bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Angiotensin II Type 2 Receptor Stimulation Increases the Rate of NG108–15 Cell Migration via Actin Depolymerization
Authors: Kilian Peter , Campbell Shirley , Bilodeau Lyne , Guimond Marie-Odile , Roberge Claude , Gallo-Payet Nicole , Payet Marcel Daniel
Published: March 2008

Angiotensin II (Ang II) has been reported to induce migration in neuronal cell types. Using time-lapse microscopy, we show here that Ang II induces acceleration in NG108–15 cell migration. This effect was antagonized by PD123319, a selective AT2 receptor antagonist, but not by DUP753, a selective AT1 receptor antagonist, and was mimicked by the specific AT2 receptor agonist CGP42112. This Ang II-induced acceleration was not sensitive to the inhibition of previously described signaling pathways of the AT2 receptor, guanylyl cyclase/cyclic GMP or p42/p44mapk cascades, but was abolished by pertussis toxin treatment and involved PP2A activation. Immunofluorescence studies indicate that Ang II or CGP42112 decreased the amount of filamentous actin at the leading edge of the cells. This decrease was accompanied by a concomitant increase in globular actin levels. Regulation of actin turnover in actin-based motile systems is known to be mainly under the control of the actin depolymerizing factor and cofilin. Basal migration speed decreased by 77.2% in cofilin-1 small interfering RNA-transfected NG108–15 cells, along with suppression of the effect of Ang II. In addition, the Ang II-induced increase in cell velocity was abrogated in serum-free medium as well as by genistein or okadaic acid treatment in a serum-containing medium. Such results indicate that the AT2 receptor increases the migration speed of NG108–15 cells and involves a tyrosine kinase activity, followed by phosphatase activation, which may be of the PP2A type. Therefore, the present study identifies actin depolymerization and cofilin as new targets of AT2 receptor action, in the context of cellular migration.
Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide Can Excite Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Neurons in a Manner Dependent on Estradiol and Gated by Time of Day
Authors: Christian Catherine A. , Moenter Suzanne M.
Published: March 2008

A surge of GnRH release signals the LH surge that triggers ovulation. The GnRH surge is dependent on a switch in estradiol feedback from negative to positive and, in rodents, a daily neural signal, likely from the suprachiasmatic nuclei. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) may be involved in suprachiasmatic nuclei-GnRH neuron communication. Here we assessed the effects of acute VIP (5 min treatment) on GnRH neuron function using targeted extracellular recordings of firing activity of GnRH neurons in brain slices. We examined the effect of VIP on firing rate at different times of day using an established ovariectomized, estradiol-treated (OVX+E) mouse model that exhibits daily LH surges timed to the late afternoon. Cells from OVX animals (no estradiol) did not respond to VIP, regardless of time of day. With estradiol, the effect of VIP on GnRH neurons was dependent on the time of recording. During negative feedback, OVX+E cells did not respond. VIP increased firing in cells recorded during surge onset, but this excitatory response was reduced at surge peak. Acute treatment of OVX+E cells during surge peak with a VIP receptor antagonist decreased GnRH neuron firing. This suggests endogenous VIP may both increase GnRH neuron firing during the surge and occlude response to exogenous VIP. These data provide functional evidence for VIP effects on GnRH neurons and indicate that both estradiol and time of day gate the GnRH neuron response to this peptide. VIP may provide an excitatory signal from the circadian clock that helps time the GnRH surge.
Involvement of Cytokine-Induced Neutrophil Chemoattractant in Hypothalamic Thermoregulation of Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Hormone
Authors: Noguchi Masamichi , Yuzurihara Mitsutoshi , Kase Yoshio , Yasui Toshiyuki , Irahara Minoru
Published: March 2008

We demonstrated in a previous study that serum IL-8 concentrations were significantly higher in women with hot flashes than without hot flashes. To clarify the role of IL-8 in the pathoetiology of menopausal hot flashes, we examined the effect of rat cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC), a member of the IL-8 family, on thermoregulation using ovariectomized (OVX) rats treated with intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of LHRH agonist (LHRHa) as a model of hot flashes. We found that: 1) expression of CINC mRNA was increased around the periventricular area in the hypothalamus at 1 h, and the serum CINC concentration was increased at 2 h after i.c.v. injection of LHRHa; 2) the increase in serum CINC concentration in hypophysectomized rats was significantly lower than that in sham-operated rats; 3) i.c.v. but not iv injection of CINC elevated the rectal temperature of OVX rats; 4) i.c.v. injection of LHRHa into OVX rats produced a rapid rise (maximal increase: 10–25 min) in tail skin temperature, and the elevation was augmented by injection of an anti-CINC antibody; and 5) changes in serum CINC concentration and skin temperature after i.c.v. injection of LHRHa were reversed by replacement of estradiol. In conclusion, the production of CINC in the hypothalamus due to LHRHa injection in OVX rats was increased after elevation of skin temperature, suggesting that CINC plays a key role in the homeostasis of body temperature. Disturbance of the thermoregulatory mechanism involving LHRH and CINC may be related to the pathoetiology of hot flashes.
Infertility in Females with Cystic Fibrosis Is Multifactorial: Evidence from Mouse Models
Authors: Hodges Craig A. , Palmert Mark R. , Drumm Mitchell L.
Published: March 2008

