bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Principles of Scarce Medical Resource Allocation in Natural Disaster Relief
Authors: Cao Hui , Huang Simin
Published: February 2012

Background. A variety of triage principles have been proposed. The authors sought to evaluate their effects on how many lives can be saved in a hypothetical disaster. Objective. To determine an optimal scarce resource–rationing principle in the emergency response domain, considering the trade-off between lifesaving efficiency and ethical issues. Method. A discrete event simulation model is developed to examine the efficiency of four resource-rationing principles: first come–first served, random, most serious first, and least serious first. Seven combinations of available resources are examined in the simulations to evaluate the performance of the principles under different levels of resource scarcity. Result. The simulation results indicate that the performance of the medical resource allocation principles is related to the level of the resource scarcity. When the level of the scarcity is high, the performances of the four principles differ significantly. The least serious first principle performs best, followed by the random principle; the most serious first principle acts worst. However, when the scarcity is relieved, there are no significant differences among the random, first come–first served, and least serious first principles, yet the most serious first principle still performs worst. Conclusion. Although the least serious first principle exhibits the highest efficiency, it is not ethically flawless. Considering the trade off between the lifesaving efficiency and the ethical issues, random selection is a relatively fair and efficient principle for allocating scarce medical resources in natural disaster responses.
Preschools Reduce Early Academic-Achievement Gaps
Authors: Tucker-Drob Elliot M.
Published: February 2012

Preschools may reduce inequalities in early academic achievement by providing children from disadvantaged families with higher-quality learning environments than they would otherwise receive. In this study, longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of more than 600 twin pairs were used to estimate the contributions of genes, the shared environment, and the nonshared environment to cognition and achievement scores in children enrolled versus not enrolled in preschool. Attending preschool at age 4 was associated with reductions in shared environmental influences on reading and math skills at age 5, but was not associated with the magnitude of shared environmental influences on cognition at age 2. These prospective effects were mediated by reductions in achievement gaps associated with minority status, socioeconomic status, and ratings of parental stimulation of cognitive development. Lower socioeconomic status was associated with lower rates of preschool enrollment, which suggests that the very children who would benefit most from preschools are the least likely to be enrolled in them.
Impact of the BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism on Cognition
Authors: Dincheva Iva , Glatt Charles E. , Lee Francis S.
Published: February 2012

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a member of the neurotrophin growth factor family and is implicated as a modulator of neuronal survival and differentiation, synaptic plasticity, and higher order cognitive functions such as learning and memory. A common single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been identified in the human BDNF gene (BDNF Val66Met) that leads to decreased BDNF secretion and impairments in specific forms of learning in humans. To better understand the impact of this SNP on biological function, the authors generated a mouse model containing the BDNF Met allele, which they found to replicate the key phenotypes observed in humans and provided further insight into the functional impact of this SNP in vivo. They used a “bottom-up” approach to study the BDNF SNP, which provided external validation in biologically less complex, genetically uniform systems, which minimized the variability inherent in human studies. In this review, the authors discuss the impact of the BDNF SNP on learning and memory while providing arguments for the relevance of a vertically integrated approach to studying human genetic variants.
Do Symptoms of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in Children With ADHD Symptoms Represent Comorbid Internalizing Difficulties?
Authors: Garner Annie A. , Mrug Sylvie , Hodgens Bart , Patterson Cryshelle
Published: February 2012

Objective: Symptoms of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) are correlated with inattention and internalizing difficulties. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether symptoms of SCT reflect comorbid internalizing disorder with ADHD or a separate syndrome. Method: Using a clinical sample of youth evaluated for behavioral and learning difficulties ( N = 73), this study examined whether SCT remains associated with symptoms of ADHD after accounting for comorbid symptoms of anxiety and depression reported by children and parents. Results: SCT symptoms were correlated with inattention and parent reports of child depression, but not with parent-reported anxiety or child reports of internalizing problems. Inattention (in the absence of hyperactivity/impulsivity) remained uniquely associated with SCT even after accounting for internalizing problems. Conclusion: The findings confirm SCT as a correlate of inattention and support its construct validity as separate from comorbid internalizing problems. Further research on the clinical utility of SCT is needed.
A Short-Term Toxicity Study of Aspergillus Carbonarius Carotenoid
Authors: Kumar Anbarasu , Srikanta Akshatha Hosahalli , Peddha Muthukumar Serva , Sukumaran Umesh-Kumar , Govindaswamy Vijayalakshmi
Published: February 2012

