bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Molecular Targets for Human Papillomaviruses: Prospects for Antiviral Therapy
Authors: Phelps WC , Barnes JA , Lobe DC
Published: May 2015

A substantial medical need exists for the development of antiviral medicines for the treatment of diseases associated with infection by human papillomaviruses (HPVs). HPVs are associated with various benign and malignant lesions including benign genital condyloma, common skin warts, laryngeal papillomas and anogenital cancer. Since treatment options are limited and typically not very satisfactory, the development of safe and effective antiviral drugs for HPV could have substantial clinical impact. In the last few years, exciting advances have been made in our understanding of papillomavirus replication and the effects that the virus has on growth of the host cell. Although still somewhat rudimentary, techniques have been developed for limited virion production in vitro offering the promise of more rapid advances in the dissection and understanding of the virus life cycle. Of the 8–10 HPV gene products that are made during infection, only one encodes enzymatic activities, the E1 helicase. Successful antiviral therapies have traditionally targeted viral enzymes such as polymerases, kinases and proteases. In contrast, macromolecular interactions which mediate the functions of E6, E7 and E2 are thought to be more difficult targets for small molecule therapy.
Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Activity and Mechanism of Antiviral Action of the Fluoroquinolone Derivative K-12
Authors: Witvrouw M , Daelemans D , Pannecouque C , Neyts J , Andrei G , Snoeck R , Vandamme A-M , Balzarini J , Desmyter J , Baba M , De Clercq E
Published: May 2015

The fluoroquinolone derivatives have been shown to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication at the transcriptional level. We confirmed the anti-HIV activity of the most potent congener, 8-difluoromethoxy-1-ethyl-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-7-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]-4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid (K-12), in both acutely and chronically infected cells. K-12 was active against different strains of HIV-1 (including AZT-and ritonavir-resistant HIV-1 strains), HIV-2 and simian immunodeficiency virus, in MT-4, CEM, C8166 and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In all of these antiviral assay systems, K-12 showed a similar activity (EC50 0.2–0.6 μM). K-12 inhibited Moloney murine sarcoma virus-induced transformation of C3H/3T3 cells with an EC50 of 6.9 μM. Also, K-12 proved inhibitory to herpesvirus saimiri, human cytomegalovirus, varicella-zoster virus and herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (in order of decreasing sensitivity), but was not inhibitory (at subtoxic concentrations) to human herpesvirus type 8 (as evaluated in BCBL-1 cells), vaccinia virus, Sindbis virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, respiratory syncytial virus, Coxsackie virus, Punta Toro virus, parainfluenza virus or reovirus. Time-of-addition experiments and quantitative transactivation bioassays indicated that K-12 inhibits the Tat-mediated transactivation process in HIV-infected cells.
Retention, transfer out and loss to follow-up two years after delivery in a cohort of HIV+ pregnant women in Malawi
Authors: Giuliano Marina , Liotta Giuseppe , Andreotti Mauro , Mancinelli Sandro , Buonomo Ersilia , Scarcella Paola , Amici Roberta , Jere Haswel , Sagno Jean-Baptiste , Di Gregorio Massimiliano , Marazzi Maria Cristina , Vella Stefano , Palombi Leonardo
Published: May 2015

In this study, we analysed in a cohort of pregnant women followed for two years the proportion of women remaining at the same clinic, those who transferred to other clinics, and those lost to follow-up. The possible determinants of the loss to follow-up were also assessed in a setting of postpartum discontinuation based on CD4+ count. A total of 311 pregnant women received antiretroviral therapy from week 25 of gestational age until six months postpartum (end of breastfeeding period), or indefinitely if meeting the criteria for treatment (baseline CD4+ <350 cells/mm3). Twenty-four months after delivery, six women had died, 247 were in active follow-up, 21 had transferred to another antiretroviral therapy clinic and 37 were lost to follow-up (rate of loss to follow-up 13%, 95% CI 9.1–16.9%). The presence of a baseline CD4+ count above 350 cells/mm3 was associated with a ten-fold higher risk of loss to follow-up after six months of delivery (hazard ratio: 9.8, 95% CI 2.2–42.7, for baseline CD4 >350 cells/mm3 versus baseline CD4+ count below 350 cells/mm3, p = 0.002). This finding suggests that discontinuation of drugs when the risk of transmission has ceased can have a negative impact on the retention in care of these women.
The Origins of Counting Algorithms
Authors: Cantlon Jessica F. , Piantadosi Steven T. , Ferrigno Stephen , Hughes Kelly D. , Barnard Allison M.
Published: May 2015

