bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Clinical Response to Gluten Challenge: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Bruins Maaike
Published: November 2013

The aim of this review was to identify, evaluate and summarize all relevant studies reporting on the clinical response to gluten challenge by adult or pediatric patients with suspected or diagnosed coeliac disease (CD) on a gluten-free diet. We evaluated the effect of gluten challenge on changes in symptoms, intestinal mucosa histology, and serum antibodies. A systematic electronic search was performed for studies published as of 1966 using PubMed and Scopus databases. In the reviewed studies, doses ranged from 0.2 to 30 g/day of wheat gluten or comprised a gluten-containing diet. The onset of symptoms upon gluten intake varied largely from days to months and did not parallel serum antibody or histological changes. Within 3 months of gluten challenge, 70%–100% of pediatric CD patients became positive for AGA-IgA and EMA-IgA antibodies and 50%–70% for AGA-IgG. A limited number of trials suggest that no more than half of adult patients developed positive AGA-IgA, EMA-IgA, tTG-IgA or DGP-IgA/IgG titers. Approximately 50%–100% of pediatric and adult patients experienced mucosal relapse of gluten provocation within 3 months, which was preceded by increased mucosal intra-epithelial lymphocytes within several days of challenge. A 3-month high-dose gluten challenge should be suitable to diagnose the majority of CD patients. In some cases prolonged challenge may be needed to verify diagnosis. Combination testing for antibodies and mucosal histology may fasten the diagnosis.
On the Convergence of Ionospheric Constrained Precise Point Positioning (IC-PPP) Based on Undifferential Uncombined Raw GNSS Observations
Authors: Zhang Hongping , Gao Zhouzheng , Ge Maorong , Niu Xiaoji , Huang Ling , Tu Rui , Li Xingxing
Published: November 2013

Precise Point Positioning (PPP) has become a very hot topic in GNSS research and applications. However, it usually takes about several tens of minutes in order to obtain positions with better than 10 cm accuracy. This prevents PPP from being widely used in real-time kinematic positioning services, therefore, a large effort has been made to tackle the convergence problem. One of the recent approaches is the ionospheric delay constrained precise point positioning (IC-PPP) that uses the spatial and temporal characteristics of ionospheric delays and also delays from an a priori model. In this paper, the impact of the quality of ionospheric models on the convergence of IC-PPP is evaluated using the IGS global ionospheric map (GIM) updated every two hours and a regional satellite-specific correction model. Furthermore, the effect of the receiver differential code bias (DCB) is investigated by comparing the convergence time for IC-PPP with and without estimation of the DCB parameter. From the result of processing a large amount of data, on the one hand, the quality of the a priori ionosphere delays plays a very important role in IC-PPP convergence. Generally, regional dense GNSS networks can provide more precise ionosphere delays than GIM and can consequently reduce the convergence time. On the other hand, ignoring the receiver DCB may considerably extend its convergence, and the larger the DCB, the longer the convergence time. Estimating receiver DCB in IC-PPP is a proper way to overcome this problem. Therefore, current IC-PPP should be enhanced by estimating receiver DCB and employing regional satellite-specific ionospheric correction models in order to speed up its convergence for more practical applications.
A Doppler Transient Model Based on the Laplace Wavelet and Spectrum Correlation Assessment for Locomotive Bearing Fault Diagnosis
Authors: Shen Changqing , Liu Fang , Wang Dong , Zhang Ao , Kong Fanrang , Tse Peter
Published: November 2013

The condition of locomotive bearings, which are essential components in trains, is crucial to train safety. The Doppler effect significantly distorts acoustic signals during high movement speeds, substantially increasing the difficulty of monitoring locomotive bearings online. In this study, a new Doppler transient model based on the acoustic theory and the Laplace wavelet is presented for the identification of fault-related impact intervals embedded in acoustic signals. An envelope spectrum correlation assessment is conducted between the transient model and the real fault signal in the frequency domain to optimize the model parameters. The proposed method can identify the parameters used for simulated transients (periods in simulated transients) from acoustic signals. Thus, localized bearing faults can be detected successfully based on identified parameters, particularly period intervals. The performance of the proposed method is tested on a simulated signal suffering from the Doppler effect. Besides, the proposed method is used to analyze real acoustic signals of locomotive bearings with inner race and outer race faults, respectively. The results confirm that the periods between the transients, which represent locomotive bearing fault characteristics, can be detected successfully.
On-Line Thickness Measurement for Two-Layer Systems on Polymer Electronic Devices
Authors: Grassi Ana , Tremmel Anton , Koch Alexander , El-Khozondar Hala
Published: November 2013

