bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparative Evaluation of the Effect of Permeation Enhancers, Lipid Nanoparticles and Colloidal Silica on in vivo Human Skin Penetration of Quercetin
Authors: Scalia S. , Franceschinis E. , Bertelli D. , Iannuccelli V.
Published: November 2012

Background/Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate emulsions containing a penetration enhancer, lipid nanoparticles (LNs) or colloidal silica as systems to improve the topical delivery of the flavonoid quercetin. Methods: The skin penetration of quercetin was investigated in vivo on human volunteers by tape stripping. Quercetin-loaded LNs were prepared using hot high-pressure homogenization and characterized by means of dynamic light scattering and release studies. The location of the silica nanoparticles in the skin was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry assay of silicon in the stratum corneum strips. Results and Conclusions: The penetration enhancer diethylene glycol monoethyl ether did not produce any significant increase in the fraction of the applied quercetin dose permeated in vivo into human stratum corneum (17.1 ± 3.2%) compared to the control emulsion (18.1 ± 2.3%). A greater but statistically nonsignificant accumulation of the flavonoid in the human horny layer (21.2 ± 2.9% of the applied dose) was measured following topical application of quercetin-loaded LNs (mean particle size: 527 nm). On the other hand, the addition of colloidal silica (average particle diameter: 486 nm) to the emulsion (2%, w/w) significantly increased the in vivo uptake of quercetin by the human stratum corneum to 26.7 ± 4.1% of the applied dose, the enhancing effect on permeation being more marked in the deepest horny layer strips. The measured in vivo skin penetration profile of colloidal silica showed that silica particles diffused down to the intermediate region of the human horny layer and hence could act as carrier for quercetin.
Arginase Inhibition Improves Endothelial Function in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Shemyakin Alexey , Kövamees Oskar , Rafnsson Arnar , Böhm Felix , Svenarud Peter , Settergren Magnus , Jung Christian , Pernow John
Published: November 2012

Background—

Endothelial dysfunction plays an important role in the early development of atherosclerosis and vascular complications in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Increased expression and activity of arginase, metabolizing the nitric oxide substrate
l
-arginine, may result in reduced production of nitric oxide and thereby endothelial dysfunction. We hypothesized that inhibition of arginase activity improves endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods and Results—

Three groups of subjects were included: 16 patients with CAD, 16 patients with CAD and type 2 diabetes mellitus (CAD+Diabetes), and 16 age-matched healthy control subjects. Forearm endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilatation were assessed with venous occlusion plethysmography before and during intra-arterial infusion of the arginase inhibitor
N
ω
-hydroxy-nor-
l
-arginine (nor-NOHA; 0.1 mg/min). Nor-NOHA was also coinfused with the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (
N
G
-monomethyl L-arginine). The expression of arginase was determined in the internal mammary artery of patients undergoing bypass surgery. Nor-NOHA markedly increased endothelium-dependent vasodilatation (up to 2-fold) in patients with CAD+Diabetes and CAD (
P
<0.001) but not in the control group.
N
G
-monomethyl L-arginine completely inhibited the increase in endothelium-dependent vasodilatation induced by nor-NOHA. Endothelium-independent vasodilatation was slightly improved by nor-NOHA in the CAD+Diabetes group. Arginase I was expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells, and arginase II was expressed in endothelial cells of patients with and without diabetes mellitus.

Conclusions—

Arginase inhibition markedly improves endothelial function in patients with CAD and type 2 diabetes mellitus suggesting that increased arginase activity is a key factor in the development of endothelial dysfunction.
Angiotensin II–Independent Upregulation of Cyclooxygenase-2 by Activation of the (Pro)Renin Receptor in Rat Renal Inner Medullary Cells
Authors: Gonzalez Alexis A. , Luffman Christina , Bourgeois Camille R.T. , Vio Carlos P. , Prieto Minolfa C.
Published: November 2012