Humans’ ability to count by verbally labeling discrete quantities is unique in animal cognition. The evolutionary origins of counting algorithms are not understood. We report that nonhuman primates exhibit a cognitive ability that is algorithmically and logically similar to human counting. Monkeys were given the task of choosing between two food caches. First, they saw one cache baited with some number of food items, one item at a time. Then, a second cache was baited with food items, one at a time. At the point when the second set was approximately equal to the first set, the monkeys spontaneously moved to choose the second set even before that cache was completely baited. Using a novel Bayesian analysis, we show that the monkeys used an approximate counting algorithm for comparing quantities in sequence that is incremental, iterative, and condition controlled. This proto-counting algorithm is structurally similar to formal counting in humans and thus may have been an important evolutionary precursor to human counting.
You Call It “Self-Exuberance”; I Call It “Bragging”
Authors: Scopelliti Irene , Loewenstein George , Vosgerau Joachim
Published: May 2015

People engage in self-promotional behavior because they want others to hold favorable images of them. Self-promotion, however, entails a trade-off between conveying one’s positive attributes and being seen as bragging. We propose that people get this trade-off wrong because they erroneously project their own feelings onto their interaction partners. As a consequence, people overestimate the extent to which recipients of their self-promotion will feel proud of and happy for them, and underestimate the extent to which recipients will feel annoyed (Experiments 1 and 2). Because people tend to promote themselves excessively when trying to make a favorable impression on others, such efforts often backfire, causing targets of self-promotion to view self-promoters as less likeable and as braggarts (Experiment 3).
Evidences for centennial dry periods at ~3300 and ~2800 cal. yr BP from micro-facies analyses of the Dead Sea sediments
Authors: Neugebauer Ina , Brauer Achim , Schwab Markus J , Dulski Peter , Frank Ute , Hadzhiivanova Elitsa , Kitagawa Hiroyuki , Litt Thomas , Schiebel Vera , Taha Nimer , Waldmann Nicolas D ,   DSDDP Scientific Party
Published: May 2015

Laminated lake sediments from the Dead Sea basin provide high-resolution records of climatic variability in the eastern Mediterranean region, which is especially sensitive to changing climatic conditions. In this study, we aim on detailed reconstruction of climatic fluctuations and related changes in the frequency of flood and dust deposition events at ca. 3300 and especially at 2800 cal. yr BP from high-resolution sediment records of the Dead Sea basin. A ca. 4-m-thick, mostly varved sediment section from the western margin of the Dead Sea (DSEn – Ein Gedi profile) was analysed and correlated to the new International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project core 5017-1 from the deep basin. To detect even single event layers, we applied a multi-proxy approach of high-resolution microscopic thin section analyses, micro-X-ray fluorescence (µ-XRF) element scanning and magnetic susceptibility measurements, supported by grain size data and palynological analyses. Based on radiocarbon and varve dating, two pronounced dry periods were detected at ~3500–3300 and ~3000–2400 cal. yr BP which are differently expressed in the sediment records. In the shallow-water core (DSEn), the older dry period is characterised by a thick sand deposit, whereas the sedimentological change at 2800 cal. yr BP is less pronounced and characterised mainly by an enhanced frequency of coarse detrital layers interpreted as erosion events. In the 5017-1 deep-basin core, both dry periods are depicted by halite deposits. The onset of the younger dry period coincides with the Homeric Grand Solar Minimum at ca. 2800 cal. yr BP. Our results suggest that during this period, the Dead Sea region experienced an overall dry climate, superimposed by an increased occurrence of flash floods caused by a change in synoptic weather patterns.
Mind-modelling with corpus stylistics in David Copperfield
Authors: Stockwell Peter , Mahlberg Michaela
Published: May 2015

We suggest an innovative approach to literary discourse by using corpus linguistic methods to address research questions from cognitive poetics. In this article, we focus on the way that readers engage in mind-modelling in the process of characterisation. The article sets out our cognitive poetic model of characterisation that emphasises the continuity between literary characterisation and real-life human relationships. The model also aims to deal with the modelling of the author’s mind in line with the modelling of the minds of fictional characters. Crucially, our approach to mind-modelling is text-driven. Therefore we are able to employ corpus linguistic techniques systematically to identify textual patterns that function as cues triggering character information. In this article, we explore our understanding of mind-modelling through the characterisation of Mr. Dick from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Using the CLiC tool (Corpus Linguistics in Cheshire) developed for the exploration of 19th-century fiction, we investigate the textual traces in non-quotations around this character, in order to draw out the techniques of characterisation other than speech presentation. We show that Mr. Dick is a thematically and authorially significant character in the novel, and we move towards a rigorous account of the reader’s modelling of authorial intention.
Content and Feedback Analysis of YouTube Videos: Football Clubs and Fans as Brand Communities
Authors: Checchinato Francesca , Disegna Marta , Gazzola Paola
Published: May 2015

The use of Web 2.0 tools has been transforming the interaction between companies and their clients, especially for those that are selling emotional products. Consumers are generating and sharing contents concerning their favourite products on the web. Even if this process has been widely acknowledged, only a few studies have been specifically devoted to the analysis of both the contents and the feedback the consumers receive from other users.

