bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Single view reflectance capture using multiplexed scattering and time-of-flight imaging
Authors: Naik Nikhil , Zhao Shuang , Velten Andreas , Raskar Ramesh , Bala Kavita
Published: November 2011

This paper introduces the concept of time-of-flight reflectance estimation, and demonstrates a new technique that allows a camera to rapidly acquire reflectance properties of objects from a single view-point, over relatively long distances and without encircling equipment. We measure material properties by indirectly illuminating an object by a laser source, and observing its reflected light indirectly using a time-of-flight camera. The configuration collectively acquires dense angular, but low spatial sampling, within a limited solid angle range - all from a single viewpoint. Our ultra-fast imaging approach captures space-time "streak images" that can separate out different bounces of light based on path length. Entanglements arise in the streak images mixing signals from multiple paths if they have the same total path length. We show how reflectances can be recovered by solving for a linear system of equations and assuming parametric material models; fitting to lower dimensional reflectance models enables us to disentangle measurements.

We demonstrate proof-of-concept results of parametric reflectance models for homogeneous and discretized heterogeneous patches, both using simulation and experimental hardware. As compared to lengthy or highly calibrated BRDF acquisition techniques, we demonstrate a device that can rapidly, on the order of seconds, capture meaningful reflectance information. We expect hardware advances to improve the portability and speed of this device.
LightSlice
Authors: Ou Jiawei , Pellacini Fabio
Published: November 2011

Recent work has shown that complex lighting effects can be well approximated by gathering the contribution of hundreds of thousands of virtual point lights (VPLs). This final gathering step is known as the many-lights problem. Due to the large number of VPLs, computing all the VPLs' contribution is not feasible. This paper presents
LightSlice
, an algorithm that efficiently solves the many-lights problem for large environments with complex lighting. As in prior work, we derive our algorithm from a matrix formulation of the many-lights problem, where the contribution of each VPL corresponds to a column, and computing the final image amounts to computing the sum of all matrix columns. We make the observation that if we cluster similar surface samples together, the slice of the matrix corresponding to these surface samples has significantly lower rank than the original matrix. We exploit this observation by deriving a two-step algorithm where we first globally cluster all lights, to capture the global structure of the matrix, and then locally refine these clusters to determine the most important lights for each slice. We then reconstruct a final image from only these locally-important lights. Compared to prior work, our algorithm has the advantage of discovering and exploiting the global as well as local matrix structure, giving us a speedup of between three and six times compared to state-of-the-art algorithms.
Polarization fields
Authors: Lanman Douglas , Wetzstein Gordon , Hirsch Matthew , Heidrich Wolfgang , Raskar Ramesh
Published: November 2011

We introduce polarization field displays as an optically-efficient design for dynamic light field display using multi-layered LCDs. Such displays consist of a stacked set of liquid crystal panels with a single pair of crossed linear polarizers. Each layer is modeled as a spatially-controllable polarization rotator, as opposed to a conventional spatial light modulator that directly attenuates light. Color display is achieved using field sequential color illumination with monochromatic LCDs, mitigating severe attenuation and moiré occurring with layered color filter arrays. We demonstrate such displays can be controlled, at interactive refresh rates, by adopting the SART algorithm to tomographically solve for the optimal spatially-varying polarization state rotations applied by each layer. We validate our design by constructing a prototype using modified off-the-shelf panels. We demonstrate interactive display using a GPU-based SART implementation supporting both polarization-based and attenuation-based architectures. Experiments characterize the accuracy of our image formation model, verifying polarization field displays achieve increased brightness, higher resolution, and extended depth of field, as compared to existing automultiscopic display methods for dual-layer and multi-layer LCDs.
NCOR: An FPGA-Friendly Nonblocking Data Cache for Soft Processors with Runahead Execution
Authors: Aasaraai Kaveh , Moshovos Andreas
Published: November 2011

Soft processors often use data caches to reduce the gap between processor and main memory speeds. To achieve high efficiency, simple, blocking caches are used. Such caches are not appropriate for processor designs such as Runahead and out-of-order execution that require nonblocking caches to tolerate main memory latencies. Instead, these processors use non-blocking caches to extract memory level parallelism and improve performance. However, conventional non-blocking cache designs are expensive and slow on FPGAs as they use content-addressable memories (CAMs). This work proposes NCOR, an FPGA-friendly non-blocking cache that exploits the key properties of Runahead execution. NCOR does not require CAMs and utilizes smart cache controllers. A 4 KB NCOR operates at 329 MHz on Stratix III FPGAs while it uses only 270 logic elements. A 32 KB NCOR operates at 278 Mhz and uses 269 logic elements.
Distribution and Transmission of Medicinal Plant Knowledge in the Andean Highlands: A Case Study from Peru and Bolivia
Authors: Mathez-Stiefel Sarah-Lan , Vandebroek Ina
Published: November 2011

