bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The PPAR-RXR Transcriptional Complex in the Vasculature
Authors: Plutzky Jorge
Published: April 2011

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) and the retinoid X receptors (RXRs) are ligand-activated transcription factors that coordinately regulate gene expression. This PPAR-RXR transcriptional complex plays a critical role in energy balance, including triglyceride metabolism, fatty acid handling and storage, and glucose homeostasis: processes whose dysregulation characterize obesity, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. PPARs and RXRs are also involved directly in inflammatory and vascular responses in endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells. New insights into fundamental aspects of PPAR and RXR biology, and their actions in the vasculature, continue to appear. Although RXRs are obligate heterodimeric partners for PPAR action, the part that RXRs, and their endogenous retinoid mediators, exert in the vessel wall is less well understood. Biological insights into PPAR-RXRs may help inform interpretation of clinical trials with synthetic PPAR agonists and prospects for future PPAR therapeutics. Importantly, the extensive data establishing a key role for PPARs and RXRs in energy balance, inflammation, and vascular biology stands separately from the clinical experience with any given synthetic PPAR agonist. Both the basic science data and the clinical experience with PPAR agonists identify the need to better understand these important transcriptional regulators.
The Black Masculinities of Barack Obama: Some Implications for African American Men
Authors: Young Alford A.
Published: April 2011

This essay describes how the presidential campaign of Barack Obama reflected two tendencies of social conduct for African American men, colloquially summed up in African American public discourse as “keeping it real” and “keeping it proper.” The first refers to African Americans' efforts to behave in public settings in ways that presumably indicate a strong social connection to other African Americans, or that validate black Americans over and against some notion of a non-African American standard of social conduct. The latter refers to African Americans' efforts to adhere to presumably “mainstream” behavioral standards, whereby the humanity of black Americans is demonstrated and advanced. The essay explores how Obama exemplified both perspectives during his presidential campaign and discusses what implications his effort to balance these two, often diametrically opposed, tendencies has for forwarding new conceptions of African American masculinity.
Controversial Blackness: The Historical Development & Future Trajectory of African American Studies
Authors: Biondi Martha
Published: April 2011

The forty-year history of African American studies has led some scholars to take stock of its roots and its future. This essay examines the field's unexpected origins in black colleges, as well as at predominantly white ones, and assesses the early debates and challenges along the road to academic incorporation. Biondi takes up such questions as: Did the field's origins in the Black Power movement jeopardize its claims to academic legitimacy? If black studies is a discipline, what is its methodology? As an outgrowth of black nationalism on campus, to what extent was black studies U.S.-centric? How did the field relate to the rise of diaspora studies and black feminism? Who takes black studies classes and to what extent does the field retain a political mission? The essay concludes that African American studies remains a vital and dynamic field as it moves into the twenty-first century.
Changes in Mythic Patterns in Estonian Religious Life Stories
Authors: Altnurme Lea
Published: April 2011

Statistics on religion in Estonia point to extensive changes over the last half-century. Research based on 77 religious life stories considered the nature of these changes, their implications on the individual level, and how the changes have taken place, with the conclusion that the bases of identity formation have been transformed. The Christian myth, which still underpins the life stories of members of the older generation and of Bible-based free congregations, has been partially or totally replaced by the New Age myth in the majority of the life stories of the younger generation.
Exploring a Sufi Tradition of Islamic Teaching: Educational and Cultural Values Among the Sy Tijāniyya of Tivaouane (Senegal)
Authors: Diallo El Hadji Samba Amadou
Published: April 2011

The author examines the philosophy and practice of Muslim education in the tradition of the Sy family of Tivaouane (Senegal). The focus is on formal educational institutions such as the dahira, or Sufi circles of worship, and the daara, Kur’anic school, which play a major role in the system of education pioneered by the Sy branch of the Tijāniyya. He also examines a third institution, khalifa, or spiritual authority, which continues to play a central role in the Muslim brotherhoods as transmitter of the teachings of the Shaykh. The author shows how these three institutions work together and constantly reshape Sy Tijāniyya (Syèen si in Wolof), how changes in Senegalese society influence and transform the branch, and how the continuous development of neo-Sufi organizations increases the importance of Tijāniyya in a globalized world.
The Avant-Garde of the Catholic Church? Catholic Student Groups at the Dominican Churches in Poznań and Krakow, Poland
Authors: Main Izabella
Published: April 2011

The author analyzes the organization and activities of Catholic student groups during and after the communist period in Poland as an example of the transformation of religious life in response to the challenges of modernity. She argues that the student groups organized by Dominican fathers in Poznań and Kraków were the avant-garde of the Catholic Church: they pioneered liturgical reform, social activism among the laity, the ecumenical movement, the introduction of popular culture into the churches and charismatic renewal. This contradicts the image of a closed, “traditional” and “conservative” Church behind the Iron Curtain. She also maintains that the history of the Dominican-organized student groups mirrors the history of the relations between the state and the Catholic Church in Poland: these groups were banned during the Stalinist period, restored after political liberalization in 1956, and pushed towards political activism in the late 1970s. After 1989, they were again seeking new priorities.
Pentecôtisme et “contentieux matériel” transnational en Afrique centrale. La magie du système capitaliste
Authors: Tonda Joseph
Published: April 2011

