bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Determination of Equilibrium and Kinetic Parameters ofthe Adsorption of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) from AqueousSolutions to Agave Lechuguilla Biomass
Authors: Romero-González Jaime , Gardea-Torresdey Jorge L. , Peralta-Videa José R. , Rodríguez Elena
Published: March 2007

This investigation reveals the capability of Agave lechuguilla for trivalent and hexavalent chromium removal from aqueous solutions. Experimentation included pH profile, time dependence, adsorption capacity
(KF and QL), adsorption intensity (n and RL) and saturation capacity (qs) studies. Batch experiments were conducted at 22°C to characterize and model the adsorption equilibrium as well as biomass adsorption rates. pH 4 was the optimum for Cr(III) binding, while Cr(VI) optimum binding was at pH 2. Time profile
experiments indicated that the adsorption of Cr(VI) by lechuguilla biomass was time‐dependent and that of
Cr(III) was not. Kinetic models demonstrated that a pseudo‐second order reaction model best described the
kinetic data for Cr(VI). The adsorption isotherms showed that the binding pattern for Cr(VI) followed the
Freundlich isotherm model, while that for Cr(III) followed the Langmuir isotherm.
Purification and Preliminary Characterization ofTetraheme Cytochrome c3 and Adenylylsulfate Reductase from the Peptidolytic Sulfate‐ReducingBacterium Desulfovibrio aminophilus DSM 12254
Authors: López-Cortés Alejandro , Bursakov Sergey , Figueiredo Angelo , Thapper Anders E. , Todorovic Smilja , Moura José J. G. , Ollivier Bernard , Moura Isabel , Fauque Guy
Published: March 2007

Two proteins were purified and preliminarily characterized from the soluble extract of cells (310 g, wet weight) of the aminolytic and peptidolytic sulfate‐reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio (D.) aminophilus DSM
12254. The iron‐sulfur flavoenzyme adenylylsulfate (adenosine 5′‐phosphosulfate, APS) reductase, a key enzyme in the microbial dissimilatory sulfate reduction, has been purified in three chromatographic steps
(DEAE‐Biogel A, Source 15, and Superdex 200 columns). It contains two different subunits with molecular masses of 75 and 18 kDa. The fraction after the last purification step had a purity index (A278 nm/A388 nm) of
5.34, which was used for further EPR spectroscopic studies. The D. aminophilus APS reductase is very similar to the homologous enzymes isolated from D. gigas and D. desulfuricans ATCC 27774. A tetraheme
cytochrome c3 (His‐heme iron‐His) has been purified in three chromatographic steps (DEAE‐ Biogel A,
Source 15, and Biogel‐HTP columns) and preliminarily characterized. It has a purity index of 2.9 and a molecular mass of around 15 kDa, and its spectroscopic characterization
(NMR and EPR) has been carried out. This hemoprotein presents similarities with the tetraheme cytochrome c3 from Desulfomicrobium (Des.) norvegicum (NMR spectra, and N‐terminal amino acid sequence).
Inferences on the Nature of a Cr(V) or Cr(IV) SpeciesFormed by Reduction of Dichromate by a Bovine LiverHomogenate: NMR and Mass‐Spectrometric Studies
Authors: Gaggelli Elena , D′Amelio Nicola , Gaggelli Nicola , Valensin Gianni , Bovalini Lucia , Paffetti Alessandro , Trabalzini Lorenza
Published: March 2007

A low‐molecular weight chromium‐containing fraction of the material resulting from dichromate
reduction by bovine liver homogenate was investigated by NMR and ES‐MS. The ES‐MS spectrum showed a
readily detectable peak at m/z = 786.1. The same molecular weight reasonably agreed with the relatively low
diffusion coefficient measured by NMR‐DOSY experiments on the main species observed in the 1H NMR
spectrum. At least two downfield shifted and broad paramagnetic signals were apparent in the 1H NMR
spectrum. Temperature dependence of chemical shift was exploited in order to estimate the diamagnetic shift
of the signals in the diamagnetic region of the spectrum. 2D TOCSY, NOESY, COSY and 1H‐3C HMQC
spectra revealed the presence of aromatic protons (which were assigned as His residues), Gly and some other
short chain amino‐acids. Combinations of the molecular masses of such components together with acetate
(which is present in the solution) and chromium atoms allowed a tentative proposal of a model for the
compound.
Transcript and protein expression profiles of the NCI-60 cancer cell panel: an integromic microarray study
Authors: Shankavaram Uma T. , Reinhold William C. , Nishizuka Satoshi , Major Sylvia , Morita Daisaku , Chary Krishna K. , Reimers Mark A. , Scherf Uwe , Kahn Ari , Dolginow Douglas , Cossman Jeffrey , Kaldjian Eric P. , Scudiero Dominic A. , Petricoin Emanuel , Liotta Lance , Lee Jae K. , Weinstein John N.
Published: March 2007

