bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A simple and inexpensive high resolution color ratiometric planar optode imaging approach: application to oxygen and pH sensing.
Authors: Larsen Morten , Borisov Sergey M. , Grunwald Björn , Klimant Ingo , Glud Ronnie N.
Published: October 2011

A simple, high resolution colormetric planar optode imaging approach is presented. The approach is simple and inexpensive yet versatile, and can be used to study the two‐dimensional distribution and dynamics of a range of analytes. The imaging approach utilizes the inbuilt color filter of standard commercial digital single lens reflex cameras to simultaneously record different colors (red, green, and blue) of luminophore emission light using only one excitation light source. Using the ratio between the intensity of the different colors recorded in a single image analyte concentrations can be calculated. The robustness of the approach is documented by obtaining high resolution data of O2 and pH distributions in marine sediments using easy synthesizable sensors. The sensors rely on the platinum(II)octaethylporphyrin (PtOEP) and lipophilic 8‐Hydroxy‐1,3,6‐pyrenetrisulfonic acid trisodium (HPTS) salt derivate for O2 and pH measurements, respectively. The brightness of both indicators is dramatically enhanced by making use of energy transfer from a donor molecule (Macrolex yellow coumarin). Furthermore, the emission from the donor serves as an internal reference for the O2 sensor. The approach relies on semitransparent sensors, facilitating visual inspection of the sediment behind the sensors during measurements. Software for data acquisition and calibration will be available from the authors, whereas all hardware is available from a range of commercial sources. The total cost of the complete measuring system is approximately $3000 US.
Acetylene C2H 2 retrievals from MIPAS data and regions of enhanced upper tropospheric concentrations in August 2003
Authors: Parker R. J. , Remedios J. J. , Moore D. P. , Kanawade V. P.
Published: October 2011

Abstract. Acetylene (C2H2) volume mixing ratios (VMRs) have been successfully retrieved from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) Level 1B radiances during August 2003, providing the first global map of such data and ratios to CO in the literature. The data presented here contain most information between 300 hPa and 100 hPa with systematic errors less than 10% at the upper levels. Random errors per point are less than 15% at lower levels and are closer to 30% at 100 hPa. Global distributions of the C2H2 and C2H2/CO ratio confirm significant features associated with both the Asian monsoon anticyclone and biomass burning for this important hydrocarbon in a characteristic summer month (August 2003), showing tight correlations regionally, particularly at lower to medium values, but globally emphasising the differences between sources and lifetimes of CO and C2H2. The correlations are seen to be particularly disturbed in the regions of highest C2H2 concentrations, indicating variability in the surface emissions or fast processing. A strong isolation of C2H2 within the Asian monsoon anticyclone is observed, evidencing convective transport into the upper troposphere, horizontal advection within the anticyclone at 200 hPa, distinct gradients at the westward edge of the vortex and formation of a secondary dynamical feature from the eastward extension of the anticyclone outflow over the Asian Pacific. Ratios of C2H2/CO are consistent with the evidence from the cross-sections that the C2H2 is uplifted rapidly in convection. Observations are presented of enhanced C2H2 associated with the injection from biomass burning into the upper troposphere and the outflow from Africa at 200 hPa into both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In the biomass burning regions, C2H2 and CO are well correlated, but the uplift is less marked and peaks at lower altitudes compared to the strong effects observed in the Asian monsoon anticyclone. Ratios of C2H2/CO clearly decay along transport pathways for the outflow, indicating photochemical ageing of the plumes. Overall, the data show the distinctive nature of C2H2 distributions, confirm in greater detail than previously possible features of hydrocarbon enhancements in the upper troposphere and highlight the future use of MIPAS hydrocarbon data for testing model transport and OH decay regimes in the middle to upper troposphere.
Reconstruction of internal gravity wave parameters from radio occultation retrievals of vertical temperature profiles in the Earth's atmosphere
Authors: Gubenko V. N. , Pavelyev A. G. , Salimzyanov R. R. , Pavelyev A. A.
Published: October 2011

Abstract. A new method for the reconstruction of internal gravity wave (IGW) parameters from a single vertical temperature profile measurement in the Earth's atmosphere has been developed. This method does not require any additional information not contained in the profile and may be used for the analysis of profiles measured by various techniques. The criterion for the IGW identification has been formulated and argued. In the case when this criterion is satisfied, then analyzed temperature fluctuations can be considered as wave-induced. The method is based on the analysis of relative amplitude thresholds of the temperature wave field and on the linear IGW saturation theory in which amplitude thresholds are restricted by dynamical (shear) instability processes in the atmosphere. When the amplitude of an internal gravity wave reaches the shear instability limit, energy is assumed to be dissipated in such a way that the amplitude is maintained at the instability limit as the wave propagates upwards. In order to approbate the method we have used data of simultaneous high-resolution balloon measurements of the temperature and wind velocity in the Earth's stratosphere over France where a long-period inertia-gravity wave has been detected. Using the radiosonde temperature data only, we have reconstructed all wave parameters, which were determined by radiosondes, with relative deviations not larger than 30%. An application of the method to the radio occultation (RO) data has given the possibility to identify the IGWs in the Earth's stratosphere and to determine the magnitudes of key wave parameters such as the intrinsic frequency, amplitudes of vertical and horizontal perturbations of the wind velocity, vertical and horizontal wavelengths, intrinsic vertical and horizontal phase (and group) speeds, kinetic and potential energy, vertical fluxes of the wave energy and horizontal momentum. The obtained results of internal wave studies in the Earth's stratosphere deduced from the COSMIC and CHAMP GPS occultation temperature profiles are presented and discussed.
Effects of copper mineralogy and methanobactin on cell growth and sMMO activity in Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b
Authors: Chi Fru E. , Gray N. D. , McCann C. , Baptista J. de C. , Christgen B. , Talbot H. M. , El Ghazouani A. , Dennison C. , Graham D. W.
Published: October 2011