This paper presents a study of patterns in the distribution and transmission of medicinal plant knowledge in rural Andean communities in Peru and Bolivia. Interviews and freelisting exercises were conducted with 18 households at each study site. The amount of medicinal plant knowledge of households was compared in relation to their socioeconomic characteristics. Cluster analysis was applied to identify households that possessed similar knowledge. The different modes of knowledge transmission were also assessed. Our study shows that while theamountof plant knowledge is determined by individual motivation and experience, thetypeof knowledge is influenced by the community of residence, age, migratory activity, and market integration. Plant knowledge was equally transmitted vertically and horizontally, which indicates that it is first acquired within the family but then undergoes transformations as a result of subsequent contacts with other knowledge sources, including age peers.
Semantic annotation of biological concepts interplaying microbial cellular responses
Authors: Carreira Rafael , Carneiro Sónia , Pereira Rui , Rocha Miguel , Rocha Isabel , Ferreira Eugénio C , Lourenço Anália
Published: November 2011

Background

Automated extraction systems have become a time saving necessity in Systems Biology. Considerable human effort is needed to model, analyse and simulate biological networks. Thus, one of the challenges posed to Biomedical Text Mining tools is that of learning to recognise a wide variety of biological concepts with different functional roles to assist in these processes.

Results

Here, we present a novel corpus concerning the integrated cellular responses to nutrient starvation in the model-organism Escherichia coli. Our corpus is a unique resource in that it annotates biomedical concepts that play a functional role in expression, regulation and metabolism. Namely, it includes annotations for genetic information carriers (genes and DNA, RNA molecules), proteins (transcription factors, enzymes and transporters), small metabolites, physiological states and laboratory techniques. The corpus consists of 130 full-text papers with a total of 59043 annotations for 3649 different biomedical concepts; the two dominant classes are genes (highest number of unique concepts) and compounds (most frequently annotated concepts), whereas other important cellular concepts such as proteins account for no more than 10% of the annotated concepts.

Conclusions

To the best of our knowledge, a corpus that details such a wide range of biological concepts has never been presented to the text mining community. The inter-annotator agreement statistics provide evidence of the importance of a consolidated background when dealing with such complex descriptions, the ambiguities naturally arising from the terminology and their impact for modelling purposes.

Availability is granted for the full-text corpora of 130 freely accessible documents, the annotation scheme and the annotation guidelines. Also, we include a corpus of 340 abstracts.
Antibodies against insulin measured by electrochemiluminescence predicts insulitis severity and disease onset in non-obese diabetic mice and can distinguish human type 1 diabetes status
Authors: Lo Bernice , Swafford Austin DE , Shafer-Weaver Kimberly A , Jerome Lawrence F , Rakhlin Luba , Mathern Douglas R , Callahan Conor A , Jiang Ping , Davison Lucy J , Stevens Helen E , Lucas Carrie L , White Jill , von Borstel Reid , Todd John A , Lenardo Michael J
Published: November 2011

Background

The detection of insulin autoantibodies (IAA) aids in the prediction of autoimmune diabetes development. However, the long-standing, gold standard125I-insulin radiobinding assay (RBA) has low reproducibility between laboratories, long sample processing times and requires the use of newly synthesized radiolabeled insulin for each set of assays. Therefore, a rapid, non-radioactive, and reproducible assay is highly desirable.

Methods

We have developed electrochemiluminescence (ECL)-based assays that fulfill these criteria in the measurement of IAA and anti-insulin antibodies (IA) in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice and in type 1 diabetic individuals, respectively. Using the murine IAA ECL assay, we examined the correlation between IAA, histopathological insulitis, and blood glucose in a cohort of female NOD mice from 4 up to 36 weeks of age. We developed a human IA ECL assay that we compared to conventional RBA and validated using samples from 34 diabetic and 59 non-diabetic individuals in three independent laboratories.

Results

Our ECL assays were rapid and sensitive with a broad dynamic range and low background. In the NOD mouse model, IAA levels measured by ECL were positively correlated with insulitis severity, and the values measured at 8-10 weeks of age were predictive of diabetes onset. Using human serum and plasma samples, our IA ECL assay yielded reproducible and accurate results with an average sensitivity of 84% at 95% specificity with no statistically significant difference between laboratories.

Conclusions

These novel, non-radioactive ECL-based assays should facilitate reliable and fast detection of antibodies to insulin and its precursors sera and plasma in a standardized manner between laboratories in both research and clinical settings. Our next step is to evaluate the human IA assay in the detection of IAA in prediabetic subjects or those at risk of type 1 diabetes and to develop similar assays for other autoantibodies that together are predictive for the diagnosis of this common disorder, in order to improve prediction and facilitate future therapeutic trials.
The Dipeptide Phe-Phe Amide Attenuates Signs of Hyperalgesia, Allodynia and Nociception in Diabetic Mice Using a Mechanism Involving the Sigma Receptor System
Authors: Ohsawa Masahiro , Carlsson Anna , Asato Megumi , Koizumi Takayuki , Nakanishi Yuki , Fransson Rebecca , Sandström Anja , Hallberg Mathias , Nyberg Fred , Kamei Junzo
Published: November 2011

Background:

Previous studies have demonstrated that intrathecal administration of the substance P amino-terminal metabolite substance P1-7 (SP1-7) and its C-terminal amidated congener induced antihyperalgesic effects in diabetic mice. In this study, we studied a small synthetic dipeptide related to SP1-7 and endomorphin-2, i.e. Phe-Phe amide, using the tail-flick test and von Frey filament test in diabetic and non-diabetic mice.