During renin–angiotensin system activation, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)-derived prostaglandins attenuate the pressor and antinatriuretic effects of angiotensin II (AngII) in the renal medulla. The (pro)renin receptor (PRR) is abundantly expressed in the collecting ducts (CD) and its expression is augmented by AngII. PRR overexpression upregulates COX-2 via mitogen-activated kinases/extracellular regulated kinases 1/2 in renal tissues; however, it is not clear whether this effect occurs independently or in concert with AngII type 1 receptor (AT1R) activation. We hypothesized that PRR activation stimulates COX-2 expression independently of AT
1
R in primary cultures of rat renal inner medullary cells. The use of different cell-specific immunomarkers (aquaporin-2 for principal cells, anion exchanger type 1 for intercalated type-A cells, and tenascin C for interstitial cells) and costaining for AT
1
R, COX-2, and PRR revealed that PRR and COX-2 were colocalized in intercalated and interstitial cells whereas principal cells did not express PRR or COX-2. In normal rat kidney sections, PRR and COX-2 were colocalized in intercalated and interstitial cells. In rat renal inner medullary cultured cells, treatment with AngII (100 nmol/L) increased COX-2 expression via AT
1
R. In addition, AngII and rat recombinant prorenin (100 nmol/L) treatments increased extracellular regulated kinases 1/2 phosphorylation, independently. Importantly, rat recombinant prorenin upregulated COX-2 expression in the presence of AT
1
R blockade. Inhibition of mitogen-activated kinases/extracellular regulated kinases 1/2 suppressed COX-2 upregulation mediated by either AngII or rat recombinant prorenin. Furthermore, PRR knockdown using PRR-short hairpin RNA blunted the rat recombinant prorenin-mediated upregulation of COX-2. These results indicate that COX-2 expression is upregulated by activation of either PRR or AT
1
R via mitogen-activated kinases/extracellular regulated kinases 1/2 in rat renal inner medullary cells.
Association of Plasma B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Concentrations With Longitudinal Blood Pressure Tracking in African Americans
Authors: Fox Ervin R. , Musani Solomon K. , Singh Preeti , Bidulescu Aurelian , Nagarajarao Harsha S. , Samdarshi Tandaw E. , Steffes Michael W. , Wang Thomas J. , Taylor Herman A. , Vasan Ramachandran S.
Published: November 2012

Water and sodium retention precedes the development of high blood pressure (BP) and explains a compensatory rise in B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations. It is unclear whether BNP concentrations antedate the BP progression. We hypothesized that higher BNP concentrations in our African American cohort will be associated with longitudinal increases in BP, progression of BP stage, and incident hypertension. Our study sample consisted of 888 normotensive (based on BP at examination 1 [2000–2004]) participants of the Jackson Heart Study (mean age, 47±12 years; 61% women). We examined the relation of BNP concentrations at the baseline examination to change in systolic and diastolic BPs, BP progression (an increase by 1 BP stage as defined by THE sixth report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure) and incident hypertension by examination 2 (2005–2008) adjusting for baseline BP stages, systolic and diastolic BPS, traditional risk factors, and echocardiographic left ventricular mass. Over a median follow-up period of 5.0±0.8 years, 36.9% progressed to a higher BP stage and 19.3% developed hypertension. In multivariable regression models, higher log-BNP concentrations at examination 1 were significantly and positively associated with changes in systolic and diastolic BPs (
P
<0.05 for both). Baseline log-BNP was significantly associated with BP progression (
P
=0.046). Every SD increase in baseline log BNP was associated with a 12% increased risk of BP progression. Log-BNP was not significantly associated with incident hypertension (
P
=0.12). In our community-based sample of African Americans, higher BNP concentrations predicted a longitudinal increase in systolic and diastolic BPs and progression of BP stage.
Association of Serum Cotinine Levels and Hypertension in Never Smokers
Authors: Alshaarawy Omayma , Xiao Jie , Shankar Anoop
Published: November 2012

Hypertension is a major public health problem. Identifying novel risk factors for hypertension, including widely prevalent environmental exposures, is therefore important. Active smoking is a well-known risk factor for hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. However, there are no studies investigating the relationship between secondhand smoke exposure, measured objectively by serum cotinine, and high blood pressure among never smokers. We examined 2889 never smokers from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2008. Our exposure of interest was secondhand smoke exposure among never smokers, estimated by serum cotinine level, and our main outcome was hypertension (n=1004). We found that in never smokers, higher serum cotinine levels were positively associated with hypertension. In comparison with those with serum cotinine levels ≤0.025 ng/mL, the multivariable odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of hypertension among those with serum cotinine levels ≥0.218 ng/mL was 1.44 (1.01–2.04). In addition, higher serum cotinine was positively associated with mean change in systolic blood pressure (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 3.24 [0.86–5.63];
P
=0.0061). However, no association was present with diastolic blood pressure. In conclusion, in never smokers, higher secondhand smoke exposure measured objectively by serum cotinine levels was found to be associated with systolic blood pressure and hypertension independent of age, sex, ethnicity, education, alcohol drinking, body mass index, glycohemoglobin, total cholesterol, and other confounders.
Effectiveness and Safety of a Therapeutic Vaccine Against Angiotensin II Receptor Type 1 in Hypertensive Animals
Authors: Chen Xiao , Qiu Zhihua , Yang Shijun , Ding Dan , Chen Fen , Zhou Yanzhao , Wang Min , Lin Jibin , Yu Xian , Zhou Zihua , Liao Yuhua
Published: November 2012

