bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Health Education England: stakeholder summit and preparations for phase two
Authors: Jollie Carol
Published: May 2014

The Health Education England stakeholder summit for phase one of the non-surgical cosmetic interventions project was held on 1 May 2014. Carol Jollie from Health Education England reflects on the success of the event and shares upcoming plans for training requirements and course delivery in phase two. She also informs aesthetic nurses about Health Education England's refreshed mandate for 2014/2015.
Cosmetex, Gold Coast, Australia: taking a minimalist, natural approach to injecting
Authors: Fletcher Leslie
Published: May 2014

Every year, the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery hosts an annual conference to provide a forum for surgeons, dermatologists, doctors and nurses to update their knowledge and exchange ideas. This year, aesthetic nurse specialist Leslie Fletcher travelled all the way to the Gold Coast in Australia to speak on neocollagenesis, and learn about rejuvenation strategies and techniques from several international experts
‘Under supervision’ is a clause that will be grossly misinterpreted and abused
Authors: Collier Helena
Published: May 2014

In 2012, Helena Collier published an article in the Journal of Aesthetic Nursing on the demedicalisation of healthcare versus the medicalisation of beauty. Her views on the topic are still of high significance to aesthetic practitioners two years after publication, as the Government continues to support non-health professionals administering cosmetic injectables. Helena reflects on the situation facing aesthetic nurses
Existence of a positive solution for nonlinear Schrödinger equations with general nonlinearity
Authors: Sato Yohei , Shibata Masataka
Published: May 2014

We study the following nonlinear Schrödinger equations:

-
Δ
u
+
V

(
x
)

u
=
f

(
u
)

in

ℝ
N

.

$
- \Delta u + V(x) u = f(u) \quad \text{in } {\mathbb {R}^N}.
$

The purpose of this paper is to establish the existence of a positive solution
under general conditions which are weaker than the Ambrosetti–Rabinowitz condition.
Application of WLS strips for position determination in strip PET tomograph based on plastic scintillators
Authors: Smyrski Jerzy , Moskal Paweł , Bednarski Tomasz , Białas Piotr , Czerwiński Eryk , Kapłon łukasz , Kochanowski Andrzej , Korcyl Grzegorz , Kowal Jakub , Kowalski Paweł , Kozik Tomasz , Krzemień Wojciech , Molenda Marcin , Niedźwiecki Szymon , Pałka Marek , Pawlik-Niedzwiecka Monika , Raczyński Lech , Rudy Zbigniew , Salabura Piotr , Gupta-Sharma Neha , Silarski Michał , Słomski Artur , Strzelecki Adam , Wiślicki Wojciech , Zieliński Marcin , Zoń Natalia
Published: May 2014

A method of the determination of a γ-quantum absorption point in a plastic scintillator block using a matrix of wavelength-shifting (WLS) strips is proposed. An application of this method for the improvement of position resolution in newly proposed positron emission tomography (PET) detectors based on plastic scintillators is presented. The method enables to reduce parallax errors in the reconstruction of images, which occurs in the presently used PET scanners.
Simulations of γ quanta scattering in a single module of the J-PET detector
Authors: Szymański Konrad , Moskal Paweł , Bednarski Tomasz , Białas Piotr , Czerwiński Eryk , Giergiel Krzysztosz , Kapłon łukasz , Kochanowski Andrzej , Korcyl Grzegorz , Kowal Jakub , Kowalski Paweł , Kozik Tomasz , Krzemień Wojciech , Molenda Marcin , Moskal Ines , Niedźwiecki Szymon , Pałka Marek , Pawlik-Niedźwiecka Monika , Raczyński Lech , Rudy Zbigniew , Salabura Piotr , Sharma Neha , Silarski Michał , Słomski Artur , Smyrski Jerzy , Strzelecki Adam , Witkowski Piotr , Wiślicki Wojciech , Zieliński Marcin , Zoń Natalia
Published: May 2014

This article describes the simulations of the scattering of annihilation γ quanta in a strip of a plastic scintillator. Such strips constitute the basic detection modules in a newly proposed positron emission tomography (PET), which utilizes plastic scintillators instead of inorganic crystals. An algorithm simulating the chain of Compton scatterings was elaborated and a series of simulations have been conducted for the scintillator strip with a cross-section of 5×19 mm. The results indicate that secondary interactions occur only in the case of about 8% of the events and only 25% of these events take place in the distance larger than 0.5 cm from the primary interaction. Also, the light signals produced at the primary and secondary interactions overlap with the delay, the distribution of which is characterized by a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of about 40 ps.
Database and data structure for the novel TOF-PET detector developed for the J-PET project
Authors: Czerwiński Eryk , Zieliński Marcin , Bednarski Tomasz , Białas Piotr , Kapłon Łukasz , Kochanowski Andrzej , Korcyl Grzegorz , Kowal Jakub , Kowalski Paweł , Kozik Tomasz , Krzemień Wojciech , Kubicz Ewelina , Molenda Marcin , Moskal Paweł , Niedźwiecki Szymon , Pałka Marek , Pawlik-Niedźwiecka Monika , Raczyński Lech , Rudy Zbigniew , Salabura Piotr , Sharma Neha Gupta , Silarski Michał , Słomski Artur , Smyrski Jerzy , Strzelecki Adam , Wieczorek Anna , Wiślicki Wojciech , Zoń Natalia
Published: May 2014