Infertility is commonly associated with cystic fibrosis (CF). Although infertility in men with CF has been thoroughly investigated, the infertility observed in women with CF has not been well studied. To investigate female infertility associated with CF, we used two independently derived mouse models of CF. Both of these models displayed decreased fertility characterized by a reduction in litter number and litter size. Our findings suggest that much of the reduced fertility in these mice originates from decreased fertilization due to inadequate sperm transport within the female reproductive tract. However, our data indicate that additional reproductive phenotypes in the CF female mice also contribute to the reduced fertility including small ovarian and uterine size, aberrant estrous cycles, and decreased oocyte ovulation rates. These data, along with previous work demonstrating that the gene mutated in CF, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), is normally expressed in tissues vital to reproduction, raises the possibility that CFTR may have a direct effect on fertility. If so, CFTR may also play an important role in normal female fertility within the general population.
Troubling Safe Choices: Girls, Friendship, Constraint, and Freedom
Authors: Probyn Elspeth
Published: March 2008

In this essay I want to chart some of the ways that choice has been articulated around women. In the West, choice is the benign bedrock of our society. Be that in regard to the consumer imperative of choice to the all-pervasive political philosophy of self-fashioning, it is not possible not to choose (pace Jean-Paul Sartre). But while choice is everywhere, it only becomes visible and malignant as a problem when attached to women and increasingly, it seems, to young women.

The theoretical questions underpinning my analysis of safe and not safe choices concern the conflicting cultural modes that privilege genealogical subjects, on the one hand, and, on the other, autological or self-fashioning discourses (to use Elizabeth Povinelli's formulation). In broad terms, genealogical forms operate on various modalities of constraint, operated by community. The promise of liberalism was and is that of freedom, of subjects released unto their own making. Choice, I argue, operates within this frame to demarcate cultures of constraint versus those of freedom, and challenges strict notions of safety and risk. Drawing on research in Australia and Hong Kong, it appears that within very different contexts young people may be blurring these distinctions through their self-formulation of their own genealogical communities of friendship and intimacy.
Somehow We All Survived: The Ideology of the U.S. Backlash against Risk Management
Authors: Brown Megan
Published: March 2008

This essay focuses on shifts in attitude toward risk management, which, following the work of Ulrich Beck, is loosely defined as a collection of preventive measures attempting to shield people from the widespread consequences of industrial development. Recent years have seen an increasing backlash against risk management and the (official and unofficial) enforcers of the values of caution, preparedness, and vigilance. Right-wing pundits sneer at the so-called nanny state, and grassroots organizations spearhead protests against state and local laws that they feel to be oppressive. The backlash is noteworthy because it often perpetuates problematic notions of personal freedom, champions self-defeating stoicism, and absolves corporations from responsibility for the consequences of their actions. This essay focuses on three major examples: smoking regulations, bans on foods containing or cooked in trans fat, and the Mattel toy recall.
Food Safety and the Abject: Mad Cow Disease and a Racist Rhetoric of Contamination in the Southwest
Authors: Houston Lynn Marie
Published: March 2008

The U.S. meat industry's tarnished reputation after the mad cow disease crisis has driven some ranchers to a breaking point, in which they blame food safety issues on illegal immigrants. This essay investigates the activities of a group called Ranch Rescue, whose members “round up” illegal immigrants along the Arizona-Mexico border in order to turn them over to CBP Border Patrol. The group claims that ranching businesses are suffering due to the damage done to cattle and properties by the passage of illegal immigrants on borderlands and that these immigrants are real threats to food safety because they can bring diseases onto ranchlands. However, while these ranchers attempt to curtail illegal immigration under the pretense of protecting our food supply, other sectors of the food industry actively recruit illegal immigrants, reducing the efforts of this group to manifestations of unfounded racist fears. Many factors come into play in understanding this phenomenon, including the practices that cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the effects of globalization on the meat industry, the changing nature of the relationship between humans and animals in ranching, and the changing relationship between Anglos and Latinos in the history of ranching in the American Southwest. The essay concludes that the ranchers involved with Ranch Rescue participate in Julia Kristeva's theory of the abject because they are attempting to attack entities that were once integral to the identity of ranching (and that are still integral to much of the U.S. food production industry). In fact, they are reacting to the post-BSE vilification of the beef industry by attempting to identify illegal immigrants as the real source of “contamination” by reasserting some of the boundaries dismantled by globalization (as argued by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri) in hopes of reestablishing the hegemonic position enjoyed by white, male, Christian ranchers.
The Cronulla Race Riots: Safety Maps on an Australian Beach
Authors: Evers Clifton
Published: March 2008

On December 11, 2005, residents of the Sydney beachside suburb of Cronulla took part in a demonstration to chase away “gangs” of men from inland suburbs. The demonstration was a reaction against “un-Australian” behavior by these “outsiders” who were allegedly rude to women, colonizing local space, and intimidating residents. These “gangs” of men were made up of Lebanese Australians, and Cronulla is Anglo-Australian dominated. Ethnic and cultural differences were used as the key markers of who the outsiders were. The demonstration escalated into a riot in which anyone of “Middle Eastern” appearance was attacked.