Primary hypertension is a chronic disease with high morbidity, and the rate of controlled blood pressure is far from satisfactory, worldwide. Vaccination provides a promising approach for treatment of hypertension and improvement in compliance. Here, the ATRQβ-001 vaccine, a peptide (ATR-001) derived from human angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor type 1 conjugated with Qβ bacteriophage virus-like particles, was developed and evaluated in animal models of hypertension. The ATRQβ-001 vaccine significantly decreased the blood pressure of Ang II–induced hypertensive mice up to 35 mm Hg (143±4 versus 178±6 mm Hg;
P
=0.005) and that of spontaneously hypertensive rats up to 19 mm Hg (173±2 versus 192±3 mm Hg;
P
=0.003) and prevented remodeling of vulnerable hypertensive target organs. No obvious feedback activation of circulating or local renin-angiotensin system was observed. Additionally, no significant immune-mediated damage was detected in vaccinated hypertensive and nonhypertensive animals. The half-life of the anti-ATR-001 antibody was 14.4 days, surpassing that of existing chemical drugs. In vitro, the anti–ATR-001 antibody specifically bound to Ang II receptor type 1 and inhibited Ca
2+
-dependent signal transduction events, including protein kinase C-α translocation, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 phosphorylation (72% decrease;
P
=0.013), and elevation of intracellular Ca
2+
(68% decrease;
P
=0.017) induced by Ang II, but without inhibiting Ang II binding to the receptor. In conclusion, the ATRQβ-001 vaccine decreased the blood pressure of Ang II–induced hypertensive mice and spontaneously hypertensive rats effectively through diminishing the pressure response and inhibiting signal transduction initiated by Ang II. Thus, the ATRQβ-001 vaccine may provide a novel and promising method for the treatment of primary hypertension.
Initial Combination Therapy Reduces the Risk of Cardiovascular Events in Hypertensive Patients
Authors: Gradman Alan H. , Parisé Hélène , Lefebvre Patrick , Falvey Heather , Lafeuille Marie-Hélène , Duh Mei Sheng
Published: November 2012

This study evaluated the effects of initial versus delayed treatment with a drug combination on blood pressure (BP) control and the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events in hypertensive patients. Clinical trials suggest that the time to BP control is an important determinant of long-term outcomes, but real-world evidence is scarce. Using electronic medical charts (2005–2009), we retrospectively analyzed 1762 adult patients with BP elevation initiating combination therapy matched 1:1 with similar patients initiating monotherapy and later switched to combination therapy. Incidence rate ratios of CV events (myocardial infarction, stroke/transient ischemic attack, or hospitalization for heart failure) or all-cause death and Kaplan-Meier analyses of time to BP control were compared between cohorts. Hazard ratios indicating the effects of initial treatment on CV events and BP control were estimated using time-varying Cox proportional hazard models. Initial combination therapy was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of CV events or death (incidence rate ratio, 0.66 [95% confidence interval, 0.52–0.84];
P
=0.0008). After 6 months of therapy, 40.3% and 32.6% of patients with initial versus delayed combination treatment reached BP control, respectively. Achieving target BP was associated with a statistically significant risk reduction of 23% for CV events or death (hazard ratio, 0.77 [95% confidence interval, 0.61–0.96];
P
=0.0223); the residual effect of initial combination therapy did not reach statistical significance (hazard ratio, 0.84 [95% confidence interval, 0.68–1.03];
P
=0.0935). Initial combination therapy was associated with a significant risk reduction of cardiovascular events. More rapid achievement of target BP was found to be the main contributor to the estimated risk reduction.
Morphological Computation and Morphological Control: Steps Toward a Formal Theory and Applications
Authors: Füchslin Rudolf M. , Dzyakanchuk Andrej , Flumini Dandolo , Hauser Helmut , Hunt Kenneth J. , Luchsinger Rolf H. , Reller Benedikt , Scheidegger Stephan , Walker Richard
Published: November 2012

Morphological computation can be loosely defined as the exploitation of the shape, material properties, and physical dynamics of a physical system to improve the efficiency of a computation. Morphological control is the application of morphological computing to a control task. In its theoretical part, this article sharpens and extends these definitions by suggesting new formalized definitions and identifying areas in which the definitions we propose are still inadequate. We go on to describe three ongoing studies, in which we are applying morphological control to problems in medicine and in chemistry. The first involves an inflatable support system for patients with impaired movement, and is based on macroscopic physics and concepts already tested in robotics. The two other case studies (self-assembly of chemical microreactors; models of induced cell repair in radio-oncology) describe processes and devices on the micrometer scale, in which the emergent dynamics of the underlying physical system (e.g., phase transitions) are dominated by stochastic processes such as diffusion.
Morphological Computation of Multi-Gaited Robot Locomotion Based on Free Vibration
Authors: Reis Murat , Yu Xiaoxiang , Maheshwari Nandan , Iida Fumiya
Published: November 2012