In a pharmacokinetic study, high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of blood samples of Wistar female rats fed with partially saturated canthaxanthin (PSC) of Aspergillus carbonarius showed the presence of the carotenoid in the plasma within 6 hours of feeding. In another study for safety assessment of PSC fed to rats over a period of 28 days at 0.05%, 0.10%, and 0.25%, the rats showed no changes in food intake. There were no significant differences observed in body weight, hematological parameters, or serum clinical enzymes compared to the control group not fed with PSC. Deposition of PSC in the eyes of the rats was also not observed. The results showed that PSC-fed rats were not adversely affected as far as toxicological studies were concerned.
Poststroke Hemiparesis Impairs the Rate but not Magnitude of Adaptation of Spatial and Temporal Locomotor Features
Authors: Savin Douglas N. , Tseng Shih-Chiao , Whitall Jill , Morton Susanne M.
Published: February 2012

Background. Persons with stroke and hemiparesis walk with a characteristic pattern of spatial and temporal asymmetry that is resistant to most traditional interventions. It was recently shown in nondisabled persons that the degree of walking symmetry can be readily altered via locomotor adaptation. However, it is unclear whether stroke-related brain damage affects the ability to adapt spatial or temporal gait symmetry. Objective. Determine whether locomotor adaptation to a novel swing phase perturbation is impaired in persons with chronic stroke and hemiparesis. Methods. Participants with ischemic stroke (14) and nondisabled controls (12) walked on a treadmill before, during, and after adaptation to a unilateral perturbing weight that resisted forward leg movement. Leg kinematics were measured bilaterally, including step length and single-limb support (SLS) time symmetry, limb angle center of oscillation, and interlimb phasing, and magnitude of “initial” and “late” locomotor adaptation rates were determined. Results. All participants had similar magnitudes of adaptation and similar initial adaptation rates both spatially and temporally. All 14 participants with stroke and baseline asymmetry temporarily walked with improved SLS time symmetry after adaptation. However, late adaptation rates poststroke were decreased (took more strides to achieve adaptation) compared with controls. Conclusions. Mild to moderate hemiparesis does not interfere with the initial acquisition of novel symmetrical gait patterns in both the spatial and temporal domains, though it does disrupt the rate at which “late” adaptive changes are produced. Impairment of the late, slow phase of learning may be an important rehabilitation consideration in this patient population.
Analysis of vascular endothelial growth factor gene expression in the tissues of patients with chronic venous insufficiency
Authors: Florez A , De Haro J , Bleda S , Varela C , Esparza L , Acin F
Published: February 2012

Objective:

Immunohistochemical techniques have revealed the presence of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the epidermis of patients with chronic venous disease (CVD). Our objective was to perform a quantitative analysis of the VEGF gene transcription in tissues that are potential sources of this factor (skin, varicose veins [VV] and great saphenous vein [GSV]) in patients with CVD.

Methods:

In all, 212 skin and venous tissue samples were collected from patients diagnosed with CVD and controls. The VEGF gene expression was analysed using quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Results:

The skin VEGF expression was lower in the CVD group than in the control group ( P = 0.04). There were no significant differences between the insufficient GSV of the CVD group and the control healthy vein ( P = 0.22). There was a greater expression of VEGF in the VV of the CVD group than in the control healthy vein ( P = 0.03). Comparison of the VEGF expression between the different tissue types in the CVD group revealed significant differences between the skin and GSV ( P = 0.02) and between the skin and the VV ( P = 0.004), and between the VV and the GSV ( P = 0.02).

Conclusions:

The results of the present study show an over-expression of VEGF gene in the VV tissue of patients with CVD. Based on the data in patients with C2 disease, the VVs appear to be the source of increased VEGF expression.
Family Counseling in the Netherlands for Turkish-Origin Parents of Deaf Children With a Cochlear Implant
Authors: Wiefferink Carin H. , Vermeij Bernadette A. M. , Uilenburg Noëlle
Published: February 2012

Cultural elements such as language, beliefs about health, and family context play important roles in the uptake of rehabilitation and treatment of deafness. Because of cultural issues, minority groups often do not receive optimal care. Focusing on the Netherlands, the researchers explored how the rehabilitation and counseling of deaf children of Turkish-origin parents can be improved. The most important findings were that (a) most parents initially did not believe their child was deaf and regretted later that they did not start hearing rehabilitation earlier; (b) parents had little confidence in the Dutch health care system and sought a second opinion from a medical doctor of their own national origin; (c) parents did not know how to be actively involved in the care of their deaf child. Implications for practice aimed at improving rehabilitation and counseling for these children are described.
Reread-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend Intervention With Deaf and Hard of Hearing Readers: Effect on Fluency and Reading Achievement
Authors: Schirmer Barbara R. , Schaffer Laura , Therrien William J. , Schirmer Todd N.
Published: February 2012

The researchers investigated the effect of the Reread-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend intervention (Therrien, Gormley, & Kubina, 2006) on the reading fluency and achievement of d/Deaf and hard of hearing elementary-level students. Children in the third, fifth, and sixth grades at a state school for d/Deaf and hard of hearing students received a fluency intervention that was supplemental to their regular reading instruction. Significant improvement was found on a generalized measure of reading fluency after intervention. Though the researchers found no significant improvement in performance on a generalized measure of comprehension after intervention, the students demonstrated consistently good comprehension on both literal and inferential questions during the intervention sessions. The findings support the importance of incorporating a comprehension monitoring strategy in fluency instruction.
The Popular Culture of Illegality: Crime and the Politics of Aesthetics in Urban Jamaica
Authors: Jaffe Rivke
Published: February 2012