Le pentecôtisme est caractérisé comme un religieux à la fois “prémoderne”, “moderne” et “postmoderne”. S’agissant de l’Afrique centrale, où la colonisation a produit un “contentieux matériel” qui engage des dimensions aussi bien matérielle (le rapport aux marchandises et à l’argent), raciale, corporelle que spirituelle et intellectuelle, l’hypothèse “prémoderne” du pentecôtisme, en relation avec ce “contentieux matériel”, expose à la reconduction des idéologies ethnocentristes et culturalistes coloniales. La “prémodernité”, comme la “modernité” ou la “postmodernité” africaine sont le produit d’idéologies propres à l’histoire européenne et ses expansions coloniales ou postcoloniales. L’auteur montre que toutes les caractéristiques du pentecôtisme en relation avec le “contentieux matériel” en Afrique centrale sont constitutives de la société capitaliste, de sa magie ou de son fétichisme.
Régulation sociale, production économique et symbolique sociale dans les rapports de genre africains. Questions de théorisation et de méthode analytique
Authors: Turcotte Paul-André
Published: April 2011

Les rapports de genre dans l’Afrique subsaharienne, parmi les possibles, prennent place à l’intersection des enjeux de société et de l’action de reconstruction sociale, en positif ou en négatif. Il en va ainsi chez les Iraquois de la Tanzanie, où la précarisation économique se répercute sur les rapports de domination et la symbolique sociale. Les relations familiales et interethniques sont particulièrement concernées. L’analyse de la complexité est menée par sa configuration, combinée concernées. L'analyse de la complexité est menée par sa configuration, combinée au repérage des interstices ou failles du système de régulation. Dans ces lieux de production, l’acteur infléchit la reproduction sociale, imprégnée de traditions et de références religieuses.
A Practice-Based Theory of Professional Education
Authors: Gabriel Rachael
Published: April 2011

In 1999, Ball and Cohen proposed a practice-based theory of professional education, which would end inadequate professional development efforts with a more comprehensive approach. Their work has been referenced over the past decade, yet there have been limited attempts to actualize their ideals and research their implications. In this article, I describe Teach For America’s Teaching as Leadership framework and professional development model as a practice-based curriculum and pedagogy of teacher education that could be used as a model for a variety of stakeholders. I include a discussion of directions for future research on frameworks for teaching.
The Impact of Operating Leases on Firm Financial and Operating Risk
Authors: Dhaliwal Dan , Lee Hye Seung (Grace) , Neamtiu Monica
Published: April 2011

This study uses ex ante cost-of-equity capital measures based on accounting valuation models to assess the risk relevance of off-balance sheet operating leases. We investigate whether off-balance sheet operating leases have the same risk-relevance for explaining ex ante measures of risk as a firm’s on-balance sheet capital leases. We also investigate how investors’ risk perception of operating leases has changed in recent years when off-balance sheet transactions in general and operating leases in particular have been facing increased regulatory and investor scrutiny. This study finds that a firm’s ex ante cost-of-equity capital is positively associated with adjustments in its financial leverage (financial risk) and operating leverage (operating risk) resulting from capitalized off-balance sheet operating leases and that the positive association between the ex ante cost of capital and the impact of operating leases on a firm’s financial leverage is weaker for the operating leases compared with the capital leases. This study also finds that the positive association between the ex ante cost of capital and the impact of operating leases on a firm’s financial leverage has decreased considerably in recent years, since regulators issued interpretation letters clarifying controversial lease accounting issues.
Do Analysts’ Notes Provide New Information?
Authors: Franco Gus De , Hope Ole-Kristian
Published: April 2011

This paper systematically studies analysts’ notes, an important form of analyst disclosure not previously studied in the literature. Analyst notes are written disclosures that represent a product of sell-side analysts’ daily effort and provide a vehicle for analysts to communicate their information and analysis in far more detail than a summary forecast or recommendation. We provide strong evidence that analyst notes are informative for capital market participants. Specifically, we find both statistically significant and economically meaningful stock market reactions to analysts’ notes. This result holds after controlling for numerous major firm disclosures (earnings announcements, quantitative and qualitative management forecasts, conference calls, and press releases) and previously documented analyst disclosures (forecasts, recommendations, and reports).
Earnings Announcement Timing and Analyst Following
Authors: Son Myungsoo , Crabtree Aaron D.
Published: April 2011