This article analyzes the online presence of sport brands through contents that are generated by sport clubs (official contents) and their fans (User Generated Content, UGC) on YouTube. After a description and classification of video contents, it examines the factors that influence the performance of the videos in terms of passive (videos views) and active behaviour (any kinds of interaction with videos) among the viewers.

In order to carry out this analysis, 125 YouTube channels were considered thereby accounting for a total of 375 videos.

Results show that official contents are those preferred by the users/consumers and that if the video displays a passive/purely informative content, the chance of getting an active behaviour from the users tends to decrease.

These findings may help companies manage their online presence, creating awareness about contents and information that should be spread and shared on the web.
Construction of Social Accounting Matrix for Andhra Pradesh (AP) for 2007–08
Authors: Saluja M.R.
Published: May 2015

A social accounting matrix (SAM), an extension of the input–output model, is constructed for the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) for the year 2007–08. It consists of 73 producing sectors, 2 factors of production and 9 categories of households, based on occupation and location (i.e., rural and urban). The main data sources used have been provided by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics of AP. In addition, the sources are NSSO’s 66th round survey on consumer expenditure and National Council of Applied Economic Research’s Income–Expenditure Survey 2004–05. At a number of places, all-India coefficients, based on the 2007–08 input–output table, have been used. This is the first SAM constructed for any state in India.
Productivity and Elasticity Differential between Direct and Contract Workers in Indian Manufacturing Sector
Authors: Maiti Dibyendu , Dasgupta Poulomi , Paul Anusree
Published: May 2015