Results:

Intrathecal treatment with the dipeptide increased the tail-flick latency in both diabetic and non-diabetic mice. This effect of Phe-Phe amide was significantly greater in diabetic mice than non-diabetic mice. The Phe-Phe amide-induced antinociceptive effect in both diabetic and non-diabetic mice was reversed by the σ1 receptor agonist (+)-pentazocine. Moreover, Phe-Phe amide attenuated mechanical allodynia in diabetic mice, which was reversible by (+)-pentazocine. The expression of spinal σ1 receptor mRNA and protein did not differ between diabetic mice and non-diabetic mice. On the other hand, the expression of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1 (ERK1) and ERK2 proteins was enhanced in diabetic mice. (+)-Pentazocine caused phosphorylation of ERK1 and ERK2 proteins in non-diabetic mice, but not in diabetic mice.

Conclusions:

These results suggest that the spinal σ1 receptor system might contribute to diabetic mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia, which could be potently attenuated by Phe-Phe amide.
Fractionation and characterization of lignin carbohydrate complexes (LCCs) of Eucalyptus globulus in residues left after MWL isolation. Part I: Analyses of hemicellulose-lignin fraction (HC-L)
Authors: Miyagawa Yasuyuki , Takemoto Ooki , Takano Toshiyuki , Kamitakahara Hiroshi , Nakatsubo Fumiaki
Published: November 2011

The residual wood meal left after milled wood lignin (MWL) isolation (MWR) was extracted with the cellulose solvent lithium chloride/N,N-dimethylacetamide (LiCl/DMAc) to obtain a soluble fraction (C-L) and an insoluble fraction (C-L-residue). The C-L-residue was further extracted with the hemicellulose solvent 3 M NaOH to give a soluble fraction named hemicellulose-lignin fraction (HC-L) with 21.3% yield based on MWR. It was found that HC-L was composed of xylan, cellulose and lignin with abundant S-type β-O-4 substructures. HC-L lignin was bonded to HC-L cellulose or HC-L hemicelluloses or both. The method, which comprised acetylation for hardwood xylan (by acetic anhydride/pyridine/formamide) and extraction with chloroform, was found to be effective for selective xylan acetate fractionation. HC-L was further fractionated by the same method and subsequent deacetylation to give a xylan-lignin fraction (X-L) in 11.3% yield based on HC-L. X-L was composed mainly of xylan and lignin with abundant S-type β-O-4 substructures, and bonded to X-L xylan. X-L is considered as a promising fraction for elucidation of the structure of lignin-carbohydrate linkages.
Briefing: Engineering heritage in New Zealand
Authors: Aspden Robert J.
Published: November 2011

This article gives brief details of the history and activities of the Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand.
Stress–strain model for fibre-reinforced polymer confined rectangular columns
Authors: Koksal Hasan Orhun , Doran Bilge
Published: November 2011

Applying fibre-reinforced polymer sheets around existing columns is an innovative technique in the field of civil engineering due to their high stiffness and strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance and potentially high durability. The confinement effect of high-stiffness fibre jackets simply results in an increase in the compressive strength of columns. Various constitutive models have been constructed to predict the increase in the axial strength of concrete due to the confinement effect of fibre-reinforced polymer laminates. In this paper, a new stress–strain model is proposed for square/rectangular concrete columns confined with fibre-reinforced polymer jackets. The model is an extension of previous work on circular columns, adopting a previously proposed relation to plot the stress–strain curves. The proposed model utilises a failure criterion of concrete under triaxial compression, unlike the most existing models which rely on a previously presented general formulation. A large comparative study of 163 square/rectangular concrete specimens is performed on the basis of the prediction accuracy of existing models and the proposed approach for their ultimate strengths in compression. The recommended axial stress–strain plots are used to simulate the uniaxial compressive tests. The results confirmed that the axial stress–strain relationship evaluated by the presented technique can appropriately describe the deformation under uniaxial compressive loading.
Uncertainty in invasive alien species listing
Authors: McGeoch Melodie A. , Spear Dian , Kleynhans Elizabeth J. , Marais Elrike
Published: November 2011

Lists of invasive alien species (IAS) are essential for preventing, controlling, and reporting on the state of biological invasions. However, these lists suffer from a range of errors, with serious consequences for their use in science, policy, and management. Here we (1) collated and classified errors in IAS listing using a taxonomy of uncertainty; and (2) estimated the size of these errors using data from a completed listing exercise, with the purpose of better understanding, communicating, and dealing with them. Ten errors were identified. Most result from a lack of knowledge or measurement error (epistemic uncertainty), although two were a result of context dependence and vagueness (linguistic uncertainty). Estimates of the size of the effects of these errors were substantial in a number of cases and unknown in others. Most errors, and those with the largest estimated effect, result in underestimates of IAS numbers. However, there are a number of errors where the size and direction of the effect remains poorly understood.