Abstract. Controls on in situ methanotroph activity are not well understood. One potentially important parameter is copper (Cu) because it is the metal-centre of particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), the most active enzyme for oxidizing methane to methanol. Further, Cu-to-cell ratios influence the relative expression of pMMO versus the alternate soluble MMO (sMMO) in some species. However, most methanotroph studies only have assessed readily soluble forms of Cu (e.g. CuCl2) and there is a dearth of Cu-related activity data for Cu sources more common in the environment. Here we quantified sMMO activity (as a practical indicator of Cu availability) and growth kinetics in Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b, an organism that expresses both pMMO and sMMO, when grown on Cu-minerals with differing dissolution equilibria to assess how mineral type and methanobactin (mb) might influence in situ methanotroph activity. Mb is a molecule produced by M. trichosporium OB3b that has a high affinity for Cu, reduces Cu toxicity, and may influence Cu availability in terrestrial systems. CuCO3.Cu(OH)2 and CuO were chosen for study based on modelling data, reflecting more and less soluble minerals, respectively, and were found to affect M. trichosporium OB3b activity differently. Cells grew without growth lag and with active pMMO on CuCO3.Cu(OH)2, regardless of the amount of mineral supplied (<500 μmoles Cu-total l−1). The organism also grew well on CuO; however, significant sMMO activity was retained up to 50 μmoles Cu-total l−1, although sMMO activity was suppressed by supplemental mb and-or direct cell-mineral contact. Mb addition increased growth rates (p < 0.05) with both minerals. Results show mb broadly stimulates growth, but Cu mineralogy and mb dictate whether sMMO or pMMO is active in the cells. This explains why sMMO activity has been seen in soils with high Cu and also has implications for predicting dominant MMO activity in terrestrial bioremediation applications.
A therapeutic trial of pro‐methylation dietary supplements in Angelman syndrome
Authors: Bird Lynne M. , Tan Wen‐Hann , Bacino Carlos A. , Peters Sarika U. , Skinner Steven A. , Anselm Irina , Barbieri‐Welge Rene , Bauer‐Carlin Astrid , Gentile Jennifer K. , Glaze Daniel G. , Horowitz Lucia T. , Mohan K. Naga , Nespeca Mark P. , Sahoo Trilochan , Sarco Dean , Waisbren Susan E. , Beaudet Arthur L.
Published: October 2011

Angelman syndrome (AS) is due to deficient ubiquitin protein ligase 3a, the gene for which (UBE3A) maps to chromosome 15q11–q13 and is imprinted such that only the maternally inherited gene is expressed. The paternally inherited UBE3A gene is silenced, a process mediated by an antisense transcript. We conducted a trial using methylation‐promoting dietary supplements (betaine, metafolin, creatine, and vitamin B12) in an attempt to reduce antisense transcript production, increase UBE3A expression, and ameliorate the symptoms of AS. Neuropsychological evaluations, biochemical testing, and assessment of DNA methylation were performed at the beginning and at the end of 1 year of supplementation. The primary outcome measures were changes in the level of developmental function (cognitive, motor, and language) as measured using standardized instruments. The secondary outcomes measures were changes in biochemical parameters and global DNA methylation. These data were compared to those of a control group from a previous randomized double‐blind trial using folic acid and betaine. There were no statistically significant changes in the developmental performance of children treated with supplements. There were no unexpected changes in biochemical parameters and no change in site‐specific DNA methylation when comparing samples from before and after treatment. There were 10 adverse events that resulted in study withdrawal of 7 participants (worsening of seizures, onset, or worsening of sleep problems, constipation, and anorexia). Supplementation with betaine, metafolin, creatine, and vitamin B12 appears safe but ineffective in decreasing the severity of AS. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Synthesis of soluble aromatic multilayered tetra(m‐phenylurea) and analysis of its helical conformation in various solvents
Authors: Kudo Mayumi , Azumaya Isao , Kagechika Hiroyuki , Tanatani Aya
Published: October 2011