Contractual employment is an increasing phenomenon in the in-house production while informal workers are available outside at low cost. The obvious question is: are they more productive? To enquire this, the present paper examines the elasticity and productivity differential between direct and contract workers using the three-digit industrial data for major Indian states during 1998–2006. A simple theoretical exercise suggests that when direct and contract workers are employed respectively for core and peripheral activities within in-house production, the use of contract workers could rise in response to technological change even if direct workers are more productive and decline. We assume that a firm can undertake core activities by subcontracting out in place of using direct employment. Our empirical results suggest that both elasticity and productivity of contract workers have been lower than those of direct workers, even when the share of contract workers is highly explained by the capital–output ratio. We argue that the contract workers are less productive because they do not receive direct benefits from the technological upgradation in core in-house activities. While the technological upgradation can replace direct workers and subcontracting, the contract workers to be used for peripheral in-house activities can increase along with in-house production.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On theory and method
Authors: Loy John W
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, key foundational scholar in the sociology of sport John Loy assesses the development of the field by focusing on larger questions of theory and methodological tactics. Loy characterizes key stages of development in reflecting on the trajectory of the field. He considers the “universals and particulars” in considering the sociology of sport’s station within the social sciences and humanities. In assessing the challenges of the field, Loy focuses on the fundamental features of sport in a societal context and draws on Raymond Williams to articulate the “long residuals” that undergird inquiry in the sociology of sport. In looking to the future of the field, Loy, drawing on Berger and Mills, encourages scholars to engage sociology of sport as a “form of consciousness” in ways that debunk myth and reveal power relations.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On media and power
Authors: Rowe David
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a key international figure in the study of media and sport within the sociology of sport, David Rowe, reflects on the field as a whole and the role for studying media and power within it. Rowe considers how some development in the sociology of sport within the larger discipline of sociology may be seen as ‘gestural and instrumental’. In considering the challenges of the field, Rowe notes how the media serves to situate and amplify sport’s inherent powers of ‘liveness’, whether sport is manifest in mega-events or in ‘extraordinary ordinariness’. The closing section of the essay focuses on questions of media and power, foremost those concerning spectacle and commodification and their intersection with politics and the transactions of nationalized identities with those of race, ethnicity and gender in a globalized media sports cultural complex.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On cultural sensibilities and the great sport myth
Authors: Coakley Jay
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, Jay Coakley, a foundational scholar in the development of the sociology of sport, reflects on the lasting power of the Great Sport Myth (GSM) to shape cultural understandings of sport. Situated in an unshakable belief about the inherent purity and goodness of sport, it is argued that the GSM has shaped uncountable decisions to embrace and sponsor sports despite their costs and what they may preclude in the way of other private and public choices. In assessing the challenges of the field, the author points to the influence of the GSM in masking and enabling personal power that has enabled ruling elites to appropriate public money for private gain. In looking ahead to future sociology of sport inquiry, scholars are encouraged to recognize how the GSM continues to undermine critical discussions and research on the culture and organization of sports and engage that understanding in more effective tactics for disseminating research that can facilitate social change and activism.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On revisiting the sociological imagination
Authors: McKay Jim
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, Jim McKay, a wide ranging and influential international scholar on sport, gender, power and globalization, reflects on the benefits for the field of revisiting C Wright Mill and his work on the ‘sociological imagination.’ McKay notes this is important at a time when the ‘parent’ discipline of sociology continues to exhibit myriad longstanding controversies and crises and the hegemony of neoliberal ‘common’ sense continues to affect adversely the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In focusing on the challenges of the field, the author draws on Mills’ distinction between ‘personal troubles’ and ‘public issues,’ and their ongoing relation to diverse issues such as the study of minority experiences in sport, the agenda for research on sport, development and peace, achieving a rapprochement between tourism and sport studies, and the building of a performative cultural studies approach to sport. The essay closes by focusing on the affinities between Mills’ standpoint of ‘studying up’ power structures and other critical epistemologies that interrogate neoliberal hegemony.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On Sport for Development and Peace
Authors: Burnett Cora
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, Cora Burnett, one of the world’s leading scholars on studying the ways that sport has been used for development, considers the trajectory, challenges and future for understanding sport’s role in conflict resolution and peace. The emerging field of sport-for-development has proliferated since the early 2000s under the auspices of global leadership emanating from the UN, FIFA, the IOC and governments facilitating national sport-for-all and sport (for) development programmes. In the wake of major events such as the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup competitions, international development agencies collaborated with non-government organizations to address a wide range of social ills at grassroots levels across the world. Particular challenges for this line of research reside in tensions between donors who seek proof of how often limited focused programmes may have successfully addressed societal problems, and critical scholarship which may see such programmatic efforts too often aligned with hegemonic practices and neoliberal agendas. It is argued that future research will need to employ tactics derived from ethnographic and interpretive frameworks in order to assess better how efforts aimed at development through sport may be understood in local communities and facilitate better the shared ownership of these programmes.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On sport participation and disabilities in France
Authors: Héas Stéphane
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, Stéphane Héas, a leading French scholar on sport participation and the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities and minorities to engage in sporting activity, considers the trajectory and challenges of sociology of sport in France with special reference to the needs of these populations. It is noted that while studies of sport and physical activity that engaged “a sociological gaze” were relatively late in coming to France, research engaging socio-cultural understandings of sport has accelerated in recent years. A key challenge to research in this area has been to redress the relative neglect of studying the opportunities and participation of people with disabilities and other minorities in sport and physical activity. In the future, the sociology of sport holds the promise of being able to support meaningful policy changes to enable equity and opportunity for these populations.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On reintegrating quantitative methods and gender research
Authors: Elling Agnes
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, Agnes Elling, one of the most productive and influential scholars on understanding gender inequalities in sport, considers the need to reintegrate quantitative methods in inquiry about gender and sport. In assessing a quantitative content analysis of IRSS articles concerning women’s sport and gender issues, Elling reflects on how gender research in sport became both mainstream and increasingly qualitative, critical and contextual. A key challenge for research on gender and sport will be to embrace more diversity in theoretical frameworks and methodologies and to integrate better quantitative and mixed methods studies on gendered sport participation and governance. In the future, Elling argues that for the sociology of sport to continue to develop as an important field in helping to remedy gender inequalities it will need to overcome some of its normative (constructivist, qualitative) and repetitive tendencies; reintegrating inquiry with quantitative methods and linking action research to policy change will advance these goals.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On social consciousness and social movements
Authors: Sage George H
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a foundational scholar in the formation and development of sociology of sport, George Sage, reflects on how the discipline has evolved and continues to be anchored in social consciousness and social movements. Sage traces the development of the field to the formation of the International Committee for the Sociology of Sport (which became the ISSA) and the first publication of the IRSS in the 1960s and notes how that era played a role in seating the sociology of sport in social movements and advancing change. Sage focuses on three social movement pathways that have shaped the discipline: (1) the movement challenging dominant social theories, (2) the feminist (women’s) movement, and (3) the African American rights movement. The focus on social movements has continued to influence the character of the sociology of sport as it has evolved into an identifiable field of study.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On sport and the challenges of post-socialist countries
Authors: Doupona Topič Mojca
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, one of the most important Eastern European scholars in the sociology of sport, Mojca Doupona Topič, reflects on the character of early engagement with the field by scholars in her region and the more recent challenges that scholars in post-socialist countries have in continued disciplinary dialogue. Doupona Topič notes the essential role that the IRSS played in publishing the work of Eastern bloc scholars in the formative years of the sociology of sport; here studies centred on the positive roles of sport in effective socialization and worker productivity with little focus on critical issues, such as violence, doping or other forms of deviance. More recent work has shifted from assessing the positive social roles of sport to understand sport’s role in national identities, its connection with globalization processes and in facilitating social change. A key challenge for scholars in post-socialist countries will be to recover from the economic crises of recent years so that they may re-engage with broader scholarly communities around the world and advance focus on how sport plays key roles, both positively and negatively, in national identity and development in newly independent countries.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On China and the Olympics
Authors: Huang Ruotao
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a leading scholar of the sociology of sport in China, Ruotao Huang, provides a historically-oriented cultural and organizational history of the development of social inquiry concerning sport in China. The trajectory of the sociology of sport in China can be seen through three periods, characterized as (1) initiation and legitimacy (1978–1997), (2) emergent and competing approaches (1998-2010), and (3) new directions (2011–present). The important roles of the China Sport Science Society, the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, and other government bodies are considered in conjunction with stocktaking of funding priorities and topics. Key challenges surrounding the development of sociology of sport research in China concern understanding sport participation by social groups and classes, the linking of social inquiry with practical and business applications, and increasing interdisciplinarity in approaching topics such as the Olympic Games. Future directions in research indicate increased sophistication and moving beyond reliance on historical perspectives to more integral understanding of sport in social context.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On N+1 and the cultural approach
Authors: Koski Pasi
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, one of the leading Finnish scholars of the sociology of sport, Pasi Koski, uses Sorokin’s concept of “N+1” to conceptualize the challenges and needs of the field. Koski reflects on the great potential of sociology to understand the cultural structures and dynamics of power by moving beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. In considering the sociology of sport in Finland, Koski notes two interlocking roles, as provider of information for administration, and as a critical voice or “barking dog” to express caution and facilitate responsive action. It is noted that the social status and key challenge of the sociology of sport in Finland depends on how its research results are made available and impact administration of sport. A related challenge for sociologists of sport is that the identity and facade of the field remains relatively shapeless, a matter that could be remedied by shifting the agenda so that research could be used as a pathway to address larger societal questions. In the future, it is advocated that an “N+1” ideal drive multidisciplinary engagement that bridges common schisms in micro, meso, and macro level inquiry about sport and physical culture.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On gender-based violence and child maltreatment in sport
Authors: Rulofs Bettina
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a leading sociologist of sport in Germany, Bettina Rulofs, considers scholarly inquiry into gender-based violence and child maltreatment in sport. Putting perspective on the increasing awareness of gender-based violence and child maltreatment in sport, Rulofs notes early resistance to research on these topics by a number of sport organizations in Germany. It is noted that inquiry in these areas, anchored in feminist advocacy, always had the challenge and opportunity to have research that illuminates harm and facilitates prevention policies. Continuing challenges come for research in illuminating harmful practices in a way that will overcome often entrenched apathy in sport clubs and associations. In the future, research on gender-based violence and child maltreatment in sport needs to close important gaps; foremost, evaluation research needs stimulation and there is a companion need internationally for comparative studies. Care in shaping this agenda is needed such that attention to child maltreatment does not dilute continued attention to gender power relation issues, sexual harassment and abuse.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On globalisation and sport policy
Authors: Tan Tien-Chin
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a key scholar in the sociology of sport in Taiwan, Tien-Chin Tan, considers the field’s concerns with globalisation and how they transact with and inform the study of sport policy. In considering the trajectories of what seem to be two distinct areas of inquiry, Tan notes that much common ground exists between the sociology of sport and sport policy studies in areas such as those focused on global sport organisations, sport mega-events, athlete migration, sport for development, right to play initiatives and exploitation of child labour. Because sociologists of sport and researchers on sport policy often view sport from distinct theoretical lenses and wield different methodological tactics, a key challenge will be for researchers in each area to abandon their insistence on exclusivity and on the superiority of their respective approaches. In the future, researchers from each camp should work to learn from each other and advance cross-disciplinary cooperation that can contribute greatly to the acquisition of a more comprehensive and insightful understanding of sport, globalisation and the role of nation states and nations in relation to different socio-political contexts. The essay closes by illustrating how such a merger of approaches has advanced understanding about the relationship of social scientific work with changes in sport policy in the People’s Republic of China.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On media, advertising and the commodification of culture
Authors: Jackson Steven J
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a key scholar in developing meshed understandings of sport, media, globalization and nation, Steven Jackson, considers inquiry on media, advertising and the commodification of culture within the sociology of sport. By virtue of focus on the notion of a ‘sport/media complex’, key early works on media and sport posed the ongoing need to understand the relationships, complexities and contradictions in the life of cultural commodities associated with sport. In focusing on the ‘sport media promotional culture nexus’, understandings of advertising as a pivotal link between production and consumption are central to broader questions about sport, including the roles of global media, mega-events and corporate nationalism as they relate to both identity formations and politics. Future research on sport, advertising and commodification will play an important role in understanding how consumer capitalism has transformed citizenship and how effective responses to both sport and media in an increasingly globalized context may be mobilized in the larger struggle for social justice and human rights.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On sport organizations and neoliberal discourses
Authors: Hovden Jorid
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a key figure in the sociology of sport in Norway, Jorid Hovden, assesses research into sport organizations and the pressures of neoliberal discourses. In considering the trajectory of research into non-profit sport organizations, focus is given to the ideological tensions in the field today and how neoliberal management discourses may contribute to weakening the impact of sociological concerns. Key challenges in inquiry are anchored in the contradictory and mutually exclusive paradigms for research into sport organizations, with one stream reliant on management functionalities that are remiss in considering power relations and the other a critical stream that emphasizes diversity and equity. These differences are amplified in the methodological schisms between the two streams, with a bias towards epistemological orthodoxy, positivist logic, and empirical evidence crowding out critical and cultural stocktaking. In the future, sociological inquiry into non-profit sport organizations will be challenged by the dominance of a ‘new managerialism’ that portrays organizations as rational, action-oriented systems, where individual action, competitiveness, and entrepreneurialism are embedded logics. Scholarship using critical paradigms will need to fight effectively to develop alternative knowledge formations to help advance democratic and community-based sport organizations and reduce power differences, exclusion, and inequalities.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On women and football
Authors: Pfister Gertrud
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a leading figure in the sociology of sport in Denmark, Gertrud Pfister, considers an important line of research on women and football (soccer). The analysis uses a diverse set of theoretical lenses to examine women’s participation and reception in football. Constructivist understandings of gender are combined with notions of ‘leaky hegemony’, socialization, habitus, taste and social fields. The trajectory of inquiry on women and football necessarily builds from recognition of ‘leaks’ in hegemonic masculinity and the entrenched naturalization of football as a male social field. Women’s football gained hold in scholarly inquiry with comparative studies of participation, experiences, and policies in diverse national settings. Challenges in the area of women’s participation and legitimacy in football are rooted in persistent stereotyping and a related paucity of resources. Key questions remain in explaining women’s growing involvement in football and in understanding key areas, such as media coverage, where equity would contribute to legitimizing women’s achievements and advancing public acceptance. In looking to the future, a key role for the sociology of sport will be in stimulating understandings of women and football that can lead to policy change and more equitable allocation of resources to support and encourage participation.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On ethnicity and nationalism in Taiwanese baseball
Authors: Hwang Dong Jhy
Published: May 2015