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the study of gait patterns in both animals and robots, because it allows us to systematically investigate the underlying mechanisms of energetics, dexterity, and autonomy of adaptive systems. In particular, for morphological computation research, the control of dynamic legged robots and their gait transitions provides additional insights into the guiding principles from a synthetic viewpoint for the emergence of sensible self-organizing behaviors in more-degrees-of-freedom systems. This article presents a novel approach to the study of gait patterns, which makes use of the intrinsic mechanical dynamics of robotic systems. Each of the robots consists of a U-shaped elastic beam and exploits free vibration to generate different locomotion patterns. We developed a simplified physics model of these robots, and through experiments in simulation and real-world robotic platforms, we show three distinctive mechanisms for generating different gait patterns in these robots.
Emotion as Morphofunctionality
Authors: Pérez Carlos Herrera , Sanz Ricardo
Published: November 2012

We argue for a morphofunctional approach to emotion modeling that can also aid the design of adaptive embodied systems. By morphofunctionality we target the online change in both structure and function of a system, and relate it to the notion of physiology and emotion in animals. Besides the biological intuition that emotions serve the function of preparing the body, we investigate the control requirements that any morphofunctional autonomous system must face. We argue that changes in morphology modify the dynamics of the system, thus forming a variable structure system (VSS). We introduce some of the techniques of control theory to deal with VSSs and derive a twofold hypothesis: first, the loose coupling between two control systems, in charge of action and action readiness, respectively; second, the formation of patterned metacontrol. Emotional phenomena can be seen as emergent from this control setup.
Parents’ Professional Sources of Advice Regarding Child Discipline and Their Use of Corporal Punishment
Authors: Taylor Catherine A. , Moeller William , Hamvas Lauren , Rice Janet C.
Published: November 2012

Parents (n = 500) were surveyed about which professional groups they were most likely to seek and follow advice from regarding child discipline as well as their use of corporal punishment (CP). Nearly half of the parents reported that they were most likely to seek child discipline advice from pediatricians (48%), followed by religious leaders (21%) and mental health professionals (18%). Parents who sought advice from religious leaders (vs pediatricians) had nearly 4 times the odds of reporting use of CP. Parents reported that they were more likely to follow the advice of pediatricians than any other professional; however, black parents were as likely to follow the advice of religious leaders as that of pediatricians. Pediatricians play a central role in advising parents about child discipline. Efforts to engage pediatricians in providing violence prevention counseling should continue. Increased efforts are needed to engage other professionals, especially religious leaders, in providing such advice to parents.
Peer reviews in the fight against terrorism: A hidden dimension of European security governance
Authors: Bossong Raphael
Published: November 2012

This article analyses EU peer reviews in the fight against terrorism, which constitute a significant and previously unstudied instrument of European security governance. The first part reviews some general features of security governance and outlines two analytical perspectives to assess the effect of peer reviews in this context, namely compliance and learning. The second part surveys the historical development and substantive impact of the EU’s peer reviews on the fight against terrorism. Although the first peer review after the attacks of 9/11 was slow to unfold, it eventually came to be regarded as a highly successful exercise that improved mutual trust and the coherence of the European fight against terrorism. It was therefore followed by a second peer review on consequence management in response to terrorist attacks. From a critical perspective, the article argues that the impact of these peer reviews could be doubted from both compliance and learning perspectives, as monitoring and flanking measures have remained too weak. The conclusions raise further avenues for research on peer reviews that are a regular feature of EU security governance.
‘Between a rock and a hard place?’: The European Union’s financial sanctions against suspected terrorists, multilateralism and human rights
Authors: Léonard Sarah , Kaunert Christian
Published: November 2012

This article focuses on the financial sanctions adopted by the European Union (EU) against individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activities. This sanctions regime has been sharply criticised for its negative impact on human rights and has seen several judicial challenges before the European Courts. In contrast with most of the existing literature, which focuses on legal issues or examines the consequences of the EU financial sanctions, this article takes a step back to examine the reasons for which the EU decided to adopt these controversial financial sanctions in the first place. This article argues that it is mainly its commitment to ‘UN-centred effective multilateralism’ that has led the EU to adopt these financial sanctions measures in order to align itself with the UN financial sanctions regime. However, the Kadi landmark ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has challenged the pre-eminence of multilateralism over other considerations, such as the respect for human rights. As the Court of Justice prepares to hand down its second judgment in this case, the EU is left torn between its commitment to multilateralism and its commitment to human rights, which can be fully reconciled only if the UN sanctions regime meets the EU’s human rights standards.
Introduction: Supranational governance and European Union security after the Lisbon Treaty - Exogenous shocks, policy entrepreneurs and 11 September 2001
Authors: Kaunert Christian , Léonard Sarah
Published: November 2012