This article discusses the ways in which popular culture reflects and reinforces criminal governance structures in Kingston, Jamaica, where so-called “dons” are central to extra-state forms of political order. In order to appreciate why donmanship has developed as a durable structure of rule and belonging, attention must be paid not only to the dons’ informal provision of material services to inner-city residents, but also to the imaginative, aesthetic underpinnings of criminal authority. Drawing on work linking aesthetics, politics, and the body, the article examines the emotional and ethical work that specific texts, sounds, performative practices, and visual images do.
Matriarchs, Murderesses, and Coquettes: Investigations in Long-Eighteenth-Century Femininities
Authors: Hultquist Aleksondra
Published: February 2012

This article reviews three monographs related to feminist studies and literature of the long eighteenth century. The first study is Elizabeth Kraft's Women Novelists and the Ethics of Desire 1684-1814: In the Voice of Our Biblical Mothers, which argues for finding a predecessor to the sexual desiring female voice in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century literature in the rhetoric of the matriarchs in the Hebrew bible. The second, Kirsten Saxton's Narratives of Women and Murder in England, 1680-1760: Deadly Plots explores long-eighteenth century femininity through the plots of fictional and factual murderesses, and investigates the ways in which female violence and femininity are articulated through criminality, gender, and fiction. The final monograph, Theresa Braunschneider's Our Coquettes: Capacious Desire in the Eighteenth Century uses the figure of the coquette as a filter through which to explore eighteenth-century femininity and culture, arguing that the figure of the coquette codifies and describes anxieties about female virtue and cultural anxieties such as patrilineal family structures and imperialism.
Reflections on Translation
Authors: Caplan Jay
Published: February 2012

This essay is a review of Julie Candler Hayes's Translation, Subjectivity & Culture in France and England, 1600-1800 .
The Spouters' Revenge: Apprentice Actors and the Imitation of London's Theatrical Celebrities
Authors: Ritchie Leslie
Published: February 2012

Spouters were tradesmen and apprentices who met in public houses to act favorite dramatic speeches and scenes in imitation of famous London actors. Not only did spouters' imitations foster theatric celebrity, but charting the speeches in their manuals, or "spouting companions," locates the moments of striking expression, wit, gesture, and sympathy which late eighteenth-century British audiences most valued. This paper uncovers fresh information about spouters' practices, tastes, and engagement with professional actors and acting techniques. It situates spouting as contemporaneous to the growth of illegitimate theatre and genteel country-house dramatics, and as revelatory of techniques for representing theatrical sentiment.
African Allusions in Eighteenth-Century Literature
Authors: Walker Marilyn
Published: February 2012

This essay is a review of April C. E. Langley's The Black Aesthetic Unbound: Theorizing the Dilemma of Eighteenth-Century African American Literature (Ohio State, 2008).
Diderot's Encyclopedic Poetics
Authors: Clark Andrew H.
Published: February 2012

In this essay, I argue that Diderot's writing on Vernet in the Salons becomes a place in which Diderot puts forth an encyclopedic poetics that transforms the end of the poetic and what WJT Mitchell calls "ekphrastic impossibility" into a kind of counter-poetics, in which the isolated list, the extreme structure, becomes a form of poetry, a conceptualist poetics of knowledge that rethinks categories and is epistemologically specific. In doing so I argue against Hegelian readings of Diderot's text, such as that of Norman Bryson in Word and Image who sees the contradictions of modes in Diderot's writing on Vernet as representing the end of the poetic and the triumph of reason.
Difference and Enlightenment Violence: Locke, Shaftesbury, and Hutcheson
Authors: Alvarez David
Published: February 2012

This essay is a review of Daniel Carey's Locke, Shaftesbury, and Hutcheson: Contesting Diversity in the Enlightenment and Beyond (Cambridge, 2006).
Trust in Primary Care Providers and Antiretroviral Adherence in an Urban HIV Clinic
Authors: Blackstock Oni J. , Addison Dianne N. , Brennan Jennifer S. , Alao Oladipo A.
Published: February 2012

Interpersonal trust is an integral component of the patient-provider relationship and has been associated with patient adherence to medications. Studies suggest African Americans may have lower levels of trust in their health care providers than non-Hispanic Whites. This study examines the association between trust in one’s primary care provider (PCP) and antiretroviral (ARV) adherence among 175 patients at an urban HIV clinic. Interviews elicited participants’ level of trust in their current PCP using a multiple-item trust scale and assessed ARV adherence with a seven-day recall questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to ascertain the effect of trust in PCP on ARV adherence. High trust in PCP was significantly associated with increased odds of ARV adherence compared with low trust (adjusted odds ratio, 2.67; 95% confidence interval, 1.24 to 5.76; p=.01). Enhancing trust in PCPs may be a good target for interventions to improve ARV adherence, particularly among African American patients.
Condom Use among HIV-Positive Sexually Active Adults and Partner’s HIV Status in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Authors: Conserve Donaldson , Sevilla Luis , Younge Sinead , Mbwambo Jessie , King Gary
Published: February 2012

