bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Aleksandre Qazbegi’s Mountaineer Prosaics: The Anticolonial Vernacular on Georgian–Chechen Borderlands
Authors: Gould Rebecca
Published: June 2014

In Georgian literary history, Aleksandre Qazbegi (1848–1893) is notable for his formally innovative prose style as well as for the anticolonial themes that emerge from the seven years he passed among the mountaineers of Xevi. Drawing on ethnography to advance expressive possibilities that Mikhail Bakhtin considers specific to prose, Qazbegi’s literary aesthetic challenged prior poetic norms, while crafting new alignments between vernacular realism and prosaic form. This essay examines the conjunctures of ethnography, prosaics, and literary form to consider how the Georgian anticolonial vernacular extended the aesthetic and political scope of the literary imagination as a tool to render mountaineer life on Georgian–Chechen borderlands.

В истории грузинской литературы прозаик Александр Казбеги (1848–1893) известен благодаря формально новаторскому стилю и антиколониальной тематике творчества, отражающей опыт семилетнего пребывания среди горцев Хеви. Казбеги широко использовал этнографический материал, что позволяло ему в полной мере раскрыть экспрессивные возможности прозаического стиля (по М. Бахтину). Подобная литературная эстетика бросала вызов существующим нормам поэтики, создавая возможности для синтеза реализма местной речи и прозаической формы. В статье Ребекки Гоулд рассматривается взаимоналожение этнографии, бытовых и литературных форм в грузинской антиколониальной местной речи, благодаря которому преодолевалась ограниченность эстетического и политического литературного воображения. Новаторская поэтика Казбеги, таким образом, становилась инструментом антиколониального представления жизни горцев грузино-дагестанского пограничья.
Postwar Reconstruction and the Imperial Sublime in Vilnius during Late Stalinism
Authors: Davoliūtė Violeta
Published: June 2014

Postwar Vilnius under late Stalinism (1945−1953) is an ideal case study for analyzing the evolution of collective identity under conditions of rapid geopolitical, demographic, and social change. Continuities between the modernizing nationalist drive of the interwar period and the modernizing socialist drive of the postwar period disclose the importance of the “Vilnius Question” to the evolution of Lithuanian national identity throughout the twentieth century. Informed by the biographical trajectories of several key period actors as well as their literary works and recollections, the concepts of the “imperial situation” and the “imperial sublime” are employed to characterize the external factors driving events during this period and the subjective response of these actors, respectively. Collective biography and the discourse of memory provide a partial, but essential light into this murky period of Soviet Lithuanian history.

Послевоенный Вильнюс эпохи позднего сталинизма (1945–1953) представляет собой идеальный пример для изучения эволюции коллективной идентичности в условиях быстрых геополитических, демографических и социальных перемен. Тенденции, которые связывают модернизационный и националистический драйв межвоенного периода и поствоенный проект социалистической модернизации вскрывают важность “вильнюсского вопроса” в эволюции литовской национальной идентичности в XX веке. Автор прослеживает биографические траектории нескольких ключевых деятелей этого периода, обращаясь также к их литературным трудам и воспоминаниям. Контекст в котором они действовали, внешние факторы, определявшие события, осмысливаются автором как “имперская ситуация”, а субъективные реакции на нее описываются в рамках концепции “высокой имперскости” (imperial sublime). Коллективная биография и дискурсы памяти оказываются чрезвычайно важными, поскольку проливают некоторый свет на этот достаточно темный период истории советской Литвы.
Восточная Пруссия – недоделённое наследство?
Authors: Сафроновас Василиюс
Published: June 2014

East Prussia – a former province of the German Reich – has not been in existence since 1945 but continues to breed conflicts of national mental geographies based on different approaches to imagining nation. Part of Lithuanian society perceives the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation (former Prussian Königsberg) as “Little Lithuania,” the ancient cradle of Lithuanian culture. In Russia, a number of top politicians are mobilizing public opinion to claim the northern part of former East Prussia – now the Klaipėda region within Lithuania – as a legitimate territory of Russia. The article examines the specific historic and cultural contexts in Lithuania and Russia that made these claims possible. The author concludes that the conflict between the Russian and Lithuanian spatial imaginations is a result of different approaches to imagining national territories: one based on the ethnographic principle and the other on the principle of legitimate conquest.
Pаса против революции в центральной и Восточной Европе: от Гегеля до Вебера, от крестьянских восстаний до “полонизации”
Authors: Зиммерман Эндрю
Published: June 2014