It is significant that the Cronulla race riots took place on the beach, a site where cultural differences have been contested in Australia's past—and present, in light of the war on terror. Cronulla is steeped in surfing tradition, and a cultural process known to surfers as “localism” is used to police the beach. Through an analysis of this conflict, I show how localism and safety work in an everyday context as a complex embodied, social, and spatial practice that creates “safety maps.” As I move through the personal level of safety of those involved, I explain how larger Australian national myths, icons, and discourses played a role in people's safety maps.

When viewed through the lens of safety maps, the Cronulla race riots can be read as a complex interaction of discourses, bodies, space, and sociopolitical institutions. I argue for thinking through safety as a lived embodied activity and that safety maps work as a site within which larger community, national, and international issues are played out.
“Mine Shaft Gap”: Vigipirate and the Subject of Terror
Authors: Schehr Lawrence R.
Published: March 2008

The French warning system against possible acts of terror, called Vigipirate, is a color-coded plan for raising awareness of the citizenry of France and a program of precautionary activities and policies. Each of the four stages of the alert—yellow, orange, red, and scarlet—offers increased security but also brings into question enduring values in Republican France, including the sovereignty and freedom of each individual, his or her independence from harassment and surveillance, as well as of thoughts and actions. Vigipirate brings into question the continued viability of the “rights of man,” as they were defined more than two centuries ago, but it also calls into question the concept of universalism, as certain people are profiled as possible terrorists and others are not. The rhetoric of safety is a convenient cover for serious challenges to the French way of life, and it is this rhetoric that is the subject of the essay.
Galvanic replacement reaction: A simple and powerful route to hollow and porous metal nanostructures
Authors: Lu Xianmao , Chen Jingyi , Skrabalak S E , Xia Younan
Published: March 2008

Galvanic replacement reaction provides a remarkably simple and versatile route to metal nanostructures with controllable hollow interiors and porous walls. The key step of this process involves the replacement reaction between a suspension of nanoscale metal templates and a salt precursor containing a relatively less active metal. This method has been successfully applied to prepare gold-based hollow nanostructures with a wide range of different morphologies, including cubic nanoboxes, cubic nanocages, triangular nanorings, prism-shaped nanoboxes, single-walled nanotubes, and multiple-walled nanoshells or nanotubes. In addition to gold, hollow platinum and palladium nanostructures have also been prepared by using appropriate salt precursors for the replacement reaction. These hollow and porous metal nanostructures show intriguing optical and mechanical properties, with their surface plasmon resonance peaks tunable from the visible to the near-infrared region. These materials are expected to find applications in a number of areas, such as optical sensing, imaging contrast enhancement, photothermal cancer treatment, and catalysis.
An energetic study on the formation of self-assembled indium arsenide nanostructures grown on indium gallium arsenide/indium phosphide and gallium arsenide substrates
Authors: Shi F , Chang Kuo-Lih , Hsieh K C
Published: March 2008

The quantitative relationships between the growth temperature and the sizes of indium arsenide (InAs) nanostructures on both indium gallium arsenide/indium phosphide (InGaAs/InP) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) matrix layers have been determined based upon the experimental results. The atomic diffusion barriers of InAs-onInGaAs/InP and InAs-on-GaAs are estimated as 0.48 eV and 0.62 eV, respectively. The results, with roughly 20 per cent error bars, match reasonably well with the theoretically simulated data. From a thermal equilibrium picture, a simple but practical model has been developed to calculate the strain-induced elastic energy relaxation during islanding through the estimation of the overall free energy required for interface heteronucleation and new surface formation. The calculated data of elastic energy in the low monolayer (ML) coverage cases are very close to the simulated results published previously. It is expected that such a simple thermodynamic approach can be applied in estimating the energetic budget when developing the growth and surface morphology control strategies.
Optical fibre sensors coated with carbon nanotubes, tin dioxide, and nanoporous polymers for cryogenic detection of hydrogen
Authors: Consales M , Cutolo A , Penza M , Aversa P , Giordano M , Cusano A
Published: March 2008