Consistent and proper use of condoms has been found to be effective in preventing HIV transmission and other sexually transmitted diseases. We examined the predictors of condom use and knowledge of partner’s HIV status among 731 HIV-positive individuals who had sex in the past six months. Data are from an incoming service form administered to clients who visited the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences’ Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) site in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania between 1997–2008 (N=45,071). Sixteen percent reported always using a condom in the past six months. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that age, and knowledge of partner’s HIV status were the strongest predictors of consistent condom use. The risk of future HIV infections in this region remains high. Future efforts to prevent new HIV infections should aim to increase condom use, and prevention practices that facilitate HIV-positive individuals to communicate their HIV status with partners.
Prenatal Care, Childhood Obesity, and Ethnic Health Disparities: Analyses from a Unique Population Database
Authors: Utz Rebecca L. , Reither Eric N. , Waitzman Norman
Published: February 2012

This paper explores the association between prenatal care and childhood obesity across racial/ethnic groups, with special focus on Asians, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI), and non-Hispanic Whites. Data were drawn from a statewide population-based data source that linked vital and administrative records for a large cohort of children (n=227,032). Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate odds of overweight and obesity among children whose mothers received first trimester prenatal care versus those who did not. Compared with White and Asian women, NHOPI women had later initiation of prenatal care. However, NHOPI women who initiated early prenatal care had children with significantly lower risks of obesity and overweight than their counterparts who delayed such care. Timely prenatal care may be associated, with lower childhood obesity through focused monitoring and counseling on pregnancy-related weight gain as well as through reducing other potentially deleterious prenatal behaviors for this high-risk and underserved population.
Firearms, Youth Homicide, and Public Health
Authors: Levine Robert S. , Goldzweig Irwin , Kilbourne Barbara , Juarez Paul
Published: February 2012

Homicide is seven times as common among U.S. non-Hispanic Black as among non-Hispanic White youth ages 15 to 24 years. In 83% of these youth homicides, the murder weapon is a firearm. Yet, for more than a decade, the national public health position on youth violence has been largely silent about the role of firearms, and tools used by public health professionals to reduce harm from other potential hazards have been unusable where guns are concerned. This deprives already underserved populations from the full benefits public health agencies might be able to deliver. In part, political prohibitions against research about direct measures of firearm control and the absence of valid public health surveillance are responsible. More refined epidemiologic theories as well as traditional public health methods are needed if the U.S. aims to reduce disparate Black-White youth homicide rates.
An End to Chronic Homelessness: An Introduction to the 100,000 Homes Campaign
Authors: Kanis Rebecca , McCannon Joe , Craig Catherine , Mergl Kara A.
Published: February 2012

Across the nation communities are rapidly identifying and housing their most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. Building on these examples, Community Solutions and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement have launched the 100,000 Homes Campaign, an historic effort to eliminate chronic homelessness by July 2014.
Depressive Symptoms, Substance Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence among Pregnant Women of Diverse Ethnicities
Authors: Holden Kisha B. , McKenzie Robetta , Pruitt Vikki , Aaron Katrina , Hall Stephanie
Published: February 2012

This study examines the relationship between self-reported depressive symptoms, substance abuse and intimate partner violence among 602 African American, Hispanic, White, Asian American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander pregnant women who are clients of the Augusta Partnership for Children, Inc., a nonprofit collaborative that works with agencies, organizations, and individuals to improve the lives of children and families in Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia. Descriptive statistics and significant relationships among selected variables using correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Findings are intended to inform strategies for community-based programs better to assist women of diverse ethnicities with addressing depression, substance abuse, and intimate partner violence during their pregnancies, with the ultimate aim of improving health and mental health outcomes for women and children.
What Influences African American End-of-life Preferences?
Authors: Wicher Camille P. , Meeker Mary Ann
Published: February 2012