During the manufacturing of printed electronic circuits, different layers of coatings are applied successively on a substrate. The correct thickness of such layers is essential for guaranteeing the electronic behavior of the final product and must therefore be controlled thoroughly. This paper presents a model for measuring two-layer systems through thin film reflectometry (TFR). The model considers irregular interfaces and distortions introduced by the setup and the vertical vibration movements caused by the production process. The results show that the introduction of these latter variables is indispensable to obtain correct thickness values. The proposed approach is applied to a typical configuration of polymer electronics on transparent and non-transparent substrates. We compare our results to those obtained using a profilometer. The high degree of agreement between both measurements validates the model and suggests that the proposed measurement method can be used in industrial applications requiring fast and non-contact inspection of two-layer systems. Moreover, this approach can be used for other kinds of materials with known optical parameters.
Genotoxicity of Silver Nanoparticles in Lung Cells of Sprague Dawley Rats after 12 Weeks of Inhalation Exposure
Authors: Cho Hyun , Sung Jae , Song Kyung , Kim Jin , Ji Jun , Lee Ji , Ryu Hyeon , Ahn Kangho , Yu Il
Published: November 2013

Due to the widespread use of silver nanoparticles in consumer products, the toxicity of silver nanoparticles has also been studied in relation to their application. However, most genotoxicity studies of silver nanoparticles have been performed in vitro. Therefore, this study evaluated the DNA damage to lung cells caused by repeated inhalation of silver nanoparticles. Male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to silver nanoparticles for 12 weeks in a whole-body inhalation chamber. The animals were divided into one control group and three dose groups that were exposed to silver nanoparticles (14–15 nm diameter) at concentrations of 0.66 × 106 particles/cm3 (49 μg/m3, low dose), 1.41 × 106 particles/cm3 (117 μg/m3, middle dose), and 3.24 × 106 particles /cm3 (381 μg/m3, high dose), respectively, for six hours/day over 12 weeks. The rats were sacrificed after the 12-week exposure period and the DNA damage assessed using a Comet assay of cells obtained from the right lungs. The olive tail moment values were 2.93 ± 0.19, 3.81 ± 0.23, 3.40 ± 0.22, and 5.16 ± 0.32 for the control, low-, middle-, and high-dose groups, respectively. Although no dose-dependent results were observed, a significant increase in the level of DNA damage was noted for the high-dose group.
Three-Fingered RAVERs: Rapid Accumulation of Variations in Exposed Residues of Snake Venom Toxins
Authors: Sunagar Kartik , Jackson Timothy , Undheim Eivind , Ali Syed. , Antunes Agostinho , Fry Bryan
Published: November 2013

Three-finger toxins (3FTx) represent one of the most abundantly secreted and potently toxic components of colubrid (Colubridae), elapid (Elapidae) and psammophid (Psammophiinae subfamily of the Lamprophidae) snake venom arsenal. Despite their conserved structural similarity, they perform a diversity of biological functions. Although they are theorised to undergo adaptive evolution, the underlying diversification mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we report the molecular evolution of different 3FTx functional forms and show that positively selected point mutations have driven the rapid evolution and diversification of 3FTx. These diversification events not only correlate with the evolution of advanced venom delivery systems (VDS) in Caenophidia, but in particular the explosive diversification of the clade subsequent to the evolution of a high pressure, hollow-fanged VDS in elapids, highlighting the significant role of these toxins in the evolution of advanced snakes. We show that Type I, II and III α-neurotoxins have evolved with extreme rapidity under the influence of positive selection. We also show that novel Oxyuranus/Pseudonaja Type II forms lacking the apotypic loop-2 stabilising cysteine doublet characteristic of Type II forms are not phylogenetically basal in relation to other Type IIs as previously thought, but are the result of secondary loss of these apotypic cysteines on at least three separate occasions. Not all 3FTxs have evolved rapidly: κ-neurotoxins, which form non-covalently associated heterodimers, have experienced a relatively weaker influence of diversifying selection; while cytotoxic 3FTx, with their functional sites, dispersed over 40% of the molecular surface, have been extremely constrained by negative selection. We show that the a previous theory of 3FTx molecular evolution (termed ASSET) is evolutionarily implausible and cannot account for the considerable variation observed in very short segments of 3FTx. Instead, we propose a theory of Rapid Accumulation of Variations in Exposed Residues (RAVER) to illustrate the significance of point mutations, guided by focal mutagenesis and positive selection in the evolution and diversification of 3FTx.
Regression Modeling of Baseflow and Baseflow Index for Michigan USA
Authors: Zhang Yinqin , Ahiablame Laurent , Engel Bernard , Liu Junmin
Published: November 2013