The effect of differences in opinion between specialists is potentially large, particularly for data‐poor taxa and regions, and does not have a clearly directional or consistent effect on the size and composition of IAS lists. Five tactics emerged as important for reducing uncertainty in IAS lists, and while uncertainty will never be removed entirely, these approaches will significantly improve the transparency, repeatability, and comparability of IAS lists. Understanding the errors and uncertainties that occur during the process of listing invasive species, as well as the potential size and nature of their effects on IAS lists, is key to improving the value of these lists for governments, management agencies, and conservationists. Such understanding is increasingly important given positive trends in biological invasion and the associated risks to biodiversity and biosecurity.
Effect of sequential hole enlargement on cortical bone temperature during drilling of 6.2-mm-diameter transcortical holes in the third metacarpal bones of horse cadavers
Authors: Lescun Timothy B. , Frank Elizabeth A. , Zacharias Joshua R. , Daggy Joanne K. , Moore George E.
Published: November 2011

Objective—To compare the bone temperature and final hole dimensions associated with sequential overdrilling (SO) and single 6.2-mm drill bit (S6.2DB) methods used to create transcortical holes in the third metacarpal bones (MCIIIs) of horse cadavers.

Sample—60 MCIIIs from 30 horse cadavers.

Procedures—In phase 1, hole diameter, tap insertion torque, peak bone temperature, and postdrilling bit temperature for 6.2-mm-diameter holes drilled in the lateral or medial cortical region of 12 MCIIIs via each of three 2-bit SO methods with a single pilot hole (diameter, 3.2, 4.5, or 5.5 mm) and the S6.2DB method were compared. In phase 2, 6.2-mm-diameter transcortical holes were drilled via a 2-bit SO method (selected from phase 1), a 4-bit SO method, or a S6.2DB method at 1 of 3 locations in 48 MCIIIs; peak bone temperature during drilling, drill bit temperature immediately following drilling, and total drilling time were recorded for comparison.

Results—Hole diameter or tap insertion torque did not differ among phase 1 groups. Mean ± SD maximum bone temperature increases at the cis and trans cortices were significantly less for the 4-bit SO method (3.64 ± 2.01°C and 8.58 ± 3.82°C, respectively), compared with the S6.2DB method (12.00 ± 7.07°C and 13.19 ± 7.41°C, respectively). Mean drilling time was significantly longer (142.9 ± 37.8 seconds) for the 4-bit SO method, compared with the S6.2DB method (49.7 ± 24.3 seconds).

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Compared with a S6.2DB method, use of a 4-bit SO method to drill transcortical holes in cadaveric equine MCIIIs resulted in smaller bone temperature increases without affecting hole accuracy.
Specification and prediction of nickel mobilization using artificial intelligence methods
Authors: Gholami Raoof , Ziaii Mansour , Ardejani Faramarz , Maleki Shahoo
Published: November 2011

Groundwater and soil pollution from pyrite oxidation, acid mine drainage generation, and release and transport of toxic metals are common environmental problems associated with the mining industry. Nickel is one toxic metal considered to be a key pollutant in some mining setting; to date, its formation mechanism has not yet been fully evaluated. The goals of this study are 1) to describe the process of nickel mobilization in waste dumps by introducing a novel conceptual model, and 2) to predict nickel concentration using two algorithms, namely the support vector machine (SVM) and the general regression neural network (GRNN). The results obtained from this study have shown that considerable amount of nickel concentration can be arrived into the water flow system during the oxidation of pyrite and subsequent Acid Drainage (AMD) generation. It was concluded that pyrite, water, and oxygen are the most important factors for nickel pollution generation while pH condition, SO4, HCO3, TDS, EC, Mg, Fe, Zn, and Cu are measured quantities playing significant role in nickel mobilization. SVM and GRNN have predicted nickel concentration with a high degree of accuracy. Hence, SVM and GRNN can be considered as appropriate tools for environmental risk assessment.
Comportements migratoires et cycles de vie
Authors: Baccaini Brigitte
Published: November 2011

Migratory behaviours and life-cycles

Migratory behaviours of individuals, described by mobility level and distances covered, vary strongly with age and according to historical background. In fact, such variation with age is the expression of more complex relations between mobility and family or professional life-cycle. Individual and longitudinal data produced by surveys as the INED's «Triple Biographie» survey allow us to give prominence to these interactions.
Tendances récentes des migrations dans le Pacifique Sud
Authors: Rallu Jean-Louis
Published: November 2011

Tendances récentes des migrations dans le Pacifique Sud.

Les migrations internationales dans le Pacifique Sud se sont principalement, mais non exclusivement, développées selon les liens aux anciennes puissances coloniales. Depuis 1980, les réseaux se sont complexifies en raison des crises économiques et des changements des politiques migratoires. Les Océaniens migrent plus fréquemment vers l'Australie, directement ou via la Nouvelle- Zélande, et vers des destinations de substitution comme Samoa américaine. Les populations polynésiennes de plusieurs pays comptent plus de ressortissants à l'extérieur que dans les îles, mais la migration mélanésienne reste peu importante. La migration a créé un système économique particulier, reposant sur les envois d'argent des émigrés et l'aide internationale, avec pour seul output la bureaucratie. La vie chère dans les îles gêne la production agricole et le développement d'un secteur secondaire, sans empêcher la fuite des cerveaux.
The urban poor in the Netherlands and the residential mix in the cities
Authors: van Kempen Ronald
Published: November 2011

Les citadins pauvres aux Pays-Bas et la mixité résidentielle dans les villes.