Aromatic N,N′‐dimethylated urea exists in (cis, cis) form, both in the crystal and in solution, and this structure can be utilized to construct intramolecular aromatic multilayered oligomers. These structures show helical conformation with all‐R or all‐S axis chirality, when the benzene rings are connected at the meta positions. To investigate the dynamic conformational behavior of such aromatic multilayered ureas in various solvents, we synthesized tetra(m‐phenylurea) 3 bearing two chiral N‐2‐(methoxyethoxyethoxy)propyl groups and six N‐methoxyethoxyethyl groups. The high solubility of compound 3 enabled its analysis in various solvents, including water. The CD spectra of compound 3 showed broad electronic absorption with high temperature‐dependency, owing to the induction of handedness, in acetonitrile, chloroform, and methanol. In water, the CD signals of compound 3 indicated the presence of similar helical structure, but temperature‐dependency was not observed. Chirality, 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modeling and Validating Long‐Term Dynamics of Diel Dissolved Oxygen with Particular Reference to pH in a Temperate Shallow Lake (Turkey)
Authors: Karakaya Nusret , Evrendilek Fatih , Güngör Kerem
Published: October 2011

Long‐term monitoring of changes in dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH is of great importance to quantifying aquatic ecosystem metabolism, particularly for lakes under the changing global environment. During 173 days, diel DO cycles were measured in situ along with the main driving variables of pH, wind speed (WS), and net solar radiation (Rn) in a temperate shallow lake. Best‐fit multiple non‐linear regression (MNLR) models of diel DO time series were built and validated on a monthly basis, with R2 values ranging from 42.4% in September to 95.4% in November for validation. The strong relationship between diel DO and pH (r = 0.6) appeared to be related to the patterns of ecosystem productivity and respiration, and sensitivity of decomposing bacteria to changes in pH. pH‐driven lake metabolism appears to have significant implications for diel and seasonal lake metabolism in a changing global environment.
A comparison of depletion versus equalization for reducing high‐abundance proteins in human serum
Authors: Fernández Carolina , Santos Hugo M. , Ruíz‐Romero Cristina , Blanco Francisco J. , Capelo‐Martínez José‐Luis
Published: October 2011

In this work three methods to diminish the content of most highly abundant proteins in human serum have been studied and compared. Protein depletion with ACN or DTT and protein equalization with the ProteoMiner™ (PM) have been assessed by 1‐D gel electrophoresis and MS. After treatment 5, 18 and 9 major proteins within the 20 most abundant proteins in serum were identified for the ACN, DTT and PM methods, respectively. The ACN method was efficient for depleting high molecular weight proteins, over 75 KDa, resulting in 10±4% (n=3) of the total protein content remaining in the depleted serum. In addition, 75% of the proteins belonging to the group of the 20 most abundant proteins were not detected, making this depletion strategy a cheap alternative to expensive commercial tools regularly used for removing high abundance proteins from serum. The ACN extract was found rich in apolipoproteins. The dithithreitol method promotes the precipitation of proteins rich in disulfide bonds, mainly albumin, with 73±7% (n=3) of the total protein content remaining in the depleted serum, which was found rich in immunoglobulins. The PM method compresses the dynamic range of the serum proteins, rendering an extract containing 16±2% (n=3) of the total initial protein content. The extract was found to be rich in both apolipoproteins and immunoglobulins. As a general rule the DTT and PM methods provide a compression of the dynamic range of serum protein concentrations while the ACN method allows an effective depletion of the protein fraction above 72 KDa.
Ecotoxicity test methods for engineered nanomaterials: Practical experiences and recommendations from the bench
Authors: Handy Richard D. , Cornelis Geert , Fernandes Teresa , Tsyusko Olga , Decho Alan , Sabo-Attwood Tara , Metcalfe Chris , Steevens Jeffery A. , Klaine Stephen J. , Koelmans Albert A. , Horne Nina
Published: October 2011

Ecotoxicology research is using many methods for engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), but the collective experience from researchers has not been documented. This paper reports the practical issues for working with ENMs and suggests nano-specific modifications to protocols. The review considers generic practical issues, as well as specific issues for aquatic tests, marine grazers, soil organisms, and bioaccumulation studies. Current procedures for cleaning glassware are adequate, but electrodes are problematic. The maintenance of exposure concentration is challenging, but can be achieved with some ENMs. The need to characterize the media during experiments is identified, but rapid analytical methods are not available to do this. The use of sonication and natural/synthetic dispersants are discussed. Nano-specific biological endpoints may be developed for a tiered monitoring scheme to diagnose ENM exposure or effect. A case study of the algal growth test highlights many small deviations in current regulatory test protocols that are allowed (shaking, lighting, mixing methods), but these should be standardized for ENMs. Invertebrate (Daphnia) tests should account for mechanical toxicity of ENMs. Fish tests should consider semistatic exposure to minimize wastewater and animal husbandry. The inclusion of a benthic test is recommended for the base set of ecotoxicity tests with ENMs. The sensitivity of soil tests needs to be increased for ENMs and shortened for logistics reasons; improvements include using Caenorhabditis elegans, aquatic media, and metabolism endpoints in the plant growth tests. The existing bioaccumulation tests are conceptually flawed and require considerable modification, or a new test, to work for ENMs. Overall, most methodologies need some amendments, and recommendations are made to assist researchers. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012;31:15–31. © 2011 SETAC
Oligodendrocyte responses to buprenorphine uncover novel and opposing roles of μ‐opioid‐ and nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptors in cell development: Implications for drug addiction treatment during pregnancy
Authors: Eschenroeder Andrew C. , Vestal‐Laborde Allison A. , Sanchez Emilse S. , Robinson Susan E. , Sato‐Bigbee Carmen
Published: October 2011