Background. The U.S. population is aging and increasingly culturally diverse. The challenges of an aging population desiring a good end to their lives combined with soaring costs for medical care serve as a mandate for providers to be aware of both patient preferences and other factors influencing decision-making at the end of life. Methods. Systematic review of published research studies examining African American preferences related to end-of-life care and decision-making. Findings. There are well documented differences in preferences for end-of-life care and utilization of services between non-Hispanic Whites and African Americans. African Americans do not use advance care planning (ACP) documents or hospice to the same extent as non-Hispanic Whites, and, even after controlling for income and access, the difference is significant. Many African Americans choose aggressive life-sustaining treatment at the end of life, even if that treatment seems likely to confer great burden with little chance of benefit. The reasons for this are multi-faceted and include knowledge of and access to services, historical mistrust of the health care system, and spiritual beliefs. Conclusions. African American end-of-life choices are influenced by knowledge of and access to services as well as by shared cultural beliefs in the role of family and others in decision-making, mistrust toward the health care system, and the importance of spirituality.
Cancer Patient Navigator Tasks across the Cancer Care Continuum
Authors: Braun Kathryn L. , Kagawa-Singer Marjorie , Holden Alan E.C. , Burhansstipanov Linda , Tran Jacqueline H. , Seals Brenda F. , Corbie-Smith Giselle , Tsark JoAnn U. , Harjo Lisa , Foo Mary Anne , Ramirez Amelie G.
Published: February 2012

Cancer patient navigation (PN) programs have been shown to increase access to and utilization of cancer care for poor and underserved individuals. Despite mounting evidence of its value, cancer patient navigation is not universally understood or provided. We describe five PN programs and the range of tasks their navigators provide across the cancer care continuum (education and outreach, screening, diagnosis and staging, treatment, survivorship, and end-of-life). Tasks are organized by their potential to make cancer services understandable, available, accessible, affordable, appropriate, and accountable. Although navigators perform similar tasks across the five programs, their specific approaches reflect differences in community culture, context, program setting, and funding. Task lists can inform the development of programs, job descriptions, training, and evaluation. They also may be useful in the move to certify navigators and establish mechanisms for reimbursement for navigation services.
A Model Plan for the Uninsured: Delivering Quality and Affordability in a Limited Benefit Managed Care Safety Net Program in Flint, Michigan
Authors: Creech Constance J. , Kornblau Barbara , Strugar-Fritsch Donna
Published: February 2012

This paper presents the background and multiyear outcome data for a limited benefit safety-net care program in Michigan. It is a possible solution for policymakers and hospital/clinic administrators to consider when evaluating plans to provide primary care for the 30 million uninsured Americans who will be affected by the Affordable Care Act.
Physical Activity Interventions with Healthy Minority Adults: Meta-Analysis of Behavior and Health Outcomes
Authors: Conn Vicki S. , Phillips Lorraine J. , Ruppar Todd M. , Chase Jo-Ana D.
Published: February 2012

This meta-analysis is a systematic compilation of research focusing on various exercise interventions and their impact on the health and behavior outcomes of healthy African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Native Hawaiian adults. Comprehensive searching located published and unpublished studies. Random-effects analyses synthesized data to calculate effect sizes (ES) as a standardized mean difference ( d ) and variability measures. Data were synthesized across 21,151 subjects in 100 eligible samples. Supervised exercise significantly improved fitness (ES=.571–.584). Interventions designed to motivate minority adults to increase physical activity changed subsequent physical activity behavior (ES=.172–.312) and anthropometric outcomes (ES=.070–.124). Some ES should be interpreted in the context of limited statistical power and heterogeneity. Attempts to match intervention content and delivery with minority populations were inconsistently reported. Healthy minority adults experienced health improvements following supervised exercise. Interventions designed to motivate subjects to increase physical activity have limited magnitude heterogeneous effects.
Disease Prevalence and Use of Health Care among a National Sample of Black and White Male State Prisoners
Authors: Rosen David L. , Hammond Wizdom P. , Wohl David A. , Golin Carol E.
Published: February 2012

U.S. prisons have a court-affirmed mandate to provide health care to prisoners. Given this mandate, we sought to determine whether use of prison health care was equitable across race using a nationally-representative sample of Black and White male state prisoners. We first examined the prevalence of health conditions by race. Then, across all health conditions and for each of 15 conditions, we compared the proportion of Black and White male prisoners with the condition who received health care. For most conditions including cancer, heart disease, and liver-related disorders, the age-adjusted prevalence of disease among Blacks was lower than among Whites (p<.05). Blacks were also modestly more likely than Whites to use health care for existing conditions (p<.05), particularly hypertension, cerebral vascular accident/brain injury, cirrhosis, flu-like illness, and injury. The observed racial disparities in health and health care use are different from those among non-incarcerated populations.
Using Theater Arts to Engage Latino Families in Dialogue about Adolescent Sexual Health: The PATH -AT Program
Authors: Causey Kayla , Zuniga Martha , Bailer Bonnie , Ring Lori , Gil-Trejo Laura
Published: February 2012

This paper describes the Promoting Alternatives for Teen Health through Artes Teatro (PATH-AT) program, a peer-led, after-school, abstinence-based education intervention, targeting Latino/a youth at risk for teenage pregnancy and their parents. A distinguishing trait of the program is the use of theater arts to engage program participants with program content.
The Domestic Politics of International Human Rights Law: Implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina
Authors: Grugel Jean , Peruzzotti Enrique
Published: February 2012