To evaluate the utility of transcript profiling for prediction of protein expression levels, we compared profiles across the NCI-60 cancer cell panel, which represents nine tissues of origin. For that analysis, we present here two new NCI-60 transcript profile data sets (A based on Affymetrix HG-U95 and HG-U133A chips; Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA) and one new protein profile data set (based on reverse-phase protein lysate arrays). The data sets are available online at http://discover.nci.nih.gov in the CellMiner program package. Using the new transcript data in combination with our previously published cDNA array and Affymetrix HU6800 data sets, we first developed a “consensus set” of transcript profiles based on the four different microarray platforms. Using that set, we found that 65% of the genes showed statistically significant transcript-protein correlation, and the correlations were generally higher than those reported previously for panels of mammalian cells. Using the predictive analysis of microarray nearest shrunken centroid algorithm for functional prediction of tissue of origin, we then found that (a) the consensus mRNA set did better than did data from any of the individual mRNA platforms and (b) the protein data seemed to do somewhat better (P = 0.027) on a gene-for-gene basis in this particular study than did the consensus mRNA data, but both did well. Analysis based on the Gene Ontology showed protein levels of structure-related genes to be well predicted by mRNA levels (mean r = 0.71). Because the transcript-based technologies are more mature and are currently able to assess larger numbers of genes at one time, they continue to be useful, even when the ultimate aim is information about proteins. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(3):820–32]
Increased Perioperative N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Levels Predict Atrial Fibrillation After Thoracic Surgery for Lung Cancer
Authors: Cardinale Daniela , Colombo Alessandro , Sandri Maria T. , Lamantia Giuseppina , Colombo Nicola , Civelli Maurizio , Salvatici Michela , Veronesi Giulia , Veglia Fabrizio , Fiorentini Cesare , Spaggiari Lorenzo , Cipolla Carlo M.
Published: March 2007

Background—

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) is a complication of thoracic surgery for lung cancer, with a reported incidence that can run as high as 42%. Recently, it has been observed retrospectively that B-type natriuretic peptide predicts AF after cardiac surgery. We performed a prospective study to evaluate the role of N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) as a marker for risk stratification of postoperative AF in patients undergoing thoracic surgery for lung cancer.

Methods and Results—

We measured NT-proBNP levels in 400 patients (mean age, 62±10 years; 271 men) 24 hours before and 1 hour after surgery. The primary end point of the study was the incidence of postoperative AF. Overall, postoperative AF occurred in 72 patients (18%). Eighty-eight patients (22%) showed an elevated perioperative NT-proBNP value. When patients with either preoperatively or postoperatively elevated NT-proBNP were pooled, a greater incidence of AF was observed compared with patients with normal values (64% versus 5%;
P
<0.001). At multivariable analysis, adjusted for age, gender, major comorbidities, echocardiography parameters, pneumonectomy, and medications, both preoperative and postoperative NT-proBNP values were independent predictors of AF (relative risk, 27.9; 95% CI, 13.2 to 58.9;
P
<0.001 for preoperative NT-proBNP elevation; relative risk, 20.1; 95% CI, 5.8 to 69.4;
P
<0.001 for postoperative NT-proBNP elevation).

Conclusions—

Elevation of perioperative NT-proBNP is a strong independent predictor of postoperative AF in patients undergoing thoracic surgery for lung cancer. This finding should facilitate studies of therapies to reduce AF in selected high-risk patients.
Muscarinic Modulation of the Sodium-Calcium Exchanger in Heart Failure
Authors: Wei Shao-kui , Ruknudin Abdul M. , Shou Matie , McCurley John M. , Hanlon Stephen U. , Elgin Eric , Schulze Dan H. , Haigney Mark C.P.
Published: March 2007

Background—

The Na-Ca exchanger (NCX) is a critical calcium efflux pathway in excitable cells, but little is known regarding its autonomic regulation.

Methods and Results—

We investigated β-adrenergic receptor and muscarinic receptor regulation of the cardiac NCX in control and heart failure (HF) conditions in atrially paced pigs. NCX current in myocytes from control swine hearts was significantly increased by isoproterenol, and this response was reversed by concurrent muscarinic receptor stimulation with the addition of carbachol, demonstrating “accentuated antagonism.” Okadaic acid eliminated the inhibitory effect of carbachol on isoproterenol-stimulated NCX current, indicating that muscarinic receptor regulation operates via protein phosphatase–induced dephosphorylation. However, in myocytes from atrially paced tachycardia-induced HF pigs, the NCX current was significantly larger at baseline but less responsive to isoproterenol compared with controls, whereas carbachol failed to inhibit isoproterenol-stimulated NCX current, and 8-Br-cGMP did not restore muscarinic responsiveness. Protein phosphatase type 1 dialysis significantly reduced NCX current in failing but not control cells, consistent with NCX hyperphosphorylation in HF. Protein phosphatase type 1 levels associated with NCX were significantly depressed in HF pigs compared with control, and total phosphatase activity associated with NCX was significantly decreased.