Using a large sample of firms in the post–Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) era, we examine the cross-sectional association between earnings announcement timing and analyst following that precedes it—that is, potential competing information. We fail to find a positive association between earnings announcement delay and preceding analyst following, as would be expected if the two were substitutes. Our findings of a negative association suggest that firms with large analyst following tend to announce annual earnings earlier than others. Furthermore, when we investigate the tendency of analysts to follow firms, a negative association exists in the regression of analyst following on prior earnings announcement delay, suggesting that analysts are more likely to follow firms that report earnings early. Collectively, managers’ earnings announcement timing and analyst following are not a substitutive relation, but rather a complementary one.
The use of crisis medication in the management of terminal haemorrhage due to incurable cancer: A qualitative study
Authors: Harris DG , Finlay IG , Flowers S , Noble SIR
Published: April 2011

Background: Terminal haemorrhage is a rare but devastating event that may occur in certain advanced cancers. The focus of management involves administration of ‘crisis medicine’ with the intention of relieving patient distress through sedative doses of anxiolytics or opioids. This practice, whilst widely accepted, is based on limited evidence and has never been formally evaluated.

Aim: To evaluate the utility of crisis medication in the management of terminal haemorrhage, through the experiences of nurses who had personally managed such events.

Method: Semi-structured interviews exploring the experiences of palliative care and head and neck oncology nurses were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Saturation of themes occurred after interviewing 11 nurses with cumulative experience of managing 37 terminal haemorrhages.

Results: Participants reported crisis medication to have little, if any, role in the management of terminal haemorrhage, which was such a rapid event that patients died before it could be administered. As many events had not been predicted, anticipatory prescribing of crisis medication did not always occur. Staying with and supporting the patient, and using dark-coloured towels to camouflage blood were reported to be of more practical use. A focus on accessing crisis medicines had often been to the detriment of these simple yet beneficial measures.

Conclusion: Anticipatory prescribing of crisis medication rarely benefits the patient and may unintentionally detract from nursing care. Guidelines on the management of terminal haemorrhage should reconsider the emphasis on crisis medication and focus on non-pharmacological approaches to this invariably fatal event.
Sleep and its disorders in translational medicine
Authors: Paterson Louise M , Nutt David J , Wilson Sue J
Published: April 2011

The study of sleep is a useful approach to studying the brain in psychiatric disorders and in investigating the effects of psychotropic drugs. Sleep physiology lends itself well to pharmacological and physiological manipulation, as it has the advantage of a functional output, the electroencephalograph, which is common to all mammals, and can be measured in freely moving (or naturally sleeping) animals under controlled laboratory conditions or in a naturalistic home environment. The complexity of sleep architecture varies between species but all share features which are comparable. In addition, sleep architecture is sensitive to changes in brain neurotransmitters such as serotonin, so cross-species sleep measurement can be combined with pharmacological manipulation to investigate the receptor mechanisms controlling sleep–wake regulation and sleep architecture in response to known and novel agents. Translational approaches such as these have improved our understanding of sleep circuitry and facilitated the development of new treatments for sleep disorders, particularly insomnia. This review provides examples of how research findings within the sleep field have been translated between animal models, healthy volunteers and patient populations with particular focus on the serotonergic system.
Sponsorship-Related Outcome Selection Bias in Published Economic Studies of Triptans
Authors: Peura Piia K. , Martikainen Janne A. , Purmonen Timo T. , Turunen Juha H. O.
Published: April 2011

Background. Economic studies funded by the pharmaceutical industry are more likely to report favorable results and recommendations for the sponsor’s product than are studies funded by nonindustry establishments. Purpose. To determine whether clinical outcome data obtained from the same meta-analyses are used differently in various economic studies of oral triptans and whether there is an association between the study sponsorship and the choice of clinical outcome measure. Data Sources. Economic studies of triptans were identified by updating a previously published systematic review. Study Selection. Twelve studies that used the same meta-analyses as the source of clinical outcome data were identified. Data Extraction. Two independent reviewers extracted the essential data from the identified studies. Data Synthesis. In the 12 appraised studies, 9 alternative measures of effectiveness were derived from the same meta-analyses. Eleven studies were industry-related, and in these the selected clinical outcome consistently favored the sponsor’s product. Also the reported results suggested that the sponsor’s product was more cost-effective than the competitors’ products. Limitations. The cost-effectiveness of triptans is dependent on both the definition of clinical effectiveness and the treatment-related costs. Only bias related to the selection of the clinical outcome measure has been taken into account in this review. Conclusions. The results of published economic studies of triptans are conflicting and biased. There is a tendency to select clinical outcome measures that support the sponsor’s product. This leads to concern about the possible poor applicability of these results in decision making.
Detection and discrimination of flicker contrast in migraine
Authors: Karanovic Olivera , Thabet Michel , Wilson Hugh R , Wilkinson Frances
Published: April 2011

Aims: Flickering light is strongly aversive to many individuals with migraine. This study was designed to evaluate other abnormalities in the processing of temporally modulating visual stimulation.