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, one of the most influential scholars from Taiwan, Dong Jhy Hwang, considers the development of sociology of sport in Taiwan, the unique challenges in this context, and future issues brought by globalization as illustrated in the dynamics between ethnic and national identities in Taiwanese baseball. The trajectory of the field in Taiwan is traced to Japanese and American influences and to the early work of Jin-Song Chiu, Chungji Wang, and others; more recent development was characterized by resistance to outside influences. Three major challenges to sociology of sport are considered, originating from: (1) the influence of the natural and biological sciences, (2) the tenuous relationship with mainstream sociology, and (3) the need to grow a unique Taiwanese sociology of sport that is better engaged with mainstream sociology. These challenges have been embraced by the establishment of the Taiwan Society of Sport Sociology and its English language journal East Asian Sport Thoughts. Future issues at the nexus of nationalism, ethnic identities and inclusion, and globalization are considered in the case of the development of Taiwanese baseball; the increased consideration given to indigenous narratives and subjective positions of aboriginal ethnic groups suggests that the sociology of sport in Taiwan is increasingly using critical perspectives cognizant of the forces of globalization and the complexities of identities.
Assessing the sociology of sport: On the trajectory, challenges, and future of the field
Authors: Pike Elizabeth CJ , Jackson Steven J , Wenner Lawrence A
Published: May 2015