Recently, preliminary measurements carried out by using optical fibre sensors coated with Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) multilayers of closed-end (CeSWCNTs) and opened-end single-walled carbon nanotubes (OeSWCNTs) demonstrated their capability of detecting hydrogen at cryogenic temperatures. In this paper, a comparative study between different sensitive materials for the cryogenic H2 detection is presented. To achieve this aim, tin dioxide (SnO2) particle layers and syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) thin films have also been used as sensitive fibre coatings and their performances have been compared to the ones obtained with the SWCNTs-based overlays. Their integration with optical fibres has been carried out by using the electrostatic spray pyrolysis (ESP) and the dip-coating techniques, which allow thin films at micro and nano scale to be obtained and the sensitive coatings features to be tailored by properly changing the deposition parameters. A time division multiplexing (TDM) approach has been employed in order to simultaneously perform the interrogation of all the fabricated sensors. The results obtained from the experimental measurements demonstrate the capability of the proposed configuration to sense very low concentrations of hydrogen (< 4 per cent) at the very low temperatures of 113 K. CeSWCNTs-based sensors, especially, have demonstrated to be the most interesting materials to be used for the detection of cryogenic hydrogen, with good sensitivity, fast response times, and good recovery features.
A Techno-Economical Evaluation for Installation of Suitable Wind Energy Plants in Western Marmara, Turkey
Authors: Gölçek Murat , Erdem Hasan Hüseyin , Bayülken Ahmet
Published: March 2008

The increasing environmental concerns in recent years about global warming and the harmful effects of carbon emissions have created a new demand for clean and sustainable energy sources, such as wind, solar etc. Turkey has important wind energy potential especially in the Marmara region, coasts of western and southern Anatolia. However, utilization of this potential is still below the desired level. In this study, wind energy potential of Kirklareli province in the northwestern Marmara region of Turkey was analyzed. Economical evaluation of the wind energy in the site was made by using the levelised cost method. The energy production was determined by means of the time-series and Weibull approaches. The selected turbines for investigation are of various rated powers ranging from 300 kW to 2500 kW. The effect of hub height on the energy production was investigated for various hub heights. The results showed that the cost of energy production per kWh for the related site vary between ¢ 5.37 and 11.91. An increase in the escalation rate of the operating and maintenance cost from 0 to 10%, increases the unit energy cost about 6%. For the wind turbine of 2300 kW rated power, as the hub height increases from 80 to 100 m, the cost of energy decreases about 4%.
The Effects of Non-Controllable Factors in Efficiency Evaluation of Turkish Coal Enterprises
Authors: Kasap Yasar , Konuk Adnan , Gasimov Rafail N. , Kiliç Ahmet Mahmut
Published: March 2008

In this study, which aims to examine the effects of non-controllable factors as well as input parameters on the efficiency performances of Turkish Coal Mine Enterprises, eight enterprises within Turkish Coal Enterprises (TCE) were examined. In order to keep the study as up-to-date as possible, data from the latest year (2005) was examined. For each enterprise, the outputs consisted of the amount of the production sold and the total income gained in the corresponding year; the controllable inputs consisted of investment expenditure, overburden stripping and number of staff; and non-controllable inputs consisted of total reserve and low heat values. In order to measure the effects of non-controllable inputs on enterprise efficiency, three-stage modified data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was employed. In the first stage, information concerning the efficiency of the enterprises was gained by using only the controllable inputs and outputs. In the second stage, the effects of non-controllable inputs on controllable inputs in inefficient enterprises were examined. Lastly in the third stage, the new efficiency values were calculated by means of DEA where controllable inputs and outputs modified according to non-controllable inputs were used. Considering the non-controllable inputs as a result of the analyses conducted with three-stage DEA model, it was determined that the average efficiency value of Turkish Coal Enterprises increased from 87.5% to 92.3%.
Operations Research Advances Cancer Therapeutics
Authors: Lee Eva K. , Zaider Marco
Published: March 2008

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), the world's oldest private cancer center, seeks next-generation cancer treatment advances to enhance its ability to treat patients effectively by improving care and reducing costs. Using operations research approaches, our team has devised sophisticated optimization modeling and computational techniques for real-time (intraoperative) treatment of prostate cancer using brachytherapy (the placement of radioactive “seeds” inside a tumor). The resulting system offers significantly safer and more reliable treatment outcomes. In addition, it eliminates the need for preoperative simulation and postimplant dosimetric analysis, resulting in savings of hundreds of millions of dollars per year in the United States alone. Posttreatment quality of life is improved through drastic reduction (up to 45–60 percent) of complications. The reason for this is twofold: (a) treatment plans thus devised deliver less radiation to adjacent healthy structures, and (b) the ability to perform midimplant replanning eliminates the unavoidable discrepancies between planned and actual seed placement in the target. This has a profound impact on the cost of managing treatment-associated morbidity. The procedure uses approximately 20–30 percent fewer seeds and 15 percent fewer needles (used to place seeds inside the prostate gland). As a result, the operating-room time is shortened, and the entire procedure is less invasive. The system has the potential to establish standards and guidelines for cancer treatment quality control and quality assurance of the implantable plan.

