bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis: report of 12 cases and literature review
Authors: Guevara‐Gutierrez Elizabeth , Uribe‐Jimenez Elia , Diaz‐Canchola Margarita , Tlacuilo‐Parra Alberto
Published: February 2009

Background  Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis is an acute pustular eruption occurring after infection and/or drug ingestion, with spontaneous cure after a single eruption.

Aim  To communicate a series of cases of acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis.

Methods  A retrospective analysis was performed on cases of acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis, observed between 1993 and 2006 at the Dermatology Department, Hospital General de Occidente, Jalisco, Mexico.

Results  Twelve patients were included, with a predominance of male patients and a mean age of 28 years. The most common cause was drugs, detected in 83% of cases, and most of these were a result of anticonvulsants and antimicobials. The most frequent symptoms were itching, present in all cases, and fever, present in 92% of cases.

Conclusions  Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis is considered to be a distinct clinical and histopathologic entity. Because of its self‐resolving character, early recognition can help to avoid unnecessary diagnostic studies and treatments.
Temporary malar augmentation helps with preoperative planning for a permanent procedure
Authors: Taheri Arash , Mansoori Parisa
Published: February 2009

Background  Cheek augmentation improves the appearance of patients with flat malar eminences, creating a more youthful image. Autologous adipose tissue has been demonstrated to be a safe injectable filling material for malar augmentation.

Methods  Before proceeding to fat transplantation, a rapidly absorbable substance such as normal saline is injected into the cheek with a fine needle to enhance the malar eminence.

Results  This method helps the surgeon to determine the location and amount of fat to be injected. Patients can also see a simulation of the final results.

Conclusions  A temporary malar augmentation could be performed before a potentially permanent procedure, particularly when the surgeon or patient is hesitant about the aesthetic results.
Unusual clinical variants of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sicily
Authors: Bongiorno Maria Rita , Pistone Giuseppe , Aricò Mario
Published: February 2009

Background  The term “leishmaniasis” defines a group of vector‐borne diseases caused by species of the genus Leishmania and characterized by a spectrum of clinical manifestations. Parasite properties (infectivity, pathogenicity, virulence), host factors, and host responses regulate heterogeneous disease expression. Sicily is one of the major islands of the Mediterranean Basin and is considered to be a hypo‐endemic area for cutaneous leishmaniasis. Leishmania infantum is the most common species on the island.

Methods  Fifty patients (both sexes and different ages) with lesions clinically suggestive of cutaneous leishmaniasis were recorded over a 1‐year period. The diagnosis was based on positive slit‐skin smear and histopathologic studies when needed. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed as test confirmation.

Results  Twenty‐five patients had typical solitary lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Multiple lesions were present in five patients. In 20 patients, the lesions were very unusual, including erysipeloid, zosteriform, and lupoid leishmaniasis. The results of Leishmania isoenzyme characterization identified Leishmania infantum as the species responsible for the 20 atypical cases.

Conclusion  The global number of cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Sicily has increased in recent years, and such increases can be explained, in part, by the fact that, in this region, sandflies are present during a large part of the year. This is a result of the climatic variation in recent years (increasing temperature and humidity). There has also been an increase in the number of new and rare variants of cutaneous leishmaniasis. A knowledge of the unusual clinical variants of cutaneous leishmaniasis, as well as classical forms, allows early detection.
Multiple nodules of the head – clinicopathologic challenge
Authors: Lobo Inês , Amorim Isabel , Selores Manuela
Published: February 2009

What is your diagnosis?
Evaluation of plexiform neurofibroma in neurofibromatosis type 1 in 18 family members of 3 generations: ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging a diagnostic supplement
Authors: Sehgal Virendra N. , Sharma Sonal , Oberai Rakesh
Published: February 2009

Plexiform neurofibroma in neurofibromatosis type 1, an autosomal‐dominant genetic disorder, is characterized by a combination of interlacing components or a network. The prominent enlargement of a nerve with tumor nodules results in the gross pathologic appearance termed “bag of worms.” Plexiform neurofibroma was found in two of seven family members with neurofibromatosis type 1 in three generations. Ultrasonography/color doppler and magnetic resonance imaging, in addition to microscopic pathology, were used as diagnostic tools, and their indications for future use in the diagnosis of plexiform neurofibroma are highlighted.
Does asthma control correlate with quality of life related to upper and lower airways? A real life study
Authors: Braido F. , Baiardini I. , Balestracci S. , Ghiglione V. , Stagi E. , Ridolo E. , Nathan R. , Canonica G. W.
Published: February 2009

Background:  The goal of asthma therapy is to achieve an optimal level of disease control, but the relationship between asthma control, impact of comorbid rhinitis and health related quality of life (HRQoL) in real life remains unexplored.

Objective:  The aims of this real life study were to evaluate asthma control, the impact of asthma (with and without rhinitis) on HRQoL, the relationship between asthma control and HRQoL, and the role of rhinitis on asthma control and HRQoL.