Methods: We measured psychophysical thresholds for detection of a flickering target and for the discrimination of suprathreshold flicker contrasts (increment thresholds) in 14 migraineurs and 14 healthy controls with and without prior adaptation to high-contrast flicker. Visual discomfort (aversion) thresholds were also assessed.

Results: In the baseline (no adaptation) conditions, detection and discrimination thresholds did not differ significantly between groups. Following adaptation, flicker detection thresholds were elevated equivalently in both groups; however, discrimination thresholds were more strongly affected in migraineurs than in controls, showing greater elevation at moderate contrasts and greater threshold reduction (sensitisation) at high contrast (70%). Migraineurs also had significantly elevated discomfort scores, and these were significantly correlated with number of years with migraine.

Discussion: We conclude that visual flicker not only causes discomfort but also exerts measurable effects on contrast processing in the visual pathways in migraine. The findings are discussed in the context of the existing literature on habituation, adaptation and contrast-gain control.
War with Outsiders Makes Peace Inside
Authors: Münster Johannes , Staal Klaas
Published: April 2011

This article presents a new theoretical perspective on the diversionary use of force. Players are partitioned into groups and choose how to allocate their resources to production, fighting against other groups, and fighting internally. The model gives a rationalist explanation of the group cohesion effect: when there is a lot of fighting between groups, there is less internal fighting. In equilibrium, players choose sufficiently high external conflict in order to avoid internal conflict. In contrast with the existing literature, this diversionary use of force takes place even though there is no asymmetric or incomplete information.
Police and Fire Pensions in Florida: A Historical Perspective and Cause for Future Concerns
Authors: Lee Robert E. , Vonasek Joseph
Published: April 2011

Supplementary contributions to pension plans are predicted to increase for some Florida municipal governments because of the funding source used for police and fire plans. This article examines the history of local government pensions and focuses on Chapter 175 and 185 Pension Plans, which access funding through a tax on property insurance premiums. The notable legislative changes, Attorney General Opinions and court cases are also briefly assessed. This study research examines a sample of 32 pension funds in 20 Florida cities and indicates that the cost of providing these pensions is increasing because of legislative mandates for use of these revenues. This is evidenced by a historical decrease in the funding ratios of the funds of the cities sampled.
The Search for Value: Value-Based Insurance Design in Both Public and Private Sectors
Authors: Wagner Richard B.
Published: April 2011

In the quest to harness health plan value, over the past few years a number of companies have started to experiment with value-based insurance design (VBID). Although the popularity of the concept had been growing in private industry, its inclusion in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act thrust VBID into the limelight. Which employers should contemplate adding a VBID element to their health plan, and what should they make of the recent VBID regulatory action? This article answers these questions and informs health benefits managers on how to leverage the use of a VBID to extract more value out of their health plan.
Impairment of mice spermatogenesis by sodium arsenite
Authors: Ferreira Mónica , Matos Rita Cerejeira , Oliveira Helena , Nunes Bruno , Pereira Maria de Lourdes
Published: April 2011

In order to assess the effect of arsenic on the male reproductive impairment in mice, 7-week-old animals were exposed to 7.5 mg sodium arsenite (NaAsO2)/kg body weight, during 35 days (one spermatogenic cycle). One group of animals was sacrificed after exposure, while another group received distilled water for an additional period of 35 days, in order to study the spermatoxic effect and the recovery of spermatogenesis. In mice sacrificed after NaAsO2 exposure, a decrease in testis/body weight ratio and reduction of tubular diameter were observed. Both groups of NaAsO2-exposed animals showed remarkable histopathological changes, such as sloughing of immature germ cells. Animals sacrificed after NaAsO2 exposure showed decreased sperm motility, increased abnormal sperm morphology and decreased sperm viability. The effects of NaAsO2 on sperm motility recovered to normal values after one spermatogenic cycle, while increased sperm abnormality was maintained. However, at this period, a decrease in acrosome integrity was detected. Concerning oxidative stress parameters, animals sacrificed after NaAsO2 exposure showed a decreased selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase activity, which was not detected after the recovery. Conversely, at this period, total glutathione peroxidase activity increased in exposed animals. These results demonstrate the toxic effects of NaAsO2 on mice spermatogenesis and show the lack of recovery after one spermatogenic cycle.
Modeling of the Field-Induced Plasticity of Soft Magnetic Elastomers
Authors: Melenev Petr , Raikher Yuriy , Stepanov Gennady , Rusakov Victor , Polygalova Larisa
Published: April 2011