Wide distribution of our system should allow consistent treatment planning across different clinics and significantly reduce variability in treatment plan quality. The next phase of this effort will expand the applicability of our system to other forms of brachytherapy, such as treatment of breast, cervix, esophagus, biliary tract, pancreas, head and neck, and eye.
Chrysler and J. D. Power: Pioneering Scientific Price Customization in the Automobile Industry
Authors: Silva-Risso Jorge , Shearin William V. , Ionova Irina , Khavaev Alexei , Borrego Deirdre
Published: March 2008

Pricing is a critical component in the marketing-mix plans of automobile manufacturers. Because they tend to keep their manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRPs) and wholesale prices fixed throughout the model year, they customize pricing to reflect supply and demand by using incentives; in the US market, they represent approximately $45 billion per year. In addition, variations in capacity utilization have immediate and substantial effects on profitability. This, together with legacy costs and inflexible labor contracts, makes the effectiveness and efficiency of price-customization decisions particularly vital for the industry.

Chrysler, a pioneer in using science in its pricing decisions, engaged J. D. Power and Associates (JDPA) to implement an incentive planning model. The approach used is based on a random-effects multinomial nested logit model of product (vehicle model), acquisition (cash, finance, lease), and program-type (e.g., consumer cash rebates, reduced interest-rate financing, cash/reduced interest-rate combinations, lease-support) selection. The model uses sales transaction data that are collected daily from approximately 10,000 dealerships. It uses a hierarchical Bayes modeling structure to capture response heterogeneity at the local market level. This specification allows users to apply the model to pricing decisions at the local, regional, and national market levels.

Based on implementing this model, Chrysler learned that, for any given price level, the pricing structure (e.g., a combination of retail price, interest rates, or rebates) is important. The set of the most efficient pricing structures for each price level constitutes an efficient frontier; efficient pricing structures vary across products, price levels, and markets. The system provides three alternative approaches to identify efficient (and effective) pricing programs: (a) what-if-scenario simulations, (b) a batch scenario generator that allows users to identify and examine the profit-share/volume efficient frontier, and (c) an optimizer that, given an objective and a set of constraints, allows users to search for incentive programs rapidly. The Chrysler Corporate Economics Office estimates that Chrysler's annual savings from implementing the model are approximately $500 million.
Operations Research Enhances Supply Chain Management at the US Coast Guard Aircraft Repair and Supply Center
Authors: Everingham Kent , Polaski Gary , Riedlin Frederick , Shirk Michael , Deshpande Vinayak , Iyer Ananth V.
Published: March 2008

We describe a series of projects at the US Coast Guard (USCG) Aircraft Repair and Supply Center (ARSC) that demonstrates the value of OR methodologies for efficient supply chain management. These projects provided critical decision support for planning various repair and maintenance activities at ARSC. The establishment of an OR cell within ARSC, with several new employees and interns hired for this purpose, demonstrates the sustainability of these OR initiatives. The projects have created a strong emphasis on data-driven planning at ARSC. Their quantifiable benefits include reductions in inventory by 20–70 percent for 41 critical parts; repair-cost savings of 10 percent by using maintenance information for component repair planning; a successful planning of the conversion/upgrade of the H65 aircraft, thus enhancing the safety and capability for Coast Guard missions; and a 50-percent increase in throughput of the H60 Program Depot Maintenance (PDM) line, resulting in a reduction in deferred depot maintenance from a peak of $23.6 M to $6.5 M. OR techniques have clearly been successful in transforming the culture at USCG's ARSC from a “data rich and knowledge poor” decision-support culture to an “OR ingrained” decision-making environment.
Ruminations on Terrorism: Expiation and Exposition
Authors: Blakesley Christopher L.
Published: March 2008

To paraphrase Richard Falk: Terrorism is political or ideological violence without restraint of law or morality. This article will consider terrorism and reactions to terrorism through a prism of history, philosophy, literature, and law. It is an attempt to show how terrorism is committed by state actors, as well as non-state-actors. I argue that intentional or reckless slaughter of innocents or torturing "enemies" constitutes terrorism and that it ultimately erodes a state's or a group's morality and well-being. Most nations and groups define terrorism in a way that "allows" them to commit atrocity, but condemns "others" who commit the same acts. This ultimately promotes terrorism. Some definitions obscure the line between terrorism as a crime and terrorism as a tactic or strategy of armed conflict. It is important that the law not do this, as I argue that terrorism is criminal conduct. In addition, many, perhaps most, definitions of terrorism, even in criminal statutes and treaties, do not comport with basic principles of criminal law, such as principles of legality, due process, and other human rights and constitutional norms. I will also compare terrorism to other core international concepts, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Thus, the article will consider terrorism as a crime, noting the conceptual relationship between terrorism and basic domestic and international substantive criminal law. I will present a definition of terrorism as a crime, including its constituent elements. This allows me to study terrorism in the context of basic principles of culpability and innocence. The definition applies to conduct whether performed by state or government actors, by those who attack innocents to get at state government, or who use it against innocent members of factions whom they don't see as adhering to the actor's vision of "good order." Much of the article, however, is aimed at providing context by analyzing historical evidences of terrorism, including torture and other atrocities, designed to promote the power of those committing it. Thus, I will present an historical and comparative excursus, considering terrorism or analogous conduct and its punishment from antiquity, through the Middle Ages, to the present day, to show why such conduct ought to be punished.
Justice and Terrorism
Authors: Tadros Victor
Published: March 2008