Methods:  122 asthma patients completed the Asthma Control Test, Rhinitis Symptoms score (T5SS) and RHINASTHMA.

Results:  Asthma control was unsatisfactory (44.27% of uncontrolled patients), as well as HRQoL. Controlled patients controlled showed significantly lower scores in all the RHINASTHMA domains compared to uncontrolled. Irrespective of their level of control, patients with rhinitis symptoms showed worse HRQoL in Upper Airways (UA) (P < 0.0001), Lower Airways (LA) (P < 0.001), and Global Summary (GS) (P < 0.0001). In patients with symptomatic rhinitis, RHINASTHMA were lower in controlled asthma patients (UA P = 0.002; LA P < 0.0001; RAI P < 0.01; GS P < 0.0001). Asthma control was associated with lower T5SS score (P = 0.034).

Conclusion:  Asthma control in real life is unsatisfactory. Rhinitis and asthma influence each other in terms of control and HRQoL. The control of rhinitis in asthma patients can lead to an optimization of HRQoL related to the upper airways, while this phenomenon is not so evident in asthma. These results suggest to strengthen the ARIA recommendation that asthma patients must be evaluated for rhinitis and vice versa.
Progressive circumscribed sclerosis – a novel side‐effect of immunotherapy with aluminium‐adsorbed allergen extracts
Authors: El Shabrawi‐Caelen  , Poelt P. , Aberer W. , Aberer E.
Published: February 2009

In the susceptible patient aluminum may trigger an autoimmune reaction with progressive sclerosis as the key clinical feature.
The basophil activation test in the diagnosis of allergy: technical issues and critical factors
Authors: Sturm G. J. , Kranzelbinder B. , Sturm E. M. , Heinemann A. , Groselj‐Strele A. , Aberer W.
Published: February 2009

Background:  The basophil activation test (BAT) is a widely validated and reliable tool especially for the diagnosis of hymenoptera venom allergy. Nevertheless, several pitfalls have to be considered and outcomes may differ because of diverse in‐house protocols and commercially available kits. We aimed to identify the factors that may influence results of the CD63‐based BAT.

Methods:  Basophil responses to monoclonal anti‐IgE (clone E124.2.8) and bee and wasp venom were determined by BAT based on CD63. The effect of stimulating factors such as, IL‐3, cytochalasin B and prewarming of the samples was investigated. Furthermore, we compared two different flow cytometer systems and evaluated the influence of storage time, different staining protocols and anti‐allergic drugs on the test results.

Results:  Interleukin‐3 enhanced the reactivity of basophils at 300 pM, but not at 75 and 150 pM. Prewarming of samples and reagents did not affect basophil reactivity. CD63 expression assayed after storage time of up to 48 h showed that basophil reactivity already started to decline after 4 h. Basophils stained with HLA‐DR‐PC5 and CD123‐PE antibodies gated as HLA‐DRneg/CD123pos cells showed the highest reactivity. No effect on test outcomes was observed at therapeutic doses of dimetindene and desloratadine. Finally, slight differences in the percentage of activated basophils, depending on the cytometer system used, were found.

Conclusion:  Basophil activation test should be performed as early as possible after taking the blood sample, preferably within 4 h. In contrast to the skin test, BAT can be performed in patients undergoing treatment with antihistamines. For reasons of multiple influencing factors, BAT should be performed only at validated laboratories.
Calreticulin: conserved protein and diverse functions in plants
Authors: Jia Xiao‐Yun , He Li‐Heng , Jing Rui‐Lian , Li Run‐Zhi
Published: February 2009

Calreticulin (CRT) is a key Ca2+‐binding protein mainly resident in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which is highly conserved and extensively expressed in all eukaryotic organisms investigated. The protein plays important roles in a variety of cellular processes including Ca2+signaling and protein folding. Although calreticulin has been well characterized in mammalian systems, increased investigations have demonstrated that plant CRTs have a number of specific properties different from their animal counterparts. Recent developments on plant CRTs have highlighted the significance of CRTs in plants growth and development as well as biotic and abiotic stress responses. There are at least two distinct groups of calreticulin isoforms in higher plants. Glycosylation of CRT was uniquely observed in plants. In this article, we will describe our current understanding of plant calreticulin gene family, protein structure, cellular localization, and diverse functions in plants. We also discuss the prospects of using this information for genetic improvements of crop plants.
Intraoperative hyponatremia during craniofacial surgery
Authors: RANDO K. , ZUNINI G. , NEGROTO A.
Published: February 2009

Background:  Hyponatremia is an important cause of morbidity in some groups of hospitalized children. Our aim is to describe the incidence and severity of intraoperative hyponatremia in children undergoing craniofacial surgery, and determine the associated risk factors.

Methods:  A descriptive retrospective study of children who underwent primary craniofacial surgery between March 1994 and February 2008 was performed. All administered fluids contained a minimum sodium concentration of 140 mmol·l−1. Hyponatremia was classified as follows: severe ≤125 mmol·l−1; moderate 126–130 mmol·l−1; and, mild 131–134 mmol·l−1.