A phenomenological model is proposed to describe the plasticity of soft magnetic elastomer composites under an external field. Along with high elasticity, internal dry friction is introduced whose origin is attributed to the dipole-dipole interaction of the embedded particles. Numerical estimates of the model parameters are obtained from comparison with the measurements performed on iron carbonyl dispersions in soft silicon-rubber matrices.
Improving the Aeroelastic Flutter Characteristics of Supersonic Beams Using Piezoelectric Material
Authors: Li Feng-Ming , Chen Zhao-Bo , Cao Deng-Qing
Published: April 2011

The active aeroelastic flutter characteristics of supersonic beams are investigated. The main contribution of this research is that the piezoelectric material is used to increase the flutter velocities of the supersonic beams. A modeling approach based on the conventional theory of structural dynamics is employed. The process of deriving equations is not complicated and easy to understand. This methodology is verified to be accurate and effective. Hamilton’s principle with the assumed mode method is used to develop the equation of motion of the structural systems. The supersonic piston theory is adopted to evaluate the aerodynamic pressure. Using the standard eigenvalue methodology, the solutions for complex eigenvalue problem are obtained. A displacement and acceleration feedback control strategy is used to obtain the active stiffness and active mass. The aeroelastic flutter bounds are obtained by calculating the natural frequencies and damping ratios. The effects of the active stiffness and mass on the flutter properties of the supersonic beams are analyzed. From the numerical results, it is seen that by adding the active stiffness and mass to the supersonic beams, the aeroelastic flutter properties can be effectively improved. Especially, if the acceleration and displacement feedback gains are increased to proper values, the flutter can even be eliminated for the supersonic cantilevered beams.
Neural based sliding-mode control with moving sliding surface for the seismic isolation of structures
Authors: Yakut Oguz , Alli Hasan
Published: April 2011

The neural based sliding-mode control method is developed by using advantageous specifications of sliding-mode control and artificial neural network techniques and applied to an eight storey sample building with active tendon. Success of the designed controller is examined by applying acceleration data belonging to six different earthquakes as the external driving source. A MATLAB package program is used for numerical solutions, and the obtained results are compared in graphical form, presented in tables. For the optimization process, genetic algorithm is used. In this study parametric uncertainties and time delay effects are also considered. It is seen that the success of the controller is quite high and the control force can be used for real applications. Furthermore, the obtained results indicate that the controller provides quite successful control under earthquake having different characteristics.
The use of a Legendre multiwavelet collocation method for solving the fractional optimal control problems
Authors: Yousefi SA , Lotfi A , Dehghan M
Published: April 2011

In this article the Legendre multiwavelet basis with the aid of a collocation method has been applied to give the approximate solution for the fractional optimal control problems (FOCPs). The properties of the Legendre multiwavelet are presented. These properties together with the collocation method are then utilized to reduce the problem to the solution of an algebraic system. Numerical results and a comparison with the exact solution in the cases when we have an exact solution are given to demonstrate the applicability and efficiency of the new method.
On the range of applicability of linearized elasticity
Authors: Carlson Donald E
Published: April 2011

Most contemporary derivations of the linearized theory of elasticity start with the basic equations of the non-linear theory organized into kinematical, balance, and constitutive equations. The linear approximations of these equations, under the assumption that the displacement gradient is small are found, and the higher-order terms are discarded to get the basic equations of the linear theory. Consequently, determination of the range of applicability of solutions to particular linear elasticity problems has generally been based on the size of the displacement gradient. However, all solution procedures involve commingling of the basic equations, and this raises the question of whether or not the gradients of the discarded terms are small. We establish that generally they are not unless the (non-dimensionalized) second gradient of the displacement is also small. An example shows that this additional restriction on the range of applicability can be significant.
Variational and reciprocal principles in linear theory of type-III thermoelasticity
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Santwana , Prasad Rajesh , Kumar Roushan
Published: April 2011

The aim of the present paper is to establish a convolutional type (Gurtin ME. Variational principles for linear elastodynamics. Arch Ration Mech Anal 1964; 16: 34—50) variational principle and a reciprocal principle in the context of the linear theory of thermoelasticity of type III. To establish the variational and reciprocal principles, we firstly formulate a characterization of the mixed boundary initial value problem in which the initial conditions are incorporated into the field equations.
Social Information Processing of Positive and Negative Hypothetical Events in Children With ADHD and Conduct Problems and Controls
Authors: Andrade Brendan F. , Waschbusch Daniel A. , Doucet Amelie , King Sara , MacKinnon Maura , McGrath Patrick J. , Stewart Sherry H. , Corkum Penny
Published: April 2011

Objective:

This study examined social information processing (SIP) of events with varied outcomes in children with ADHD and conduct problems (CPs; defined as oppositional defiant disorder [ODD] or conduct disorder [CD]) and controls.

Method:

Participants were 64 children (46 boys, 18 girls) aged 6 to 12, including 39 with ADHD and 25 controls. Vignettes were developed that systematically varied with regard to peer intention (ambiguous, negative, positive) and event outcome (ambiguous, negative, positive), and were used to evaluate participants’ SIP abilities (cue encoding, interpretation, and response generation).