The complexity of the hardware and the amount of data collected during the PET imaging process require application of modern methods of efficient data organization and processing. In this article, we will discuss the data structures and the flow of collected data from the novel TOF-PET medical scanner that is being developed at the Jagiellonian University. The developed data format reflects the registration process of the γ quanta emitted from positron electron annihilation, front-end electronic structure, and required input information for the image reconstruction. In addition, the system database fulfills possible demands of the evolving J-PET project.
Rhetoric, Social Alienation and Semioethics in Global Communication
Authors: Petrilli Susan
Published: May 2014

Global communication today is strictly connected to the dominant social reproduction system which is regulated by dominant ideology and official discourse. These are grounded in the logic of identity, therefore the logic of roles with their limited responsibilities and alibis, ultimately the logic of self-interest. Human behaviour is sign behaviour and ideological behaviour, in other words, it is never neutral, but, on the contrary, is permeated with values and regulated by social programs. Global semiotics and semioethics contribute towards a critical understanding of communication today, of semiosis, in a globalized world. Dialogism and listening are the condition for a new form of humanism based on the logic of otherness rather than on the logic of identity.
Smile and Laughter in Russian Culture and Languag
Authors: Shmelev Aiexei
Published: May 2014

Unlike many other cultures, the Russian culture encourages loud laughter (xoxot) and more often than not discourages smiles ( ulybki). The paper presents linguistic evidence for such attitude: etymology ( ulybat'sja “smile” from the word for scull with allusion to bared teeth), the use of the words for laughter and smile in the present-day Russian discourse, the role of laughter and smile in the Russian linguistic model of the world, etc. It is consistent with the strong emphasis that the Russian culture places on sincerity and open expression of emotions. In addition, it is consistent with the whole system of the Russian non-verbal etiquette (e. g., it is not good to meet a stranger's eyes with your eyes; if it has happened by chance, you should turn off your eyes rather than smile).

This attitude often leads to cross-cultural miscommunication (a typical American smile may seem non-natural and false to many Russians while foreigners who are involved in communication with Russians sometimes find them rude, impolite, ill-mannered).
Narrating the Self in a Contemporary World: Bridging Autobiography and Testimony
Authors: Violi Patrizia
Published: May 2014

Abstract The paper investigates new textual forms of autobiographical writing in the contemporary world, and in particular the striking growth of traumatic memories from recent and less recent conflicts. The category of testimony is suggested in order to better describe what appears to be a pervasive phenomenon; from a semiotic point of view one of the main features of testimony literature is its effect of hybridisation across the boundaries of different textual genres.

The paper investigates a transversal feature of contemporaiy testimony, i. e. the use of a multimodal language composed of both linguistic and visual material, in particular photographs, and analyses contrastively the meaning effects of such use in traditional autobiographical texts and in new hybrid forms of testimony.
The Image Iconicity in the Chinese Language
Authors: Hu Zhuanglin
Published: May 2014

The nature of arbitrariness and iconicity has been a heated topic for debate among the Chinese linguists and semioticians in the past 20 years. Due to the fact that modern Chinese linguistic scholarship has been strongly influenced by Saussure's Course in General Linguistics (2001 ) , the dominant view in China was once marked by arbitrariness. Yet, with the development of cognitive linguistics, today the scale has tilted toward iconicity. Since most of the papers in favour of arbitrariness have focused on Saussure's view of seeing sign as a dualistic relation between "signifier" and "signified", that is, "sound-image" and "concept" ,and have not objected much to the role of iconicity at the syntactic level and the textual level, this paper, to save space and time, will not deal with sequence iconicity, distance iconicity, quantity iconicity, space iconicity, temporal iconicity, markedness iconicity, etc., and will confine itself to the image iconicity, that is, sound iconicity and graph iconicity. In doing so, I will start with a brief review of concepts and views held by the Chinese philosophers and etymologists, past and present.
Cassirer in the Context of Saussurean Semiotics
Authors: Ding Ersu
Published: May 2014

Ernst Cassirer and Ferdinand de Saussure are two of the most important semioticians of the 20th century. Both of them view language not as an instrument through which the objective world can be represented, but as a formative event which actively organizes otherwise indistinct streams of human experience. Despite their agreement on the constitutive nature of language, however, Saussure and Cassirer differ significantly on the issue of how the formation of concepts is achieved. According to the former, it is not enough to individually consider a particular combination of a sequence of sound and a concept, because to do so is to assume that one can start from the terms and construct the system by adding them together when, on the contrary, it is from the interdependent whole that one must start and through analysis obtain its elements. Thus, instead of specific words that de facto connect us with the world through their meanings, Saussure starts his explanation of concept formation with the two preexisting continua of sound and thought which, when they combine, supposedly articulate phonic units on the one side and conceptual units on the other. In this way, language somehow takes on the attributes of an autoeffective spirit which decomposes itself into various components. For Cassirer, the formation of concepts is fulfilled by a universal consciousness with the help of language and other symbolic forms. Although there are no ready-made concepts or ideas before the appearance of language, the thinking subject still encounters chaotic extralinguistic life experience which Cassirer calls " indeterminate outward material". Only, in its pursuit of the universal, consciousness does not require the entirety of information from the particular itself. Instead, it resorts to sequences of sounds in its creation of necessary complexes of meaning. The result is the birth of verbal concepts or ideas which do not belong to any specific situation but can be used to evoke those meanings that belong to a whole class of similar situations.
On Contexts, Complexity, and Continuity: Grounding Peirce’s Theory of Semiosis to Explain Intersubjective Interpretation, as Exemplified by Mozart
Authors: Hatten Robert S.
Published: May 2014