Results:  Hundred and seven cases are reported. Severe, moderate and mild intraoperative hyponatremia occurred in 14 (13%), 21 (19%) and 23 (22%) children respectively. Mannitol was given to 31 (29%) children, but was not associated with the development of hyponatremia. Neither the type nor duration of surgery, type of fluid replacement nor hourly urinary output, was associated with development of hyponatremia. Most episodes of significant intraoperative hyponatremia (44%) were detected between the 2nd and the 4th hour of surgery. There were no identified neurological sequelae (e.g. coma, neurological deficit) attributable to the hyponatremia.

Conclusion:  Despite strict avoidance of low sodium solutions (<140 mmol·l−1), hyponatremia occurs frequently in children undergoing craniofacial surgery in our practice; and is unrelated to the administration of mannitol. Although the mechanisms are yet to be determined, anesthesiologists should be aware of this issue and be prepared to monitor and treat this potentially serious complication.
Transcutaneous carbon dioxide monitoring in infants and children
Authors: TOBIAS JOSEPH D.
Published: February 2009

Objective:  To review the technology required for and the applications of transcutaneous carbon dioxide (TC‐CO2) monitoring in infants and children.

Data source:  A computerized, bibliographic search regarding the applications of transcutaneous carbon dioxide (TC‐CO2) monitoring in infants and children.

Results:  Although the direct measurement of PaCO2 remains the gold standard, it provides only a single measurement of what is often a rapidly changing and evolving clinical picture. Given these concerns, there remains a clinical need for a means to continuously monitor PaCO2 without the need for repeated blood gas analysis. Although initially introduced into the neonatal intensive care unit; with improvements in the technology, TC‐CO2 monitoring can now be used in infants, children and even adults. When compared with end‐tidal carbon dioxide (ET‐CO2) monitoring techniques, TC‐CO2 monitoring has been shown to be equally as accurate in patients with normal respiratory function and more accurate in patients with shunt or ventilation–perfusion inequalities. TC‐CO2 monitoring can be applied in situations that generally preclude ET‐CO2 monitoring such as high frequency ventilation, apnea testing, and noninvasive ventilation. TC‐CO2 monitoring has also been used in spontaneously breathing children with airway and respiratory issues such as croup and status asthmaticus as well as to monitor metabolic status during treatment of acidosis related to diabetic ketoacidosis.

Conclusions:  Transcutaneous carbon dioxide monitoring may be a useful adjunct in various clinical scenarios in infants and children. It should be viewed as a complimentary technology and may be used in combination with ET‐CO2 monitoring.
Specialist training in pediatric anesthesia – the Scandinavian approach
Authors: HANSEN TOM G.
Published: February 2009

There has been a great deal of focus on specialist training in pediatric anesthesia in the last decade or so. Internationally, however, there is still no uniform agreement as to how such a training program should be arranged and organized. Since September 2003, the Scandinavian Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine has coordinated an advanced Inter‐Nordic educational program in pediatric anesthesia and intensive care. The training program is managed by a Steering Committee. This program is intended for physicians who recently have received their specialist degree in anesthesiology and intensive care. The training period is 12 months of which 9 months are dedicated to pediatric anesthesia and 3 months to pediatric intensive care. During the 1‐year training period, the candidates are designated a Scandinavian host clinic (at a tertiary pediatric center in Scandinavia approved by the Steering Committee). The host clinic employs the candidate in an appropriate position for the duration of the training program. The program also includes three theoretical courses each of 4 days duration and a 4‐week exchange module at another pediatric center inside or outside Scandinavia. In this article the Scandinavian training program in pediatric anesthesia and intensive care is presented and discussed in more details. International collaboration on how best to arrange and organize a training program in pediatric anesthesia and intensive care is encouraged.
Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum
Authors: Chave Jerome , Coomes David , Jansen Steven , Lewis Simon L. , Swenson Nathan G. , Zanne Amy E.
Published: February 2009

Wood performs several essential functions in plants, including mechanically supporting aboveground tissue, storing water and other resources, and transporting sap. Woody tissues are likely to face physiological, structural and defensive trade‐offs. How a plant optimizes among these competing functions can have major ecological implications, which have been under‐appreciated by ecologists compared to the focus they have given to leaf function. To draw together our current understanding of wood function, we identify and collate data on the major wood functional traits, including the largest wood density database to date (8412 taxa), mechanical strength measures and anatomical features, as well as clade‐specific features such as secondary chemistry. We then show how wood traits are related to one another, highlighting functional trade‐offs, and to ecological and demographic plant features (growth form, growth rate, latitude, ecological setting). We suggest that, similar to the manifold that tree species leaf traits cluster around the ‘leaf economics spectrum’, a similar ‘wood economics spectrum’ may be defined. We then discuss the biogeography, evolution and biogeochemistry of the spectrum, and conclude by pointing out the major gaps in our current knowledge of wood functional traits.
Delaying conservation actions for improved knowledge: how long should we wait?
Authors: Grantham Hedley S. , Wilson Kerrie A. , Moilanen Atte , Rebelo Tony , Possingham Hugh P.
Published: February 2009