The EU has been making strong inroads into the realm of security over the last few years. This is a remarkable development, since security matters used to be the preserve of states. The articles presented in this special issue all testify to the breadth of the EU security agenda, as they all try to capture some aspects of the EU’s fast-changing security policies following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009. In parallel with a broadening of the EU’s security agenda, an increase in supranational security governance in the EU can also be observed. The transition to supranational governance is reached in two ways. First, cross-border security threats generate demand for EU laws, which supranational organisations then supply. Reasons for changes in the EU polity are exogenous shocks, the fact that rule innovations are endogenous to politics, the diffusion of organisational behaviour and models of action, and policy entrepreneurship, whereby institutional entrepreneurs construct and revise ‘policy frames’, which engage other actors and define new relationships between them and chart courses of action. As the articles in this special issue demonstrate, 11 September 2001 provided such a major exogenous shock required for a change in the EU polity, which EU institutions exploited by providing increasing EU legislation, and even, as a by-product, stabilising a European legal order.
The Effectiveness of Airline Pilot Training for Abnormal Events
Authors: Casner Stephen M. , Geven Richard W. , Williams Kent T.
Published: November 2012

Objective:

To evaluate the effectiveness of airline pilot training for abnormal in-flight events.

Background:

Numerous accident reports describe situations in which pilots responded to abnormal events in ways that were different from what they had practiced many times before. One explanation for these missteps is that training and testing for these skills have become a highly predictable routine for pilots who arrive to the training environment well aware of what to expect. Under these circumstances, pilots get plentiful practice in responding to abnormal events but may get little practice in recognizing them and deciding which responses to offer.

Method:

We presented 18 airline pilots with three abnormal events that are required during periodic training and testing. Pilots were presented with each event under the familiar circumstances used during training and also under less predictable circumstances as they might occur during flight.

Results:

When presented in the routine ways seen during training, pilots gave appropriate responses and showed little variability. However, when the abnormal events were presented unexpectedly, pilots’ responses were less appropriate and showed great variability from pilot to pilot.

Conclusion:

The results suggest that the training and testing practices used in airline training may result in rote-memorized skills that are specific to the training situation and that offer modest generalizability to other situations. We recommend a more complete treatment of abnormal events that allows pilots to practice recognizing the event and choosing and recalling the appropriate response.

Application:

The results will aid the improvement of existing airline training practices.
Tonal Targets in Early Child English, Spanish, and Catalan
Authors: Astruc Lluïsa , Payne Elinor , Post Brechtje , Vanrell Maria del Mar , Prieto Pilar
Published: November 2012

This study analyses the scaling and alignment of low and high intonational targets in the speech of 27 children – nine English-speaking, nine Catalan-speaking and nine Spanish-speaking – between the ages of two and six years. We compared the intonational patterns of words controlled for number of syllables and stress position in the child speech to the adult target speech provided by their mothers, and to a dataset of adult-directed speech recorded at a later stage for the purpose of measuring pitch height. A corpus of 624 utterances was elicited using a controlled naming task and analysed within the Autosegmental Metrical framework. Measuring the pitch height and pitch timing of nuclear pitch accents, we found that once the effects of syllable duration are accounted for, young children reach tonal targets with remarkable precision. Overall, the results indicate that the phonetic aspects of intonation are acquired from a very early age. Even the youngest children show adult-like alignment of the low target, although mastery of the high target increases with age. Young Spanish-speaking children, however, show a more precise attainment of pitch scaling and alignment of their (high) tonal targets than do Catalan and English children; where the ambient language lies within a general prosodic typology appears to influence the acquisition of tonal targets.
Testing for Differential Item Functioning within the EQ-5D
Authors: Whynes David K. , Sprigg Nikola , Selby James , Berge Eivind , Bath Philip M.
Published: November 2012

We test for the presence of differential item functioning (DIF) in the EQ-5D health-related quality-of-life instrument, using data from a large clinical trial in acute stroke (ISRCTN 99414122). DIF occurs when subjects in different subsets of a sample respond differently to items in a measurement instrument, despite possessing the same latent traits. The data comprised 1462 patient records. We analyzed DIF specifically with respect to responses obtained from different geographical regions and responses obtained from proxies as opposed to the patients themselves. We mapped clinical outcome measures (scores from the modified Rankin Scale, the Barthel Index, and the Zung Depression scale) onto EQ-5D index scores and included dummy variables for proxy responses and for region of treatment (United Kingdom, Asia, rest of world). We predicted the level of problem severity reported on each of the EQ-5D’s five constituent dimensions from the clinical measures and the dummy variables. For given clinical characteristics, proxies were more likely to report health problems than were the patients themselves, although the divergences were not sufficiently large to result in any significant difference in mean index scores between patient and proxy reports. However, the distributions of reported levels of problems for similar clinical states diverged significantly by region, and these translated into different index scores. The mean index score for UK responses was significantly higher than the mean index scores from Asia and the rest of the world.
Gendering capital
Authors: Pollard Jane
Published: November 2012