As an extension of Peircean semiotic theory, the author examines the importance of contexts, complexity, and continuity, as demonstrated by the Classical musical style and the interpretation of expressive meaning in a movement of the Mozart Requiem. The author argues that a richer context for interpretation must include the shared competency of a musical style, which both grounds interpretation by means of an "intersubjective interpretant" and also guides listeners' understanding of the unique features or strategies of a given musical work. Complexity is implicated in the integration of such interpretive contexts, which require a more synthetic model than is inferable from Peirce's linear chain of interpretants. Finally, continuity presupposes the body conceived as an organism which is attuned to a particular environment (that which is available to its senses, and with which it engages in actions), with consequences for our understanding of musical gesture. The author enriches Peirce's notion of the continuity of signification across biological and cognitive domains, by analogy with a musical style as the environment within which a musical work is interpretable.
An Analysis of the Transitivity System in Courtroom Discourse
Authors: Guang Shi
Published: May 2014

This paper analyzes the transitivity system in the audio recording transcripts of eight court trials, employing relevant theory in Systemic Functional Linguistics. It is found that: ( 1 ) the following four types of process clauses appear frequently in the courtroom discourse: material, verbal, relational and mental, of which the number of material process clauses is the biggest. Behavioural and existential process clauses appear much less frequently than the above four types; (2) The frequencies of different types of process have a positive correlation with their functions in the court trials; ( 3 ) The choice of different process types and participants reflects the institutional role, stances and purposes of the speakers.
Life and Temporality: The Place of Biosemiotics within Peirce’s General Semiotics
Authors: Fernández Eliseo
Published: May 2014

I would like to present some new perspectives on the reciprocal foundational links which are discemable between Peirce's general semiotics on the one hand and anthroposemiotic and biosemiotic inquiry on the other. To this end I offer an examination of the peculiar place occupied by temporal relations within the relational framework of Peirce's semiotics. I support these considerations by drawing on previous work about a relational world-view presently emerging as a unifying perspective within diverse fields of inquiry (biology, quantum physics, philosophy of inquiry, and mathematics), which I have previously characterized as a "relational tum". A common, positive feature of these developments is the recognition of the relational nature of physical reality. This portends an implicit repudiation of the traditional nominalistic bias of the physical sciences and removes an important obstacle to the acceptance of semiotic ideas. However these new approaches have, up to now, failed to consider any relations other than dyadic relations or their dyadic combinations. I argue for the need to supplement the Peircean elucidation of semiosis in terms of triadic relations with other equally unique relational features, which I characterize as " radical temporality" and selfreference. A brief sketch of the different roles played by relations of temporality in organisms in general ( biosemiotics) as opposed to organisms immersed in a historically constituted culture of symbols and artifacts (anthroposemiotics) serves to disclose the relations of mutual epistemic dependence that underlie these disciplines.
Do Graphic Designers Ever Construct an Argument?
Authors: Skaggs Steven
Published: May 2014

When the ten classes of signs postulated by the founder of scientific semiotics, American Philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, are applied to the world of visual communication, a question arises about the class he labels "Argument". Can a graphic designer construct, in the arrangement of his visual materials, a complete argument? This is the question pursued in this paper. After translating Peirce's classes into language familiar to the design industry, and looking at the requirements of Argument as a discrete class of signs, I suggest that designers always produce assertions, but rarely, perhaps never, do they construct a complete argument
On the Cross-cultural Semiotic Turn
Authors: Li Youzheng
Published: May 2014

During the current transmitting period of semiotics and humanities in the world the term semiotics can and should be only a general index about a new direction of doing theoretical scholarship in social-human sciences without being able, however, to attain a more precise definition about its identity, aim, zone and methods. Semioticians have got used to organizing their scientific practice according to the related professional frames and channels that are often motivated by some competitive-utilitarian aims easily losing insight into the internal criteria of the semiotic elementals. The present paper proposes to go back to the internal criteria to pay attention to the semiotic merits as such. A proposal is raised here about the possible change of some basic conception in the current semiotic practice that the general semiotic scholarship can be further divided into several different categories or types implicative of different criteria and procedures. Thus, the main division should be made between the American-communication-directed trend (semiotics 1) and the Frenchsignification- directed trend (semiotics 2). The so-called cross-cultural semiotics (in an exact sense it amounts to global semiotics; but in a popular sense it is used as an alternative of the non-westem semiotics; in this paper it means almost the latter) or part of it could become another category so as to be able to more pertinently grasp the semiotic elementals in more detailed ways. Then we could find out or create more pertinent signifying units to carry out more effectively anatomizing and recombining operations in semiotic practice.
The Enminded Body. Spinoza, Descartes, and the Philosophy of Cognition – A Critical Note
Authors: Brandt Per Aage
Published: May 2014