Cet article traite de la relation entre revenus et concentration spatiale dans les villes néerlandaises et plus particulièrement des faiblés revenus. Après une briève définition de la pauvreté, l'auteur décrit les principaux groupes de pauvres des Pays-Bas. Puis il analyse la ségrégation et la concentration spatiale de certains d'entre eux. On en conclut que la relation entre revenus d'une part, conditions de logement, concentration et ségrégation d'autre part, est plus faible aux Pays-Bas que prévu sur la base des notions théoriques sur la question. La non-correspondance des coûts du logement et des revenus en est l'explication principale. Le secteur du logement social, parce que très important, abrite une grande diversité de ménages. En conséquence, la ségrégation spatiale entre immigrés et nationaux est relativement faible. Cette mixité résidentielle ne signifie pas pour autant absence de problèmes entre groupes spécifiques dans certains quartiers. On prévoit cependant que la ségrégation augmentera dans le futur, par suite des réformes de la politique du logement.
Une immigration dans la longue durée : la diaspora grecque en France
Authors: Bruneau Michel
Published: November 2011

Jusqu'au XXe siècle, l'immigration grecque qui était celle spontanée d'une élite mobile d'intellectuels, d'artistes, de militaires et de marchands n'a porté que sur de petits nombres, quelques centaines au plus, qui s'installaient soit à Marseille, soit dans la capitale, à Paris. A partir de la Première Guerre mondiale, on passe à une immigration de masse de plusieurs milliers de personnes à l'initiative de l'Etat français qui manque de main-d'oeuvre dans ses usines d'armement. 1916 est le point de rupture à partir duquel s'est constitué en quelques années un réseau de communautés grecques sur une grande partie du territoire français avec une prédominance nette de l'axe rhodanien et des pôles parisien et marseillais. Cette structure, qui s'est mise en place dans l'entre-deux-guerres, confortée par une seconde vague migratoire spontanée (1922-1926), perdure de nos jours avec un renforcement considérable du pôle parisien.
Anatomie de la francophonie libanaise ou les visages linguistiques du Liban
Authors: Haddad Katia
Published: November 2011

Analysis of Lebanese French-Speaking Communities or the Linguistic Face of Lebanon.

A statistical study concerning the situation of languages other than Arabic in Lebanon, namely French and English, was undertaken by the Saint-Joseph University of Beirut despite the uncertain climate in the country and despite the lack of any demographic data posterior to 1932. The authors, Sélim Abou, Choghig Kasparian and Katia Haddad, consider the study, especially important for Lebanon and for French speaking regions in general. The results were published in June 1996 under the title "Anatomie de la francophonie libanaise". The results reveal an important advance, quantitative and qualitative, in the knowledge of written and spoken French among the Lebanese adult population (over fifteen years of age), belying all the approximate affirmations about the diminution of the French language which are not completely out of an ideological slant. They also show that the increase is common, to varying degrees, to all the religious communities which make up the Lebanese edifice and to all the socio-econiomic categories. But they also show the persistance of important regional disparities along with an increase, in more or less the same proportions, of the English language.
Enhancing the Personal Knowledge Management with Semantic Desktop Technologies
Authors: Alishevskikh Alexey V. , Emshanova Tatiana V.
Published: November 2011

This chapter introduces the general Semantic Desktop approach that has emerged last year as a researchers’ response to necessity of the effective comprehensive personal knowledge management solution. It describes the theoretical foundation and implementation of a supportive technology in the context of the SCAN (Smart Content Aggregation and Navigation) framework that integrates semantic content aggregation, search, natural language processing, metadata management and tagging. It is asserted that synthesis of different techniques will provide new, improved experience for knowledge workers based on intelligence of document management, increasing their productivity, which in turn will have a favourable effect on organizational business outcomes.
Functional Components Specification in the Semantic SOA-Based Model
Authors: Mahmoud Tariq , Gómez Jorge Marx , von der Dovenmühle Timo
Published: November 2011

Semantic Web Services are providing means for (semi-) automatic discovery, composition, and execution of Web Services. However, these new emerging semantic techniques seem to be inaccurate to be used in terms of semanticizing the capabilities of Web Services and the requests of Web Services consumers. This comes from the blurred representation of their involved ontologies. This chapter presents a semantic Web-Service-based reference model that is mainly relying on the idea of applying lightweight semantics to Web Services in order to have an efficient solution for different business domains. The model advances the reusability of its components and reduces the necessity of data transformation functions in business process descriptions. Furthermore, technical aspects about the core prototypical implementation are described.
La femme et sa lutte de libération dans l’oeuvre d’Henri Lopes
Authors: Mwepu Patrick Kabyea
Published: November 2011