Decisions about where conservation actions are implemented are based on incomplete knowledge about biodiversity. The Protea Atlas is a comprehensive database, containing information collated over a decade. Using this data set in a series of retrospective simulations, we compared the outcome from different scenarios of information gain, and habitat protection and loss, over a 20‐year period. We assumed that there was no information on proteas at the beginning of the simulation but knowledge improved each year. Our aim was to find out how much time we should spend collecting data before protecting habitat when there is ongoing loss of habitat. We found that, in this case, surveying for more than 2 years rarely increased the effectiveness of conservation decisions in terms of representation of proteas in protected areas and retention within the landscape. If the delay is too long, it can sometimes be more effective just using a readily available habitat map. These results reveal the opportunity costs of delaying conservation action to improve knowledge.
Bacteria rather than Archaea dominate microbial ammonia oxidation in an agricultural soil
Authors: Jia Zhongjun , Conrad Ralf
Published: February 2009

Agricultural ecosystems annually receive approximately 25% of the global nitrogen input, much of which is oxidized at least once by ammonia‐oxidizing prokaryotes to complete the nitrogen cycle. Recent discoveries have expanded the known ammonia‐oxidizing prokaryotes from the domain Bacteria to Archaea. However, in the complex soil environment it remains unclear whether ammonia oxidation is exclusively or predominantly linked to Archaea as implied by their exceptionally high abundance. Here we show that Bacteria rather than Archaea functionally dominate ammonia oxidation in an agricultural soil, despite the fact that archaeal versus bacterial amoA genes are numerically more dominant. In soil microcosms, in which ammonia oxidation was stimulated by ammonium and inhibited by acetylene, activity change was paralleled by abundance change of bacterial but not of archaeal amoA gene copy numbers. Molecular fingerprinting of amoA genes also coupled ammonia oxidation activity with bacterial but not archaeal amoA gene patterns. DNA‐stable isotope probing demonstrated CO2 assimilation by Bacteria rather than Archaea. Our results indicate that Archaea were not important for ammonia oxidation in the agricultural soil tested.
PROMAXX® inhaled insulin: safe and efficacious administration with a commercially available dry powder inhaler
Authors: Heise T. , Brugger A. , Cook C. , Eckers U. , Hutchcraft A. , Nosek L. , Rave K. , Troeger J. , Valaitis P. , White S. , Heinemann L.
Published: February 2009

Objectives:  We investigated the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) properties of recombinant human insulin inhalation powder (RHIIP), manufactured with PROMAXX® technology, which allows formation of uniform protein microspheres.

Methods:  Thirty healthy male subjects [age 30 ± 1 years (mean ± s.e.), body mass index 24.2 ± 0.3 kg/m2] in a randomized crossover study received 10 IU subcutaneous regular human insulin (SCIns) and 6.5 mg of RHIIP [187 IU, Cyclohaler™ dry powder inhaler (DPI)] under euglycaemic glucose clamp conditions. Subjects were trained to inhale RHIIP with a flow rate of 90 ± 30 l/min prior to dosing.

Results:  Inhalation of RHIIP was well tolerated with no episode of cough or shortness of breath. RHIIP showed a faster onset of action than SCIns [time to reach 10% of total area under the glucose infusion rate (GIR) curves 73 ± 2 vs. 95 ± 3 min, time to maximal metabolic effect (TmaxGIR) 173 ± 13 vs. 218 ± 9 min, both p < 0.0001]. Duration of action (371 ± 11 vs. 366 ± 7 min) and total metabolic effect (AUCGIR0–10 h 2734 ± 274 vs. 2482 ± 155 mg/kg) were comparable. PK results were in accordance with the PD findings. Relative bioavailability (BA) of RHIIP was 12 ± 2%, and relative biopotency (BP) was 6 ± 1%.

Conclusions:  PROMAXX technology allowed for safe and efficacious administration of RHIIP to the deep lung with an off‐the‐shelf DPI. RHIIP showed a fast onset of action and BA/BP comparable to that reported for other inhaled insulin formulations using specifically designed inhalers. Improvements in the insulin delivery technique might allow to optimize drug application in all cases with even higher BA/BP with RHIIP.
Combinative Effects of Innovation Types and Organizational Performance: A Longitudinal Study of Service Organizations
Authors: Damanpour Fariborz , Walker Richard M. , Avellaneda Claudia N.
Published: February 2009

abstract

Innovation research suggests that innovation types have different attributes, determinants, and effects. This study focuses on consequences of adoption of three types of innovation (service, technological process, and administrative process) in service organizations. Its main thesis is that the impact of innovation on organizational performance depends on compositions of innovation types over time. We examine this proposition by analysing innovative activity in a panel of 428 public service organizations in the UK over four years. Our findings suggest that focus on adopting a specific type of innovation every year is detrimental, consistency in adopting the same composition of innovation types over the years has no effect, and divergence from the industry norm in adopting innovation types could possibly be beneficial to organizational performance. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research on innovation types.
Demand‐ and Supply‐Side Agglomerations: Distinguishing between Fundamentally Different Manifestations of Geographic Concentration
Authors: McCann Brian T. , Folta Timothy B.
Published: February 2009