Insufficient attention has been paid to the political processes that take place between ratification of international human rights treaties and domestic implementation. Yet how international human rights treaties become embedded in domestic politics and local interpretations of compliance is crucial to understanding how international human rights treaties work in practice. Using evidence from three Latin American countries after the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, this article demonstrates how different implementation paths have unfolded, shaped by domestic actors and domestic politics.
"Makers and Shapers": Human Rights INGOs and Public Opinion
Authors: Davis David R. , Murdie Amanda , Steinmetz Coty Garnett
Published: February 2012

Do human rights international nongovernmental organizations (HROs) impact public opinion? This article argues that HROs provide information to citizens in repressive regimes about their government's human rights practices. Without this information, worsening governmental abuse of human rights alone will not lead to fewer people believing their government respects human rights. With increased HRO shaming of the state, however, a smaller proportion of people come to believe that their government respects human rights. These hypotheses are tested using an updated dataset on shaming by over 400 HROs, together with never-before-examined data from the World Values Survey on the public's opinion of human rights within a state. The results largely support the article's contention: HROs are powerful conduits through which a population becomes informed of domestic human rights issues. Without HRO shaming, a bad or worsening human rights condition does not diminish the proportion of a population that believes their government respects human rights.
Marijuana Use at School and Achievement-Linked Behaviors
Authors: Finn Kristin V.
Published: February 2012

Marijuana remains one of the most frequently used drugs among adolescents and usage has increased in recent years. In addition to general use, many high school students use marijuana during the school day. The present study focused on achievement-linked correlates of in-school marijuana use by comparing non-users, general users, and school users on a set of school behaviors. The results showed that students who used marijuana in general exhibited poorer behavior on all measures than students who did not use marijuana; even stronger effects were found for school users. Students who used marijuana at school had lower grades, lower classroom participation, worse attendance, more academic dishonesty, and were disciplined more often compared to general marijuana users and nonusers. The relationships between marijuana use and achievement behaviors were similar for males and females, and for Black, White, and Hispanic students. Further research is needed on the motivational structures that underlie school-related drug use.
“We Hatched in this Class”: Repositioning of Identity In and Beyond a Reading Classroom
Authors: Skerrett Allison
Published: February 2012

This article presents a case study of development of reading identity in Angelica, a 15 year old Latina. The paper explores the literacy experiences in school that positioned Angelica as a struggling reader. It also examines the efforts of significant others in school and out-of-school contexts, as well as her own efforts, to contest this identity. In particular, it analyzes the pedagogical practices of Angelica’s ninth grade reading teacher that were pivotal in Angelica’s repositioning of her reading identity in school. Moving beyond teachers exploring with their students the broad construct of academic identity, the article argues for critical exploration of disciplinary identity as part of an academic curriculum. It offers some suggestions for doing so. The paper also advocates for building students’ academic identities in the out-of-school contexts of their lives. In departure from typical approaches, it stresses that students should take a significant role in deciding how to extend their academic learning and identities into outside-school spaces.
The Development of Resource Description & Access and Its Impact on Music Materials
Authors: Glennan Kathryn P.
Published: February 2012

Resource Description & Access (RDA) developed over a six-year period as a replacement to the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules , 2d edition, 2002 revision (AACR2). The new code, while rooted in the Anglo-American cataloging traditions, uses international standards developed by the International Federation of Library Associations as the basis of its organization. Because RDA focuses solely on content, encoding and display considerations are governed by other standards, such as MARC21 and ISBD. Implementation of RDA offers an opportunity to consider new approaches to end-user search and display options. In addition, RDA data, while functioning in our current environment, will enable the library profession to make bibliographic and authority data more broadly available on the Semantic Web. Many AACR2 rules migrated to RDA, but they now appear in a different context and organization. The new code includes fewer case-based rules, but some specialized instructions remain for music materials. Changes from AACR2 range from the cosmetic to the substantial; some highlights for music include consistent use of the term "score" for notated music not in part-format, and a new way of consistently naming librettos. Although officially published, RDA is not considered static. The Music Library Association has recently submitted several rule change proposals, with more under consideration. The Library of Congress has announced that it will implement RDA no earlier than January 2013. MLA's Bibliographic Control Committee remains committed to improving RDA to support music resource discovery.
Long-Term, Longitudinal Follow-Up of Individuals with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate after the Gothenburg Primary Early Veloplasty and Delayed Hard Palate Closure Protocol: Speech Outcome
Authors: Lohmander Anette , Friede Hans , Lilja Jan
Published: February 2012

Objective

To investigate long-term, longitudinal speech outcome in patients born with unilateral cleft lip and palate treated according to a two-stage primary palatal protocol with early veloplasty and delayed hard palate closure.

Design

Retrospective, longitudinal cohort study.

Setting

A university hospital in western Sweden.