Born in Kinshasa, Congo, on 12 September 1937, but a national of Congo (Brazzaville), Henri Lopes is one of those African writers who, were not only educated but also lived in Europe where a certain portion of their literary work was produced. Being a politician and writer, one can easily glean, through Lopes’ works, a complete picture of despotic postcolonial mismanagement of political affairs coupled with a dire dearth of humanism. Literary works such as Tribaliques (Tribaliks, 1971), La nouvelle Romance (The New Romance, 1976), Sans tam-tam (Without Drum, 1977), Le Pleurer-Rire (The Crying-Laughter, 1982) and Sur l’autre rive (On the Other Shore, 1992) depict a particular worldview as well as an understanding of the overarching reality of a young Africa that had just attained political independence. However, while Lopes’ works decry the shortcomings of Africa’s postcolonial ruling class, it is important to note that the author appears to pay equal attention to questions relating to the perception and critical analysis of the status of women in Africa. Notwithstanding his male gender status, in his rather original approach, Lopes lends women a revolutionary voice with which they address and search for solutions to their problems themselves.
Forget the Muse, think only of the (Decentered) Subject?
Authors: Jeyifo Biodun
Published: November 2011

This essay involves an exploration of complex and fascinating acts of decentering and re-centering of writers in relation to traditional Muses as institutionalizations or sedimentations of artistic and intellectual inspiration in cultural tradition. Using the specific example of Wole Soyinka’s much discussed appropriation of Ogun, the Yoruba god of war, metallurgy and creativity as a point of departure, the paper gives what is intended as a far more complex and even more contradictory relationship between Soyinka and this chosen Muse than what we typically encounter in the criticism and scholarship on the Nigerian dramatist’s writings. This is done in two distinct though interlocking interpretive, discursive moves: first, by reading Soyinka’s positive appropriation of Ogun against Derek Walcott’s disavowal of the Muses of both Europe and Africa in the play, Dream on Monkey Mountain and in one of his most important essays, “The Muse of History”; and, secondly, by critically excavating Soyinka’s own scathing and revisionary critique of Ogun as a Muse in his first major play, A Dance of the Forests. Building on these readings of Soyinka and Walcott, the essay ends with a plea for paying as much attention, in the postcolonial Nigerian and African context, to re-centering as is given to decentering in Western postmodernist discourses, always with an eye to the interpenetrations and exchanges that take place among the diverse literary and cultural traditions of the world.
Intertekstualiteit en modernistiese kompleksiteit in Henriette Grové se Linda Joubert-romans
Authors: Wessels Andries
Published: November 2011

Henriette Grové debuted in 1947 as an author of popular stories in women’s magazines under the pseudonym Linda Joubert. Meulenhof se mense and Die laat lente appeared in the nineteen-fifties in Sarie Marais and were published in book form in the early nineteen-sixties. Although the author expressed her opposition to an evaluation of these popular romantic tales as part of her literary oeuvre, the two novels reveal a surprising complexity and density as regards both content and narrative structure which strongly link them in theme and technique to her recognized literary oeuvre, so that the two novels emerge as worthy literary texts in their own right after all, while they clearly function within the conventions of the genre of the romance novel. The novels also reveal an impressive range of sophisticated literary allusions which further characterize them as modernist.
On the discrepancies between theoretical and measured below-cloud particle scavenging coefficients for rain – a numerical investigation using a detailed one-dimensional cloud microphysics model
Authors: Wang X. , Zhang L. , Moran M. D.
Published: November 2011

Abstract. Existing theoretical formulations for the size-resolved scavenging coefficient Λ(d) for atmospheric aerosol particles scavenged by rain predict values lower by one to two orders of magnitude than those estimated from field measurements of particle-concentration changes for particles smaller than 3 μm in diameter. Vertical turbulence is not accounted for in the theoretical formulations of Λ(d) but does contribute to the field-derived estimates of Λ(d) due to its influence on the overall concentration changes of aerosol particles in the layers undergoing impaction scavenging. A detailed one-dimensional cloud microphysics model has been used to simulate rain production and below-cloud particle scavenging, and to quantify the contribution of turbulent diffusion to the overall Λ(d) values calculated from particle concentration changes. The relative contribution of vertical diffusion to below-cloud scavenging is found to be largest for submicron particles under weak precipitation conditions. The discrepancies between theoretical and field-derived Λ(d) values can largely be explained by the contribution of vertical diffusion to below-cloud particle scavenging for all particles larger than 0.01 μm in diameter for which field data are available. The results presented here suggest that the current theoretical framework for Λ(d) can provide a reasonable approximation of below-cloud aerosol particle scavenging by rain in size-resolved aerosol transport models if vertical diffusion is also considered by the models.
Usefulness of high resolution coastal models for operational oil spill forecast: the "Full City" accident
Authors: Broström G. , Carrasco A. , Hole L. R. , Dick S. , Janssen F. , Mattsson J. , Berger S.
Published: November 2011