Andrew Zimmerman argues that to understand racism as a form of power-knowledge we must understand it as a derivative response to some other, democratic-revolutionary thing: the rural insurgency. He shows that racism has been an important form of counterrevolution, that is, of political reactions to preserve hierarchies of power against democratic revolutions. Transatlantic uprisings of serfs and slaves created strategies and theories of killing, death and freedom. These uprisings found philosophical and political expression in the work of Hegel and the Marxist tradition his work inspired. Biological racism and physical anthropology may have been, in part, a response to this early insurgency. In the second part of the article Zimmerman deals with cultural racism pioneered by Max Weber. Weber responded to a different kind of insurgency, one of mobility and biopolitical/sexual rebellion, particularly of young Russian-Polish migrant sugarbeet workers. Identifying these workers as a “Polonizing” racial threat mirrored some of the terms of their insurgent challenge, but in a way that helped state and social science check their rebellion. Zimmerman claims that Max Weber generalized this cultural racism from migrant labor in Central and Eastern Europe to a global theory of labor, race, and culture that continues to shape the world we live in today. He thus makes clear in the concluding part of the article how weak an opposition culture provides to race, for the culture concept is already intimately connected to the race concept. Zimmerman suggests that we should make culture an object of investigations of racism and racial science, not a grounding assumption from which to conduct these investigations.
“Going Native”: Aca-Fandom and Deep Participant Observation in Popular Romance Studies
Authors: Roach Catherine M.
Published: June 2014

This essay explores an experimental method for how an academic interested in popular romance fiction might study this bestselling genre. It sets out a practice for negotiating the “aca-fan” tension in the growing field of popular romance studies, based on methods of the aca-fan-writer, observant participation, and performative ethnography.
Love’s Shadow: The Unconscious Underside of Romance in Hardy’s The Woodlanders
Authors: Schapiro Barbara
Published: June 2014

This essay uses Stephen Mitchell’s psychoanalytic relational theory to explore the unconscious dynamics of romance in Hardy’s The Woodlanders , examine how aggressive, sexual, and idealizing fantasies determine as well as destabilize romantic love, and how passion is structured by the tension between subjective fantasy and external reality.
My Metatextual Romance: Thinking With (and About) Jaane Tu Ya Janne Na
Authors: Selinger Eric Murphy
Published: June 2014

Scholars of popular romance fiction have begun to credit the genre with political and aesthetic self-consciousness, a “metatextual turn” that parallels changes in the academic reception of Hindi popular cinema. This essay brings some of these new theoretical models to bear on the Indian rom-com Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na .
John Phillips, John Milton, Don Quixote , and the Disenchantment of Romance
Authors: Nardo Anna K.
Published: June 2014

In 1687, Milton’s nephew and pupil John Phillips published a translation of Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote […] Now Made English According to the Humour of our Modern Language . Although condemned as a vulgar travesty, Phillips’s adaptation extends our understanding of the disenchantment of romance in the seventeenth century.
Fatal Attractions: “Snuff Fiction” and the Homicidal Romance
Authors: Wills Deborah
Published: June 2014

This essay explores the eroticized violence of the serial-killer romance or “snuff fiction,” tracing the history of the “lust-killer” from his Gothic roots to his post-Gothic incarnations, and exploring the genre’s penetrating critique of pop-culture romance conventions through its brutal portrayals of the homicidal romance.
Revenge and the Family Romance in Tarantino’s Kill Bill
Authors: Dawson Lesel
Published: June 2014

Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill realizes a primary revenge fantasy in which the murdered victim is also the triumphant revenger who seemingly rewrites the past and resurrects the dead. Avoiding revenge’s conventional tragic ending, the film moves toward romance, the genre associated with reunited families and wish-fulfilment.
Love and Figure/Ground: Reading Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies
Authors: Baumgarten Murray
Published: June 2014

Amitav Ghosh puts the history of the individualist love ethic of the western novel into dialogue with the “oceanic” sense of identity and love in Indian cultural traditions, pitting the idea of character against that of “life-force” and the idea of individual happiness against that of communal energy. When romantic lovers embrace in this contemporary novel set in India in 1838 — at a turning point in the history of the English Empire of opium which is being forced on a China that has outlawed the poppy, we hear echoes of the great Victorian fictions: the storm of love remakes identities as it choreographs collisions across cultural, social, and class boundaries that undermine stable social arrangements. The potential for cross-over encounters inheres in the heteroglossia created in the novel. The “chutnification of language” echoes the love jumble, as it invites a rethinking of the past, of culture, and identities, reframing the boundaries of the language of fiction in the exploration of literary form. Are we in a dialectical or a dialogical discourse? What is the figure and what the ground in this exploration of love within cultural multiplicity?
Metaphors and Marriage Plots: Jane Eyre , The Egoist , and Metaphoric Dialogue in the Victorian Novel
Authors: Gray Erik
Published: June 2014