abstract 

Agglomeration research investigates the benefits that firms receive from locating in close geographic proximity. Despite a substantial surge in interest in this topic over the past 20 years, a lack of distinction among unique manifestations of spatial concentrations of similar firms threatens continuing progress in this stream of research. We argue that agglomerations of related firms that draw benefits from the supply‐related externalities of increased access to specialized labour, specialized inputs, and knowledge spillovers are fundamentally different from those that draw benefits from heightened demand realized through reduction in consumer search costs. Extending agglomeration theory, we explicate the differences between these distinct phenomena, discuss how the nature of key theoretical relationships varies across these agglomeration types, and demonstrate significant implications for research. We discuss how the differences affect a host of theoretical relationships and empirical research decisions.
The Performance Effects of Business Groups in Russia
Authors: Estrin Saul , Poukliakova Svetlana , Shapiro Daniel
Published: February 2009

abstract 

This study analyses the impact of business group affiliation on firm performance during a time when business groups are newly formed, when the economic and institutional environment is changing, and when group survival is uncertain. Based primarily on a transaction cost approach, we develop two hypotheses, concerning profitability and risk sharing (redistribution) respectively. The positive profitability hypothesis proposes that company affiliation with a business group directly and positively affects the profitability of each affiliate. A positive direct effect emerges when each affiliate benefits from access to group resources. The redistribution hypothesis considers the simultaneous possibility that inter‐affiliate transfers of resources through internal markets are designed to redistribute profits among group members. We argue that variance‐reducing redistribution from strong to weak group members is linked to group survival in times of institutional change. Our empirical approach focuses on testing these two linked hypotheses (and their alternatives) using a relatively large, contemporary and time varying database of Russian firms. We also develop a framework that distinguishes among the four possible empirical outcomes associated with the hypotheses. Our results provide unambiguous support for the case where the impact of group membership on profitability is positive and redistribution is variance‐reducing. We term this outcome Business Group Robustness, and contrast it with other possible empirical outcomes.
Medical Innovation as a Process of Translation: a Case from the Field of Telemedicine
Authors: Nicolini Davide
Published: February 2009

The paper makes a case for the use of sociology of translation as a way of integrating the classical rational and stepwise view of innovation, showcasing its capacity to produce accounts of innovation that are process oriented, sensitive to contextual conditions, and attentive to its political, conflictual and institutional aspects. It does so by utilizing the approach to study the establishment and mainstreaming of cardiac telecare in northern Italy. Building on the results of a three‐year longitudinal study, the paper describes the process through which this innovative approach carved a space within the existing texture of medical practices by enrolling in successive waves a range of allies and support. The detailed narration brings to the fore some crucial aspects of the local processes of negotiation and struggle and, more generally, the work and effort that goes into the making of any innovation. The paper concludes that this way of studying and narrating innovation is particularly capable of bringing back time, effort and politics into the account of the innovation process.
Spatial Relations between Classes as Integrity Constraints
Authors: Tarquini Francesco , Clementini Eliseo
Published: February 2009

The quality and integrity of spatial data is very important to support interoperability among different systems. To reach this aim integrity rules defined by the application play an important role (for example, constraints between object classes). In this article, we propose a methodology to define integrity constraints using user level spatial relations between classes of individuals. We will also provide mapping rules from user level relations to geometric level operators to allow the computation of relations. As a case study, we will define the constraints for the class of rivers and some of its specializations.
Semantic Execution Meets Geospatial Web Services: A Pilot Application
Authors: Zaharia Raluca , Vasiliu Laurentiu , Hoffman Joerg , Klien Eva
Published: February 2009

Geospatial web services can be enhanced with semantic web service techniques in order to solve the existing interoperability issues in the geospatial domain. Therefore a large number of services can be composed to provide meaningful results to complex geospatial queries, but as the complexity grows, the users face serious performance problems. On top of existing geospatial web services we adopt the WSMO/L/X framework which provides a model to define machine and human‐understandable semantic descriptions, full support for mediation and a simple language to choreograph the execution of a composition of several geospatial web services. Our research focus is on the semantic execution and its performance inside the WSMX platform. Our core contributions are: (1) providing a solution for automated semantic execution of geospatial queries; and (2) providing a combination of techniques and improvements to the efficiency aspect.
Trajectory Ontologies and Queries
Authors: Yan Zhixian , Macedo Jose , Parent Christine , Spaccapietra Stefano
Published: February 2009