Abstract. Oil spill modeling is considered to be an important part of a decision support system (DeSS) for oil spill combatment and is useful for remedial action in case of accidents, as well as for designing the environmental monitoring system that is frequently set up after major accidents. Many accidents take place in coastal areas, implying that low resolution basin scale ocean models are of limited use for predicting the trajectories of an oil spill. In this study, we target the oil spill in connection with the "Full City" accident on the Norwegian south coast and compare operational simulations from three different oil spill models for the area. The result of the analysis is that all models do a satisfactory job. The "standard" operational model for the area is shown to have severe flaws, but by applying ocean forcing data of higher resolution (1.5 km resolution), the model system shows results that compare well with observations. The study also shows that an ensemble of results from the three different models is useful when predicting/analyzing oil spill in coastal areas.
England and the Northern War in Soviet Historiography: 1935-1950
Authors: Scherer Stephen
Published: November 2011

The middle and late 1930s were years of severe change for the USSR. Stalin, in an effort to destroy any effective political opposition, completed his great purge. The Soviets, seeking to avoid an international conflagration, attempted to build collective security as a bulwark against their avowed ideological enemies, the Nazis. As a consequence of these domestic and international developments and the Party's reaction to them, the historical profession experienced profound changes as well. The State,which had formerly demanded that historians write Marxist history based upon class-struggle and socio-economic analyses exclusively, now ordered historians to produce more traditional and nationalistic interpretations of the past within the context of Marxism.
Doffing "Mankurt's Cap": Chingiz Aitmatov's The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years and the Turkic National Heritage
Authors: Mozur Joseph P.
Published: November 2011

The appearance of Chingiz Aitmatov's I dol' she veka dl itsia den' (The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years) in December 1980 created a major literary sensation in Moscow. There was something in the novel for everyone, and reviews in the Soviet Union. the Western press. and in emigre periodicals were overwhelmingly positive. Soviet critics especially welcomed the novel for its timely appearance after a serious discussion about the crisis of the genre "novel" in contemporary Soviet letters. As such Aitmatov's novel was singled out as the work pointing the way Soviet literature should go in the 1980s.
“To the World of the Future”: Mexican Visitors to the USSR, 1920-1940
Authors: Richardson William
Published: November 2011

During the 1920s and 1930s the Soviet Union was a place of pilgrimage for foreigners hoping to see a new world in the process of creation. When faced with Soviet reality, most found that their idealized images were far too optimistic, however, and many of them left the country in moods of dejection and disappointment. Some were appalled at the revived bourgeois way of life that seemed to be encouraged by the New Economic Policy of the 1920s, while others were concerned by the growth of bureaucracy and the apparent eagerness of the government to involve itself actively in the intellectual and aesthetic life of the nation, for example. Communist party politics, which became increasingly bitter and caustic, and indeed more public during the second half of the 1920s, caused many other foreigners to question their ideological allegiance to the new Soviet state. The enthusiasm associated with the Five Year plans revived their spirits, however. Here at last, under the leadership of Joseph Stalin and his associates, the peoples of the Soviet Union were beginning to build a new society. Russia was being transformed from a backward agrarian country into a modem industrial state, new towns were being built in virgin territories, and older cities were being reconstructed at a time when the West was sinking ever more deeply into economic depression. Individualism and privatism were being replaced by collectivism, it appeared, and a new egalitarian, proletarian society would provide a model for the world to emulate.
Flappers and Foxtrotters: Soviet Youth in the “Roaring Twenties”
Authors: Gorsuch Anne E.
Published: November 2011

With the introduction of the New Economic Policy in March 1921, cities such as Moscow and Leningrad appeared to change overnight. Expensive food and clothing stores, flashy nightclubs, gambling casinos, and other manifestations of the changing economic climate resurfaced for the first time since the war. William Reswick, a Russian who had emigrated to the United States before the revolution and returned as a journalist during the Civil War, wrote that as he made the rounds of Moscow, he was astonished by the great change that the NEP, a comparatively free economy, had wrought in a matter of nine months or so. "It was a change from a state verging on coma to a life of cheer and rapidly growing vigor. " The  New York Times Moscow correspondent Waiter Duranty also marveled at the changes.
Setting the Agenda in the Caspian Basin: The Political Economy of Russia’s Energy Leverage
Authors: Stulberg Adam N.
Published: November 2011

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia emerged as the dominant successor state in Eurasia. Yet much to the surprise of great power enthusiasts, Moscow has both succeeded remarkably and failed miserably at exploiting its preponderance to set the terms for ownership, development, and export of the prized energy reserves in the Caspian Basin. One the one hand, it has effectively manipulated favorable power asymmetries and monopoly over the existing pipeline infrastructure to strand competitive gas exports from Turkmenistan. On the other hand, Russia has been able only to retard the pace of Kazakhstan 's independent gas exploration and has reluctantly conceded to Astana's preferred legal remedy for dividing the Caspian seabed. Moscow has had even less success with Azerbaijan, incapable of deterring Baku's campaign to diversify main oil export routes at Russia's expense. The Kremlin has seemingly lost control over Russian oil firms in the process, unable to prevent them from participating in Azerbaijani-sponsored consortia that are dominated by foreign competitors. How do states use their preponderance as an instrument of coercive power, and how does this explain Russia's mixed success in the Caspian Basin?
The War Schools of Dobrinja: Schooling Under Siege in a Sarajevo Community
Authors: Berman David M.
Published: November 2011