Baseflow plays an important role in maintaining streamflow. Seventeen gauged watersheds and their characteristics were used to develop regression models for annual baseflow and baseflow index (BFI) estimation in Michigan. Baseflow was estimated from daily streamflow records using the two-parameter recursive digital filter method for baseflow separation of the Web-based Hydrograph Analysis Tool (WHAT) program. Three equations (two for annual baseflow and one for BFI estimation) were developed and validated. Results indicated that observed average annual baseflow ranged from 162 to 345 mm, and BFI varied from 0.45 to 0.80 during 1967–2011. The average BFI value during the study period was 0.71, suggesting that about 70% of long-term streamflow in the studied watersheds were likely supported by baseflow. The regression models estimated baseﬂow and BFI with relative errors (RE) varying from −29% to 48% and from −14% to 19%, respectively. In absence of reliable information to determine groundwater discharge in streams and rivers, these equations can be used to estimate BFI and annual baseﬂow in Michigan.
Estudio del rendimiento del torneado de alta velocidad utilizando el coeficiente de dimensión volumétrica de la fuerza de corte resultante
Authors: Hernández-González L. W. , Pérez-Rodríguez R. , Zambrano-Robledo P. C. , Siller-Carrillo H. R. , Toscano-Reyes H.
Published: November 2013

En este trabajo se aborda el estudio experimental de la evolución de la fuerza de corte resultante de dos insertos de carburo recubierto y un cermet, durante el torneado en seco del acero AISI 1045 con velocidades de corte de 400, 500 y 600 m/min . Se introduce, además, un nuevo criterio para el estudio del rendimiento de las operaciones de mecanizado: el coeficiente de dimensión volumétrica de la fuerza de corte. La investigación mostró un mejor rendimiento del cermet para la velocidad de corte moderada e intermedia, mientras que para la alta velocidad de corte y tiempo final de mecanizado, el mejor resultado fue para el carburo recubierto con tres capas. El análisis de varianza factorial demostró un efecto significativo del tiempo de mecanizado en el coeficiente de dimensión volumétrica de la fuerza de corte resultante, mientras que la variable material del inserto y su interacción, fue solo significativa para la velocidad de corte intermedia.
Modulation of Voltage-Dependent and Inward Rectifier Potassium Channels by 15-Epi-Lipoxin-A4 in Activated Murine Macrophages: Implications in Innate Immunity
Authors: Moreno Cristina , Prieto Patricia , Macías Álvaro , Pimentel-Santillana María , de la Cruz Alicia , Través Paqui G. , Boscá Lisardo , Valenzuela Carmen
Published: November 2013

Potassium channels modulate macrophage physiology. Blockade of voltage-dependent potassium channels (Kv) by specific antagonists decreases macrophage cytokine production and inhibits proliferation. In the presence of aspirin, acetylated cyclooxygenase-2 loses the activity required to synthesize PGs but maintains the oxygenase activity to produce 15R-HETE from arachidonate. This intermediate product is transformed via 5-LOX into epimeric lipoxins, termed 15-epi-lipoxins (15-epi-lipoxin A4 [e-LXA4]). Kv have been proposed as anti-inflammatory targets. Therefore, we studied the effects of e-LXA4 on signaling and on Kv and inward rectifier potassium channels (Kir) in mice bone marrow–derived macrophages (BMDM). Electrophysiological recordings were performed in these cells by the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. Treatment of BMDM with e-LXA4 inhibited LPS-dependent activation of NF-κB and IκB kinase β activity, protected against LPS activation–dependent apoptosis, and enhanced the accumulation of the Nrf-2 transcription factor. Moreover, treatment of LPS-stimulated BMDM with e-LXA4 resulted in a rapid decrease of Kv currents, compatible with attenuation of the inflammatory response. Long-term treatment of LPS-stimulated BMDM with e-LXA4 significantly reverted LPS effects on Kv and Kir currents. Under these conditions, e-LXA4 decreased the calcium influx versus that observed in LPS-stimulated BMDM. These effects were partially mediated via the lipoxin receptor (ALX), because they were significantly reverted by a selective ALX receptor antagonist. We provide evidence for a new mechanism by which e-LXA4 contributes to inflammation resolution, consisting of the reversion of LPS effects on Kv and Kir currents in macrophages.
Geology of the uranium deposits related to the Sub-Athabasca Unconformity, Saskatchewan
Authors: Tremblay L P
Published: November 2013