Many real world applications today are built on analyses of movement and related features. Examples of such applications include transportation management, urban planning, tourism services, and animal migration monitoring, among others. Recent database modeling and management research prototypes have the capability to store and manipulate movement data in terms of point or region geometries that evolve over time (moving point or moving and deforming region). This captures the spatio‐temporal trace left by a moving object, but ignores its links with non‐geometric information that enable a semantic interpretation of the movement of moving objects. The concept of trajectory has been introduced to express a more semantic understanding of movement, taking it closer to the perception of applications. This article describes a framework for a semantics‐oriented structuring, modeling and querying of trajectory data. The framework relies on the definition of trajectory‐related ontologies, addressing domain‐independent and application‐specific geometric and semantic facets. Last we briefly discuss how the proposed approach has been applied for a traffic management application.
BRIDGING SCIENCE AND RELIGION: “THE MORE” AND “THE LESS” IN WILLIAM JAMES AND OWEN FLANAGAN
Authors: Taves Ann
Published: February 2009

There is a kinship between Owen Flanagan'sThe Really Hard Problemand William James'sThe Varieties of Religious Experiencethat not only can help us to understand Flanagan's book but also can help scholars, particularly scholars of religion, to be attentive to an important development in the realm of the “spiritual but not religious.” Specifically, Flanagan's book continues a tradition in philosophy, exemplified by James, that addresses questions of religious or spiritual meaning in terms accessible to a broad audience outside the context of organized religions. Both James and Flanagan are concerned to refute the popular perception that the sciences of the mind pose a threat to meaning and particularly to meaningful processes of human growth and transformation. Where James used the subconscious to bridge between science and religion and persuade his readers of the reality of the More, Flanagan uses a scientifically grounded understanding of transcendence to enchant his readers into believing in Less. Although I think that Flanagan's attempt to link the psychological and sociocultural levels of analysis via the concept of transcendence is scientifically premature, his attempt at a naturalistic spirituality raises questions of definition that scholars of religion need to take seriously.
A HARD PROBLEM INDEED
Authors: Peterson Gregory R.
Published: February 2009

Owen Flanagan's The Really Hard Problem provides a rich source of reflection on the question of meaning and ethics within the context of philosophical naturalism. I affirm the title's claim that the quest to find meaning in a purely physical universe is indeed a hard problem by addressing three issues: Flanagan's claim that there can be a scientific/empirical theory of ethics (eudaimonics), that ethics requires moral glue, and whether, in the end, Flanagan solves the hard problem. I suggest that he does not, although he provides much that is of importance and useful for further reflection along the way.
ONE ENCHANTED BEING: NEUROEXISTENTIALISM AND MEANING
Authors: Flanagan Owen
Published: February 2009

The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World is my attempt to explain whether and how existential meaning is possible in a material world, and how such meaning is best conceived naturalistically. Neuroexistentialism conceives of our predicament in accordance with Darwin plus neuroscience. The prospects for our kind of being‐in‐the‐world are limited by our natures as smart but fully embodied short‐lived animals. Many find this picture disenchanting, even depressing. I respond to four criticisms of my relentless upbeat naturalism: that naturalism can make no room for norms, for values; that I overvalue truth at the expense of happiness; that I underestimate the extent to which supernaturalism has made peace with naturalism; and that I can give no account for why humans as finite animals should want to overcome our given natures and seek impersonal, self‐transcendent value.
AN ONTOLOGY OF HEALTH: A CHARACTERIZATION OF HUMAN HEALTH AND EXISTENCE
Authors: Fante Ryan J.
Published: February 2009

The pursuit of health is one of the most basic and prevalent concerns of humanity. In order to better attain and preserve health, a fundamental and unified description of the concept is required. Using Paul Tillich's ontological framework, I introduce a complete characterization of health and disease is that is useful to the philosophy of medicine and for health‐care workers. Health cannot be understood merely as proper functioning of the physical body or of the separated levels of body, mind, and soul. Rather, the multidimensional unity that is the essence of human life requires a new understanding of health as balanced self‐integration within the multiple human dimensions. The ontological description of health and disease has concrete implications for how health‐care workers should approach healing. It calls for a multidimensional approach to healing in which particular healing is needed and helpful if it considers the other realms of the human. It reveals the importance of accepting limited health as well as the value of faith understood as an ultimate concern because of its ability to wholly integrate the person.
GOD, DISEASE, AND SPIRITUAL DILEMMAS: READING THE LIVES OF WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER
Authors: Eide Megan , Pederson Ann Milliken
Published: February 2009

To write about the disease of breast cancer from both scientific and spiritual perspectives is to reflect upon our genetic and spiritual ancestry. We examine the issues involved in breast cancer at the intersections of spirituality, technology, and science, using the fundamental thing we know about being human: our bodies. Our goal in this essay is to offer close readings of women's spiritual and bodily journeys through the disease of breast cancer. We have discovered that both illness and health come within the stories of particular people and particular disciplines. And to learn more about breast cancer, both scientific and spiritual aspects, one must be attentive to such particularities. Medicine and religion are bodily experiences, and being a body‐self is what it means to be human.
THE BROTHERS BONHOEFFER ON SCIENCE, MORALITY, AND THEOLOGY
Authors: Rasmussen Larry
Published: February 2009