Ontologically, Baruch Spinoza and Rene Descartes take significantly different stands on truth, mind and meaning. It this respect, the latter can be regarded as the founder of modern epistemology, phenomenology, and scientific thinking. Nevertheless, Spinoza's mysticism and resounding Spinozist rejections of Cartesian rationalism can be found at the root of modern analytic philosophy and, even more surprisingly, in most basic assumptions of current cognitive science. The main issue of this "metaphysical" debate is the status of mind, consciousness, mental representations, truth, and meaning in general, and therefore the debate concerns the possibility of a cognitive semantics.
Rituals and Routines: A Semiotic Inquiry
Authors: Leone Massimo
Published: May 2014

The article proposes a semiotic comparison between the phenomenological structure of rituals and routines, and claims that they share the same features of repetition through time, impossibility of change, unavailability of choice, and transcendental conception of origin. If a modern, structural conception of meaning based on alternative is adopted, both rituals and routines can be considered as meaningless. However, if the non-structural, pre-modem conception of meaning based on repetition is embraced, rituals and routines appear to be meaningful, although they do not have a meaning according to the structural semiotic ideology. The sense of belonging that emerges from rituals and routines (from routines as rituals) relies exactly on the feeling that no alternative is possible, that meaning depends on a subject's repetitive frequentation of a physical or conceptual space, and that dis-placement does not exist. The section concludes by focusing on the main phenomenological difference between a ritual and a routine- whereas the former is collective, the latter is individual-, contending that this is the main reason for which the existential value of rituals in pre-modem societies is not satisfactorily replaced by that of routines in contemporary societies. Routines offer to (post-) modern subjects an alienating feeling of belonging that fails to replace the sense of belonging guaranteed by pre-modem rituals. Only through rituals do subjects feel part of a collective routine that secures their feeling of belonging.
The Occurrence of Thinking and Symbols
Authors: Dong Xiaoying
Published: May 2014

This paper is part of Chapter One "The Origin of Art and Artistic Thinking" in the book An Introduction to the Logic of Narrative
Art. But before discussing artistic thinking, we find it necessary to investigate the origin of thinking and its relation with symbols. Since it's impossible for us to go back to the ancient times, what we can do is to examine the occurrence of thinking and symbols and their relation by means of studying babies' and aborigines' thinking methods and animals' cognition of symbols. The developmental process of thinking proves that thinking is undoubtedly prior to each conscious action. It's not the case that labor creates human beings or language, but that labor, language and writing mark the developmental level of thinking. It also proves that the two-way motion ("concrete to abstract ←→ abstract to concrete") of thinking occurs at all times. Human modes of thinking experience a gradual evolutionary process from primitive thinking to mythological thinking and then to abstract thinking. And mythological thinking is retained in artistic creation and becomes various figures of speech which are still in use now.
Corporeality, Culture and Nonverbal Semiotics of Ethics and Etiquette
Authors: Kreydlin Grigory E.
Published: May 2014

This study addresses some significant semiotic, communicative and rhetorical aspects of postures. It deals with basic Russian postures and compares their functions, meanings and regularities of usage with those of Russian manual gestures. The notions of nonverbal ethics and etiquette of interactive communication are introduced that estimate, among other things, the measure of freedom which one body possesses toward another. The paper focuses on some cross-cultural discrepancies in postures and postural representations of emotions and on different semiotic oppositions and postural patterns that serve to communicate ethical information, and explain how social and cultural meanings such as " decent" and " indecent" can be expressed nonverbally.
A Note on the Meaning of Jakob von Uexküll’s Heritage in Today’s Tartu
Authors: Magnus Riin
Published: May 2014

The article gives a brief overview of Jakob von Uexküll's (1864-1944) biosemiotic heritage as it has been studied, interpreted and integrated into Tartu semiotics and other academic fields in recent decades.
An Experimental Study of the Synthesis of Ultrafine Titania Powder in Plasmachemical Flow-Type Reactor
Authors: Kartaev E. V. , Lukashov V. P. , Vashenko S. P. , Aulchenko S. M. , Kovalev O. B. , Sergachev D. V.
Published: May 2014

Methods for controlling the synthesis of the submicron (including nanosized) powder of titanium dioxide (titania, TiO2) in a setup with a plasmachemical flow reactor were investigated. The synthesis of titania particles from gaseous titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) in the plasmachemical reactor by the chloride method was experimentally studied. The processes of formation and growth of particles depending on the type of the plasma-forming gas, flow rates of TiCl4; and the quenching gas (air), reactor length, and mean-mass temperature in the reaction zone were considered. When using nitrogen as heat-carrying gas, a new approach of titania powder synthesis based on combining of reaction zone and quenching zone has been applied. Under these non-equilibrium conditions and substantial temperature gradients, this method enabled us to synthesize reproducibly ultrafine titania powders (30–50 nm) with a high content (80–87%) of metastable anatase crystal lattice. The results reveal that the powder properties can be efficiently controlled, i.e., one setup can produce titania with a required particle size and a type of the crystal lattice: anatase (A) or rutile (R). The experimental data are found to agree well with the results of numerical calculations.
Arab Acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Partners in Development?
Authors: Farrar Salim
Published: May 2014