The Athabasca Basin is a large oval, dish shaped structure, 425 km by 225 km (80 000 km2 ) containing about 1500 m of mainly flat lying quartz-rich sandstone of the Athabasca Croup. The sandstone has a white clay cement and is chiefly white but locally is grey to
black or multicoloured. The basin lies with marked angular unconformity a cross a Hudsonian basement of deformed and metam9rphosed Archean and Apheman sedimentary, volcanic and plutonic rocks trending north to northeast beneath the basin. The basement rocks in the southeast half of the basin are
mainly Aphebian whereas those in the northwest appear to be predominantly Archean. In the Carswell Circular Structure in the central western half of the basin basement rocks are brought to surf ace through 1200 m of sandstone. The rocks of the basin are less than one per cent exposed. Overburden
locally reaches 90 m thick. Uranium deposits have been found near the southeast edge of the basin, within the Carswell Circular Structure, and along the northern rim of the basin. They are (1) at the unconformity as high grade masses elongated in and parallel to major faults, hosted mainly in highly
white clay-altered feldspar-rich basement rocks and associated with graphitic metasediments and cale-silicate rocks; (2) within the first 40 m above the unconformity in grey to black and multicoloured Athabasca sandstones and shales as a coating on quartz grains, as disseminations in the clay matrix
and as veins; and (3) within 100 m below the unconformity as fracture fillings and disseminations in basement rocks. Pitchblende and coffinite are the main uranium minerals. Many of the deposits have a multielement association and some have appreciable amounts of nickel, cobalt, gold, arsenic and/or
other elements in addition to uranium. The richest zones are at the intersections of faults or where faults change direction. Several stages of uranium concentration were required for the formation of the se deposits. Some of the stages took place before deposition of the Athabasca rocks, that is,
during the deposition, anatexis and subsequent weathering of the basement rocks. The significant deposits formed after de position of the Athabasca rocks by remobilization of the uranium from the basement rocks and the regolith in hot circulating groundwater, and by its precipitation at the
unconformity and spatially related traps in highly white clay-altered basement rocks and/or grey to black and multicoloured sandstone. Uranium is being mined (1981) at Rabbit Lake and Cluff Lake (D orebody).
Assessing the natural morphological sensitivity of a pinned, soft-cliff, sandy coast to a changing wave climate
Authors: Barkwith A. , Thomas C. W. , Limber P. W. , Ellis M. A. , Murray A. B.
Published: November 2013

Abstract. The impact of future sea level rise on coastal erosion as a result of a changing climate has been studied in detail over the past decade. The potential impact of a changing wave climate on erosion rates, however, is not typically considered. We explore the effect of changing wave climates on a pinned, soft-cliff, sandy coastline, using as an example the Holderness coast of East Yorkshire, UK. The initial phase of the study concentrates on calibrating a model to recently measured erosion rates for the Holderness coast using an ensemble of geomorphological and shoreface parameters under an observed offshore wave climate. Stochastic wave climate data are perturbed gradually to assess the sensitivity of the coastal morphology to changing wave climate. Forward-modelled simulations indicate the nature of the morphological response of the coast to changes in wave climate over the next century. Results indicate that changes to erosion rates over the next century will be spatially and temporally heterogeneous, with a variability of up to ±25% in the erosion rate relative to projections under constant wave climate. The heterogeneity results from the current coastal morphology and the sediment transport dynamics consequent on differing wave climate regimes.
Flood risk management in Italy: challenges and opportunities for the implementation of the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC)
Authors: Mysiak J. , Testella F. , Bonaiuto M. , Carrus G. , De Dominicis S. , Ganucci Cancellieri U. , Firus K. , Grifoni P.
Published: November 2013

Abstract. Italy's recent history is punctuated with devastating flood disasters claiming high death toll and causing vast but underestimated economic, social and environmental damage. The responses to major flood and landslide disasters such as the Polesine (1951), Vajont (1963), Firenze (1966), Valtelina (1987), Piedmont (1994), Crotone (1996), Sarno (1998), Soverato (2000), and Piedmont (2000) events have contributed to shaping the country's flood risk governance. Insufficient resources and capacity, slow implementation of the (at that time) novel risk prevention and protection framework, embodied in the law 183/89 of 18 May 1989, increased the reliance on the response and recovery operations of the civil protection. As a result, the importance of the Civil Protection Mechanism and the relative body of norms and regulation developed rapidly in the 1990s. In the aftermath of the Sarno (1998) and Soverato (2000) disasters, the Department for Civil Protection (DCP) installed a network of advanced early warning and alerting centres, the cornerstones of Italy's preparedness for natural hazards and a best practice worth following. However, deep convective clouds, not uncommon in Italy, producing intense rainfall and rapidly developing localised floods still lead to considerable damage and loss of life that can only be reduced by stepping up the risk prevention efforts. The implementation of the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) provides an opportunity to revise the model of flood risk governance and confront the shortcomings encountered during more than 20 yr of organised flood risk management. This brief communication offers joint recommendations towards this end from three projects funded by the 2nd CRUE ERA-NET (http://www.crue-eranet.net/) Funding Initiative: FREEMAN, IMRA and URFlood.
Tsunami hazard assessment in El Salvador, Central America, from seismic sources through flooding numerical models.
Authors: Álvarez-Gómez J. A. , Aniel-Quiroga Í. , Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez O. Q. , Larreynaga J. , González M. , Castro M. , Gavidia F. , Aguirre-Ayerbe I. , González-Riancho P. , Carreño E.
Published: November 2013