“Dobrinja was a special place,” said Behija Jakić (1998) a high school sociology and philosophy teacher, who was trapped in her Dobrinja residence during the spring of 1992 at the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo. An apartment complex approximately two kilometers square lying in the shadow of Mount Igman, set alongside the airport in Butmir, Dobrinja was separated from Sarajevo proper by Mojmilo Hill. A single road below Mojmilo that ran by Nedžarići settlement, controlled by the enemy, connected it to the city.
Petar II Petrović Njegoš and Gjergj Fishta: Composers of National Epics
Authors: Curtis Matthew C.
Published: November 2011

While most modern theorists of nationalism emphasize the role of intellectuals “creating nations out of nationalism” (Gellner, 1983) or imagining the community of nations (Anderson, 1991), I argue that another role of intellectuals may also be equally as valid: the role of the poet as adapting existing communities, and the trappings of those communities, into the shape and appearance of a modern nation. Using the examples of the Montenegrin poet Petar II Petrović Njegoš and the Albanian poet Gjergj Fishta and their epics The Mountain Wreath (1847) and The Highland Lute (1939), I argue the continuation of their literary epics to the oral epic traditions which formed an important basis for Montenegrin and Northern Albanian communities.
Competitiveness Strategies, Resource Struggles, and National Interest in the New Europe
Authors: Ellison David
Published: November 2011

Within the context of neofunctionalist and intergovernmental models, European integration—and thus membership in the European Club—is typically seen as a win-win proposition. Viewed through the lens of economic models based on increasing returns or literature on the developmental state, the advantages of European integration become more ambiguous. This essay argues that the incorporation of the Central and East European states into the European Union ultimately favors Western interests. Based on an analysis of Hungary’s Great Transformation, I evaluate the compatibility of the EU policy framework with Hungarian and other Central and East European interests in economic development. Forced to abandon many competitiveness tools, new member states may fi nd the EU policy framework less accommodating and quite possibly more constraining. Western states benefi t from the enlargement by raising the degree of policy control over Eastern states.
Not Dialectical Enough:
Authors: Feldman Karen S.
Published: November 2011

With respect to Benjamin’s treatments of the work of art and his historiographical method, Adorno accuses Benjamin of not being dialectical enough and of inadequate theorizing. This article argues that Adorno’s blanket prescription for more dialectics covers over a chiastic relationship between his particular concern in each case. On one hand, Adorno worries that Benjamin gives over the artwork to ideological narratives. On the other hand, Adorno is concerned that Benjamin’s historical materialism refuses historical narrative, which is precisely where Benjamin locates ideology. Indeed the disruptive potential that Adorno grants the artwork with respect to social and political ideology thus corresponds to the disruptive potential that Benjamin ascribes to his historical materialism with respect to historicist ideology. In this context the article considers the nature of autonomy for Benjamin and Adorno and its relationship to subversion, disruption, and redemption.
Electric‐Field‐Assisted Charge Generation and Separation Process in Transition Metal Oxide‐Based Interconnectors for Tandem Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes
Authors: Yang Jin‐Peng , Xiao Yan , Deng Yan‐Hong , Duhm Steffen , Ueno Nobuo , Lee Shuit‐Tong , Li Yan‐Qing , Tang Jian‐Xin
Published: November 2011

The charge generation and separation process in transition metal oxide (TMO)‐based interconnectors for tandem organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) is explored using data on electrical and spectral emission properties, interface energetics, and capacitance characteristics. The TMO‐based interconnector is composed of MoO3 and cesium azide (CsN3)‐doped 4,7‐diphenyl‐1,10‐phenanthroline (BPhen) layers, where CsN3 is employed to replace the reactive metals as an n‐dopant due to its air stability and low deposition temperature. Experimental evidences identify that spontaneous electron transfer occurs in a vacuum‐deposited MoO3 layer from various defect states to the conduction band via thermal diffusion. The external electric‐field induces the charge separation through tunneling of generated electrons and holes from MoO3 into the neighboring CsN3‐doped BPhen and hole‐transporting layers, respectively. Moreover, the impacts of constituent materials on the functional effectiveness of TMO‐based interconnectors and their influences on carrier recombination processes for light emission have also been addressed.
ORDER FLOW AND EXCHANGE RATE DYNAMICS: AN APPLICATION TO EMERGING MARKETS
Authors: Duffuor Kwabena , Marsh Ian W. , Phylaktis Kate
Published: November 2011

The paper examines short‐run exchange rate dynamics in an emerging market based on the recent microstructure framework of foreign exchange markets where the main explanatory variable is the order flow of end‐user customers. The study makes two main contributions to the literature: it modifies the basic microstructural FX model to take account of key features of the majority of emerging markets, namely the existence of a black market for FX and the presence of market inefficiencies; and it uses a unique database covering almost the complete Ghanaian market, and for a long time span compared with previous studies. We find that the unexpected component of order flow has a positive and long‐lived effect on the official exchange rate in both stable and crisis periods, consistent with the basic microstructural approach. The price impact of unexpected order flow is related to the level of liquidity in the market. Expected order flow also impacts the exchange rate, suggesting inefficiencies in the market. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.