If the NGOs and majority of western journalists are right, Arab investors in sub-Saharan Africa are no better than “cowboys” in a lawless “African Wild West” in which they land grab, raid resources and violate the human rights of the traditional owners of the land. This paper questions the basis for that consensus and looks more deeply at the evolving partnerships between African and Arab investors in the land context as African governments seek to chart their own particular paths of development. The paper takes a “macro” and contextual approach, linking historical, political economy and legal analysis with a case study
Some Proposals towards a More Rigorous Corpus Linguistics
Authors: Gries Stefan Τh.
Published: May 2014

Over the past few decades, corpus linguistics has evolved into a fullyfledged methodological approach with an increasing number of scholars using various different methods. In this rather programmatic paper, I will argue, however, that corpus linguistics has, in some respects at least, still some way to go in terms of developing rigorous tools and methods and using them more often. More specifically, corpus linguistics - as the young discipline it still is - still has much to learn from other disciplines; a prime candidate in this respect is psycholinguistics. I will try to support this claim with arguments from several case studies.
Using Corpora in the Calculation of Language Relationships
Authors: Lüdeling Anke
Published: May 2014

This paper explores the relationships between traditional genetic trees of languages and (unrooted) similarity trees. Genetic trees are typically based on lexical and phonological data and ignore information from any other level of analysis. Similarity trees can directly be computed from corpus data. Since a corpus can be seen as corresponding strings (text, annotation tags), string comparison methods from bioinformatics can be used to compute 'distance scores' between languages. Similarity trees based on phonological and syntactic features are presented for five historical varieties of German, and the scope and limits of such surface-based methods in the calculation of language relationships are discussed
Czy powierzchnie wykonane z miedzi i stopów miedzi mogą pomóc w zapobieganiu rozprzestrzeniania się infekcji wirusowych?
Authors: Szufnarowski Krzysztof
Published: May 2014

Streszczenie: Zakażenia przewodu pokarmowego wywoływane przez norowirusy (NoV) stanowią poważny problem epidemiologiczny na całym świecie. W zapobieganiu ich rozprzestrzeniania podkreśla się znaczenie restrykcyjnego przestrzegania zasad higieny. W temperaturze pokojowej i suchym środowisku miedź (Cu) i jej stopy wykazują działanie inaktywujące wirusy w ciągu dwóch godzin po ekspozycji na patogen. Szybkość tego procesu jest proporcjonalna do zawartości Cu w stopie. Stal nie posiada takich właściwości. Zastosowanie powierzchni dotykowych wykonanych z miedzi lub jej stopów może pomóc w ograniczaniu epidemii zakażeń wywoływanych przez NoV.
Anxiety-solving as an essential ingredient for the treatment
Authors: Radics Judit
Published: May 2014

Anxiety frequently develops in human life and it is usually useful for the organism. Anxiety helps accomodation to the social enviroment, however, it may be harmful when it is intensive and long-lasting. It can also cause psychosomatic diseases. Anxiety may present itself as mild or moderate stress, psychosomatic diseases or psychiatric disorders. In the general practice about one third of the patients suffer from anxiety, but it is not easy to identify these patients because of the frequent somatic complaints which may cover anxiety symptoms. The prevalence of anxiety disorders is between 12.6% and 17.2% per year and, in a considerable proportion of patients, both anxiety and depression are present. Therapy of anxiety is complex including psychopharmacotherapy (antidepressants, anxiolytics, hypnotics), psychotherapy and life style changes. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(22), 859–864.
Proton Conductivity of Natural Diatomite
Authors: Wang Bo
Published: May 2014

Proton conductivity of the natural diatomite was studied by ac complex impedance technique. At room temperature, the highest proton conductivity was found to be 4.5 x 10-7S·cm-1. By hydrating the diatomite, the proton conductivity was increased to two orders of magnitude higher. The room temperate proton conductivity of the hydrated diatomite (5.5 x 10-5S·cm-1) was comparable to other hydrated solid proton conductors. The natural diatomite could be used as potential cost-effective proton conductor for electrochemical applications.
Underestimating Albert
Authors: Jones Mike
Published: May 2014

This article represents an exploration of the contribution made by Albert Grossman to the career of Bob Dylan. Dylan is such a distinctive performer and songwriter that he can easily appear to be entirely self-made. Certainly, Dylan has a forceful character and appears to delight in confounding all who would ask questions of him. Further, the role of Grossman, his first manager, has all but entirely been written out of Dylan’s early history (not least by Dylan himself). The fact that Grossman died in 1986 has facilitated this process. The concern of ‘Underestimating Albert’ is to argue the reverse, that Grossman’s role in the creation of Dylan as a popular music success cannot be underestimated.
Acidentes e violências: um retrato das ocorrências nos serviços de atendimento a urgências e emergências
Authors: Brandão Gisetti Corina Gomes , Barrêto Anne Jaqueline Roque , Gaspar Jaqueline Correia , Trindade Ruth França Cizino da , Vaz Natália Luzia Fernandes , Oliveira Maria Amélia de Campos
Published: May 2014