This paper argues that economic-geographical analyses of the recent financial crisis might learn from more than three decades of feminist scholarship on economic development. Feminist scholarship: (1) contributes to the ongoing project of rethinking how economic geography is conceived and practised; (2) provides some analytical resources to inform the production of more complex, less partial geographies of financialization; (3) is defined by its strong political and ethical commitments and can contribute to an economic geography better able to understand and form critical responses to the recent crisis.
Race and ethnicity II
Authors: Price Patricia L.
Published: November 2012

The intimate turn in geography has centralized approaches to race and ethnicity which foreground bodily encounters. The quirky spatialities of intimacy, involving not just proximities but also distancing and borders, operate in racial and ethnic ‘contact zones’. Skin is one of these, and it is central to an understanding of race and ethnicity as arising through bodily encounters in places. Geographic scholarship emphasizing embodied racial and ethnic topics has highlighted processes of approximation, distancing, and bordering in race and ethnicity as lived events. Set within the intimate turn, this work has the potential to inform geographers and geographic scholarship with respect to criticality, the stickiness of place, and visceral geographies. In addition, the need to elucidate further the relationship between race and ethnicity is underscored.
Choosing Violence in Irregular Wars
Authors: Kudelia Serhiy
Published: November 2012

Do warring sides in asymmetric conflicts always know what type of violence they use against civilians? This article relies on the case study of an anti-Soviet insurgency in Western Ukraine between 1944 and 1953 in order to demonstrate how selective violence used by insurgents can become indiscriminate under the influence of a counterinsurgency strategy rather than their conscious choice. It challenges two major theories of coercive violence that refer to exogenous factors to explain shifts in the character of violence and shows how insurgents may recognize such a shift only once they see its counterproductive effects. Using recently declassified documents, this article demonstrates how the insurgents’ decision to engage in a violent campaign against Soviet-led collectivization gradually turned the rural base of insurgency against them. Apart from shedding a new light on the Soviet–Ukrainian conflict in the late 1940s, the article has broader implications for the studies of insurgency campaigns and the reasons for civilian defection to the incumbent side.
The Four Places That Belong to the Lord (Jubilees 4.26)
Authors: Geist Andrew , VanderKam James C.
Published: November 2012

This article argues that the original name for the mountain on which Enoch made his offering in Eden was the mountain of incense ( Jub. 4.25) and that it and the first mountain in 4.26 (the mountain of Eden/Paradise) are the same mountain. The second mountain in 4.26, the mountain of the east, is Mt Lubar where the ark landed at the end of the flood and where Noah lived until his death. All four mountains in 4.26 are places where God had or would specially reveal himself to chosen individuals and for that reason were holy to the Lord.
Reading the Judeans and the Judean War in Martial's Liber spectaculorum
Authors: Chapman Honora Howell
Published: November 2012

Martial's Liber spectaculorum celebrates spectacles at the Flavian amphitheatre, which was most likely built with money gained from the Judean War. This article contextualizes epigrams from Martial's Liber spectaculorum with evidence from the histories of Josephus and other sources, finding possible references to the Judeans in specific epigrams with anthropomorphized animals. It also takes into consideration an epigram from the Florilegium Gallicum, which has been published at the end of the Liber since the sixteenth century. In the Liber spectaculorum, Martial engages in a strategy of virtually silencing the Judean people—‘ de Solymis … perustis’, as the poet says in Ep. 7.55—whose pillaged property built the Colosseum. This may, in part, be a result of the blending of epigrams from the reigns of both Titus and Domitian into a revised Liber featuring a single ‘Caesar’ who represents both emperors. Since Domitian never fought in the Judean War, Martial avoids—or has removed during revision—overt comments about victory in the Judean War. It is up to the reader, therefore, to find the Judeans quietly and ignominiously metamorphosed into animals to be punished in his text's arena, and finally, as losers who pay the price for rebellion.
The architecture of community: Intelligence community management in Australia, Canada and New Zealand
Authors: Brunatti Andrew D
Published: November 2012

While many have examined individual intelligence agencies and cooperation between agencies bilaterally, the study of the interdepartmental architecture that is meant to coordinate intelligence communities has been peripheral at best. This is especially true in the case of smaller states, such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. However, this architecture is fundamentally important to our understanding of how the secret state operates; how it impacts, and is impacted by, the open state; and, when taken comparatively, is indicative of differing government cultures towards intelligence. Examination of the development of intelligence community management architecture in Australia, Canada and New Zealand reveals that actors in all three communities recognise networks of interdependency between them. However the extent to which they are able to exploit these interdependencies is dependent on larger dynamics in government, supporting the idea that intelligence communities can only be as cohesive as the governments they serve allow them to be.
Effects of the connecting-rod-related design parameters on the piston dynamics and the skirt–liner lubrication
Authors: Meng Xianghui , Ning Lipu , Xie Youbai , Wong Victor W
Published: November 2012