Although the classical function of myelin is the facilitation of saltatory conduction, this membrane and the oligodendrocytes, the cells that make myelin in the central nervous system (CNS), are now recognized as important regulators of plasticity and remodeling in the developing brain. As such, oligodendrocyte maturation and myelination are among the most vulnerable processes along CNS development. We have shown previously that rat brain myelination is significantly altered by buprenorphine, an opioid analogue currently used in clinical trials for managing pregnant opioid addicts. Perinatal exposure to low levels of this drug induced accelerated and increased expression of myelin basic proteins (MBPs), cellular and myelin components that are markers of mature oligodendrocytes. In contrast, supra‐therapeutic drug doses delayed MBP brain expression and resulted in a decreased number of myelinated axons. We have now found that this biphasic‐dose response to buprenorphine can be attributed to the participation of both the μ‐opioid receptor (MOR) and the nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptor (NOP receptor) in the oligodendrocytes. This is particularly intriguing because the NOP receptor/nociceptin system has been primarily linked to behavior and pain regulation, but a role in CNS development or myelination has not been described before. Our findings suggest that balance between signaling mediated by (a) MOR activation and (b) a novel, yet unidentified pathway that includes the NOP receptor, plays a crucial role in the timing of oligodendrocyte maturation and myelin synthesis. Moreover, exposure to opioids could disrupt the normal interplay between these two systems altering the developmental pattern of brain myelination. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Supplementing endophyte‐infected tall fescue or reed canarygrass with alfalfa or birdsfoot trefoil increases forage intake and digestibility by sheep
Authors: Owens Jacob , Provenza Frederick D , Wiedmeier Randall D , Villalba Juan J
Published: October 2011

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that alfalfa (ALF) or birdsfoot trefoil (BFT) eaten prior to a meal of endophyte‐infected tall fescue (TF) or reed canarygrass (RCG) would provide benefits not possible when TF or RCG are eaten alone. In trial 1, four groups of five lambs were first offered ALF for 30 min followed by either TF or RCG for 3.5 h in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of a completely randomized design that included grass (TF or RCG) with or without ALF. Trial 2 was similar to trial 1 except we used a new group of lambs fed BFT. Forage, fecal and urine samples were collected and analyzed for dry matter intake and apparent digestibility of dry matter, energy (in Kcal), nitrogen and neutral detergent fiber.

RESULTS: A meal of either ALF or BFT prior to eating TF or RCG caused lambs to eat more total dry matter and nitrogen (both in g d−1) and energy (in MJ d−1) than lambs fed only TF or RCG (P < 0.05). Lambs fed ALF slightly reduced intake of TF and RCG relative to unsupplemented animals. Lambs fed BFT ate slightly less RCG, but much more TF than unsupplemented animals (P < 0.10). Lambs ate much less BFT than ALF, but they were stimulated to eat TF to a greater degree by BFT than by ALF.

CONCLUSIONS: The enhanced intake of TF by lambs provided BFT, as well as the greater nutrient intake by lambs fed legumes and grasses was likely due in part to complementary profiles of alkaloids, saponins, and tannins. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry
Development of a minimal set of prescribing quality indicators for diabetes management on a general practice level
Authors: Martirosyan Liana , Haaijer‐Ruskamp Flora M. , Braspenning Jozé , Denig Petra
Published: October 2011

Objective

To identify the relevant prescribing quality domains of type 2 diabetes mellitus care as a basis for the selection of a minimal set of prescribing quality indicators from a set of previously validated indicators.

Methods

We used the principal factor analysis to identify the underlying dimensions or domains of prescribing quality for 76 general practitioners participating to the Groningen Initiative to Analyse Type 2 Diabetes Treatment project in the Netherlands. From a set of 10 prescribing quality indicators covering various aspects of cardiovascular and metabolic management, we selected a subset of indicators with the highest loading within each identified domain. Next, we evaluated the effect of using this subset on the quintile ranking of practices on their prescribing quality scores.

Results

We identified five prescribing quality domains in our data set: two assessing initiation of pharmacotherapy for different risk factors in diabetic patients, two on stepwise intensification of treatment, and one on treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. A composite score comprising the indicators selected from each of the domains showed good agreement with the composite score comprising all indicators with 82% of general practitioners either not changing their position or shifting their ranking by only one quintile.