This article is concerned with the ways in which we might understand the relationship between two obligations of the state: retributive justice and security. It develops this analysis in the context of terrorism law in the UK, focusing both on control orders and on the range of criminal offenses that are available for the prosecution, conviction, and punishment of suspected terrorists. The ambition of the article is to outline a normative framework that might be useful in evaluating these different responses, as well as providing critique of particular provisions and policies.
A Comparison of Protocols Used to Generate Insulin-Producing Cell Clusters from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
Authors: Boyd Ashleigh S. , Wu Douglas C. , Higashi Yasuyuki , Wood Kathryn J.
Published: March 2008

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have the capacity to generate a panoply of tissue types and may therefore provide an alternative source of tissue in regenerative medicine to treat potentially debilitating conditions like Type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, the ability of mouse ESCs to generate insulin-producing cell clusters (IPCCs) remains highly contentious. In an attempt to clarify this issue, three protocols for the ESC-based generation of IPCCs (referred to as Blyszczuk, Hori, and Lumelsky protocols) were modified and evaluated for their ability to express pancreatic islet genes and proteins and their capacity to function. Herein, we show that the Blyszczuk protocol reproducibly generated IPCCs with gene-expression characteristics that were qualitatively and quantitatively most reminiscent of those found in pancreatic islets. Furthermore, compared to the Hori and Lumelsky protocols, Blyszczuk-derived IPCCs exhibited superior expression of c-peptide, a by-product of de novo insulin synthesis. Functionally, Blyszczuk IPCCs, in contrast to Hori and Lumelsky IPCCs, were able to transiently restore normal blood glucose levels in diabetic mice (<1 week). Longer normoglycemic rescue (>2 weeks) was also achieved in a third of diabetic recipients receiving Blyszczuk IPCCs. Yet Blyszczuk IPCCs were less able to rescue experimental diabetes than isolated syngeneic pancreatic islet tissue. Therefore, depending on the mode of differentiation, ESCs can be driven to generate de novo IPCCs that possess limited functionality. Further modifications to differentiation protocols will be essential to improve the generation of functional IPCCs from mouse ESCs.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Metabolomic Footprinting of Human Hepatic Stem Cells and Hepatoblasts Cultured in Hyaluronan-Matrix Hydrogels
Authors: Turner William S. , Seagle Chris , Galanko Joseph A. , Favorov Oleg , Prestwich Glenn D. , Macdonald Jeffrey M. , Reid Lola M.
Published: March 2008

Human hepatoblasts (hHBs) and human hepatic stem cells (hHpSCs) were maintained in serum-free Kubota's medium, a defined medium tailored for hepatic progenitors, and on culture plastic versus hyaluronan hydrogels mixed with specific combinations of extracellular matrix components (e.g., type I collagen and laminin). Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to define metabolomic profiles for each substratum tested. The hHpSCs on culture plastic survived throughout the culture study, whereas hHBs on plastic died within 7–10 days. Both survived and expanded in all hydrogel-matrix combinations tested for more than 4 weeks. Profiles of hundreds of metabolites were narrowed to a detailed analysis of eight, such as glucose, lactate, and glutamine, shown to be significant components of cellular pathways, including the Krebs and urea cycles. The metabolomic profiles indicated that hHpSCs on plastic remained as stem cells expressing low levels of albumin but no α-fetoprotein (AFP); those in hydrogels were primarily hHBs, expressing AFP, albumin, and urea. Both hHpSCs and hHBs used energy provided by anaerobic metabolism. Variations in hyaluronan-matrix chemistry resulted in distinct profiles correlating with growth or with differentiative responses. Metabolomic footprinting offers noninvasive and nondestructive assessment of physiological states of stem/progenitor cells ex vivo.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Pediatric Physical Therapists’ Perceptions of Their Training in Assistive Technology
Authors: Long Toby M , Perry Deborah F
Published: March 2008

Background and Purpose

Availability of assistive technology (AT) and federal legislation promoting greater use of AT for children with disabilities have increased substantially. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived adequacy of previous training in AT, specific training needs, preferred methods of training, and the confidence level of pediatric physical therapists in providing AT.

Subjects and Methods

Three hundred eighty pediatric physical therapists responded to a survey questionnaire mailed to a random sample of members of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy Association. The survey was used to determine training needs of therapists in the area of AT, their confidence in delivering AT services, preferred methods of training, and challenges in becoming trained.

Results

The therapists reported having less-than-adequate training in AT and a lack of confidence in delivering AT services. They also reported that they would like accessible and affordable training that focuses on funding technology and services, knowledge of specific devices, and assessment and evaluation methods.