Results:

Results showed that, after controlling for CPs, children with ADHD detected fewer positive, negative, and neutral cues; attributed more negative and less positive intent to peers; focused less on situational outcomes of vignettes; and generated fewer positive responses compared with the control group.

Conclusion:

These results indicate that children with ADHD differ from non-ADHD children, even after controlling for CPs, in how they process positive and negative social experiences.
Psychological well-being of incarcerated women in the Netherlands: Importation or deprivation?
Authors: Slotboom Anne-Marie , Kruttschnitt Candace , Bijleveld Catrien , Menting Barbara
Published: April 2011

In light of the dramatic increase over the past decade in the number of women incarcerated in the Netherlands, we examined 251 female inmates’ psychological reactions to imprisonment with a survey that taps importation and deprivation factors and related life experiences. While depressive complaints, irritability and risk of self-harm were all predicted by both sets of factors, the evidence suggests that deprivation factors have a greater impact on these measures of well-being than importation factors. Previous treatment for psychological problems was the most important covariate for psychological complaints and post-traumatic stress. The most important deprivation factors were treatment by staff and other inmates, and environmental stress. Accordingly, we suggest that in order to further our understanding of women prisoners’ adaptations to incarceration greater attention should be directed to women’s conditions of confinement and less to their histories of victimization and drug abuse.
Immanent critique and Islam: Anthropological reflections
Authors: Ahmad Irfan
Published: April 2011

This article offers an anthropological outline of immanent critique in Islamic traditions. In addressing the question — what is immanent critique? — it dwells on the interrelationships amongst the Enlightenment’s notion of reason, critique, and Islam. My main contention is that to construe the Western notion of critique derived from Enlightenment’s specific conceptualization of reason as critique per se is misleading for there are non-Enlightenment modes of critique such as the Islamic one this article proposes for further discussion. I also discuss the objectification of culture, social distance and a new sense of temporality as significant factors facilitating the condition for critique to become particularly salient under modernity. Based largely on ethnographic-historical materials from South Asia, I argue why immanent critique is a useful analytical tool to understand the dynamics of Muslim cultures and societies in their diverse milieus.
Images, language and numbers in company reports: a study of documents that are occasioned by a legal requirement for financial disclosure
Authors: Ball Mike
Published: April 2011

The substantive area of this article is Annual Company Reports. These comprise documents that are in the public domain. For our purposes, they are an example of what is termed in the methodological literature ‘unobtrusive methods’. Company Reports are assembled from numerical, textual and visual content. This article examines certain developments within Annual Company Reports; namely, the increasing extension beyond the legal requirement for numerical financial disclosure. An extension that often includes upbeat textual descriptions of the organization, and expansion into the domain of visual representations, images and graphs. The article considers aspects of the analytical and accountable status of the visual and textual discretionary additions within Company Reports. It also addresses certain practical implications of designing Company Reports for a non-homogenous audience.
Communication technologies for focus groups with remote communities: a case study of research with First Nations in Canada
Authors: Gratton Marie-France , O'Donnell Susan
Published: April 2011

Communication technologies offer qualitative researchers more options for conducting research with remote communities. It is not always possible for researchers to travel to conduct focus groups and interviews in person, especially when travel is prohibitively time-consuming and expensive. This reason is often given to explain the lack of qualitative research with participants living in remote First Nations (Aboriginal) communities in Canada. This manuscript presents a case study of a research method developed in collaboration with our research partner K-Net and KORI (Keewaytinook Okimakanak) in northwestern Ontario. The specific study investigated preferences for online health information for First Nations people living in remote communities. Working with K-Net, we developed a method to use multi-site videoconferencing for focus groups — live visual and audio exchange between the researcher in Ottawa and participants in multiple remote First Nations communities. Our conclusion encourages other researchers to try this innovative method to include more remote First Nations community members in participatory research projects.
Is it the end for anonymity as we know it? A critical examination of the ethical principle of anonymity in the context of 21st century demands on the qualitative researcher
Authors: Tilley Liz , Woodthorpe Kate
Published: April 2011

Told from the perspective of two UK-based early career researchers, this article is an examination of contemporary challenges posed when dealing with the ethical principle of anonymity in qualitative research, specifically at the point of dissemination. Drawing on their respective doctoral experience and literature exploring the difficulties that can arise from the application of anonymity with regard to historical and geographical contexts, the authors question the applicability of the principle of anonymity alongside pressures to disseminate widely. In so doing, the article considers anonymity in relation to the following: demonstrating value for money to funders; being accountable to stakeholders; involvement in knowledge transfer; and the demands of putting as much information ‘out there’ as possible, particularly on the internet. In light of these pressures, the article suggests that the standard of anonymity in the context of the 21st century academic world may need to be rethought.
A polymorphism in ACE2 is associated with a lower risk for fatal cardiovascular events in females: the MORGAM project
Authors: Vangjeli Ciara , Dicker Patrick , Tregouet David-Alexandre , Shields Denis C , Evans Alun , Stanton Alice V ,   (for the MORGAM project*)
Published: April 2011