Abstract. El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America; its coast has an approximate length of 320 km, 29 municipalities and more than 700 000 inhabitants. In El Salvador there were 15 recorded tsunamis between 1859 and 2012, 3 of them causing damages and resulting in hundreds of victims. Hazard assessment is commonly based on propagation numerical models for earthquake-generated tsunamis and can be approached through both probabilistic and deterministic methods. A deterministic approximation has been applied in this study as it provides essential information for coastal planning and management. The objective of the research was twofold: on the one hand the characterization of the threat over the entire coast of El Salvador, and on the other the computation of flooding maps for the three main localities of the Salvadorian coast. For the latter we developed high-resolution flooding models. For the former, due to the extension of the coastal area, we computed maximum elevation maps, and from the elevation in the near shore we computed an estimation of the run-up and the flooded area using empirical relations. We have considered local sources located in the Middle America Trench, characterized seismotectonically, and distant sources in the rest of Pacific Basin, using historical and recent earthquakes and tsunamis. We used a hybrid finite differences–finite volumes numerical model in this work, based on the linear and non-linear shallow water equations, to simulate a total of 24 earthquake-generated tsunami scenarios. Our results show that at the western Salvadorian coast, run-up values higher than 5 m are common, while in the eastern area, approximately from La Libertad to the Gulf of Fonseca, the run-up values are lower. The more exposed areas to flooding are the lowlands in the Lempa River delta and the Barra de Santiago Western Plains. The results of the empirical approximation used for the whole country are similar to the results obtained with the high-resolution numerical modelling, being a good and fast approximation to obtain preliminary tsunami hazard estimations. In Acajutla and La Libertad, both important tourism centres being actively developed, flooding depths between 2 and 4 m are frequent, accompanied with high and very high person instability hazard. Inside the Gulf of Fonseca the impact of the waves is almost negligible.
Sensitivity of the Weddell Sea sector ice streams to sub-shelf melting and surface accumulation
Authors: Wright A. P. , Le Brocq A. M. , Cornford S. L. , Siegert M. J. , Bingham R. G. , Corr H. F. J. , Ferraccioli F. , Jordan T. A. , Rippin D. M. , Ross N.
Published: November 2013

Abstract. A recent ocean modelling study indicates that possible changes in circulation may bring warm deep ocean water into direct contact with the grounding lines of the Filchner-Ronne ice streams, suggesting the potential for future ice losses from this sector equivalent to ~ 0.3 m of sea-level rise. Significant advancements have been made in our knowledge of both the basal topography and ice velocity in the Weddell Sea sector, thus enabling an assessment to be made of the relative sensitivities of the diverse collection of ice streams feeding the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. Here we use the BISICLES ice sheet model, which employs adaptive-mesh refinement to resolve grounding line dynamics, to carry out such an assessment. The impact of perturbations to the surface and sub-shelf mass balance forcing fields from our 2000 yr "reference" model run indicate that both the Institute and Möller Ice Streams are highly sensitive to changes in basal melting either near to their respective grounding lines, or in the region of the ice rises within the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. These same perturbations have little impact, however, on Rutford, Carlson or Foundation ice streams, while Evans Ice Stream is found to enter a phase of unstable retreat only after melt at its grounding line has increased by an order-of-magnitude from likely present-day values.
Assessment of the genetic and phenotypic diversity maintained in apple core collections constructed by using either agro-morphologic or molecular marker data
Authors: Santesteban L. G. , Miranda C. , Royo J.B.
Published: November 2013

Various types of data have been used for sampling plant core collections, including morphological, agronomic and ecogeographical traits, and molecular and biochemical markers. However, little is known about the ability of woody perennial core collections to retain the diversity and structure of the whole collection for characters that were not considered in the selection, especially when molecular markers are used. In this study, three core subsets were established for the apple germplasm bank curated at the Public University of Navarre (UPNa, Spain): based upon the diversity found with 10 SSR markers, another based upon the diversity assessed with 12 isozyme loci; and a third based upon morpho-agronomic diversity evaluated by 23 morpho-agronomic traits. Comparisons between these three subsets and to the whole collection were assessed to determine the impact of the data used in the selection on phenotypic and genetic diversity and on their population structure. The three subsets had a similar diversity and they did not differ from the original collection, according to Nei and Shannon-Weaver indices. The allelic/class frequencies were also always maintained in the three subsets. Overall, the kind of data used to constitute a core collection had little influence on the phenotypic and genetic diversity retained, so in the case of apple collections the use of molecular markers is preferable for this task because they allow a rapid and reliable characterization.
In Qualified Praise of the Leon Kass Council On Bioethics
Authors: Mitcham Carl ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

This paper argues the distinctiveness of the President’s Council on Bioethics, as chaired by Leon Kass. The argument proceeds by seeking to place the Council in proper historical and philosophical perspective and considering the implications of some of its work. Sections one and two provide simplified descriptions of the historical background against which the Council emerged and the character of the Council itself, respectively. Section three then considers three basic issues raised by the work of the Council that are of relevance to philosophy and technology as a whole: the role of professionalism, the relation between piecemeal and holistic analyses of technology, and the appeal to human nature as a norm.
Virtual Heritage
Authors: Jacobson Jeffrey , Holden Lynn ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