One of the most distinctive features of Victorian dialogue is the speakers’ tendency to take up and develop one another’s metaphors. This practice, which appears as frequently in actual recorded conversations as in fictional ones, is common in all sorts of situations, but it takes on a particular significance when the interlocutors are potential marriage partners. According to a widespread understanding, enshrined in the Book of Common Prayer, marriage itself is a metaphor. Literary theorists, meanwhile, particularly in the early nineteenth century, frequently describe metaphor as a type of marriage — a joining together of diverse but complementary concepts. Hence it is worth attending when an unmarried man and woman share in the creation of a single metaphor. Focusing on two representative Victorian novels, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and George Meredith’s The Egoist , this essay suggests two major ways in which the trope is significant. First, it reflects an important shift in the conception of matrimony in England over the course of the Victorian period, from an ideal of marriage as total merging towards an increasing recognition of distinction-within-union. Second, the practice of sharing metaphor can serve in a novel, not just as a marker, but as a microcosm of conjugal compatibility; even in novels that end as soon as the lovers marry, these dialogues permit the reader to witness, in essence, a marital relationship.
The Will to Poetry: Wordsworth’s “Yew-Trees”
Authors: Budick Sanford
Published: June 2014

Wordsworth’s greatest poetry represents the most fundamental of human volitions. This is the will to achieve a wholeness of experience that is identical to the will to poetry itself. “Yew-Trees” is an exemplary representation of that will. In the 1815 Preface to his Poems Wordsworth, speaking of Milton’s poetry, locates the structure of the will to poetry — the volition for represented wholeness of experience — in “alternations” between the points of view of “unity” and “multitude.” The meanings and usages of these terms are not self-evident. In fact, the provenience of this terminology and structure are profoundly Kantian, likely derived, most immediately, from F. A. Nitsch’s General and Introductory View of Professor Kant’s Principles (London, 1796). Coleridge, who was himself early indebted to Nitsch’s Kant book and other Kantian sources, willfully repressed yet, in spite of himself, vividly, even if obliquely, recorded his recognition of Wordsworth’s will to poetry and, correlatively, of Wordsworth’s Miltonic and Kantian wholeness of experience, in “Yew-Trees.” In Nitsch’s Kantian terms, Wordsworth’s “Yew-Trees” represents an “unconditioned concurrence [that] excludes the conditions of time.” This “mutual concurrence” engenders a simultaneity of effect and cause: (a) The desire or will created by such a whole of experience “inclines to disinterestedness” and “the way to virtue.” (b) The desire or will to form such a “whole . . . may be denominated the grand object of human happiness.” This “happiness” is a fulfillment of the will to the “highest good.” In “Yew-Trees” we encounter, concretely, a will to poetry that is the primary volition to grasp a wholeness of experience. Achieved, as it must be, from the point of view not only of the self but of the coexistence of all the entities of nature, the wholeness of such experience necessarily includes a moral purposiveness aimed at the good of the largest possible community.
Listening to Eliot’s Thrush
Authors: Irmscher Christoph
Published: June 2014

The essay takes a fresh look at Eliot’s “water-dripping song” in The Waste Land . It seems impossible for the ornithologically minded Eliot not to have known that the hermit thrush’s song does not sound like dripping water. In fact, nowhere in ornithological writing — and certainly not in his source, Chapman’s Handbook of North American Birds — is it described in these terms. Emphasizing the humorous potential of Eliot’s display of “bogus scholarship,” the essay argues that Eliot’s ludic bird masks not only the darker presence of its poetic predecessor in Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” but also the poet’s own longing for the fluid pleasures of his lost North American childhood.
Love Conquers All: Introduction to the Forum “The Novel and Theories of Love”
Authors: Toker Leona
Published: June 2014

Survey of the directions taken by the papers of the forum “The Novel and Theories of Love”: explorations of love across cultural, social, ethnic, and ontological boundaries; analyses of love as a discursive phenomenon; representations of narratives of love as tests of theory.
Fertirrigation of Canavalia ensiformis using different domestic wastewater concentrations
Authors: Malafaia Guilherme , Batista Mirella de Araújo , Lima Fagner Carlos de , Lima Milton Luiz da Paz , Araújo Fernando Godinho de , Rodrigues Aline Sueli de Lima , Mozena Wilson Leandro , Cunha Patrícia Pinheiro da , Costa Rommel Bernardes da , Ximenes Paulo Alcanfor
Published: June 2014