Conclusions

We showed that a minimal set of prescribing quality indicators for type 2 diabetes mellitus care should not just focus on the management of different clinical risk factors but also reflect different steps of treatment intensification. The results of our study are relevant for stakeholders when selecting quality indicators to assess the quality of prescribing in diabetic patients. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
High‐resolution reciprocal space mapping of distributed Bragg reflectors and virtual substrates
Authors: Zhylik A. , Rinaldi F. , Myronov M. , Saito K. , Menzel S. , Dobbie A. , Leadley D. R. , Ulyanenkova T. , Feranchuk I. D. , Ulyanenkov A.
Published: October 2011

Epitaxially grown silicon germanium alloy layers, prepared as virtual substrates for modulation‐doped field effect transistors, and InxGa1−xAs and GaPxAs1−x graded layers on GaAs substrates prepared as distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), have been investigated by the reciprocal space mapping (RSM) technique. These structures possess a strong concentration gradient and crystallographic lattice relaxation across the layer, which makes the data analysis challenging. Using kinematic diffraction theory for RSM analysis gives a rather simple way to evaluate the concentration, tilt and relaxation gradients, and the layer thicknesses, as well as the dependence of these values on the azimuthal direction of the diffraction plane. The density of 60° misfit dislocations for partially relaxed layers is also estimated. Characteristics of wide aperture Bragg reflectors based on these structures are calculated.
An evaluation of penalised survival methods for developing prognostic models with rare events
Authors: Ambler G. , Seaman S. , Omar R. Z.
Published: October 2011

Prognostic models for survival outcomes are often developed by fitting standard survival regression models, such as the Cox proportional hazards model, to representative datasets. However, these models can be unreliable if the datasets contain few events, which may be the case if either the disease or the event of interest is rare. Specific problems include predictions that are too extreme, and poor discrimination between low‐risk and high‐risk patients. The objective of this paper is to evaluate three existing penalised methods that have been proposed to improve predictive accuracy. In particular, ridge, lasso and the garotte, which use penalised maximum likelihood to shrink coefficient estimates and in some cases omit predictors entirely, are assessed using simulated data derived from two clinical datasets. The predictions obtained using these methods are compared with those from Cox models fitted using standard maximum likelihood. The simulation results suggest that Cox models fitted using maximum likelihood can perform poorly when there are few events, and that significant improvements are possible by taking a penalised modelling approach. The ridge method generally performed the best, although lasso is recommended if variable selection is required. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Vitamin D, invariant natural killer T-cells and experimental autoimmune disease
Authors: Cantorna Margherita T. , Zhao Jun , Yang Linlin
Published: October 2011

Vitamin D is an important regulator of the immune system in general and multiple sclerosis in particular. Experimentally (i), invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells have been shown to be important suppressors of autoimmune diseases such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE; an animal model of multiple sclerosis). Conversely, in experimental allergic asthma iNKT cells are required for disease induction and are therefore pathogenic. The active form of vitamin D (calcitriol) suppresses EAE. The development of EAE symptoms is accelerated in vitamin D deficiency. Interestingly experimental asthma is less severe in vitamin D deficiency although there is no effect of calcitriol on disease severity. The data suggest that an important target of vitamin D in EAE and asthma are the iNKT cells. Vitamin D and/or vitamin D receptor deficiency results in the impaired development of iNKT cells. Vitamin D is critical very early during development of the immune system. Low levels of vitamin D in utero resulted in significantly reduced numbers of iNKT cells that failed to recover when calcitriol was used to supplement neonatal or adult mice. The data suggest that one of the consequences of early vitamin D deficiency is a reduction in the numbers of iNKT cells that develop. The iNKT cells are required for the beneficial effects of calcitriol in EAE. The important role of vitamin D on iNKT cells could impact the development of human immune-mediated diseases including multiple sclerosis and asthma.
PIERRE BOULEZ IN INTERVIEW, 1996 (IV) SOME BROADER TOPICS
Authors: Guldbrandsen Erling E.
Published: October 2011

EG:Who – except Stéphane Mallarmé – is being portrayed in your principal work Pli selon pli – portrait de Mallarmé? Nobody? The listener? Or Pierre Boulez himself?

PB: I think that it is a double portrait: It is a portrait of Mallarmé and myself. Of course Mallarmé is a poet who has been terribly important to me. The kind of relationship we had, our working together – in spite of the difference in centuries! – brings up somebody else: That is the portrait of a kind of mixture of Mallarmé and me, finally.
Naturalizing the normative and the bridges between “is” and “ought”
Authors: Quintelier Katinka J. P. , Fessler Daniel M. T.
Published: October 2011

Elqayam & Evans (E&E) suggest descriptivism as a way to avoid fallacies and research biases. We argue, first, that descriptive and prescriptive theories might be better off with a closer interaction between “is” and “ought.” Moreover, while we acknowledge the problematic nature of the discussed fallacies and biases, important aspects of research would be lost through a broad application of descriptivism.
What is evaluative normativity, that we (maybe) should avoid it?
Authors: Weinberg Jonathan M.
Published: October 2011