On the fiftieth anniversary of the International Sociology of Sport Association and the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, the three guest editors for this special fiftieth anniversary issue of the IRSS, current ISSA president, Elizabeth CJ Pike, the immediate past president, Steven J Jackson, and current IRSS editor, Lawrence A Wenner, introduce the issue’s genesis and theme: ‘50@50: Assessing the trajectory and challenges of the sociology of sport’. In considering the trajectory of the sociology of sport, the ISSA and the IRSS, they reflect on the early development of the field and the founding of an international association and journal aimed at understanding sport in the social and cultural dynamic; they note early and ongoing challenges concerning the academic seating of the field, its legitimacy and impact, and its engagement with the public sphere and the ‘sociological imagination’. Speaking to the challenges of fashioning a special issue to represent the breadth of 50 years of the sociology of sport, the editors outline how a ‘50@50’ strategy was implemented to bring perspectives from 50 notable scholars and to ensure that a diversity of voices was heard, not only on a range of themes, theories and methods, but from diverse identities and locales. Addressing two overarching challenges – the global dominance of English as the lingua franca of scholarly discourse and the need to advance interdisciplinarity and engagement with scholars beyond the sociology of sport – will be key to broadening dialogue to help ensure the future sustainability and progress of the sociology of sport.
Italian municipalities and the politics of financial derivatives: Rethinking the Foucauldian perspective
Authors: Lagna Andrea
Published: May 2015