This study assessed the growth of Canavalia ensiformis (used as green manure), irrigated with different concentrations of wastewater. We evaluated the early, vegetative and reproductive development of the species. The experimental designs were completely randomized with five treatments and 30 repetitions (for the evaluation of early development) and 8 repetitions (for the evaluation of the vegetative and reproductive development). Five groups were established: A100 – 100% of water supply, L100 – 100% of water coming from a stabilization pond for domestic sewage, L75, L50 and L25 – mixtures of supply water and wastewater from the stabilization pond (25-75%, 50-50% and 75-25%, respectively). The results show that the treatments did not affect the initial development of the species, since no differences were observed between groups, when comparing variable germination speed index (GSI), germination mean time (GMT), germination rate (GR), seedling length and dry weight. On the other hand, the L100 and L75 groups had higher shoot length, total number of leaves, stem diameter, number of branches and pods produced. The number of flower buds was higher in group L100. Regarding the fresh biomass and dry areas of the aerial parts, roots and total phytomass, the L100 and L75 groups showed statistically higher values. It is concluded that the best plant growth occurred in groups L100 and L75, with fertirrigation containing 100% and 75% wastewater, respectively.
In search of hybridity: the case of Karelian spruces
Authors: Volkova Polina , Shipunov Alexey , Borisova Polina , Moseng Reed , Ivens Ranelle
Published: June 2014

Distribution ranges of spruces, European and Siberian intersect in the Eastern Europe and Urals, forming wide zone of introgressive hybridization where species discrimination is difficult. We applied both molecular (mtDNA and cpDNA sequences) and morphological approaches with goals of elucidating the origin of spruces in undisturbed forests of Russian Karelia (considered as part of the abovementioned introgression zone). Karelian spruces have morphology that is typical for and characterized with genetic variation, described previously for . This contradiction between morphology and organellar DNA could be itself an evidence of hybrid origin because morphological data should have a genetic basis. If the genes responsible for the observed morphological differences are nuclear, that explains why we did not see any deviation of Karelian spruces towards in organellar markers. In this situation nuclear gene flow from should be performed via pollen. Thus, we should expect Karelian spruces to have cpDNA haplotypes (inherited paternally in conifers) typical for . However, it is not the case for the majority of plants sampled and requires additional explanation like chloroplast capture in the introgresson zone. In all, we think that Karelian spruces evolved due to introgression between and . However, it is unclear whether Karelian spruces could be treated as , because unequivocal morphological and genetic characters of this hybridogenous species are still absent.Picea abiesP. obovataP. obovataP. abiesP. obovataP. obovataP. obovataP. abiesP. obovataP. fennica
The Shavzin-Carsch Collection of Historic Jewish Children's Literature
Authors: Rapp Andrea
Published: June 2014

The Shavzin-Carsch Collection of Cincinnati's Isaac M. Wise Temple is a special collection devoted to historically significant American Jewish children's literature. As of this writing, there are over seven hundred volumes in the collection, including early children's books published by the Jewish Publication Society, titles listed in early juvenile bibliographies of the Jewish Book Annual, and books cited in key retrospective articles on Jewish children's literature. This paper describes the collection, and relates how it came to be established, its potential uses to researchers, and future issues to be considered in its expansion.
Daniel J. Rettberg, 1952-2013
Authors: Kiron Arthur
Published: June 2014

Obituary of Daniel J. Rettberg (1952-2013).
Chana Mlotek, 1922-2013
Authors: Seigel Amanda (Miryem-Khaye)
Published: June 2014

Obituary of Chana Mlotek (1922-2013).
Sexualidad y escuela. Perspectivas programáticas posibles
Authors: Wainerman Catalina , Chami Natalia
Published: June 2014

La ley nacional 26.150 (2006) establece la obligación de todas las escuelas de Argentina de gestión estatal y privada de impartir un Programa Integral de Educación Sexual. Ya antes de la sanción de la ley, algunas escuelas habían  puesto en práctica programas diversos de educación sexual. Para aprovechar estas experiencias espontáneas como insumos para el diseño de estrategias de implementación de la ley, se realizó una investigación en 24 escuelas de cuatro jurisdicciones. El objetivo central fue conocer las perspectivas programáticas y las estrategias pedagógicas utilizadas a partir de entrevistas con setenta y dos actores. El presente artículo expone algunos de los resultados alcanzados.
La generación interactiva en Argentina: niños y adolescentes ante las pantallas
Authors: Bringué Sala Xavier , Sádaba Chalezquer Charo , Artopoulos Alejandro
Published: June 2014