Elqayam & Evans (E&E) argue that we should avoid evaluative normativity in our psychological theorizing. But there are two crucial issues lacking clarity in their presentation of evaluative normativity. One of them can be resolved through disambiguation, but the other points to a deeper problem: Evaluative normativity is too tightly-woven in our theorizing to be easily disentangled and discarded.
Institutionalisation and subjective wellbeing for old-age individuals: is life really miserable in care homes?
Authors: BÖCKERMAN PETRI , JOHANSSON EDVARD , SAARNI SAMULI I.
Published: October 2011

In this paper we examine whether there are systematic differences in the quality of life, depending on whether an individual is institutionalised or not, holding health status and income level constant. In doing this we use a nationally representative data set, the Health 2000 in Finland. When controlling for health and functional status, demographics and income level, we find that individuals who are living in old-age homes actually report significantly higher levels of subjective wellbeing than those who are living at home. We argue that this finding emerges from queuing for care homes. This implies that there are individuals living at home who are so frail that they should really be living in an old-age institution, but because of the queues for that particular mode of living, they are living at home with a decreased quality of life as a consequence.
The politics of hard knowledge: uncertainty, intelligence failures, and the ‘last minute genocide’ of Srebrenica
Authors: RIJSDIJK ERNA
Published: October 2011

Questions of uncertainty and responsibility have been central to the political and legal investigations of the failed UN/Dutch peacekeeping mission in Srebrenica. The official Dutch NIOD report on the peacekeeping mission has reconstructed the fall of Srebrenica as a surprise attack and as an ‘intelligence failure’. The report and its understanding of tactical uncertainty has led to a call for more intelligence in UN operations. I argue that the report builds its claims on a problematic epistemology of intelligence studies drawing upon a politics of ‘hard knowledge’. A similar epistemology can be identified in the proceedings of the war crimes tribunal in The Hague (ICTY) in the legal approach of criminal intent for the violence in Srebrenica. Although it is recognised that the political responsibility to prevent genocide and the juridical responsibility to punish those who have committed crimes have different implications for what can be called relevant foreknowledge or criminal intent, both the juridical and the political approaches close off paths for the mobilisation of histories that are more sensitive to the productive workings of language and images and thus to their bearing on possible futures.
Polluter Versus Polluter: The Pennsylvania Railroad and the Manufacturing of Pollution Policies in the 1920s
Authors: Casner Nicholas
Published: October 2011

In 1920 the Pennsylvania Railroad sued several small coal companies over water pollution. The lawsuit, ultimately decided in the railroad's favor, overturned an earlier Pennsylvania court decision that granted a property right to pollute, and, more important, now represents a major transitional period in American water policy history. The period marked the end of water policy generated from court decisions and case law, and the beginning of an era dominated by legislative statute and agency interpretation. With the Pennsylvania case, the impacts of nineteenth-century court decisions that sanctioned pollution to encourage business waned as concern for the nation's public health demanded more expansive attention, and industry itself began to experience excessive costs from corrupted water resources. In Pennsylvania and elsewhere, lawmakers attempted to institute a new strategy for economic interest in harmony with efforts to improve environmental quality.
Moral Perspective and the Cycles of Jacksonian History
Authors: Bernstein Iver
Published: October 2011

It is not surprising that an era that saw the creation of much of the America that we know—its mass political parties, sustained capitalist growth, individualistic creed, modern labor, feminist and moral reform movements, and formalized racism—witnessed intense moral controversy. The Jacksonian period posed in its starkest form what Edmund S. Morgan has called the central “paradox” of American history—the “marriage” of slavery and freedom, each of them expanding by leaps and bounds, each doing so increasingly within its own sphere. This was a time when many Americans were seized, as never before, with an intensely self-seeking and accumulating spirit. It was also a period when Americans' collective national mission, suffused with benevolent dreams of “righteous liberty and opportunity that would surpass all worldly limits,” was frequently invoked, sometimes in support of the claims of interest and law, and other times in ways that challenged authority justified purely in terms of selfish interest, positivistic application of the law, or coercive force. All this is to say that in the epoch from the end of the War of 1812 to the eve of the Civil War, moral dispute among different groups of Americans—parties and factions, classes, races and the national minorities, vested and emerging interests, masters and slaves, men and women—was often ferocious.
Political and Institutional Constraints of Reform: The Charity Reformers' Failed Campaigns Against Public Outdoor Relief, New York City, 1874–1898
Authors: Lui Adonica Y.
Published: October 2011

One of the United States' most enduring social policy conflicts in the nineteenth century concerned the controversy over the provision of municipal outdoor relief. J In the last third of the century, New York City, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia abolished the program. The actual political struggles over outdoor relief, however, have not been closely studied. Most accounts assume that the fierce opposition of the charity reformers to outdoor relief caused this long-standing social provision to be abolished. Instead of a story of “reform success,” this study of the outdoor relief conflicts in New York City between 1874 and 1898 documents the reformers' long years of frustration and ineffectiveness in the city's relief politics.
From Multi-Industry Planning to Keynesian Planning: Gardiner Means, the American Keynesians, and National Economic Planning at the National Resources Committee
Authors: Lee Frederic S.
Published: October 2011