Conclusions—

We conclude that the NCX is autonomically modulated, but HF reduces the level and activity of associated phosphatases; defective dephosphorylation then “locks” the exchanger in a highly active state.
Declining Into Failure
Authors: Jones Sandra A. , Boyett Mark R. , Lancaster Matthew K.
Published: March 2007

Background—

The spontaneous activity of pacemaker cells in the sinoatrial (SA) node controls heart rate under normal physiological conditions. Clinical studies have shown the incidence of SA node dysfunction increases with age and occurs with peak prevalence in the elderly population. The present study investigated whether aging affected the expression of Ca
v
1.2 channels and whether these changes could affect pacemaker activity, in turn leading to age-related SA node degeneration.

Methods and Results—

The SA node region was isolated from the right atrium of guinea pigs between birth and 38 months of age. Immunofluorescence studies showed Ca
v
1.2 protein was present as punctate labeling around the outer membrane of atrial cells but was absent from the center of the SA node. The area lacking Ca
v
1.2-labeled protein progressively increased from 2.06±0.1 (mean±SEM) mm
2
at 1 month to 18.72±2.2 mm
2
at 38 months (
P
<0.001). Western blot provided verification that Ca
v
1.2 protein expression within the SA node declined during aging. Functional measurements showed an increased sensitivity to the L-type calcium blocker nifedipine; SA node preparations stopped beating in 100 μmol/L nifedipine at 1 day old, compared with 30 μmol/L at 1 month and 10 μmol/L at 38 months of age. Furthermore, the amplitude of extracellular potentials declined within the center and periphery of the SA node during aging.

Conclusions—

The present data show Ca
v
1.2 channel protein decreases concurrently with reduced spontaneous activity of the SA node with increased age, which provides further evidence of mechanisms underlying the age-related deterioration of the cardiac pacemaker.
Fluorescence Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Myocardial Macrophage Infiltration in Infarcted Myocardium In Vivo
Authors: Sosnovik David E. , Nahrendorf Matthias , Deliolanis Nikolaos , Novikov Mikhail , Aikawa Elena , Josephson Lee , Rosenzweig Anthony , Weissleder Ralph , Ntziachristos Vasilis
Published: March 2007

Background—

Fluorescence imaging of the heart is currently limited to invasive ex vivo or in vitro applications. We hypothesized that the adaptation of advanced transillumination and tomographic techniques would allow noninvasive fluorescence images of the heart to be acquired in vivo and be coregistered with in vivo cardiac magnetic resonance images.

Methods and Results—

The uptake of the magnetofluorescent nanoparticle CLIO-Cy5.5 by macrophages in infarcted myocardium was studied. Ligation of the left coronary artery was performed in 12 mice and sham surgery in 7. The mice were injected, 48 hours after surgery, with 3 to 20 mg of iron per kilogram of CLIO-Cy5.5. Magnetic resonance imaging and fluorescence molecular tomography were performed 48 hours later. An increase in magnetic resonance imaging contrast-to-noise ratio, indicative of myocardial probe accumulation, was seen in the anterolateral walls of the infarcted mice but not in the sham-operated mice (23.0±2.7 versus 5.43±2.4;
P
<0.01). Fluorescence intensity over the heart was also significantly greater in the fluorescence molecular tomography images of the infarcted mice (19.1±5.2 versus 5.3±1.4;
P
<0.05). The uptake of CLIO-Cy5.5 by macrophages infiltrating the infarcted myocardium was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy and immunohistochemistry.

Conclusions—

Noninvasive imaging of myocardial macrophage infiltration has been shown to be possible by both fluorescence tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. This could be of significant value in both the research and clinical settings. The techniques developed could also be used to image other existing fluorescent and magnetofluorescent probes and could significantly expand the role of fluorescence imaging in the heart.
Atmospheric Teleconnections of Tropical Atlantic Variability: Interhemispheric, Tropical–Extratropical, and Cross-Basin Interactions
Authors: Wu Lixin , He Feng , Liu Zhengyu , Li Chun
Published: March 2007

In this paper, the atmospheric teleconnections of the tropical Atlantic SST variability are investigated in a series of coupled ocean–atmosphere modeling experiments. It is found that the tropical Atlantic climate not only displays an apparent interhemispheric link, but also significantly influences the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In spring, the tropical Atlantic SST exhibits an interhemispheric seesaw controlled by the wind–evaporation–SST (WES) feedback that subsequently decays through the mediation of the seasonal migration of the ITCZ. Over the North Atlantic, the tropical Atlantic SST can force a significant coupled NAO–dipole SST response in spring that changes to a coupled wave train–horseshoe SST response in the following summer and fall, and a recurrence of the NAO in the next winter. The seasonal changes of the atmospheric response as well as the recurrence of the next winter’s NAO are driven predominantly by the tropical Atlantic SST itself, while the resulting extratropical SST can enhance the atmospheric response, but it is not a necessary bridge of the winter-to-winter NAO persistency. Over the Pacific, the model demonstrates that the north tropical Atlantic (NTA) SST can also organize an interhemispheric SST seesaw in spring in the eastern equatorial Pacific that subsequently evolves into an ENSO-like pattern in the tropical Pacific through mediation of the ITCZ and equatorial coupled ocean–atmosphere feedback.
Personal and organizational knowledge transfer: Implications for worklife engagement
Authors: Leiter Michael P. , Day Arla L. , Harvie Phyllis , Shaughnessy Krystelle
Published: March 2007