Este estudo teve por objetivo caracterizar os atendimentos realizados em um serviço hospitalar de urgência e emergência na cidade de Maceió (AL) e identificar as características das vítimas e dos acidentes atendidas nesse serviço, no ano de 2009. Estudo exploratório, descritivo, com abordagem quantitativa. Os dados foram coletados de fontes secundárias. O total de atendimentos realizados em 2009 foi de 143.262, dos quais foi selecionada uma amostra aleatória de 399 ocorrências, calculada com erro amostral de 5% e intervalo de confiança de 95%. Para coleta dos dados, utilizou-se um formulário elaborado com base na ficha de Acidentes e Violências da Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde do Ministério da Saúde. As variáveis foram preestabelecidas e incluíram idade, sexo, tipo de ocorrência e horário do evento. A maioria (76,19%) das vítimas eram homens, na faixa etária entre 15 e 49 anos (66,96%), com predominância dos 20 aos 29 anos (26,50%); 11,53% eram condutores de veículos e 8,02%, pedestres. A maior incidência de acidentes ocorreu nos períodos da tarde e da noite, com 31,33 e 32,83% dos casos, respectivamente. Os resultados permitem assinalar o risco que os condutores de transportes terrestres enfrentam no trânsito da cidade de Maceió, sendo que tais ocorrências necessitam de intervenções e de outras pesquisas para avaliar as situações de risco.
Causas externas relacionadas à alcoolemia registradas pelo Instituto Médico Legal no município do Rio de Janeiro
Authors: Cruz Carla da Costa , Sarcinelli Paula de Novaes , Silva Jefferson José Oliveira da , Meyer Tathiana de Souza Martins , Bochner Rosany , Alves Sérgio Rabello
Published: May 2014

Esta pesquisa objetivou identificar os fatores de risco associados às circunstâncias envolvendo alcoolemia no município do Rio de Janeiro, no período de 1998 a 2005. As variáveis utilizadas para os casos considerados como positivos com quantificação de álcool no sangue, levando-se em consideração o limite estabelecido pelo Código de Trânsito Brasileiro vigente no período (≥0,6 g/L), foram o Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH) do ano de 2000, as ocorrências registradas pelo Instituto Médico Legal, idade média e média de concentração de álcool das vítimas. A variável média de concentração de álcool foi significativa (p<0,001), explicando 38% da variação dos casos de "Afogamento", assim como o IDH (p=0,008) explicou 29% da variação dos casos com "Vítimas de projétil de arma de fogo". Para a variável IDH, foram obtidas relações inversas, quando associada às circunstâncias que se referiam à violência ("Agressão", "Vítima de projétil de arma de fogo" e "Enforcamento"). Portanto, é possível inferir que os casos de morte por estas circunstâncias de violência aumentam quando os valores do IDH são mais baixos. Além disso, os achados deste estudo indicaram que os municípios não banhados pelo mar apresentaram os maiores índices de "Afogamento", corroborando a literatura existente.
Serviços de atenção ao estomizado: análise diagnóstica no Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil
Authors: Moraes Juliano Teixeira , Amaral Carlos Faria Santos , Borges Eline Lima , Ribeiro Mauro Souza , Guimarães Eliete Albano de Azevedo
Published: May 2014

Este estudo teve como objetivo descrever as características das dimensões de estrutura e de processos dos Serviços de Atenção à Saúde da Pessoa Ostomizada (SASPO) no Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Foi uma pesquisa transversal e descritiva realizada na Rede Estadual de Atenção à Saúde das Pessoas Ostomizadas no Estado de Minas Gerais, em 2011. Foram analisados critérios relacionados à estrutura e aos processos de 28 unidades de SASPO distribuídas em 13 macrorregiões de saúde. Os dados foram obtidos por meio de questionários estruturados com base nas normas governamentais para o serviço de referência ambulatorial para os estomizados. Foi realizada a distribuição de frequências para a análise descritiva dos dados. Os resultados mostraram que 72% dos SASPO têm estrutura para o cadastro dos pacientes e a dispensação de dispositivos e que 40% das unidades correspondem a serviços do tipo II. Quanto aos processos, 96% das unidades contavam com a assistência de enfermeiros, porém 52% deles sem capacitação. Percebeu-se ainda que esses profissionais estão mais envolvidos com as ações relacionadas à operacionalização do programa do que à assistência clínica. Conclui-se que os SASPO de Minas Gerais contam com estrutura e processos relacionados ao cadastro, controle e dispensação de equipamentos coletores e dispositivos.
Effect of weight and body composition changes on waist measurement of severely obese women receiving carbohydrate-restricted diet
Authors: Triffoni-Melo Andresa Toledo , Santos Rita de Cássia Lusia dos , Diez-Garcia Rosa Wanda
Published: May 2014