In recent years we have witnessed a revival of interest in the National Resources Committee (NRC) and its work on national planning. The research shows that the roots of national planning at the NRC are found in the Progressive Era, when individuals sought, through city, regional, and economic planning, to bring order to American society, in the government's management of the economy during World War I, and in Hoover's attempt at macromanagement of the economy. The research also shows that national economic planning, as distinct from other forms of planning, was an important component of the committee's work. In regard to this, researchers have acknowledged that Gardiner Means, as director of the Industrial Section of the Industrial Committee and author of The Structure of the American Economy, Part I: Basic Characteristics, was an important and outspoken advocate of economic planning within the NRC, but they have been less clear as to his specific contributions to economic planning. Moreover, the researchers have not extensively investigated the NRC position toward national economic planning, the economic models from which national economic plans would be developed, and the impact of the Keynesian revolution on the NRC approach to national economic planning. These omissions are not surprising inasmuch as neither Warken's (1979) nor Clawson's (1981) general coverage of the NRC provided much more than a brief and superficial description of the Industrial Section and a listing of its most important publications. Kalish (1963), on the other hand, discussed Means and the Industrial Section in more depth but in such a disjointed manner that it is impossible to grasp the movement toward economic planning that took place in the NRC and the important role Means played in the process. Finally, neither Chapman's (1981 and 1983) nor Jeffries's (1987) discussions of the impact of the Keynesian revolution on the activities of the NRC dealt specifically with its impact on Means's work on economic planning.
Political Learning and Economic Policy Innovation: The United States and Sweden in the Post–World War II Era
Authors: Mucciaroni Gary
Published: October 2011

The Great Depression, World War II, and Keynesian Revolution all contributed to a transformation in the role of the state in the economy. By the postwar period, it had become politically imperative, as well as intellectually sanctioned, for the state to assume responsibility for addressing unemployment. Certain Western governments were willing and able to go to great lengths to ameliorate joblessness, and in some cases prevent it, while others seemed capable or inclined to go less far. As anyone who studies unemployment in a comparative context knows, Sweden and the United States present a vivid contrast in how seriously governments undertook this responsibility and to what degree they were willing to extend the control of the state in the market conomy. It is precisely because these two nations stand at virtually opposite poles in the commitment to eliminating unemployment and in implementing policies toward that end that many scholars have sought to compare them. Compared to the United States, Sweden's policy objectives have been much more ambitious, its policy instruments more diverse and capable of intervening more extensively in the labor market, and its budgets for training, relocation, and job-creation schemes substantially larger. In short, in Sweden we find the government doing more, and in the United States we find it doing less.
Movies, Politics, and Censorship: The Production Code Administration and Political Censorship of Film Content
Authors: Black Gregory D.
Published: October 2011

Hollywood. The name was magical. The lure was overwhelming. Generations of Americans spent untold hours in darkened theaters captivated by this fantasy world. Girls swooned over the latest Hollywood heartthrob while boys dreamed about a life of adventure and glory. As their pioneer ancestors before them, thousands trekked westward to Hollywood in search of fame. Most were rejected, but a lucky few were “discovered” and became “stars”—the royalty of the twentieth century.
Crossing Thresholds: Federalism in the 1960s
Authors: Derthick Martha
Published: October 2011

Compounded as it is of contrasting forms, the purely national and the purely federal, federalism in the United States is inherently unstable. The division of power and prerogative between nation and states constantly changes, tending normally to become more national. Sometimes change occurs more swiftly and penetrates more deeply than others, and the 1960s were one of those times. One after another, constitutional thresholds were crossed. By the mid-1970s, American federalism had become something very different from what it had been fifteen years before. The place of place in the American polity had been sharply devalued. Autonomous individuals as political actors had gained at the expense of place-based communities. So had groups identified by such rival attributes as race or gender.
The Politics of Pathology: The Ideological Origins of the Moynihan Controversy
Authors: Scott Daryl Michael
Published: October 2011

On 4 June 1965, President Johnson, in his famous speech at Howard University, endorsed preferential treatment for black Americans and the idea of equality of results. To justify a departure from the ideal of a colorblind state, Johnson offered an alternative that might be called black exceptionalism. In response to the widely held view that blacks, like immigrants, should receive no assistance from the state in their quest to enter the mainstream of society, Johnson asserted that the oppression suffered by blacks made them unique. At the core of his justification was the plight of the black family in slavery and freedom and its impact on black children. “When the family collapses,” he stated, “it is the children that are usually damaged.”1 With words freighted with importance for the future of liberalism, he articulated a new conception of equality, one enforced by an activist state: “We seek not just freedom but opportunity–not just legal equity but human ability–not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and as a result.” Toward this end, he called for a conference to chart the future of racial liberalism.
Professor Neely Goes Fishing
Authors: Skowronek Stephen
Published: October 2011