La afinidad de los niños con las pantallas de Internet, celulares, videojuegos y televisión suscita interés de investigación al tiempo que plantea la necesidad de educar, legislar y proteger eficazmente a este grupo en un contexto de cambio tecnológico continuo y poco controlable. La investigación que se presenta en este artículo ofrece los datos que arroja el proyecto Generaciones Interactivas que entre septiembre de 2007 y marzo de 2008 encuestó a niños y a adolescentes, entre 6 y 18 años, en ámbitos urbanos de Argentina, constituyéndose en una de las investigaciones más ambiciosas realizadas en el país hasta el momento sobre estos temas. Los resultados permiten tener una primera imagen de cómo los niños y adolescentes argentinos están utilizando las pantallas, base para futuras investigaciones y desarrollos normativos.
The Role of Chief Marketing Officers for Venture Capital Funding: Endowing New Ventures with Marketing Legitimacy
Authors: Homburg Christian , Hahn Alexander , Bornemann Torsten , Sandner Philipp
Published: June 2014

Research on new ventures has indicated that poorly conducted marketing is among the main reasons for new venture failure. To acquire urgently needed initial funding, new ventures strive to conform to investors’ expectations of appropriate marketing capabilities because these capabilities may endow them with legitimacy in the eyes of potential investors. Drawing on organizational legitimacy and human resource theory, the authors argue that the characteristics of the chief marketing officer (CMO) may endow new ventures with marketing legitimacy. Employing a two-stage selection hazard rate analysis to simultaneously account for potential selection bias and right-censored observations, the authors analyze a comprehensive data set of 2,945 high-technology new ventures. Bearing in mind that this research is a first exploratory attempt to illuminate the role of marketing for new venture funding using correlational secondary data, the results indicate that CMO education, marketing experience, and industry experience are positively related to the likelihood of funding. Moreover, the relationships between CMO characteristics and funding are contingent on task-related uncertainty and industry legitimacy. These findings provide initial insights for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and public policy makers.
Motorcycle Crash Test Center: A Movable Barrier Approach
Authors: C.L.Tan  , S.V.Wong
Published: June 2014

Over recent years, researchers have used full-scale motorcycle crash tests in the field of road safety research to simulate different types of crash technique and scenario. This study focuses on the development of laboratory-based motorcycle crash tests. A moveable barrier, designated as a ‘trolley’ in this study, is designed, developed and implemented in a laboratory-based motorcycle crash test. The design of the trolley underwent several versions prior to the final selection. Various design considerations and factors, such as the trolley’s flexibility in various impact conditions, were weighted. Finite element analysis and experimental tests examine and explain the details of the design. The purposeful selection of this trolley is discussed, such as how it might meet wide industrial market applications. With a laboratory-based crash test facility, various crash scenarios and motorcycle crashworthiness could be determined in-situ, coupled with a reduction in expense and time. Therefore, this research would serve to enhance yet another aspect of automotive engineering.
Validation of Crack Interaction Limit Model for Parallel Edge Cracks using Two-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis
Authors: R. Daud  , A.K. Ariffin  , S. Abdullah
Published: June 2014

Shielding interaction effects of two parallel edge cracks in finite thickness plates subjected to remote tension load is analyzed using a developed finite element analysis program. In the present study, the crack interaction limit is evaluated based on the fitness of service (FFS) code, and focus is given to the weak crack interaction region as the crack interval exceeds the length of cracks (b > a). Crack interaction factors are evaluated based on stress intensity factors (SIFs) for Mode I SIFs using a displacement extrapolation technique. Parametric studies involved a wide range of crack-to-width (0.05 ≤ a/W ≤ 0.5) and crack interval ratios (b/a > 1). For validation, crack interaction factors are compared with single edge crack SIFs as a state of zero interaction. Within the considered range of parameters, the proposed numerical evaluation used to predict the crack interaction factor reduces the error of existing analytical solution from 1.92% to 0.97% at higher a/W. In reference to FFS codes, the small discrepancy in the prediction of the crack interaction factor validates the reliability of the numerical model to predict crack interaction limits under shielding interaction effects. In conclusion, the numerical model gave a successful prediction in estimating the crack interaction limit, which can be used as a reference for the shielding orientation of other cracks.
Optimal Automobile Muffler Vibration and Noise Analysis
Authors: Jha Sujit Kumar , Sharma Ajay
Published: June 2014