Virtual Heritage (VH) is the use of electronic media to recreate or interpret culture and cultural artifacts as they are today or as they might have been in the past (Moltenbrey, 2001; Roehl, 1997). By definition, VH applications employ some kind of three dimensional representation; the means used to display it range from still photos to immersive Virtual Reality. Virtual Heritage is a very active area of research and development in both the academic and the commercial realms. (Roehl, 1997; Mitchell and Economou, 2000; Addison, 2000; Stone and Ojika, 2002; Champion, 2004b; Champion and Sekiguichi, 2004; Levy, 2004). Most VH applications are intended forsome kind of educational use. While the main activity of virtual heritage is to create ancient artifacts, the real goal is to understand ancient cultures.Most VH applications are architectural reconstructions, centered on a reconstructed building or monument. However, in the same way that archaeologists and historians study the artifacts because they are the primary cultural evidence we have, VH uses architecture as a frame for recreating ancient cultures. The larger goal of VH is to recreate ancient cultures, not as dead simulations, but as living museums where students/users can enter and understand a culture that is different from their own. The closest analog is the real-world living museums, where actors in period dress occupy a life-size historical setting and interact with the visitors. Ultimately, we would like to see the users themselves creating activities in the virtual space as a way of exploring different cultural viewpoints. For example, students who know about the Virtual Egyptian Temple (Jacobson and Holden, 2005) and the supporting material may attempt to recreate activities there. In doing so, they would learn about what is and is not possible in the architectural and cultural space.In this paper we will begin by reviewing the issues and tradeoffs around building the architectural models for VH applications. These models are crucial in themselves and many of the issues involved in designing and creating them also apply to the dynamic and interactive aspects of VR. Then, we will touch on issues of how to bring culture to life in VR, the strengths and limitations for VR technology for VH applications. Finally, we will present the Virtual Egyptian Temple, our current project, as a working example.
Virtual Models and Simulations
Authors: Krebs Peter ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

The personal computer has become the primary research tool in many scientific and engineering disciplines. The role of the computer has been extended to be an experimental and modelling tool both for convenience and sometimes necessity. In this paper some of the relationships between real models and virtual models, i.e. models that exist only as programs and data structures, areexplored. It is argued that the shift from experimenting with real objects to experimentation with computer models and simulations may also require a new approach for evaluating scientific theories derived from these models. Accepting the additional sets of assumptions that are associated with computer models and simulations requires ‘leaps of faith’, which we may not want to make in order to preserve scientific rigor. There are problems in providing acceptable arguments and explanations as to why a particular computer model or simulation should be judged scientifically sound, plausible, or even probable. These problems not only emerge from models that are particularly complex, but also in models that suffer from being too simplistic.
Human—Technology—World
Authors: Weiss Dennis M. ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

This essay examines Don Ihde’s postphenomological philosophy of technology through the lens of philosophical anthropology, that sub-discipline of philosophy concerned with the nature and place of the human being. While Ihde’s philosophical corpus and its reception in Postphenomenology: A Critical Companion to Ihde indicate rich resources for thinking about human nature, several themes receive too little attention in both, including the nature of the human being, the emergence of the posthuman, and the place of the human being in our contemporary pluriculture.
Relative Identity and the Number of Artifacts
Authors: Carrara Massimiliano ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

Relativists maintain that identity is always relative to a general term (RI). According to them, the notion of absolute identity has to be abandoned and replaced by a multiplicity of relative identity relations for which Leibniz’s Law does not hold. For relativists RI is at least as good as the Fregean cardinality thesis (FC), which contends that an ascription of cardinality is always relative to a concept specifying what, in any specific case, counts as a unit. The same train of thought on cardinality and identity is apparent among those – Artifactualists – who take relative identity sentences for artifacts as the norm. The aim of this paper is (i) to criticize the thesis (T1) thatfrom FC it is possible to derive RI, and (ii) to explain why Artifactualists mistakenly believe that RI can be derived from FC. The misunderstanding derives from their assumption that the concept of artifact – like the concept of object – is not a sortal concept.
How to Understand Nano Images
Authors: Birkeland Tore , Strand Roger ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

Nanoscale objects are presented by ever more sophisticated pictures (nano images). There is a need to reflect on the status of such nano images, because the “seeing” involved is of a highly indirect kind. The aim of this paper is to complement existing philosophical critique of nano images with a scientific practitioner's perspective. First, we show some reasons to consider seeing and imaging as complex endeavours not only on the micro and nano scale, but also on the macro level. Secondly, we argue that practising scientists are not only accustomed to interpret pictures and other graphical presentations of data as being partial and simplified, but that simplification is deliberate and internal. Rather than requiring that “true” images have to be representational (Pitt 2004, Pitt 2005), the paper advocates for the fruitfulness of understanding and judging images by the amount and nature of the information they convey. Scientific literacy could be improved by creative development of visualization techniques, but also by improved public understanding of images and their correct and cautious interpretation.
Collecting Our Lives Online
Authors: Van Den Eede Yoni ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