Angiotensin II, a vasoconstrictor and the main effector molecule of the renin–angiotensin system, is known to influence inflammation, thrombosis, low-density lipoprotein oxidation and growth factors, all of which contribute to cardiovascular disease. The associations of polymorphisms in the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 ( ACE2) gene with cardiovascular risk have not been fully determined. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ACE2 were genotyped in participants of the prospective MORGAM study ( n = 5092) from five cohorts: ATBC, FINRISK, Northern Sweden, PRIME/Belfast and PRIME/France. Using a case-cohort design, associations were sought between SNPs and haplotypes with cardiovascular events during follow-up (Cox proportional hazards model). The comparison group were a subset of all MORGAM participants who were selected to ensure similar age and sex distributions among the cases and controls. The A allele of the rs2285666 SNP (HR = 0.3, p = 0.04) was significantly associated with the risk of cardiovascular death in female subjects. These findings complement those found in other studies of SNPs in the ACE2 gene in relation to cardiovascular disease risk. As females carry two copies of the ACE2 gene, and given its plausible biological role in cardiovascular disease risk, further studies of ACE2 should be prioritised.
Renin gene polymorphism: its relationship to hypertension, renin levels and vascular responses
Authors: Sun Bei , Williams Jonathan S , Pojoga Luminita , Chamarthi Bindu , Lasky-Su Jessica , Raby Benjamin A , Hopkins Paul N , Jeunemaitre Xavier , Brown Nancy J , Ferri Claudio , Williams Gordon H
Published: April 2011

The renin gene has been previously reported to be associated with essential hypertension in a variety of ethnic groups. However, no studies have systematically evaluated the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) representing coverage of the entire renin gene and hypertension risk. To evaluate the association between renin gene variation and hypertension we investigated data on HyperPATH cohort with 570 hypertensive and 222 normotensive Caucasian subjects. Six tagging SNPs and resultant haplotypes were tested for associations with hypertension risk, followed by mean arterial pressure (MAP), plasma renin activity (PRA) and the change in MAP in response to angiotensin II (AngII) infusion (AngII ΔMAP). The A allele of SNP rs6693954 and the haplotype containing rs6696954A were significantly associated with higher risk for hypertension (OR = 1.98, p = 0.0001; OR = 1.63 p = 0.0005, respectively). The same haplotype block was also associated with altered PRA levels and blunted AngII ΔMAP (global p-value = 0.02, 0.047, respectively). Our results confirm that polymorphisms in the renin gene are associated with increased risk for hypertension in an independent cohort, and that the underlying mechanism may reside in the interaction of renin activity and vascular responsiveness to angiotensin II.
Integrating multiple identities: Narrative in the formation and maintenance of the self in international school students
Authors: Sears Coreen
Published: April 2011

This article reports on an investigation into the formation and maintenance of identity in globally mobile children and young people in the setting of an international school. The findings suggest that students at the school sustain composite identities that encompass their multiple experiences. The school itself offers a milieu which recognizes their way of life as the norm and with which they can identify. The data further suggests that narrative serves to integrate the multiple aspects of participants’ identities.
The effect of post-growth annealing on the colour properties of n-ZnO nanorods/p-GaN white LEDs
Authors: Alvi NH , ul Hasan K. , Nur O. , Willander M.
Published: April 2011

The effect of post-growth annealing on the colour properties of the light emitted by n-ZnO nanorods/p-GaN white LEDs has been investigated. The as-grown ZnO nanorods were annealed in nitrogen, oxygen, argon and air atmospheres at 600°C for 30 minutes. The colour rendering indices and correlated colour temperatures were calculated from the spectra emitted by the LEDs. It was observed that the ambient atmosphere used for annealing is very effective for altering the colour properties of the fabricated LEDs. The LEDs annealed in nitrogen have excellent colour rendering properties with a colour rendering index and a correlated colour temperature of 97 and 2363 K, respectively, in the forward bias and 98 and 3157 K in the reverse bias.
Telling Stories: Reflexivity, Queer Theory, and Autoethnography
Authors: Adams Tony E. , Holman Jones Stacy
Published: April 2011

This essay focuses on intersections of reflexivity as both an orientation to research and a writing practice that brings together the method of autoethnography and the paradigm of queer theory. Taking seriously autoethnography’s and queer theory’s commitments to uncertain, fluid, and becoming subjectivities, multiple forms of knowledge and representations, and research as an agent of change, we write a series of reflexively queer personal texts. These texts ask us—as writers and readers in a community of scholars—to question our desire to name and claim stories and to embrace the gifts and challenges of open texts and the importance of reflexivity as we test the limits of knowledge and certainty.
(Un)Safe! Fighting the Po-lice in Quasi-educational Spaces of Bathrooms: A Betweener’s Reflection on the Researcher’s Body in Three Intercalated Acts
Authors: Moreira Claudio
Published: April 2011