On one level this is a case study in science, religion, and morality, with special attention to the consequences for morality of science's embeddedness in society. On another level this is the science‐and‐theology dialogue between the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his brother Karl‐Friedrich, a physicist. The influence of Karl‐Friedrich and the brothers’ exchanges on Dietrich's prison theology receives special attention. Because this study is set in Germany in the 1930s and 40s, and Karl‐Friedrich's work intersected Germany's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, the discussion leads to Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project. The attention there is to the interplay of science, religion, and morality at the time the bomb was detonated at the Trinity site.
SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN THE THEOLOGY OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
Authors: Holder Rodney D.
Published: February 2009

The German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer is not widely known for engaging with scientific thought, having been heavily influenced by Karl Barth's celebrated stance against natural theology. However, during the period of his maturing theology in prison Bonhoeffer read a significant scientific work, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker's The World View of Physics. From this he gained two major insights for his theological outlook. First, he realized that the notion of a “God of the gaps” is futile, not just in science but in other areas of human inquiry. Second, he felt that an infinite universe, as considered by science, would be self‐subsistent and could exist as if there were no God. Bonhoeffer replaced Barth's radical critique of religion with the even more extreme view that it is a mere passing phase in history that grown‐up humanity can dispense with. At the same time Bonhoeffer began an important critique of Barth's reaction, namely, the latter's retreat to a “positivism of revelation.” While Bonhoeffer did not go quite as far as one might like, his approach opened up hopeful avenues for an answer to “the liberal question” and even a revived place for some kind of natural theology.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMPOSIUM
Authors: Marsh Leslie
Published: February 2009

This paper introduces a symposium discussing Michael Oakeshott's understanding of the relationship of religion, science and politics. Essays by Elizabeth Corey, Timothy Fuller, Byron Kaldis, and Corey Abel are followed by a review of Corey's recent book by Efraim Podoksik.
OAKESHOTT ON THE CHARACTER OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE: NEED THERE BE A CONFLICT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION?
Authors: Fuller Timothy
Published: February 2009

Michael Oakeshott reflected on the character of religious experience in various writings throughout his life. In Experience and Its Modes (1933) he analyzed science as a distinctive “mode,” or account of experience as a whole, identifying those assumptions necessary for science to achieve its coherent account of experience in contrast to other modes of experience whose quests for coherence depend on different assumptions. Religious experience, he thought, was integral to the practical mode. The latter experiences the world as interminable tension between what is and what ought to be. The question, Is there a conflict between science and religion? is, in Oakeshott's approach, the question, Is there a conflict between the scientific mode of experience and the practical mode? Insofar as we tend to treat every question as a practical one, these questions seem to make sense. But Oakeshott's analysis leads to the view that scientific experience and religious experience are categorically different accounts of experience abstracted from the whole of experience. They are voices of experience that may speak to each other, but they are not ordered hierarchically. Nor can either absorb the other without insoluble contradictions.
OAKESHOTTIAN MODES AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE EVOLUTION DEBATES
Authors: Abel Corey
Published: February 2009

I examine Michael Oakeshott's theory of modes of experience in light of today's evolution debates and argue that in much of our current debate science and religion irrelevantly attack each other or, less commonly but still irrelevantly, seek out support from the other. An analysis of Oakeshott's idea of religion finds links between his early holistic theory of the state, his individualistic account of religious sensibility, and his theory of political, moral, and religious authority. Such analysis shows that a modern individualistic theory of the state need not be barrenly secular and suggests that a religious sensibility need not be translated into an overmastering desire to use state power to pursue moral or spiritual ends in politics. Finally, Oakeshott's vision of a civil conversation, as both a metaphor for Western civilization and as a quasi‐ethical ideal, shows us how we might balance the recognition of diverse modal truths, the pursuit of singular religious or philosophic truth, and a free political order.
Smoothing Parameter Selection for a Class of Semiparametric Linear Models
Authors: Reiss Philip T. , Todd Ogden R.
Published: February 2009

Spline-based approaches to non-parametric and semiparametric regression, as well as to regression of scalar outcomes on functional predictors, entail choosing a parameter controlling the extent to which roughness of the fitted function is penalized. We demonstrate that the equations determining two popular methods for smoothing parameter selection, generalized cross-validation and restricted maximum likelihood, share a similar form that allows us to prove several results which are common to both, and to derive a condition under which they yield identical values. These ideas are illustrated by application of functional principal component regression, a method for regressing scalars on functions, to two chemometric data sets.
On Distribution-Weighted Partial Least Squares with Diverging Number of Highly Correlated Predictors
Authors: Zhu Li-Ping , Zhu Li-Xing
Published: February 2009