As we become more and more involved with digital technologies on a daily basis, we are in need of a model to make sense of what we do with and “in” them. Here we analyze the use of digital media by way of a collecting paradigm, since our online activities – centered on selecting, accumulating, organizing, and showing – strongly resemble the practice of collectors. In the first part of the paper, we outline the main traits of collecting practices, and discuss relevant online practices in the light of these traits, thereby tracing the contours of an online “collecting culture.” In the second part, we list the possible underlying causes and motivations for collecting, and investigate how far these explanations also apply to online activity, so offering a preliminary framework for the further study of online practices.
Reconstructing the Disciplinary Consensus of the Philosophy of Technology
Authors: Xia Baohua ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

The author of The Philosophy of Invention, Henry Dircks (1806–1873), was an English civil engineer, inventor and historian of technology. The Philosophy of Invention is a forgotten classic of the philosophy of technology, and its author a forgotten pioneer. This new discovery will correct the disciplinary consensus in the philosophy of technology.
Technological Know-How from Rules of Thumb
Authors: Norström Per ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

Rules of thumb are simple instructions, used to guide actions toward a specific result, without need of advanced knowledge. Knowing adequate rules of thumb is a common form of technological knowledge. It differs both from science-based and intuitive (or tacit) technological knowledge, although it may have its origin in experience, scientific knowledge, trial and error, or a combination thereof. One of the major advantages of rules of thumb is the ease with which they can be learned. One of their major disadvantages is that they cannot easily be adjusted to new situations or conditions.
Technology and the Good Life
Authors: Lewin David ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

This essay argues that a purely secular philosophy of technology omits an essential aspect of technical activity: the ultimate concern for which any action is undertaken. By way of an analysis of Borgmann and Hickman, I show that the philosophy of technology cannot articulate the nature of the good life without reference to an ultimacy beyond finite human goods. This paradoxically implies that human beings desire something infinite which they cannot name, a paradox that theologians have long understood in terms of a theological dialectic.
Comment on Norm Friesen’s
Authors: Sørensen Estrid ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

Friesen's comparison between classroom practices and digital dissection carries the flaws of treating the digital and non-digital learning materials differently when comparing. This reply paper argues for a symmetric comparison through a focus on the way in which comparability between digital and non-digital learning materials is established by the researcher. It is suggested that such comparison might have brought about a result more favorable for digital technology.
A Phenomenological Defense of Computer-Simulated Frog Dissection
Authors: Rosenberger Robert ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

Defenders of educational frog dissection tend to emphasize the claim that computer-simulated alternatives cannot replicate the same exact experience of slicing open a frog, with all its queasy and visceral impact. Without denying that point, I argue that this is not the only educational standard against which computer-simulated dissection should be evaluated. When real-world frog dissection is analyzed as a concrete technological practice rather than an assumed ideal, the particular educational advantages distinct to real-world dissection and virtual dissection can be enumerated and compared. Building on the work of John Dewey and Don Ihde, I explore the still-expanding advantages of computer-simulated dissection, and in this proper context of comparison it becomes clear that virtual alternatives are increasingly the more educationally beneficial option.
Less is More
Authors: Friesen Norm ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: November 2013

This response paper begins by countering the contributions of Don Ihde and Robert Rosenberger to this special issue, making its case in existential terms. Then, addressing Darin Barney, these arguments are developed further in aesthetic terms, making use of the “modernist” educational theory of René Arcilla. This response article concludes by returning to the realm of the educational with the help of Albert Borgmann's and Estrid Sørensen's feedback.
Classic Works of Brazil’s New Rural History: Feudalism and the Latifundio in the Interpretations of the Left (1940/1964)
Authors: Menendes Motta Márcia Maria
Published: November 2013

This article examines the works of two prominent Brazilian writers considered to be the leading exponents of the presence of a feudal system in rural Brazil during the first half of the 20th century. Based on an analysis of the writings of Nelson Werneck Sodré and Alberto Pasos Guimarães, the objective of this work is to identify Sodré and Guimarães main arguments with relation to the historical context in which their works were produced, based on an analysis of their writings. This leads to a discussion around the topics explored by these authors regarding the farmer and the landholding elites, the differences between them, their links to contemporary society, and the readings of the past that legitimated or seemed to legitimate the production of their historic writings.
Las percepciones sociales en Europa sobre el rol de la ciencia y la tecnología
Authors: Eizagirre Andoni
Published: November 2013

The article analyzes the variables that better explain the perceptions and attitudes of Europeans regarding science and their more recent scientific innovations. The cognitive deficit hypothesis proposes that social ambivalence arises because people have little scientific knowledge and misunderstands scientific and technical advances. The article agrees with the analytic role of contextual perspective, identifies ten myths linked to the traditional explanation of social perception of science, and proposes an alternative interpretation of the relationship between knowledge, institutional dynamics, and social trust.
La acción colectiva rural en los sistemas productivos dinámicos
Authors: Lugo-Morin Diosey Ramón
Published: November 2013