Although knowledge transfer (KT) in healthcare organizations is increasingly important, models have typically focused on the transfer of clinical knowledge. Despite numerous reports and studies on worklife issues for healthcare professionals, few recommendations have been implemented, and many of these professionals are unfamiliar with the reports. Using measures of knowledge transfer of quality of worklife information developed from a model of transfer of clinical knowledge, we tested the relationship between individual and organizational knowledge transfer among 769 nurses in hospitals across four provinces in Canada. We also examined a model that integrated these two knowledge transfer measures with burnout/engagement in the workplace. Our data supported a two factor structure for the measure of knowledge transfer involving a) individual perceptions of personal knowledge transfer activities and b) organizations' support for knowledge transfer. Data from structural equation modeling demonstrated the importance of knowledge transfer pertaining to quality of worklife to nurses' experience of energy, involvement, and efficacy that underlies the burnout/engagement construct.
Networks and social capital in the UK television industry: The weakness of weak ties
Authors: Antcliff Valerie , Saundry Richard , Stuart Mark
Published: March 2007

Accounts of the shift to post-industrial modes of employment have tended to present an over-simplified view of networks as an assemblage of contacts used to gain individual advantage in the labour market. Creative industries represent a challenge to this as typically they rely on networks to foster collaboration, trust and co-operation. In this article we explore how a variety of networks are used to promote both individual competition and co-operation in an industry where re-regulation has resulted in the break up of bureaucratic organizations and widespread casualization of the labour market. We argue that there is a need to extend the debate on the role of networks in a casualized labour market to examine how individuals organize themselves via the plethora of networks that result from organizational break up.We use qualitative data from a series of interviews with freelance television production workers in the United Kingdom to suggest that workers use networks as a source of competitive advantage and, at the same time, support and co-operation. Overall our research suggests that network activity is more complex, and networks themselves more dynamic, than existing research and theory implies.
The Crisis in Religious Socialization: An Analytical Proposal
Authors: Sabe Jordi Collet
Published: March 2007

English

The deep crisis of the traditional socializing institutions (school, family and churches) has its counterpart in the crisis of the way socialization processes have been working up till now. The author proposes an analytical framework to reconsider the changes in the recent processes of religious socialization. This analytical proposal, using four ideal types, shows the new ways of religious socialization, which could be called “complex”. At the same time, the analytical framework suggests that the affective and relational elements are quite influential in the undlerstanding of its development and outcome.

French

La crise profond des institutions socialisatrices traditionnelles (école, famille et églises) va de pair avec la crise liée à la maniere clont les processus de socialisation religieuse se sont développesjusqu' à présent. L'auteur propose un cadre analytique permettant de reconsidérer les changements recents dle processus de socialisation religieuse. Ce cadre d'analyse, basé sur quatre types-ideaux, met à jour de nouveaux procédé s de socialisation religieuse qui pourraient être qualifiés de "complexes". Dans le même temps, ce cadlre per-met d'entrevoir l'influence d'éléments qffectifs et relationnels dans la compréhension dlu développement et des résultats de cette socialisation religieuse.
Prevalence and Predictors of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Cognitively Impaired Nursing Home Patients
Authors: Zuidema Sytse , Koopmans Raymond , Verhey Frans
Published: March 2007

The prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms and the influence of predictive factors in cognitively impaired nursing home patients were reviewed. Articles were identified by means of a MEDLINE and PsychInfo literature search. Neuropsychiatric symptoms were present in more than 80% of the cognitively impaired patients. Prevalences ranged considerably, from 3% to 54% for delusions, 1% to 39% for hallucinations, 8% to 74% for depressed mood, 7% to 69% for anxiety, 17% to 84% for apathy, 48% to 82% for aggression or agitation, and 11% to 44% for physical aggression. Neuropsychiatric symptoms seemed to be predicted not only by dementia type or stage but also by the psychosocial environment and the amount of psychoactive medication and physical restraints used. Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common and influenced by both the disease itself and the psychosocial environment of the institutional setting. The latter may have important consequences for staff planning and education and the future design of care facilities.
Spatial heterogeneity of land cover response to climatic change in the Nilgiri highlands (Southern India) since the last glacial maximum
Authors: Caner L. , Seen D. Lo , Gunnell Y. , Ramesh B. R. , Bourgeon G.
Published: March 2007