As “Lincoln and the Politics of Union” is the only thing that Michael Holt has ever written with which Mark Neely entirely disagrees, I can understand his impatience with the arguments of The Politics Presidents Make. Each of us has a fish of this sort waiting to be fried, and the opportunity afforded by my reference to Holt's essay must have been hard to resist. At least Neely took enough care in seizing this opportunity to acknowledge his “reductionist rendering” of my thesis.
On the Politics Skowronek Makes
Authors: Tulis Jeffrey K.
Published: October 2011

Although there is an enormous literature on presidential leadership, only a handful of books on the subject shape the terms of debate regarding the place of the presidency in the American political order. Edward Corwin's classic,The President: Office and Powers, written during the New Deal, and Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'sImperial Presidency, written during the Watergate era, are examples of such constitutive texts. Each reconceptualized the understanding of presidential leadership and connected that understanding to problems in the political order as a whole: they were synoptic, as well as constitutive texts.
Exorcising Inflation-Mindedness: The Transformation of Economic Management in the 1970s
Authors: Woolley John T.
Published: October 2011

In late August 1994, Alan Blinder was concluding his second month of service as vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. A former member of the CEA and a distinguished economist, Blinder had achieved a reputation as a“hard-headed liberal economist.”
Gender and the Development of the Regulatory State: The Controversy over Restricting Women's Night Work in the Depression-Era South
Authors: Storrs Landon R. Y.
Published: October 2011

In late 1930, as the Great Depression deepened, the Cotton Textile Institute unveiled a plan for eliminating the employment of women and minors at night. The intent behind the national trade association's measure was to discourage cotton textile mills from operating at night, thereby breaking a cycle of overproduction and price-cutting that had beset the industry through the 1920s. Although this fact was not emphasized in public, the measure's particular target was southern mills, which, less restrained than northeastern mills by unions or state labor laws, comprised a disproportionate share of the industry's nightrunners. The Cotton Textile Institute (CTI) anticipated that ending night work for women would reduce night operation because mill tasks historically done by women were interdependent with men's tasks, and replacing women night workers with men would be expensive. Targeting women and children, rather than all employees, enabled the institute to publicize the measure as a “humanitarian” effort, rather than as a move to limit production. CTI leaders hoped that this approach would appeal to the public and—especially important—that it would head off antitrust prosecution by the Justice Department.
Health Policy and the History of Welfare States: A Reinterpretation
Authors: Fox Daniel M.
Published: October 2011

This article assesses recent studies of the history of welfare states and proposes an alternative interpretation of the history of policy for health services. Health policy, like policy for retirement income, job security and unemployment, social services and housing, has been profoundly influenced by the politics of economic productivity, social justice, and demographic change in each country. However, health policy has also been guided by perceptions of the nature and course of disease and opinions about the probability that particular medical interventions, organized and distributed in particular ways, would ameliorate its effects.
Deinstutionalization: The Illusion of Policy
Authors: Grob Gerald N.
Published: October 2011

In mid-nineteenth century America the asylum became the foundation of public policy. This ubiquitous institution was regarded as a symbol of an enlightened and progressive nation that no longer ignored or mistreated its severely and chronically mentally ill citizens. The faith in an institutional policy was embodied in a vast and costly system of state mental hospitals that by 1940 had an inpatient population of about 450,000. Despite the presence of serious problems, there was little disposition to call into doubt the wisdom of institutional care and treatment. Even though mental health policy was formulated within a decentralized and divided political system, there was no doubt that a holistic and clear consensus prevailed.
Abortive Reconstruction: Federal War Labor Policies, Union Organization, and the Politics of Race, 1917–1920
Authors: McCartin Joseph A.
Published: October 2011

During the early months of 1919, the term “Reconstruction,” of concern to few but historians and the friends and foes of D.W. Griffith in the years immediately preceding the Great War, was again on the lips of Americans. Alabama State Federation of Labor President, William L. Harrison, noted that “Since the signing of the Armistice, and the cessation of hostilities, the questions of reconstruction and re-adjustment are being diligently studied by the people generally.” Out of the war, he argued, came “new and progressive ideas on reconstruction.” He was right. As the war ended, dozens of books and articles bearing titles likeReconstructing America, Democracy and Reconstruction, and Social Reconstructionjoined a new journal calledReconstruction: A Herald of the New Time.This literature celebrated the role that a strong federal government had played in helping workers secure the right to join unions during the war, and it laid out hopeful plans for what the government might do to solve the “labor question” after the war. Such ideas helped convince Harrison's counterpart, Florida State Federation of Labor President John H. Mackey, that the postwar era would bring “a silver ray which carries with it wondrous tidings for the uplift of the masses.”
The Future of Political History
Authors: Gillon Steven M.
Published: October 2011

It has become an article of faith that political history has fallen on hard times in recent years. “[T]he status of the political historian within the profession,” William E. Leuchtenburg observed in his 1986 presidential address to the Organization of American Historians (OAH) has “sunk to somewhere between that of a faith healer and a chiropractor.” Hugh Davis Graham, in an insightful analysis of policy history, reached a similar conclusion. “The ranks of traditional political history are depleted,” he wrote in 1993, “their assumptions and methods discredited along with the Great White Men whose careers they chronicled.”