The muffler is the main part of the Automobile Exhaust System, consisting of fibrous and porous materials to absorb noise and vibrations. The exhaust gas mass coming from the engine can produce resonance, which may be the source of fatigue failure in the exhaust pipe due to the presence of continuous resonance. The modes on the muffler should be located away from the engine’s operating frequencies in order to minimise the resonance. The objective of this paper is to determine the frequencies that appear at the modes, which have the more adverse effect during the operation of the automobile. An impact test has been conducted by applying the force using a hard head hammer, and data generated have been used for plotting a graph of the transfer functions using MATLAB. Six points have been selected, namely 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 11 on the muffler for the impact test. The collected data from theses six points have been analysed for the addition of damping. Results suggests that increasing the mass increases the damping and lowers the modes of the transfer function. Further research will identify higher strength materials that can withstand the higher gas temperatures as well as the corrosion and erosion by the gas emitted from the engine.
Microstructure and Fatigue Properties of Dissimilar Spot Welds Joints of AISI 304 and AISI 1008
Authors: Charde Nachimani
Published: June 2014

Carbon steel and stainless steel composites are being more frequently used for applications requiring a corrosion resistant and attractive exterior surface and a high strength structural substrate. Spot welding is a potentially useful and efficient jointing process for the production of components consisting of these two materials. The spot welding characteristics of weld joints between these two materials are discussed in this paper. The experiment was conducted on dissimilar weld joints using carbon steel and 304L (2B) austenitic stainless steel by varying the welding currents and electrode pressing forces. Throughout the welding process; the electrical signals from the strain sensor, current transducer and terminal voltage clippers are measured in order to understand each and every millisecond of the welding process. In doing so, the dynamic resistances, heat distributions and forging forces are computed for various currents and force levels within the good welds’ regions. The other process controlling parameters, particularly the electrode tip and weld time, remained constant throughout the experiment. The weld growth was noted for the welding current increment, but in the electrode force increment it causes an adverse reaction to weld growth. Moreover, the effect of heat imbalance was clearly noted during the welding process due to the different electrical and chemical properties. The welded specimens finally underwent tensile, hardness and metallurgical testing to characterise the weld growth.
Flow Separation Phenomena for Steady Flow over a Circular Cylinder at Low Reynolds Number
Authors: Toukir Islam, S.M. Rakibul Hassan, Mohammad Ali
Published: June 2014

Flow separation is one of the major distinguishing phenomena between the theoretical or potential flow and actual fluid flow that introduces several aerodynamic forces and other renowned phenomena. Here in this article, different flow separation phenomena such as onset of separation, angular position of the separation point, size of the separation bubble, drag due to the separation and effect of the blockage ratio on the position of the separation point for steady flow over a smooth circular cylinder are studied numerically using the finite volume method at very low Reynolds number up to 50, and the trends of change of these phenomena with increasing Reynolds number are expressed in the form of some empirical equations and compared with results of previously published literature. The separation starts at Reynolds numbers as low as 2.0 and the starting-separation angle is 146.557° from the upstream stagnation point, while with increasing Reynolds number, the point of separation travels upstream and the separation bubble length increases. The profound effect of the blockage ratio on the location of the separation point is evident in this numerical analysis. Favre-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, a k-ɛ turbulence model and the finite volume method are used for numerical analysis, in which heat transfer or generation, and buoyancy effects are not taken in account.
Serum concentrations of afamin are elevated in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome
Authors: Köninger Angela , Edimiris Philippos , Koch Laura , Enekwe Antje , Lamina Claudia , Kasimir-Bauer Sabine , Kimmig Rainer , Dieplinger Hans
Published: June 2014

Oxidative stress seems to be present in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between characteristics of PCOS and serum concentrations of afamin, a novel binding protein for the antioxidant vitamin E. A total of 85 patients with PCOS and 76 control subjects were investigated in a pilot cross-sectional study design between 2009 and 2013 in the University Hospital of Essen, Germany. Patients with PCOS were diagnosed according to the Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM-sponsored PCOS Consensus Workshop Group. Afamin and diagnostic parameters of PCOS were determined at early follicular phase. Afamin concentrations were significantly higher in patients with PCOS than in controls (odds ratio (OR) for a 10 mg/ml increase in afamin=1.3, 95% CI=1.08–1.58). This difference vanished in a model adjusting for age, BMI, free testosterone index (FTI), and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) (OR=1.05, 95% CI=0.80–1.38). In patients with PCOS, afamin correlated significantly with homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), fasting glucose, BMI, FTI, and SHBG (P<0.001), but in a multivariate linear model, only HOMA-IR remained significantly associated with afamin (P=0.001). No correlation was observed between afamin and androgens, LH, FSH, LH/FSH ratio, antral follicle count, ovarian volume, or anti-Müllerian hormone. In conclusion, elevated afamin values may indicate a state of oxidative stress and inflammation, strongly associated with IR and offering an indicator of impaired glucose tolerance in patients with PCOS irrespective of obesity.
Molecular mechanisms involved in mammalian primary sex determination
Authors: She Zhen-Yu , Yang Wan-Xi
Published: June 2014