Fourteen hillslope soil profiles were sampled under natural vegetation (ie, grassland or forest) and plantations in the Nilgiri highlands, Southern India. Delta13C ratios were measured at different depths and14C ages determined for six profiles. In these highland soils where the turnover rate of organic matter is extremely low, the δ13C ratios of entire soil profiles have recorded signatures of past land cover. By correlating the data with results previously obtained from peat bogs and with knowledge concerning the history of human settlement, we distinguish three contrasting trajectories of palaeoenvironmental history and landscape change since the last glacial maximum. In the Central Nilgiris, between 18 and 10 ka BP, forest expansion occurred through the conjunction of a wetter climate (the maximum of southwest monsoon-related humidity occurring at c. 11 ka BP) and higher temperatures; since 10 ka BP, the reversal towards grassland vegetation is attributed to drier conditions. In the Western Nilgiris, where strong southwest monsoon winds permanently restrict forest patches to sheltered valley sites, steady but limited expansion of forest from 18 ka BP to the present is recorded and attributed to rising temperatures. The Southern and Eastern Nilgiris, where the northeast monsoon contributes 20% of the annual rainfall, are the less sensitive to fluctuations in the southwest monsoon. In these areas, rapid and extensive expansion of forest occurred mainly as a consequence of higher temperatures from 18 ka BP to the present. Massive deforestation by Badaga cultivators and Europeans planters followed after the sixteenth century AD.As a result, and in contrast with the Western Nilgiris where the land cover mosaic has remained remarkably stable in the last 18 ka BP, the current landscape differs sharply from the land cover pattern detected by the soil record.
Theory of quantitative reconstruction of vegetation I: pollen from large sites REVEALS regional vegetation composition
Authors: Sugita Shinya
Published: March 2007

Quantitative reconstruction of past vegetation is one of the primary goals in Quaternary palynology and palaeoecology but still remains difficult. This paper proposes a model, REVEALS, that estimates regional vegetation composition using pollen from ‘large lakes’ that have small site-to-site variations of pollen assemblages even if vegetation is highly heterogeneous. Once these data have been used to quantify regional vegetation composition within 104 -105 km2, background pollen, one of the parameters crucial for vegetation reconstruction, can be estimated for smaller-sized sites, and incorporated into the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA), a multistep framework for quantitative reconstruction of vegetation in smaller areas (≤ 104 ha). Simulations using the POLLSCAPE modelling show that REVEALS can provide accurate estimates of regional vegetation composition in various landscapes and under different atmospheric conditions. If pollen assemblages from lakes that are much smaller than ‘large lakes’ are used, estimates of regional vegetation at individual sites could be significantly different from the expected values, and their site-to-site variation could be large. However, when pollen data from multiple lakes ≥ 100-500 ha in size are available, REVEALS can provide accurate estimates of the regional vegetation with relatively small standard errors. Quantitative reconstruction of regional landscape and vegetation change will be critical for testing some of the controversial hypotheses and concepts in global change and conservation research, such as the impacts of agricultural activities on global climate over the last 8000 years and the open-woodland hypothesis in northern Europe in the early Holocene.
Testing the timing of radiocarbon-dated events between proxy archives
Authors: Blaauw M. , Christen J. A. , Mauquoy D. , van der Plicht J. , Bennett K. D.
Published: March 2007

For interpreting past changes on a regional or global scale, the timings of proxy-inferred events are usually aligned with data from other locations. However, too often chronological uncertainties are ignored in proxy diagrams and multisite comparisons, making it possible for researchers to fall into the trap of sucking separate events into one illusionary event (or vice versa). Here we largely solve this ‘suck in and smear syndrome’ for radiocarbon (14C) dated sequences. In a Bayesian framework, millions of plausible age-models are constructed to quantify the chronological uncertainties within and between proxy archives. We test the technique on replicated high-resolution 14C-dated peat cores deposited during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (c. AD 1400-1900), a period characterized by abrupt climate changes and severe 14C calibration problems. Owing to internal variability in proxy data and uncertainties in age-models, these (and possibly many more) archives are not consistent in recording decadal climate change. Through explicit statistical tests of palaeoenvironmental hypotheses, we can move forward to systematic interpretations of proxy data. However, chronological uncertainties of non-annually resolved palaeoclimate records are too large for answering decadal timescale questions.
A Knowledge-based View of Agenda-formation in the Development of Human Resource Information Systems
Authors: Tansley Carole , Newell Sue
Published: March 2007

Human resource information systems (HRIS) can potentially transform human resourcing tasks, but conflicts between HR and IS managers can hinder HRIS design and implementation projects. The ethnographic narrative in this article presents an HR and an IS project manager initially conflicting during the ‘agenda formation’ stage of an HRIS project in a transnational organization because they took different perspectives (as evidenced by their use of different heuristic and generative metaphors), thus constraining progress. However, from politically oriented public and private rhetorical activities, new knowledge emerged following an ‘epiphany of knowing’ experienced by the HR manager and progress was made. It is suggested that in managers' rhetorical activities both generative and heuristic metaphors can aid ‘relational knowing’, which is an important precursor to situated learning. However, care must be taken to recognize the political aspects of such processes and the potential hegemony of different knowledge disciplines in IS project development work.
Twisting Tongues and Twisting Arms: The Power of Political Rhetoric
Authors: Krebs Ronald R. , Jackson Patrick Thaddeus
Published: March 2007