Subjects

A consecutive series of 55 patients from the total cohort of 65 were included. All patients had surgical procedures at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Methods

Standardized audio recordings were blindly analyzed at 5, 7, 16, and 19 years of age and after at a clinical visit at 10 years of age. Typical cleft speech variables were rated independently on ordinal scales. Intelligibility and perceived velopharyngeal function were assessed also. Prevalences of speech characteristics were determined, and interrater and intrarater agreement were calculated.

Results

Prominent hypernasality, nasal air leakage, and retracted oral articulation at 5 years were markedly reduced throughout the years with low prevalences at ages 16 and 19 years. Perceived velopharyngeal competence was noted in 82% at age 16 and 87% at age 19 years along with normal intelligibility. Pharyngeal flap surgery was performed in 6 of the 55 patients (11%).

Conclusions

Long-term speech outcome in patients with two-stage palatoplasty with early soft palate repair was considered good and improved even before hard palate repair. The typical retracted oral articulation was quite frequent during the early ages; whereas, nonoral misarticulations were almost nonexistent, implying good velopharyngeal competence.
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same? Prior Achievement Fails to Explain Gender Inequality in Entry Into STEM College Majors Over Time
Authors: Riegle-Crumb Catherine , King Barbara , Grodsky Eric , Muller Chandra
Published: February 2012

This article investigates the empirical basis for often-repeated arguments that gender differences in entrance into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors are largely explained by disparities in prior achievement. Analyses use data from three national cohorts of college matriculates across three decades to consider differences across several indicators of high school math and science achievement at the mean and also at the top of the test distribution. Analyses also examine the different comparative advantages men and women enjoy in math/science versus English/reading. Regardless of how prior achievement is measured, very little of the strong and persistent gender gap in physical science and engineering majors over time is explained. Findings highlight the limitations of theories focusing on gender differences in skills and suggest directions for future research.
Grandeur et décadence du point-virgule
Authors: Dürrenmatt Jacques
Published: February 2012

La raréfaction de l’usage du point-virgule tient principalement à la difficulté qu’il rencontre, depuis la faillite du modèle périodique, à justifier sa spécificité face à la virgule et aux deux-points. Une fois compris pourquoi le besoin s’est fait sentir à la Renaissance d’une multiplication des signes médians quand la virgule semblait pouvoir suffire, est étudié, dans un deuxième temps, comment les grammairiens qui se sont intéressés à la ponctuation se sont efforcés jusqu’à la normalisation du XIX e siècle de clarifier les différences et d’inscrire une hiérarchisation entre point-virgule et deux-points. Nous avançons des raisons qui tenaient presque toujours à une certaine idée de la période, et plus largement du texte, comme tout organisé. Celles-ci sont révélatrices, dans le même temps, des flottements qui affectaient et continuent d’affecter la pensée de l’autonomie plus ou moins grande d’unités syntaxiques internes à l’égard d’une unité plus grande définie en termes sémantiques plutôt qu’énonciatifs.
Les emplois de la virgule en italien contemporain
Authors: Ferrari Angela , Lala Letizia
Published: February 2012

Notre étude porte sur les emplois de la virgule dans l’italien contemporain, plus précisément, sur des textes de scripteurs compétents, appartenant à un registre s’étendant de moyen à haut et, pour des raisons de méthode, non littéraires. D’un point de vue descriptif, nous montrerons que la virgule obéit de plus en plus à des régularités de caractère « textuel », qu’elle vise la création et la hiérarchisation d’unités textuelles. D’un point de vue explicatif, nous démontrerons d’abord que tout traitement des emplois de la virgule en termes exclusivement syntaxiques et intonatifs est voué à l’échec, car les généralisations auxquelles il conduit sont ou bien fausses ou bien désintégrées dans une ramification d’exceptions et de cas particuliers ; ensuite, nous argumenterons qu’un ensemble important des emplois syntaxiques peut être réinterprété dans une perspective textuelle, ce qui permet une représentation des usages de la virgule plus rationnelle, cohérente et proche de la réalité de l’écriture.
L'appel-renvoi de note comme observatoire de l'interpénétration des ponctuations blanche et noire
Authors: Lefebvre Julie
Published: February 2012

Prendre en compte la complémentarité des ponctuations noire et blanche permet de comprendre le fonctionnement de certaines marques de ponctuation ainsi que leur rôle dans l’élaboration d’une textualité caractérisée par la discontinuité spatiale. Nous décrivons ici une marque double résultant de l’association de la marque d’appel de note à la marque de « renvoi » qui initie une note. Nous montrons que cette marque double à la fois intérieure et extérieure au texte sert à articuler deux linéarités à travers l’espace graphique, générant ainsi des possibilités discursives originales.
Plurisystème ponctuationnel, dimension, intensité des signes et architecturation du texte poétique
Authors: Favriaud Michel
Published: February 2012