This study examines the use of interest rate swaps by Italian municipalities during the 2000–2014 period. Through a constructive critique of Foucauldian political economy, it argues that local administrators did not enter the swaps market to perform and depoliticize the disciplinary power of financialized discourses. The evidence suggests many more layers of historical complexity underlie the municipalities’ actions than a Foucauldian approach can grasp. Local governments used swaps to circumvent the budget constraints imposed by the European Stability and Growth Pact. In this sense, municipalities acted more for political-strategic than for performative and depoliticized purposes. Rethinking the dimensions of performativity and disciplinary power – through an approach that is more sensitive than Foucauldian analysis to historical agency and asymmetrical power relations – is crucial to address the differential and politically shaped contours of financialization across the globe.
Micropolar elasticity theory: a survey of linear isotropic equations, representative notations, and experimental investigations
Authors: Hassanpour Soroosh , Heppler Glenn R.
Published: May 2015

This paper is devoted to a review of the linear isotropic theory of micropolar elasticity and its development with a focus on the notation used to represent the micropolar elastic moduli and the experimental efforts taken to measure them. Notation, not only the selected symbols but also the approaches used for denoting the material elastic constants involved in the model, can play an important role in the micropolar elasticity theory especially in the context of investigating its relationship with the couple-stress and classical elasticity theories. Two categories of notation, one with coupled classical and micropolar elastic moduli and one with decoupled classical and micropolar elastic moduli, are examined and the consequences of each are addressed. The misleading nature of the former category is also discussed. Experimental investigations on the micropolar elasticity and material constants are also reviewed where one can note the questionable nature and limitations of the experimental results reported on the micropolar elasticity theory.
Paraoxonase Activity as a Marker of Exposure to Xenobiotics in Tobacco Smoke
Authors: Milnerowicz Halina , Kowalska Katarzyna , Socha Ewelina
Published: May 2015

The paraoxonase (PON) family is composed of 3 proteins (PON1, PON2, and PON3), each of which plays a crucial role in the body, displaying antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiatherosclerotic properties. The activities and properties of PON proteins can be modulated by a number of environmental factors, including cigarette smoke. In the present article, a review of existing literature is employed to analyze both the direct and the indirect impact of cigarette smoking on the activity of members of the PON family. Cigarette smoking leads to direct inhibition of the hydrolytic activity of PON enzymes by modification of thiol groups, by the reactions of free radicals, or by inhibiting enzyme-active regions with heavy metals. It has been shown that cigarette smoking correlates with a decrease in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) concentration as well as with an increase in other components of the lipid profile (low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides, and total cholesterol). By decreasing HDL levels, cigarette smoking likely acts indirectly to induce a decline in PON1 activity. Inhibition of PON1 activity by smoking is a reversible process after cessation of exposure to the xenobiotics in tobacco smoke.
Infusing Theory Into Practice, Practice Into Theory
Authors: Rog Debra J.
Published: May 2015