While scholars of International Relations and comparative politics have usually treated rhetoric as epiphenomenal, one strand of constructivism has recently returned rhetoric to the heart of political analysis, especially through the mechanism of persuasion. We too maintain that rhetoric is central to political processes and outcomes, but we argue that persuasion is theoretically and methodologically problematic. We aver that rhetoric's role may be more usefully conceptualized in the context of coercion, and we advance a stylized model that illustrates how rhetorical coercion operates, explains why it works, and identifies key scope conditions. We subsequently illustrate our model's relevance through a detailed examination of a ‘hard’ case. This article's agenda is twofold. First, it advises scholars in these fields to avoid focusing on unanswerable questions about actors' motives and to examine instead what actors say, in what contexts, and to what audiences. Second, it lays the groundwork for a ‘coercive constructivism’, complementing the liberal version so prevalent today.
Does Legality Really Matter? Accounting for the Decline in US Foreign Policy Legitimacy Following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq
Authors: Scott Shirley V. , Ambler Olivia
Published: March 2007

The perceived legitimacy of US foreign policy plummeted in the wake of the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Most commentators would agree that international law, or at least US actions in relation to international law, had something to do with this decline. But, what the recent debate as to how best to restore US legitimacy has starkly revealed, is that we know little as to just how international law accords legitimacy to certain foreign policy endeavours. While the legality of the action may have much to do with it, the relationship between international law, foreign policy and legitimacy appears to be more complex than is suggested by a straightforward legal–illegal categorization of behaviour. A theorization of international law as ideology can provide an overall explanation of the role of international law in the decline in US foreign policy legitimacy following the invasion of Iraq.
Bridging the Gap: IR, Middle East Studies and the Disciplinary Politics of the Area Studies Controversy
Authors: Teti Andrea
Published: March 2007

Although International Relations and Middle East Studies share an interest in several aspects of Middle East politics, interdisciplinary research remains surprisingly scarce. This article asks why, despite repeated calls since the inception of these fields, this interdisciplinary gap has never been bridged. It supplements conventional approaches which emphasize a simple intellectual history, with elements of a political economy of the organization and production of knowledge, arguing that while intellectual convergence may be a necessary condition for interdisciplinarity, only a shift in epistemic grounds within which fields understand their scholarship can bring this about, and that this in turn requires a shift in the way knowledge is organized and produced. First, the article provides a genealogy of calls for interdisciplinary scholarship. Second, it locates interdisciplinary relations in the universalist organization of knowledge within which they emerged and which still (re)produce inter- and intra-disciplinary divides today. Finally, it considers the potential for Constructivism to provide an interdisciplinary bridge.
Using Software to Open up the ‘Black Box’ of Qualitative Data Analysis in Evaluations
Authors: Sin Chih Hoong
Published: March 2007

The lack of transparency in the process of qualitative data analysis has led to the suspicion that findings may not be robust enough to be used as evidence. Much qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) contains functions that facilitate the demonstration of reliability and validity, although the process is not straightforward. Given the scale and complexity of many evaluations, QDAS is a powerful tool that can be used to manage and analyse vast amounts of qualitative data. Its use in an evaluative context, however, can be fundamentally different from using it for other forms of qualitative analysis. This article explores the use of NUD*IST version 6 (N6), a widely used QDAS, to manage data from the qualitative aspects of a large-scale multi-component evaluation involving a large, multi-site team. It demonstrates that research and logistical imperatives can have concrete impact on the way technology is harnessed to produce qualitative findings, hence inevitably influencing resultant evidence.
An exploratory study of desired hotel attributes for American tourists vacationing in China and Ireland
Authors: Shanahan Kevin J. , Hyman Michael R.
Published: March 2007

The attributes of domestic and international hotels important to American tourists are identified and compared. American tourists typically expect clean rooms at a good price; however, they would offset these expectations for increased security when traveling overseas. In addition, they hold hotels in developing countries to a lower standard than hotels in developed countries. Thus, American tourists may be more satisfied with an international hotel than with a domestic hotel offering equivalent service.
Attitude towards ecotourism and environmental advocacy: Profiling the dimensions of sustainability
Authors: Singh Tanuja , Slotkin Michael H. , Vamosi Alexander R.
Published: March 2007

Using a marketing-oriented theoretical backdrop, this article investigates the attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of ecotourists participating in what some ecotourism researchers have labeled soft ecot ourism events. Results indicate that this market is comprised of somewhat older, educated, and affluent ecotourists who participate in these events for entertainment as well as learning. However, contrary to the belief that this market segment only contributes to steady state sustainability, results of this study suggest that there is significant evidence of members contributing towards enhancive sustainability. Validating previous research in the area, results indicate that a large segment of the population attending soft ecotourism events represents the structured ecotourist typology, and the boundaries between soft, structured, and hard ecotourists overlap. A large and significant segment of the population participating in soft ecotourism is actively engaged in conservation and advocacy efforts; thus, the structured ecotourist concept may prove especially useful in both evaluating commitment to sustainability as well as developing marketing and public policy suggestions.
Impact of joint product usage and family structure on joint decision to purchase a vacation by Malaysian spouses
Authors: Ndubisi Nelson Oly
Published: March 2007

