.269(4) Å, b = 9.734(5) Å, c = 11.437(5) Å, α = 105.816(5)°, β = 95.281(6)°, γ = 99.909(5)°, V = 967.5 Å3, Z = 2, Rgt(F) = 0.0349, wRref(F2) = 0.0834, T = 296 K.
Pakistan in 2012
Authors: Malik Anas
Published: April 2013

In the lead up to Pakistan’s national elections scheduled for 2013, the judiciary and the legislature have clashed over the reopening of corruption cases against President Zardari. Prime Minister Gilani was forced from office, and the crisis abated due to his successor’s actions. The Supreme Court ruled that military intelligence illegally interfered with an earlier election. Fiscal crises, sectarian violence, insurgency, and slow economic growth continue to pose serious challenges. U.S. aid was resumed after NATO supply lines were re-opened, but tensions remain over U.S. drone strikes. The Pakistani rupee sank to a record low. The country’s democratic transition is still young, and consolidation may promote solvency and improve governance.
Effect of cyclic exposure and fibre content on tensile properties of ultra-high-performance concrete
Authors: Azad Abul Kalam , Ahmad Shamsad , Hakeem Ibrahim
Published: April 2013

This paper reports the results of experimental work conducted to study the effect of wet–dry and heating–cooling cycles and fibre content on tensile properties of a commercially available mixture of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC). The tensile properties of UHPC specimens are determined using two commonly used tests: the split tensile test and flexural test. Prisms are used in flexural tests to determine modulus of rupture, flexural toughness and post-cracking flexural strength. Flexural test results show that after reaching the cracking load, the specimens continue to carry more loads with an increase in deflection until the peak load is reached. Following the attainment of peak load, softening mode of collapse is noticed, exhibiting high ductility. UHPC mixtures containing fibres show no degradation in tensile properties under wet–dry cycles and modestly gain strength under thermal cycling, indicating the possibility of the applications of UHPC in aggressive exposure conditions.
Suction caissons for cross-flow tidal power system
Authors: Maynard Melissa L. , Schneider James A. , McEntee Jarlath , Newberg Eric
Published: April 2013

This paper describes a geotechnical site investigation and feasibility study of suction caisson foundations for fixed seabed tidal substructures in soft clay as part of the first US commercial-scale, grid-connected, tidal power installation located in Cobscook Bay, Maine. Feasibility was analysed through two-dimensional plane strain numerical modelling of the maximum capacity of a pair of rigidly connected suction caissons experiencing combined horizontal, vertical and moment loading when aligned with the direction of the current. Maximum load capacity for a single caisson diameter with varying skirt depths was investigated to determine effects of aspect ratio, uplift resistance of the windward leg and influence of shallow bedrock. Analyses in this paper indicate that suction caissons with relatively shallow skirts are a viable option to resist vertical and horizontal loading of the tidal power unit at the Cobscook Bay sites.
Thermal response testing through the Chalk aquifer in London, UK
Authors: Loveridge Fleur , Holmes Gary , Powrie William , Roberts Toby
Published: April 2013

Thermal conductivity of the ground is an important parameter in the design of ground energy systems, which have an increasing role to play in providing renewable heat to the built environment. For larger schemes, the bulk thermal conductivity of the ground surrounding the system is often determined in situ using a thermal response test. Although this test method is commonly used, its limitations are often not fully understood, leading to an over-simplistic interpretation that may fail to identify key facets of the ground thermal behaviour. These limitations are highlighted using data from an instrumented thermal response test carried out in a 150 m deep borehole in east London. It is shown that a single, unique value of bulk thermal conductivity may not be appropriate, as stratification of the ground can lead to differences in thermal performance, depending on the direction of heat flow. Groundwater flow within the Chalk aquifer is also shown to have an important effect on the long-term heat transfer characteristics.