Who gives ethnographers the authority to do research? Whose bodies are in and/or out of researchers’ practices or roles? In this performance autoethnography, I explore the (im)possibilities of these questions, pressing concerns that remain interconnected with discussions of ethnographic reflexivity. I convey how, despite the rise of conscientization resulting from the Crisis of Representation in the 1980s, knowledge production about the Other still tends to reify the very oppression it intends to challenge. Can a janitor become an ethnographer without having to bury experiences under layers of theory and other technologies of justification? Or are marginalized humans still relegated to a subordinate position of “research subject” in this process? I attempt to further promote narrative space about the struggles to move from researched to researcher, from honorable subject to street knowledge producer. Inspired by Dwight Conquergood’s suggestion that we do not write about them—the Others—but with and for them, I perform to better understand and explore issues of reflexivity in terms of privilege and authority, as they still dwell in current ethnographic research.
The Ethnographic Choice: Why Ethnographers Do Ethnography
Authors: Berry Keith
Published: April 2011

How do we reconcile the complex and subjective dimensions of ethnographic research as they pertain to ethnographers themselves? What is to be made of the compelling draw the ethnographic process tends to have on its researchers? This article uses hermeneutic phenomenology to examine how ethnographers’ lifeworlds make possible the doing of ethnographic research. I draw on moments from past research to argue for an inexorable link between lifeworlds and ethnography, which results in ethnographers being definitively, yet uniquely and contingently, “chosen” to live as ethnographers. This multilayered snapshot of ethnographic subjectivity seeks to embolden the reflective space necessary for promoting a fuller sense of accountability by ethnographers, a fuller understanding and awareness of the complexities inherent to ours and others’ ethnographic stories.
Reflecting on the Call to Ethnographic Reflexivity: A Collage of Responses to Questions of Contestation
Authors: Berry Keith , Clair Robin Patric
Published: April 2011

Key themes that motivated this special issue on ethnographic reflexivity are discussed in the following section. Specifically, contributors responded to all or some of the shared questions posed by issue editors. Contributors offered an array of open thoughts and feelings concerning experiences and issues germane to reflexivity. As a dynamic and complex collage of discoveries and possibilities, contributors sought to perpetuate open and frank discussions, as well as future research, concerning the contested nature of ethnographic reflexivity.
The prevalence and treatment of people with Asperger’s Syndrome in the criminal justice system
Authors: Browning Ann , Caulfield Laura
Published: April 2011

Clinical knowledge of Asperger’s Syndrome and other Autistic Spectrum Disorders has developed enormously since Hans Asperger’s early definition of ‘autistic psychopathy’ in 1944, yet societal misunderstandings persist and recent research claims that individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome are potentially over-represented within the criminal justice system. Furthermore, numerous authorities have expressed concern that those working within the criminal justice sector lack the requisite training to respond effectively to those with Asperger’s Syndrome and consequently affected individuals experience particular difficulty in negotiating the criminal justice process. This article critically explores existing research in this area, investigating potential links between Asperger’s Syndrome and criminality and looks at the level of understanding of this syndrome by the criminal justice system. As Asperger’s Syndrome is associated with reasonable intellectual ability, it presents greater issues for the identification and treatment of people with the syndrome if they come into contact with the criminal justice system. The authors highlight the need for further research into this complex issue, and suggest that those who work within the criminal justice system should be aware of and have access to training and/or appropriately trained colleagues in order that the needs of this particularly vulnerable group might be more effectively met.
A dialogue on death penalty dignity
Authors: Knowles Helen J.
Published: April 2011

The concept of ‘dignity’ has always played an important role in the opinions written by members of the US Supreme Court in capital punishment cases. However, the justices have failed to agree about either the type or nature of dignity involved. This article identifies and analyzes the three main categories of dignity that have appeared in the justices’ death penalty opinions. Justice Brennan’s concurrence in Furman v. Georgia (1972) is used to explore the abolitionist argument that capital punishment cannot constitutionally coexist with respect for innate human dignity. By contrast, Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion in Roper v. Simmons (2005) argues that human dignity is not threatened by a heavily regulated death penalty. Finally, Chief Justice Roberts’s opinion in Baze v. Rees (2008) focuses our attention on an institutionalized formulation of dignity that emphasizes respect for the dignity of the State that employs the death penalty.

The Supreme Court’s dialogue on death penalty dignity is ongoing. Consequently, this article’s analysis will aid us when we seek to understand future opinions in which the justices debate the role that the concept of ‘dignity’ can and should play ‘when the State kills’.