This article examines the role of family structure on joint decision to purchase a vacation by Malaysian spouses and the moderation effect of joint product usage. The impetus for this research emanates from the fact that a number of family decision-making studies have recognized joint decision between husband and wife, but none of these has considered the impact of family structure on joint decision between spouses. A field survey of Malaysian couples was conducted to understand the impact of family structure (namely, strong vs weak cohesive family and modern vs traditional family) and joint usage on joint decision. The results show that family structure has significant impact on joint decision to purchase a vacation. The greater impact of strong cohesive family and modern family over weak cohesive family and traditional family respectively are not dependent on joint usage. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.
Breaking the code of silence: a study of teachers' nonverbal decoding accuracy of foreign language anxiety
Authors: Gregersen Tammy
Published: March 2007

This study examined teachers' accuracy in decoding nonverbal behaviour indicative of foreign language anxiety. Teachers and teacher trainees twice observed a videotape without sound of seven beginning French foreign language students as they participated in an oral exam; four of these students were defined as anxious language learners by the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale. First, observers were asked to use their own criteria to assess the anxiety status of the examinees by watching their posture, gestures and body positions. The second time, observers were given a list of criteria that defined specific anxious behaviours. The results demonstrated that, although there was variability in the ability of observers to decode the nonverbal cues evidential of anxiety, the teachers and trainees were more accurate in assessing the nonverbal behaviour of learners who were on the high and low ends of the anxiety scale than those whose scores fell in the middle. Because observers were more accurate once they were introduced to explicit anxiety-indicating cues, the pedagogical implications of this study call for the inclusion of nonverbal awareness training as a means of identifying those learners who struggle with foreign language anxiety.
Richard Hoggart as literary critic
Authors: Owen Sue
Published: March 2007

This article shows how Hoggart uses a literary method to represent the working class and literary critical methodology to engage with popular culture. I examine Hoggart as a literary critic, using examples from his earliest book on Auden to show how the working-class intellectual engages with canonical literature in a ‘high’ art form and then I consider a range of his writings about literature to show the importance of literary criticism for Hoggart and his love of literature. This is important because love of literature and commitment to a rigorous literary critical method inform all Hoggart’s writing on culture. An understanding of his literary criticism is key to appreciating his cultural analysis and can also offer a way forward at a time when the literary may have been abandoned in the quest for the popular.
Cultural literacies, critical literacies, and the English school curriculum in Australia
Authors: Turner Graeme
Published: March 2007

In this article I want to reflect on the contemporary currency of what Richard Hoggart has called ‘critical literacy’ through a discussion of a series of debates about a very different formation of ‘critical literacies’ in the senior school English curriculum in Australia. Among the ramifications of these debates is the complicated political and pedagogical alignments it has created: a cultural studies scholar such as myself finds that he is located on the same side of the debate as those who would entirely disapprove of cultural studies, while arguing for the importance of categories of experience - such as the literary text - that cultural studies has often set aside.
The Antipodean uses of literacy
Authors: Gibson Mark
Published: March 2007

This article considers Richard Hoggart’s Englishness and the questions this poses for translating his work to other contexts - the example discussed here being Australia. It argues that while an unabashed identification with Englishness is now generally associated with conservatism, Hoggart’s work stands as a reminder of other possibilities. Such a reminder is useful in overcoming increasingly simplified and ossified positions in Australia around ‘cultural literacy’. Connections are also drawn with the work of Craig McGregor and Donald Horne.
Collateral Casualties of Consumerism
Authors: Bauman Zygmunt
Published: March 2007

Collateral victims of consumerism are the ‘flawed consumers’ - lacking resources that socially approved consumer activity requires. Collateral damages refer to the new frailty of inter-human bonds resulting from the transfer of consumerist patterns upon relations between humans. Collateral casualties of consumerism are all men and women affected by either of these and thereby confronted by a series of unfamiliar challenges difficult or impossible to cope with.
Man Made Plastic
Authors: Holliday Ruth , Cairnie Allie
Published: March 2007

Men who undergo aesthetic surgery have been largely overlooked in sociological discussions of the body. Using qualitative interviews drawn from a small pilot study of post-operative men, this article explores the narrative accounts that these men offer to explain their consumption of surgical procedures. The accounts disrupt dominant explanations of aesthetic surgery as an issue that only affects women, and contest the repetitive formulation of masculinity as disembodiment. Feminist theorizations of aesthetic surgery that attempt to link aesthetic surgery to totalizing explanations such as beauty, normalization or pain, are also challenged and extended. Instead we argue that multiple factors are at work in deciding to consume aesthetic surgery, such as identity, work, relationships and life events. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, we argue that men’s consumption of aesthetic surgery (and perhaps women’s as well) often constitutes an investment in ‘body capital’ that can be deployed in a variety of different fields.We tentatively predict that the reconstitution of the aesthetic surgery recipient from ‘patient’ to ‘consumer’ will facilitate the development of a burgeoning market for men’s aesthetic surgery.
Methodological Challenges Confronted when Conducting Management Research in China
Authors: Stening Bruce W. , Zhang Marina Y.
Published: March 2007