Cet article poursuit notre construction d’un plurisystème de ponctuation, dont chaque volet actualiserait non seulement des unités discursives spécifiques, mais une structuration particulière. Nous testons ici, sur un corpus de poésie moderne, la notion d’intensité, en la rattachant à la manifestation visuo-phonique du ponctuant et à son emploi énonciatif d’hétérogénéité. Si l’intensité semble bien rendre compte de la dimension graduée du blanc et du marquage visuel zéro de certains accents, peut-elle éclairer aussi la multiplicité des ponctuants noirs médians, voire la variation sensible de chaque ponctuant selon le cotexte ?
Peut-on établir un système de ponctuation des transcriptions de textes oraux linguistiquement fondé ? Les propositions du groupe Rhapsodie
Authors: Deulofeu Henri-José
Published: February 2012

L’objectif principal de l’article est de comparer deux systèmes de ponctuation de l’oral mis au point dans la perspective du traitement automatique du langage : un système intuitif et sous-déterminé et un système fondé théoriquement et surdéterminé. On montre à partir d’exemples concrets qu’une ponctuation « intuitive » aboutit à une segmentation du texte qui, comme on pouvait s’y attendre, manque de consistance. L’examen critique des conventions du projet Rhapsodie souligne la difficulté qu’il y a à construire un système de signes démarcatifs univoques. Une des conclusions qui émerge du travail est que les propositions de ponctuation de l’oral sont étroitement dépendantes de l’utilisation qui est faite de la transcription.
The 2-$D$ constrained $NS$ equation and stochastic vortex theory
Authors: Pulvirenti Mario , Rossi E.
Published: February 2012

We consider a modified version of the two-dimensional NS equation introduced in [4], [5] preserving energy and momentum of inertia. The physical motivation of this approach is the occurrence of di¤erent dissipation time scales. The constraint we consider is related to the gradient flow structure of the 2-D Navier-Stokes equation with respect to the Wasserstein metric. In this paper we justify the choice of this metric from the point of view of the stochastic vortex theory.
A version of Gehring lemma in Orlicz spaces
Authors: Greco Luigi , Zecca Gabriella
Published: February 2012

We present a version of the Gehring lemma, showing higher integrability in the scale of Orlicz spaces for a function

g

satisfying reverse Hölder's inequalities of the type

\def\medint{\mathrlap{\,-}{\int}}
\left(\medint_B g^m\right)^{1/m}\le \medint_{2B}fg+\left(\medint_{2B} h^m\right)^{1/m},

under suitable integrability conditions on

f

which do not imply boundedness. We describe explicitly in the general case how the improved integrability of

g

depends on the assumptions on

f

, thus extending results of [4, 2] which deal with

f

exponentially integrable.

We also present some applications of our result to the theory of mappings of finite inner distortion.
Poincaré series for maximal De Concini–Procesi models of root arrangements
Authors: Gaiffi Giovanni , Serventi Matteo
Published: February 2012

In this paper we focus on maximal complex De Concini–Procesi models associated to root arrangements of types A, B, C, D and we compute inductive formulas for their Poincaré series.
Price for environmental neutrino-superluminality
Authors: Dvali Gia , Vikman Alexander
Published: February 2012

Abstract

We ask whether the recent OPERA results on neutrino superluminality could be an environmental effect characteristic of the local neighborhood of our planet, without the need of violation of the Poincaré-invariance at a fundamental level. We show, that model-indepenently, such a possibility implies the existence of new gravitational degrees of freedom. Namely, this explanation requires the existence of a new spin-2 field of a planetary Compton wave-length that is coupled to neutrinos and the rest of the matter asymmetrically, both in the magnitude and in the sign. Sourced by the earth this field creates an effective metric on which neutrinos propagate superluminally, whereas other species are much less sensitive to the background. Such a setup, at an effective field theory level, passes all immediate phenomenological tests, but at the expense of sacrificing calculability for some of the phenomena that are under perturbative control in ordinary gravity. The natural prediction is an inevitable appearance of a testable long-range gravity-type fifth force. Despite phenomenological viability, the sign asymmetry of the coupling we identify as the main potential obstacle for a consistent UV-completion. We also discuss the possible identification of this field with a Kaluza-Klein state of an extra dimension in which neutrino can propagate.
Programmable bacterial catalysis – designing cells for biosynthesis of value‐added compounds
Authors: Lam Carolyn M.C. , Suárez Diez María , Godinho Miguel , Martins dos Santos Vítor A.P.
Published: February 2012

Bacteria have long been used for the synthesis of a wide range of useful proteins and compounds. The developments of new bioprocesses and improvements of existing strategies for syntheses of valuable products in various bacterial cell hosts have their own challenges and limitations. The field of synthetic biology has combined knowledge from different science and engineering disciplines and facilitated the advancement of novel biological components which has inspired the design of targeted biosynthesis. Here we discuss recent advances in synthetic biology with relevance to biosynthesis in bacteria and the applications of computational algorithms and tools for manipulation of cellular components. Continuous improvements are necessary to keep up with increasing demands in terms of complexity, scale, and predictability of biosynthesis products.