Sex determination refers to the developmental decision that directs the bipotential genital ridge to develop as a testis or an ovary. Genetic studies on mice and humans have led to crucial advances in understanding the molecular fundamentals of sex determination and the mutually antagonistic signaling pathway. In this review, we summarize the current molecular mechanisms of sex determination by focusing on the known critical sex determining genes and their related signaling pathways in mammalian vertebrates from mice to humans. We also discuss the underlying delicate balance between testis and ovary sex determination pathways, concentrating on the antagonisms between major sex determining genes.
Influence of birth weight and gender on lipid status and adipose tissue gene expression in lambs
Authors: Wallace Jacqueline M , Milne John S , Aitken Raymond P , Adam Clare L
Published: June 2014

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a risk factor for obesity, particularly when offspring are born into an unrestricted nutritional environment. In this study, we investigated the impact of IUGR and gender on circulating lipids and on expression of adipogenic, lipogenic and adipokine genes in perirenal adipose tissue. Singleton lambs born to overnourished adolescent dams were normal birth weight (N) or IUGR (32% lower birth weight due to placental insufficiency). IUGR lambs exhibited increased fractional growth rates but remained smaller than N lambs at necropsy (d77). At 48 days, fasting plasma triglycerides, non-esterified fatty acids and glycerol were elevated predominantly in IUGR males. Body fat content was independent of prenatal growth but higher in females than in males. In perirenal fat, relative to male lambs, females had larger adipocytes; higher lipoprotein lipase, fatty acid synthase and leptin and lowerIGF1,IGF2,IGF1R,IGF2Rand hormone-sensitive lipase mRNA expression levels, and all were independent of prenatal growth category; peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH) mRNA expression were not affected by IUGR or gender. Adiposity indices were inversely related toG3PDHmRNA expression, and for the population as a whole the expression of IGF system genes in perirenal fat was negatively correlated with plasma leptin, fat mass and adipocyte size, and positively correlated with circulating IGF1 levels. Higher plasma lipid levels in IUGR males may predict later adverse metabolic health and obesity, but in early postnatal life gender has the dominant influence on adipose tissue gene expression, reflecting the already established sexual dimorphism in body composition.
Thyroid status modulates T lymphoma growth via cell cycle regulatory proteins and angiogenesis
Authors: Sterle H A , Valli E , Cayrol F , Paulazo M A , Martinel Lamas D J , Diaz Flaqué M C , Klecha A J , Colombo L , Medina V A , Cremaschi G A , Barreiro Arcos M L
Published: June 2014

We have shownin vitrothat thyroid hormones (THs) regulate the balance between proliferation and apoptosis of T lymphoma cells. The effects of THs on tumor development have been studied, but the results are still controversial. Herein, we show the modulatory action of thyroid status on thein vivogrowth of T lymphoma cells. For this purpose, euthyroid, hypothyroid, and hyperthyroid mice received inoculations of EL4 cells to allow the development of solid tumors. Tumors in the hyperthyroid animals exhibited a higher growth rate, as evidenced by the early appearance of palpable solid tumors and the increased tumor volume. These results are consistent with the rate of cell division determined by staining tumor cells with carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester. Additionally, hyperthyroid mice exhibited reduced survival. Hypothyroid mice did not differ significantly from the euthyroid controls with respect to these parameters. Additionally, only tumors from hyperthyroid animals had increased expression levels of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and active caspase 3. Differential expression of cell cycle regulatory proteins was also observed. The levels of cyclins D1 and D3 were augmented in the tumors of the hyperthyroid animals, whereas the cell cycle inhibitors p16/INK4A (CDKN2A) and p27/Kip1 (CDKN1B) and the tumor suppressor p53 (TRP53) were increased in hypothyroid mice. Intratumoral and peritumoral vasculogenesis was increased only in hyperthyroid mice. Therefore, we propose that the thyroid status modulates thein vivogrowth of EL4 T lymphoma through the regulation of cyclin, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, and tumor suppressor gene expression, as well as the stimulation of angiogenesis.
Abstracts from the 9th Annual Meeting of the Euro-Asian Bridge
Authors: Gersak Borut
Published: June 2014

Abstracts from the 9th Annual Meeting of the Euro-Asian Bridge on September 28-30, 2012 and held in Pravets, Bulgaria.
Differentiation State-Specific Mitochondrial Dynamic Regulatory Networks Are Revealed by Global Transcriptional Analysis of the Developing Chicken Lens
Authors: Chauss Daniel , Basu Subhasree , Rajakaruna Suren , Ma Zhiwei , Gau Victoria , Anastas Sara , Brennan Lisa A , Hejtmancik J Fielding , Menko A Sue , Kantorow Marc
Published: June 2014