With the development of high-performance and high-speed engines, the effects that the connecting-rod-related design parameters have on the performance of the piston–liner system have become more important. Based on a new model of the piston dynamics presented by the present authors, the effects of the connecting-rod-related parameters on the side force, the oil-film thickness, the frictional force, and the piston dynamics are investigated. The results show that the changes in the extra transverse force and the piston’s secondary motion are the main reasons for the different performances of the system. When the mass and the rotational inertia of the connecting rod are decreased, the extra transverse force is significantly reduced. When the location of the center of mass of the connecting rod is changed, the extra transverse force obviously changes in amplitude and trend. When the length of the connecting rod is increased, the amplitude of the extra transverse force increases during the upper half-stroke near the top dead center and decreases during the bottom half-stroke near the bottom dead center. Because of these changes in the connecting rod, the change in the extra transverse force leads to different behaviors of the side force, the minimum oil-film thickness, and the piston’s secondary motion. However, changing the connection position of the connecting rod to the piston gives rise to very different behaviors of the piston’s secondary motion, and the change in the piston’s secondary motion generates significant differences in the minimum oil-film thickness. This study shows that the connecting-rod-related parameters are significant to the performance of the piston–liner system.
Treating Thoughts as Material Objects Can Increase or Decrease Their Impact on Evaluation
Authors: Briñol Pablo , Gascó Margarita , Petty Richard E. , Horcajo Javier
Published: November 2012

In Western dualistic culture, it is assumed that thoughts cannot be treated as material objects; however, language is replete with metaphorical analogies suggesting otherwise. In the research reported here, we examined whether objectifying thoughts can influence whether the thoughts are used in subsequent evaluations. In Experiment 1, participants wrote about what they either liked or disliked about their bodies. Then, the paper on which they wrote their thoughts was either ripped up and tossed in the trash or kept and checked for errors. When participants physically discarded a representation of their thoughts, they mentally discarded them as well, using them less in forming judgments than did participants who retained a representation of their thoughts. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and also showed that people relied on their thoughts more when they physically kept them in a safe place—putting their thoughts in their pockets—than when they discarded them. A final study revealed that these effects were stronger when the action was performed physically rather than merely imagined.
Retrospective analysis of fluoroquinolone prophylaxis in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Authors: Simondsen Katherine A , Reed Michael P , Mably Mary S , Zhang Yang , Longo Walter L
Published: November 2012

Background:

Patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant are at a high risk for infection-related mortality in the immediate post-transplantation phase. Prophylaxis with a fluoroquinolone is now recommended to reduce this risk with the stipulation that surveillance for increased fluoroquinolone resistance Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea be conducted.

Methods:

We conducted a retrospective chart review of 48 patients who underwent an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant and received a fluoroquinolone for prophylaxis and 48 patients who underwent an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant who did not receive a fluoroquinolone for prophylaxis. All patients received the same standard antifungal, antiviral and anti-pneumocystis prophylaxis.

Results:

Patients receiving fluoroquinolone prophylaxis had a lower incidence of febrile neutropenia than those not receiving prophylaxis, though the difference was not found to be statistically significant (83% vs. 67%, p = 0.098). Similar non-significant improvements in the number of positive cultures recovered during an episode of febrile neutropenia and antimicrobial days were noted. No significant increase in fluoroquinolone resistance, Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea, or in methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections were noted.

Conclusion:

Our single institution experience with fluoroquinolone prophylaxis for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients supports continuation of this practice. Expansion to autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients may be appropriate based on guideline recommendations and our institution-specific experience with fluoroquinolone prophylaxis.
Tobacco Politics and Electoral Accountability in the United States
Authors: Fredriksson Per G. , Mamun Khawaja A.
Published: November 2012

This article investigates whether reputation-building strategies may guide US governors’ state cigarette tax choices and whether the federal cigarette tax influences such behavior. Using 1975–2000 data, we find evidence indicating that governors are prone to engage in reputation building, in particular in states with relatively important agricultural tobacco production. Moreover, lame ducks are more prone to raise the state cigarette tax the lower the federal tax.
Tax Evasion, Conspicuous Consumption, and the Income Tax Rate
Authors: Yaniv Gideon
Published: November 2012