This article illustrates the synergistic role between practice and theory in evaluation. Using reflective practice, the author reviews her own work as well as the work of other evaluators to illustrate how theory can influence practice and, in turn, how evaluation practice can inform and grow theory, especially evaluation theory. The following three themes are reinforced: (1) the importance of infusing theory into evaluation practice, including program theory, social science theory, and evaluation theory; (2) the importance of infusing practice into theory, with an emphasis on understanding the role of experience and expertise in improving our theory; and (3) how we can continue to foster the integration between theory and practice to strengthen our field and the work of individual evaluators. Weick’s (1984) concept of small wins, large gains is suggested as a strategy for encouraging the theory–practice integration in evaluation. Small wins are concrete, minor improvements may be more manageable for evaluators to incorporate into their routine practice, but overtime, these small changes can result in large gains for individual evaluators and the evaluation field as a whole as well as the areas of intervention in which we work.
Long-term Management of Moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis Patients With Etanercept
Authors: Bourcier Marc , Papp Kim Alexander , Gulliver Wayne P. , Poulin Yves , Barber Kirk , Poulin-Costello Melanie , Shelton Jennifer
Published: May 2015

Background:

Currently, etanercept (ETN) safety and efficacy in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (PsO) has been reported up to 5 years.

Objective:

To present a case series of PsO patients receiving continuous ETN therapy for 7 or more years.

Methods:

Physicians collected data retrospectively from 52 patient charts from 5 centres across Canada.

Results:

Patients in this case series had PsO an average of 31.5 years. Nearly half of patients also had psoriatic arthritis (24/52). All patients demonstrated sustained improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and percentage of affected body surface area (BSA) following ETN treatment. Of the 52 patients, 33 have been receiving ETN for 10 years or more.

Conclusion:

The clinical experience described in this case series report suggests maintenance of ETN efficacy in PsO patients who receive therapy for 7 years or more and indicates that patients can be successfully managed with long-term ETN therapy.
Effects of spectrum teaching styles on college students’ psychological needs satisfaction and self-determined motivation
Authors: Kirby Stephanie , Byra Mark , Readdy Tucker , Wallhead Tristan
Published: May 2015

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of two landmark spectrum styles, practice and inclusion, on students’ basic psychological needs satisfaction and self-determined motivation. Twelve classes of college-aged students ( n = 149) participated in two badminton lessons taught under the conditions of the practice and inclusion styles. The basic psychological needs for physical education scale (BPN-PE) and situational intrinsic motivation scale (SIMS) were administered prior to the implementation of the two style-specific lessons and following each lesson. Students’ perceptions of fun, learning, and motivation and experience with the two teaching styles were examined through a post-study questionnaire. One-way ANOVAs with repeated measures were used to determine whether the interventions (teaching styles) had an effect on student psychological needs satisfaction, motivational behavioural regulation, perceptions of fun, learning, and motivation, and experience with the teaching experiences. Findings revealed that the students’ perceptions of autonomy and competence (BPN-PE) and identified regulation motivation (SIMS) in badminton increased as a result of the teaching styles intervention. No between style differences were found. Instruction delivered under the conditions of both the practice and inclusion styles was found to be equally effective in positively influencing students’ basic psychological need satisfaction and level of self-determined motivation.
Emotional reactivity to daily stress, spousal emotional support, and fasting blood glucose among patients with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Rook Karen S , August Kristin J , Choi Sarah , Franks Melissa M , Stephens Mary Ann Parris
Published: May 2015

Stress is associated with higher blood glucose in patients with diabetes, but the strength of this association varies considerably across patients. The current daily diary study of 129 patients with type 2 diabetes examined whether individual differences in emotional stress reactivity were associated with fasting blood glucose and whether emotional support provided by spouses moderated this association. Greater stress reactivity was related to greater variability in patients’ fasting glucose readings and, among patients with less support, to higher fasting glucose levels. Investigating individual differences in emotional stress reactivity may help to clarify the role of stress in blood glucose control.
Drug Dealing and the Presumption of Innocence: The Human Rights Act (Almost) Bites
Authors: Roberts Paul
Published: May 2015

In R v Lambert the House of Lords held (Lord Steyn dissenting) that the Human Rights Act 1998 has no general retroactive effect. Their Lordships proceeded to indicate (Lord Hutton dissenting) that ‘reverse onus clauses’ requiring defendants charged with drug dealing to prove ‘no knowledge’ defences could only be compatible with Article 6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights if they were ‘read-down’ to impose merely evidential burdens. This article concentrates on the second, strictly obiter point. Though a welcome demonstration of judicial commitment to human rights protection, their Lordships' reasoning is shown to be contrary to established evidentiary concepts and analysis, and a questionable policy strategy. Lambert is amongst the most significant early decisions on points of evidence under the Human Rights Act 1998. At the same time as important questions are left undecided and new uncertainties are introduced into settled legal doctrines, their Lordships' speeches provide many pointers and intimations of future developments in the post-Human Rights Act law of evidence.