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of weight and body composition changes on waist measurement of severely obese women receiving a low-carbohydrate diet for a short-term. METHODS: Nineteen severely obese women divided into an intervention and a control group received a low-carbohydrate diet and a conventional diet, respectively, both with 1,200kcal, for seven days. Anthropometric measurements such as weight, body mass index, arm circumference, waist circumference (at the navel), two proposed measurements of waist circumference (waist circumference 1, 10cm above the navel; and waist circumference 2, 20cm above the navel), hip circumference; and body composition (lean mass and fat mass) were performed at baseline and end of the study. RESULTS: There was significant reduction of all variables in the intervention group (p<0.01), but the control group had no change in waist circumference (p=0.06) and hip circumference (p=0.36). Patients of the intervention group presented greater weight loss (4.4kg, p<0.01) and reduction of body mass index, waist circumference, waist circumference 1, waist circumference 2 (p<0.01), and fat mass (p=0.04) than the control group. CONCLUSION: The weight loss and body composition changes were greater in the low-carbohydrate group than in the conventional-diet group, and they had a greater impact on waist measurements. The proposed measurements (waist circumference 1 and waist circumference 2) were sensitive to weight reduction in both groups.
Factors associated with serum lipids of adolescents from the Brazilian South
Authors: Beck Carmem Cristina , Lopes Adair da Silva , Farias Júnior José Cazuza de
Published: May 2014

OBJECTIVE: This study analyzes factors associated with serum lipids in adolescents from southern Brazil. METHODS: This is a school-based cross-sectional study with a probabilistic sample composed of 660 adolescents aged 14 to 19 years from the city of Três de Maio, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. The following independent variables were analyzed: body mass index; waist-to-height ratio; moderate to vigorous level of physical activity; sedentary behaviour; lipid, total saturated fatty acid, cholesterol, sodium, and fiber intakes; smoking; and alcohol abuse. Linear regression analysis tested the association between the independent variables and total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol. RESULTS: Body mass index was directly associated with total cholesterol (β=0.96, p=0.001) and reversely associated with high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (β=-0.45, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: High body mass index may have a negative impact on the lipid profile of adolescents. Thus, monitoring nutritional status is important to prevent and control dyslipidemia in adolescents. We suggest multidisciplinary and intersectoral actions that encourage teenagers to acquire a healthy lifestyle, with emphasis on the adoption of an active lifestyle and balanced diet.
Systemic lupus erythematosus activity and beta two microglobulin levels
Authors: Skare Thelma Larocca , Ferri Kellen , Santos Marcela Aimone
Published: May 2014

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with a cyclical clinical course. Evaluation of the clinical activity of this disease is important for choosing the correct treatment. The objective of this study was to analyze the value of beta-2 microglobulin (β2M) serum levels in determining SLE clinical activity.DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional analytical study conducted at the rheumatology outpatient clinic of a private university hospital.METHODS: 129 SLE patients were studied regarding disease activity using SLEDAI (SLE Disease Activity Index) and cumulative damage using SLICC ACR (SLE International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index for SLE). At the same time, the β2M serum level, ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), anti-dsDNA (anti-double-stranded DNA) and C3 and C4 complement fractions were determined.RESULTS: β2M levels correlated positively with SLEDAI (P = 0.02) and ESR (P = 0.0009) and negatively with C3 (P = 0.007). Patients who were positive for anti-dsDNA had higher β2M serum levels (P = 0.009).CONCLUSION: β2M levels are elevated in SLE patients with active disease.
Perineal trauma after vaginal delivery in healthy pregnant women
Authors: Oliveira Larissa Santos , Brito Luiz Gustavo Oliveira , Quintana Silvana Maria , Duarte Geraldo , Marcolin Alessandra Cristina
Published: May 2014

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE:Despite all the medical care provided during delivery labor, perineal injury is still prevalent and may lead to diverse pelvic floor disorders. The aim here was to investigate the prevalence of obstetric and anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) in healthy pregnant women after vaginal delivery.DESIGN AND SETTING:Cross-sectional study involving 3,034 patients with singletons in a secondary hospital for low-risk cases.METHODS:A standardized questionnaire was prepared and applied to medical files that had been completely filled out (classification of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, RCOG) in order to identify OASIS and analyze risk factors associated with mild and severe perineal lacerations.RESULTS:The women's mean age was 25 years; more than half (54.4%) were primiparae. Almost 38% of the participants had perineal lacerations; these were severe in 0.9% of the cases. Previous vaginal delivery (odds ratio, OR: 1.64 [1.33-2.04]) and forceps delivery (OR: 2.04 [1.39-2.97]) were risk factors associated with mild perineal injuries (1st and 2nd OASIS classifications). Only remaining standing for prolonged periods during professional activity (OR: 2.85 [1.34-6.09]) was associated with severe perineal injuries.CONCLUSION:The prevalence of severe perineal injuries was concordant with data in the literature. The variable of standing position was considered to be a risk factor for severe perineal injury and should be further investigated.
Rare cavernous hemangioma of adrenal gland: case report
Authors: Wang Li , Dang Yiwu , He Rukun , Chen Gang
Published: May 2014

CONTEXT:Cavernous hemangiomas of the adrenal gland are rare benign neoplastic tumors. The clinical presentation of adrenal hemangiomas is usually vague, and they are often discovered incidentally through imaging examination s performed for other reasons.CASE REPORT:We report the case of a non-functional adrenal hemangioma found incidentally in a 37-year-old man with a one-year history of headache and hypertension. A right adrenal mass was detected by means of magnetic resonance imaging. Physical examination and all laboratory values were unremarkable. The patient underwent laparoscopic right adrenal gland resection. Histopathological evaluation confirmed adrenal cavernous hemangioma.CONCLUSIONS:Most occurrences of cavernous hemangiomas of the adrenal gland are non-functional and often discovered incidentally. Although rare, these unusual benign adrenal masses should form part of the differential diagnosis of adrenal neoplasms. The proper treatment for adrenal cavernous hemangioma is surgical removal.
Rational use of blood calcium determinations
Authors: Ferreira-Junior Mario , Lichtenstein Arnaldo , Sales Maria Mirtes , Taniguchi Leandro Utino , Aguiar Francisco José Bueno de , Fonseca Luiz Augusto Marcondes , Sumita Nairo Massakazu , Duarte Alberto José da Silva
Published: May 2014