Discussion and Conclusion

The findings underscore the need to develop pre-service, in-service, and continuing education training opportunities in AT for providers working with children who have disabilities.
Locomotor Training Restores Walking in a Nonambulatory Child With Chronic, Severe, Incomplete Cervical Spinal Cord Injury
Authors: Behrman Andrea L , Nair Preeti M , Bowden Mark G , Dauser Robert C , Herget Benjamin R , Martin Jennifer B , Phadke Chetan P , Reier Paul J , Senesac Claudia R , Thompson Floyd J , Howland Dena R
Published: March 2008

Background and Purpose

Locomotor training (LT) enhances walking in adult experimental animals and humans with mild-to-moderate spinal cord injuries (SCIs). The animal literature suggests that the effects of LT may be greater on an immature nervous system than on a mature nervous system. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of LT in a child with chronic, incomplete SCI.

Subject

The subject was a nonambulatory 4½-year-old boy with an American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) C Lower Extremity Motor Score (LEMS) of 4/50 who was deemed permanently wheelchair-dependent and was enrolled in an LT program 16 months after a severe cervical SCI.

Methods

A pretest-posttest design was used in the study. Over 16 weeks, the child received 76 LT sessions using both treadmill and over-ground settings in which graded sensory cues were provided. The outcome measures were ASIA Impairment Scale score, gait speed, walking independence, and number of steps.

Result

One month into LT, voluntary stepping began, and the child progressed from having no ability to use his legs to community ambulation with a rolling walker. By the end of LT, his walking independence score had increased from 0 to 13/20, despite no change in LEMS. The child's final self-selected gait speed was 0.29 m/s, with an average of 2,488 community-based steps per day and a maximum speed of 0.48 m/s. He then attended kindergarten using a walker full-time.

Discussion and Conclusion

A simple, context-dependent stepping pattern sufficient for community ambulation was recovered in the absence of substantial voluntary isolated lower-extremity movement in a child with chronic, severe SCI. These novel data suggest that some children with severe, incomplete SCI may recover community ambulation after undergoing LT and that the LEMS cannot identify this subpopulation.
Visual Attention, Modeling Behaviors, and Other Verbal and Nonverbal Meta-Communication of Prekindergarten Children Viewing Sesame Street
Authors: Sproull Natalie
Published: March 2008

Thirty prekindergarten children, randomly assigned, were videotaped while viewing the same pre-taped Sesame Street program either as single viewers ( N=6) or as group viewers (6 groups of 4 Ss each). Video-tapes were systematically coded for visual attention, modeling behaviors, and other meta-communication. Both groups and single viewers averaged eye contact with over 80% of the program despite exhibiting more than one nonviewing behavior per minute and high mobility while viewing. Group viewers exhibited a large number and variety of verbal and nonverbal, targeted and (probably) nontargeted modeling behaviors; single viewers much fewer. Overt program-elicited amusement was more frequent for groups than for singles. Children exhibited vicarious participation as evidenced by one direct reaction to the program about every four minutes. Other behaviors included (a) labeling (b) program appeal behaviors, (c) associating, (d) fear references, (e) evaluating, (f) reading, (g) predicting, and (h) nonprogram related verbalization.
Estimating the Covariance Matrix of the Random Components in the Mixed Model Appropriate to Single Sample Repeated Measures Data
Authors: Schmidt William H. , Scheifley Verda
Published: March 2008

A method for estimating the variances and covariances of the random components of the mixed model, appropriate to single sample repeated measures data, is discussed. To illustrate its use, an example is presented which is concerned with the effect of syntactic and semantic violations of linguistic rules on the free recall of verbal materials. The procedures are based on the structural analysis of the covariance matrix of the repeated measures.
Further Comments Relating to the Measurement of Change
Authors: Marks Edmond , Martin Charles G.
Published: March 2008

As part of their review of the estimation and use of “change” scores, Cronbach and Furby and O’Connor recommended procedures designed to increase the precision of estimators of individual true gain. The intent was to develop estimators which yielded smaller mean squares of ( D∞ – D∞), where ( D∞ is true gain. The present study was designed to examine the effects of three parameters upon this mean square, where the estimator of D∞ employed was one originally proposed by F. M. Lord. The three parameters studied were the correlation between the true score on the initial test and true gain ( rξγ), the reliability of the initial test rxx sample size. Of principal interest were the effects of the initial test true score-true gain correlation. The ANOVA results indicated that rξγ has a pronounced effect upon the precision of D∞ but this effect is moderated by rXX general, higher values of rξγ yielded smaller errors in D D∞. These results were considered in the discussion of the extended estimator proposed by Cronbach and Furby.
The Effects of Parent Training Program on the Question-Asking Behavior of Mexican-American Children
Authors: Henderson Ronald W. , Garcia Angela B.
Published: March 2008