This article addresses some fundamental methodological issues confronting management researchers undertaking research in China. Among other things, it considers the following: cultural factors that might impact on what is a researchable question; sampling issues; difficulties in developing valid research instruments; problems pertaining to data collection; and the challenges of data interpretation. While the issues are by no means unique to China, there are a number of matters that require special attention in the Chinese context. Failure to consider such methodological problems might potentially call into question the findings of otherwise important management studies. Specific recommendations are provided as to how these challenges can be successfully dealt with.
Argument and Rhetoric in the Justification of Political Violence
Authors: Frazer Elizabeth , Hutchings Kimberly
Published: March 2007

In contrast to liberal, Christian and other pacifist ethics and to just war theory, a range of 20th-century thinkers sought to normalize the role of violence in politics. This article examines the justificatory strategies of Weber, Sorel, Schmitt, Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty and Fanon. They each engage in justificatory argument, deploying arguments for violence from instrumentality, from necessity and from virtue. All of these arguments raise problems of validity. However, we find that they are reinforced by the representation of violence in terms of a specific aesthetic, either tragedy or sublimity, and by certain rhetorical textual strategies. We conclude that the persuasive force of these arguments for violence rests as much, if not more, on aesthetics and rhetoric, as it does on argument.
Al Jazeera
Authors: Wojcieszak Magdalena
Published: March 2007

This article examines framing research and the challenges posed to this model by al Jazeera. The study argues that traditional framing scholarship might not be applicable to analyzing al Jazeera and other satellite channels because it presumes the impact of political elites on the framing process, conceives of the media as hegemonic, is idiosyncratic to the American media and power arrangements, and does not account for new information communication technologies. Al Jazeera, on the other hand, is a satellite channel relatively autonomous from domestic media regulations and national power structures, originated in the continuously evolving media landscape and sociopolitical context of the Middle East, and has been considered a counter-hegemonic force in the Arab world that challenges its dominant social discourse and the existing political order.
De-legitimization of Media Mechanisms
Authors: Rinnawi Khalil
Published: March 2007

This article examines and compares Israeli print media coverage of the respective Palestinian populations in Israel and in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip during the Al Aqsa Intifada. Historically, the Israeli media have behaved in a ‘mobilized’ manner during periods of heightened conflict. They also play a central role in delegitimizing Palestinian protest, thereby helping to reproduce existing divisions between Jews and Palestinians. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive inventory of the ‘delegitimization mechanisms’ at work during the news production process in Israel – a state in external conflict with the Palestinians in the occupied territories and with significant internal tension between its Jewish and Palestinian citizens.
On the Relationship Between International Telecommunications Development and Global Women's poverty
Authors: Lee Micky
Published: March 2007

The article discusses the relationship between international telecommunications development and global women's poverty by examining three questions: (1) Who benefits economically from international telecommunications development? (2) Why is women's poverty a peripheral concern in neoclassical economics? (3) How and by whom should women's poverty be defined? By focusing on the World Bank's policies, programs and lending to telecommunications, and women's empowerment since the 1980s, and drawing on the perspectives of the political economy of communication, feminist economics and critical studies of global women's poverty, this article argues that the problem of global women's poverty should be understood in the contexts of an unequal distribution of goods and services across the globe and between men and women, the androcentrism and ethnocentrism of neoclassical economics and the processes of women's poverty and poor women's agency in poverty alleviation at a local level.
Visualization of three-way comparisons of omics data
Authors: Baran Richard , Robert Martin , Suematsu Makoto , Soga Tomoyoshi , Tomita Masaru
Published: March 2007

Background

Density plot visualizations (also referred to as heat maps or color maps) are widely used in different fields including large-scale omics studies in biological sciences. However, the current color-codings limit the visualizations to single datasets or pairwise comparisons.

Results

We propose a color-coding approach for the representation of three-way comparisons. The approach is based on the HSB (hue, saturation, brightness) color model. The three compared values are assigned specific hue values from the circular hue range (e.g. red, green, and blue). The hue value representing the three-way comparison is calculated according to the distribution of three compared values. If two of the values are identical and one is different, the resulting hue is set to the characteristic hue of the differing value. If all three compared values are different, the resulting hue is selected from a color gradient running between the hues of the two most distant values (as measured by the absolute value of their difference) according to the relative position of the third value between the two. The saturation of the color representing the three-way comparison reflects the amplitude (or extent) of the numerical difference between the two most distant values according to a scale of interest. The brightness is set to a maximum value by default but can be used to encode additional information about the three-way comparison.

Conclusion

We propose a novel color-coding approach for intuitive visualization of three-way comparisons of omics data.