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE:This study was motivated by the recent excessive increase in requests for blood calcium determinations and laboratory tests in general, in the Hospital das Clínicas complex of Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo (HCFMUSP). Its aim was to suggest rules for the determination of total and ionized calcium in our intensive care units, emergency department, wards and outpatient services, thus contributing towards improving the quality of medical care and achieving more appropriate use of human and financial resources.DESIGN AND SETTING:Critical analysis on clinical and laboratory data and the pertinent scientific literature, conducted by the study group for rational clinical laboratory use, which is part of the Central Laboratory Division, HCFMUSP.METHODS:The study group reviewed scientific publications, statistics and clinical and laboratory data concerning requests for total and ionized calcium determinations in the settings of intensive care units, emergency department, wards and outpatient services.RESULTS:From this critical analysis, clinical decision flow diagrams aimed at providing guidance for ordering these tests were constructed.CONCLUSIONS:Use of the proposed flow diagrams may help to limit the numbers of inappropriate requests for ionized and total calcium determinations, with consequent reductions in the number of tests, risks to patients and unnecessary costs.
Fertirrigação potássica na cultura do morango no litoral Cearense
Authors: Sousa Geocleber Gomes de , Viana Thales Vinicus de Araújo , Pereira Ednângelo Duarte , Albuquerque André Henrique Pinheiro , Marinho Albanise Barbosa , Azevedo Benito Moreira de
Published: May 2014

Objetivou-se avaliar efeitos de doses de potássio aplicadas via fertirrigação no acúmulo de biomassa e desempenho produtivo de cultivares de morangueiro no litoral cearense. O experimento foi conduzido a pleno sol, no período de abril a agosto de 2012, em Fortaleza, Ceará. Os tratamentos foram distribuídos em blocos ao acaso, em esquema fatorial 5×2, referente a cinco doses de potássio (0,65 g; 0,97 g; 1,29 g; 1,61 g e 1,93 g por planta, semanalmente) aplicadas via fertirrigação e duas cultivares de morangueiro (Oso grande e Verão), em cinco repetições. Aos 40 dias após o transplantio iniciou-se a colheita dos frutos, que foram avaliados semanalmente quanto ao seu número por planta, ao diâmetro, ao comprimento, ao peso médio e à produtividade. A adubação potássica estimula a produção de matéria seca da parte aérea e da raiz para as cultivares de morango Oso grande e Verão. A dose de potássio 0,65 g por planta foi a mais eficiente para o número de frutos por planta para a cultivar Oso grande e para o peso médio de fruto com a Verão. O aumento da concentração de potássio reduz a produtividade das cultivares de morango Oso grande e Verão. A cultivar Oso grande apresenta maior adaptabilidade às condições climáticas do litoral cearense do que a Verão.
Iris: A decentralized approach to backend messaging middlewares
Authors: Szilágyi Péter
Published: May 2014

In this work we introduce the design and internal workings of the Iris
decentralized messaging framework. Iris takes a midway approach between the
two prevalent messaging middleware models: the centralized one represented by
the AMQP family and the socket queuing one represented by ZeroMQ; by turning
towards peer-to-peer overlays as the internal transport for message
distribution and delivery. A novel concept is introduced, whereby a
distributed service is composed not of individual application instances, but
rather clusters of instances responsible for the same sub-service. Supporting
this new model, a collection of higher level messaging patterns have been
identified and successfully implemented: broadcast, request/reply,
publish/subscribe and tunnel. This conceptual model and supporting primitives
allow a much simpler way to specify, design and implement distributed, cloud
based services. Furthermore, the proposed system achieves a significant
switching speed, which - given its decentralized nature - can be scaled
better than existing messaging frameworks, whilst incurring zero
configuration costs.
Rule based strategies for large extensive-form games: A specification language for No-Limit Texas Hold’em agents
Authors: Teófilo Luís , Reis Luís , Cardoso Henrique , Mendes Pedro
Published: May 2014

Poker is used to measure progresses in extensive-form games research due to
its unique characteristics: it is a game where playing agents have to deal
with incomplete information and stochastic scenarios and a large number of
decision points. The development of Poker agents has seen significant
advances in one-on-one matches but there are still no consistent results in
multiplayer and in games against human experts. In order to allow for experts
to aid the improvement of the agents? performance, we have created a
high-level strategy specification language. To support strategy definition,
we have also developed an intuitive graphical tool. Additionally, we have
also created a strategy inferring system, based on a dynamically weighted
Euclidean distance. This approach was validated through the creation of
simple agents and by successfully inferring strategies from 10 human players.
The created agents were able to beat previously developed mid-level agents by
a good profit margin.