Very often tax collectors initiate an audit on the basis of observed spending capacity that does not seem to conform with declared income. This requires the skillful evader to carefully consider his or her expenditures on conspicuous consumption to avoid drawing the attention of the tax collector. The present article develops a simple model of the taxpayer’s joint evasion-consumption decision that is used to reexamine the widely discussed relationship between tax evasion and the income tax rate. Contrary to the literature’s counterintuitive result, the article shows that an increase in the income tax rate will unambiguously increase the taxpayer’s level of evasion. Furthermore, given that taxpayers vary in their level of true income, a tax rate increase will increase the number of tax evaders as well, consequently increasing the total amount of taxes escaping the tax collector. A related model of boasting about tax evasion is shown to yield some similar results.
Low-velocity perforation behavior of composite sandwich panels with aluminum foam core
Authors: Li Zhibin , Zheng Zhijun , Yu Jilin
Published: November 2012

Perforation response and failure of sandwich panels with composite face sheets and aluminum foam core are investigated experimentally in this paper. Quasi-static perforation and low-velocity impact tests are carried out by using a material test system and a drop weight machine, respectively. The load-displacement response, energy absorption and energy-absorbing effectiveness of sandwich panels are obtained and compared for quasi-static and impact tests. Effects of some key parameters on the overall energy absorption behavior of the panels are explored, such as impact energy, face sheets and core thickness, core density and indenter nose shape.
Gaining perspective: The effects of message frame on viewer attention to and recall of osteoporosis prevention print advertisements
Authors: O’Malley Deborah A , Latimer-Cheung Amy E
Published: November 2012

This study examined how framed messages affect viewer attention to and cognitive processing of osteoporosis prevention print ads. Attention was measured with eye tracking technology. Cognitive processing was assessed through masked recall. A total of 60 college-aged women viewed 12 gain-framed, 12 loss-framed, and 12 neutral-framed ads. Number of fixations, dwell time, and recall of gain-framed osteoporosis prevention ads were higher than loss-framed or neutral-framed ads, p < .01. Message recall was positively correlated with the number of fixations and dwell time for the gain-framed and neutral-framed messages, p < .01. These findings provide preliminary insight into potential mechanisms underlying message framing effects.
Irregular border-crossing deaths and gender: Where, how and why women die crossing borders
Authors: Pickering Sharon , Cochrane Brandy
Published: November 2012

In a global era of increased securitization of migration between the developed and developing world this article undertakes a gendered analysis of the ways women die irregularly crossing borders. Through an examination of datasets in Europe, the USA and Australia it finds women are more likely to die crossing borders at the harsh physical frontiers of nation-states rather than at increasingly policed ‘internal border’ sites. The reasons why women are dying are not clearly discernible from the data, yet based on the extant literature it is reasonable to conclude that gendered social practices within families, and within countries of origin and transit, as well as the practices of smuggling markets, are key contributing factors.
The relational self and the political engagements of young adults
Authors: Manning Nathan
Published: November 2012

This article explores the recent concern over young people’s apathy and disengagement from politics. It critically addresses this, first, by examining and contesting some of the literature addressing this alleged apathy and dissociation, revealing a particular, narrow and regulatory model of politics and an accompanying liberal notion of self. In contrast, a relational model of self is posited as more sociologically robust and suited to contemporary social life. Second, the article describes a qualitative Australian study of young people aged 18–30 years, recruited from across the political spectrum. In contrast to the key liberal principles, participants highlight interconnectedness, permeable public/private divides and the important role of friends and family in fostering and sustaining their political engagements. It is argued that the relational interconnected model of self presented by the participants reflects the conditions of contemporary social life.
The active audience, again: Player-centric game studies and the problem of binarism
Authors: Behrenshausen Bryan G
Published: November 2012

This article intervenes in video game studies’ recent turn to (and enthusiasm for) player-centered approaches to understanding video games’ social, cultural, political, and economic implications. Such approaches repudiate ostensibly formalist or ‘structural’ game studies and insist that analyses of gaming situations emphasize ways in which gaming subjects’ playful acts of appropriation or subversion allow those subjects to resist complete determination by game-structures and act ultimately as arbiters of a video game’s meaning, utility, or effectivity. The author demonstrates how player-centered discourses in video game studies participate in a rich history of ‘active audience’ research in media and cultural studies. Arguing that research on player practices does not completely escape the forms of reductionism it sets out to avoid, the author offers additional conceptual tools for engaging the complexity of contemporary gaming situations. The article concludes with a discussion of ways in which one such situation − gold farming − might be examined as an assemblage through an approach that responds to this complexity and avoids a particularly constraining model of agency inherent in player-centric game studies.
A culturalist critique of ‘online community’ in new media studies
Authors: Yuan Elaine J
Published: November 2012

This essay provides an overview of the theoretical perspectives and trends in the study of online community. It traces the genealogy of the community concept, addressing the conflicting views of community as a morally valued way of life and as a complex of social relationships in Western sociology. The essay also critiques the network approach to online community for its inadequate conceptualization of culture, which provides a particular tradition of meanings for social action. Lastly, under the rubrics of development and modernization, the paper contrasts the conception of online community as social network with what has been observed about the social and political lifeworlds of East Asian societies.