Mothers of Mexican-American first-graders were divided into four groups according to the Solomon design. Experimental mothers were trained to use modeling, cueing, and reinforcement to influence their first-graders’ question-asking; control mothers were not. The effects of treatment on the child’s baseline question-asking level and ability to learn from examiner instruction were examined by administering a measure to the children, pre- and post-parent training. Their question-asking was assessed during three conditions: baseline, examiner instruction on question-asking, and generalization. Post-treatment assessment revealed that the question-asking of both experimental and control Ss increased significantly in response to instruction provided by an examiner who modeled questionasking behavior. Experimental Ss asked significantly more questions than control Ss across all three post-treatment measurement conditions (baseline, instruction, and generalization).
Teachers’ Expectations and Pupil Performance
Authors: Mendels Glen E. , Flanders James P.
Published: March 2008

In light of the failure of most attempts to replicate the original demonstration of potent teacher expectancy effects by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968), the following study was performed. Within each of ten first grade classes for educationally deprived students, one half of the pupils were pretested with the Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) and were then randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. Three weeks after the pretesting, teachers received reports stating that pupils in the experimental group had hidden academic potential and might show academic gains during the school year. Pupils were retested with the CAT six months later. Although the experimental group tended to make greater gain scores (as measured by IQ and raw scores) on the CAT (p <.10), no significant differences were found between the two groups on the following measures: reading grade, arithmetic grade, social skills, and reading level. The results of the study were interpreted as not supporting the Rosenthal and Jacobson findings. It was recommended that further exploration of teacher expectancies include, (a) relating expectancies to the overt interaction between students and teacher and (b) investigating teacher expectancies that result from more credible naturalistic inputs.
A Causal Model Analysis of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Authors: Madaus George F. , Woods Elinor M. , Nuttall Ronald L.
Published: March 2008

The causal model approach used in this study tested the cumulative hierarchical structure of the six major taxonomic levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy by measuring the strengths of the linear relationships (“links”) between levels. The assumed hierarchy should have direct links between adjacent levels and should have no indirect links between nonadjacent levels. The magnitude of these direct and indirect links was measured by constructing a causal model using multiple regression procedures. A parallel causal model method of analysis was used for determining the effect of introducing a “g” factor of general ability into the causal flow of the taxonomic structure. The results of the study suggest that both the direct and indirect causal links of the cumulative hierarchical taxonomic structure are extremely dependent on a “g” factor.
College Proximity and Rates of College Attendance
Authors: Tinto Vincent
Published: March 2008

This paper presents the results of a study on the effect of college proximity upon rates of college attendance among over 20,000 high school graduates of 1966 in the states of Illinois and North Carolina. Results of multivariate dummy-variable regression analyses question both the assumption that college proximity per se is an important factor in college-going, and the often stated belief that the establishment of public junior colleges will help to equalize educational opportunity by providing higher educational access to able children of low status families. In both Illinois and North Carolina, only persons of lower ability appeared to gain in attendance when living in a community with a public junior college.
Semantic Differential Methodology for the Structuring of Attitudes
Authors: Maguire Thomas O.
Published: March 2008

The semantic differential technique can be used to structure attitude domains. In the present paper, the selection of scales and concepts and the format for administration are discussed in terms of an underyling linear model. Three methods of calculating correlations are evaluated with the method known as “stringing out” being preferred. Suggestions for factor analysis and factor matching are made. Some applications of the exploratory use of the semantic differential are described.
The Validation of a Learning Hierarchy
Authors: White Richard T.
Published: March 2008

Nine stages in the validation of a learning hierarchy are described. The stages are an amendment to previous methods of validation. It is shown that they lead to strong evidence in support of Gagné’s postulate that generalized intellectual skills are learned hierarchically while specific individual facts, termed verbalized knowledge, are not.
Bases of Status in Four Elementary School Faculties
Authors: Smith Kenneth E. , Sandler Howard M.
Published: March 2008

The bases on which status was awarded were studied in each of four elementary school faculties. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Colleagues’ perceptions of social power and instrumental and expressive competence accounted for high proportions of the variance in status in each school, while perceptions of attraction, sex, age, race, length of teaching experience and tenure in the school, and formal certification level did not account for significant portions of the variance. Social power proved a particularly important predictor in the three schools which were experiencing high turnover in the position of principal or rapid change in the nature of the community and student body served.
An Exploratory Analysis of the Representation of a Mathematical Structure in Students’ Cognitive Structures
Authors: Geeslin William E. , Shavelson Richard J.
Published: March 2008

The study investigated learning of mathematical structure. Eighth grade students ( N = 87) were assigned randomly to read either a programmed text on probability (experimental group) or one on prime numbers (control group). The subject matter structure of the probability text was mapped with the method of directed graphs. Structure in students’ memories, cognitive structures, was investigated using a word association technique. Cognitive structure and achievement data were gathered at pretest, posttest, and retention test. The directed graphs provided an interpretable map of subject matter structure. Experimental students learned and retained the content structure but the control students did not. A comparison of word association, achievement, and attitude data indicated that learning of structure may differ from learning measured by achievement tests.