The objective of this article is to present an approach to a logical formalization of collective rural action that makes it possible to measure change dynamics intensity in a productive system as a consequence of the synergy of social capital structures working towards a common goal. To this end I have identified and quantified the various forms of social capital that emerge from the social actors linked to a horticultural productive system. I conclude that the relations of cooperation and trust, the level of organization, and the informal institutions are expressions of social capital that, in their synergistic state, make it possible to advance common objectives within a productive system and take the shape of an index.
Mineral Expert Discusses Global Scramble for Natural Resources
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: November 2013

With the global population boom and more people growing into affluence, there is increasing demand, desire, and competition for minerals, said Vince Mathews during a talk about the global scramble for natural resources on 30 October at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver, Colo.
Combinatorial Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition of F:TiO2; the Relationship between Photocatalysis and Transparent Conducting Oxide Properties
Authors: Kafizas Andreas , Noor Nuruzzaman , Carmichael Penelope , Scanlon David O. , Carmalt Claire J. , Parkin Ivan P.
Published: November 2013

Combinatorial atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) is used to deposit anatase TiO2 with a graded level of F‐doping between 1.10 ≤ F:Ti (at%) ≤ 2.57 from the reaction of titanium tetrachloride, ethyl acetate and trifluoroacetic acid at 500 °C on glass. The photocatalytic activity and electrical resistivity of 200 allotted positions across a grid are screened using high‐throughput techniques. A blue region of film is singled out for containing the lowest electrical resistivities of any previously reported doped or undoped TiO2‐based system formed by APCVD (ρ ≈ 0.22–0.45 Ω cm, n = 0.8–1.2 × 1018 cm−3, μ = 18–33 cm2 V−1 s−1). The blue region contains a lower fluorine doping level (F:Ti ≈ 1.1–1.6%, Ebg ≈ 3.06 eV) than its neighboring colorless region (F:Ti ≈ 2.3–2.6%, Ebg ≈ 3.15–3.21 eV, ρ ≈ 0.61–1.3 Ω cm). State‐of‐the‐art hybrid density functional theory calculations were employed to elucidate the nature of the different doping behaviors. Two distinct fluorine doping environments were present. At low concentrations, F substituting for O (FO) dominates, forming blue F:TiO2. At high concentrations, negatively charged fluorine interstitials (Fi−1) begin to dominate, forming transparent F:TiO2.
Molar size and shape in the estimation of biological ancestry: A comparison of relative cusp location using geometric morphometrics and interlandmark distances
Authors: Kenyhercz Michael W. , Klales Alexandra R. , Kenyhercz William E.
Published: November 2013

Human molars exhibit varying shapes when viewed from the occlusal surface. Available methods for quantifying molar occlusal shape have historically been confined to qualitative descriptions. The present study utilized geometric morphometric analyses to capture molar shape as defined through relative cusp locations. Cusp apices of maxillary and mandibular first and second molars were digitized from 190 American Blacks and Whites to estimate biological affinity through the shape of relative cusp locations. The coordinate data were subjected to a Generalized Procrustes Analysis to generate Procrustes coordinates and calculate centroid sizes. Procrustes coordinates were then subjected to a principal component analysis to examine the direction and magnitude of shape change inherent in the sample. Centroid size and major shape component group means were compared with t‐tests. Interlandmark distances were then calculated from the raw coordinate information and also subjected to a principal components analysis. Procrustes coordinates and the principal components derived from them with and without centroid size, along with the interlandmark distances and the principal components derived from them, were each subjected to a discriminant function analysis to examine which methods yielded the highest correct classification between population groups. Total correct classifications ranged from 62.7% to 87.9% depending on the variables forward stepwise selected for each analysis. Using a combination of the second maxillary molar and first mandibular molar yielded the most optimistic results and corroborates theoretical models of molar development. Am J Phys Anthropol 153:269–279, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Dependence of alcohol vapor‐induced crystallization on gas and vapor permeabilities of poly(lactic acid) films
Authors: Sato Shuichi , Wada Takayuki , Ido Ryohei , Murakoshi Yoshiyuki , Kanehashi Shinji , Nagai Kazukiyo
Published: November 2013

The effects of methanol and ethanol vapor‐induced crystallization on vapor and gas permeabilities and on the structure of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films were systematically investigated. At high temperature conditions, the vapor permeability of PLA films decreased with increasing exposure time. The PLA films that were exposed to alcohol vapor became slightly cloudy, and no changes in chemical structure were observed. Alcohol vapor‐induced crystallization formed α‐crystal structure. The vapor permeability decreased with increasing crystallinity. However, nitrogen permeability slightly increased after vapor‐induced crystallization. The dependence of crystallinity on vapor and gas permeabilities was different from each penetrant. Total crystalline structures, including continuous crystal structures, remaining amorphous regions, and their interface depend on vapor and gas permeabilities. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40140.