Because highly correlated data arise from many scientific fields, we investigate parameter estimation in a semiparametric regression model with diverging number of predictors that are highly correlated. For this, we first develop a distribution-weighted least squares estimator that can recover directions in the central subspace, then use the distribution-weighted least squares estimator as a seed vector and project it onto a Krylov space by partial least squares to avoid computing the inverse of the covariance of predictors. Thus, distrbution-weighted partial least squares can handle the cases with high dimensional and highly correlated predictors. Furthermore, we also suggest an iterative algorithm for obtaining a better initial value before implementing partial least squares. For theoretical investigation, we obtain strong consistency and asymptotic normality when the dimension p of predictors is of convergence rate O{n1/2/ log (n)} and o(n1/3) respectively where n is the sample size. When there are no other constraints on the covariance of predictors, the rates n1/2 and n1/3 are optimal. We also propose a Bayesian information criterion type of criterion to estimate the dimension of the Krylov space in the partial least squares procedure. Illustrative examples with a real data set and comprehensive simulations demonstrate that the method is robust to non-ellipticity and works well even in ‘small n–large p’ problems.
Splines for Financial Volatility
Authors: Audrino Francesco , Bühlmann Peter
Published: February 2009

We propose a flexible generalized auto-regressive conditional heteroscedasticity type of model for the prediction of volatility in financial time series. The approach relies on the idea of using multivariate B-splines of lagged observations and volatilities. Estimation of such a B-spline basis expansion is constructed within the likelihood framework for non-Gaussian observations. As the dimension of the B-spline basis is large, i.e. many parameters, we use regularized and sparse model fitting with a boosting algorithm. Our method is computationally attractive and feasible for large dimensions. We demonstrate its strong predictive potential for financial volatility on simulated and real data, and also in comparison with other approaches, and we present some supporting asymptotic arguments.
On-Line Expectation–Maximization Algorithm for latent Data Models
Authors: Cappé Olivier , Moulines Eric
Published: February 2009

We propose a generic on-line (also sometimes called adaptive or recursive) version of the expectation–maximization (EM) algorithm applicable to latent variable models of independent observations. Compared with the algorithm of Titterington, this approach is more directly connected to the usual EM algorithm and does not rely on integration with respect to the complete-data distribution. The resulting algorithm is usually simpler and is shown to achieve convergence to the stationary points of the Kullback–Leibler divergence between the marginal distribution of the observation and the model distribution at the optimal rate, i.e. that of the maximum likelihood estimator. In addition, the approach proposed is also suitable for conditional (or regression) models, as illustrated in the case of the mixture of linear regressions model.
Covariance-Regularized Regression and Classification for high Dimensional Problems
Authors: Witten Daniela M. , Tibshirani Robert
Published: February 2009

We propose covariance-regularized regression, a family of methods for prediction in high dimensional settings that uses a shrunken estimate of the inverse covariance matrix of the features to achieve superior prediction. An estimate of the inverse covariance matrix is obtained by maximizing the log-likelihood of the data, under a multivariate normal model, subject to a penalty; it is then used to estimate coefficients for the regression of the response onto the features. We show that ridge regression, the lasso and the elastic net are special cases of covariance-regularized regression, and we demonstrate that certain previously unexplored forms of covariance-regularized regression can outperform existing methods in a range of situations. The covariance-regularized regression framework is extended to generalized linear models and linear discriminant analysis, and is used to analyse gene expression data sets with multiple class and survival outcomes.
Theorizing and Generalizing about Risk Assessment and Regulation through Comparative Nested Analysis of Representative Cases
Authors: SWEDLOW BRENDON , KALL DENISE , ZHOU ZHENG , HAMMITT JAMES K. , WIENER JONATHAN B.
Published: February 2009

This article provides a framework and offers strategies for theorizing and generalizing about risk assessment and regulation developed in the context of an on‐going comparative study of regulatory behavior. Construction of a universe of nearly 3,000 risks and study of a random sample of 100 of these risks allowed us to estimate relative U.S. and European regulatory precaution over a thirty‐five‐year period. Comparative nested analysis of cases selected from this universe of ecological, health, safety, and other risks or its eighteen categories or ninety‐two subcategories of risk sources or causes will allow theory‐testing and ‐building and many further descriptive and causal comparative generalizations.
Deceptive Utopias: Violence, Environmentalism, and the Regulation of Multiculturalism in Colombia
Authors: BOCAREJO DIANA
Published: February 2009

Multiculturalism, constructed as a liberal utopia intended to recognize marginal populations, commonly draws upon deceptive mechanisms that reify the old trope of anthropological “savage slots” (a term borrowed fromTrouillot 2003). Such slots configure the relationship between politics and places: the fixation of ethnicity in a territory and the creation of strong frontiers—both physical and symbolic—between grantees and nongrantees of differential citizenships. In the case analyzed in this article, those frontiers reify the distinction between peasants and indigenous peoples; two group categories widely mobilized in the context of indigenous land expansion in the northern region of Colombia (South America). This article explores how an environmental “utopic space” used by state institutions and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), has turned into a fetish that hides a segment of Colombia's most dramatic reality: the violent context wherein paramilitary threats force small peasant landholders to sell and leave their land.