The mature eye lens contains a surface layer of epithelial cells called the lens epithelium that requires a functional mitochondrial population to maintain the homeostasis and transparency of the entire lens. The lens epithelium overlies a core of terminally differentiated fiber cells that must degrade their mitochondria to achieve lens transparency. These distinct mitochondrial populations make the lens a useful model system to identify those genes that regulate the balance between mitochondrial homeostasis and elimination. Here we used an RNA sequencing and bioinformatics approach to identify the transcript levels of all genes expressed by distinct regions of the lens epithelium and maturing fiber cells of the embryonic Gallus gallus (chicken) lens. Our analysis detected more than 15,000 unique transcripts expressed by the embryonic chicken lens. Of these, more than 3000 transcripts exhibited significant differences in expression between lens epithelial cells and fiber cells. Multiple transcripts coding for separate mitochondrial homeostatic and degradation mechanisms were identified to exhibit preferred patterns of expression in lens epithelial cells that require mitochondria relative to lens fiber cells that require mitochondrial elimination. These included differences in the expression levels of metabolic (DUT, PDK1, SNPH), autophagy (ATG3, ATG4B, BECN1, FYCO1, WIPI1), and mitophagy (BNIP3L/NIX, BNIP3, PARK2, p62/SQSTM1) transcripts between lens epithelial cells and lens fiber cells. These data provide a comprehensive window into all genes transcribed by the lens and those mitochondrial regulatory and degradation pathways that function to maintain mitochondrial populations in the lens epithelium and to eliminate mitochondria in maturing lens fiber cells.
Testing Models of the APC Tumor Suppressor/β-Catenin Interaction Reshapes Our View of the Destruction Complex in Wnt Signaling
Authors: Yamulla Robert J , Kane Eric G , Moody Alexandra E , Politi Kristin A , Lock Nicole E , Foley Andrew V A , Roberts David M
Published: June 2014

The Wnt pathway is a conserved signal transduction pathway that contributes to normal development and adult homeostasis, but is also misregulated in human diseases such as cancer. The tumor suppressor adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) is an essential negative regulator of Wnt signaling inactivated in >80% of colorectal cancers. APC participates in a multiprotein “destruction complex” that targets the proto-oncogene β-catenin for ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis; however, the mechanistic role of APC in the destruction complex remains unknown. Several models of APC function have recently been proposed, many of which have emphasized the importance of phosphorylation of high-affinity β-catenin-binding sites [20-amino-acid repeats (20Rs)] on APC. Here we test these models by generating a Drosophila APC2 mutant lacking all β-catenin-binding 20Rs and performing functional studies in human colon cancer cell lines and Drosophila embryos. Our results are inconsistent with current models, as we find that β-catenin binding to the 20Rs of APC is not required for destruction complex activity. In addition, we generate an APC2 mutant lacking all β-catenin-binding sites (including the 15Rs) and find that a direct β-catenin/APC interaction is also not essential for β-catenin destruction, although it increases destruction complex efficiency in certain developmental contexts. Overall, our findings support a model whereby β-catenin-binding sites on APC do not provide a critical mechanistic function per se, but rather dock β-catenin in the destruction complex to increase the efficiency of β-catenin destruction. Furthermore, in Drosophila embryos expressing some APC2 mutant transgenes we observe a separation of β-catenin destruction and Wg/Wnt signaling outputs and suggest that cytoplasmic retention of β-catenin likely accounts for this difference.
Late-term Post-operative Recanalization of a Fistula between the Coronary Artery and Bronchial Vein
Authors: Şatıroğlu Ömer , Erdoğan Turan , Bostan Mehmet , Çiçek Yüksel , Temiz Ahmet ,   Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Rize University, Rize Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kardiyoloji bölümü, 53100 Rize, Turkey. E: omersatiroglu@yahoo.com,   Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Rize University, Rize,   Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Rize University, Rize,   Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Rize University, Rize,   Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Rize University, Rize
Published: June 2014

A coronary artery fistula is a rare congenital anomaly that creates a direct link between the coronary artery and the heart chambers or other vascular structures. It is often identified coincidentally during diagnostic coronary angiography and may cause coronary steal syndrome. We report on a 54-year-old man with myocardial ischemia who had coronary angiography and a recanalized fistula was detected during the procedure.
Acute Myocardial Infarction Secondary to Suspected Paradoxical Emboli through Patent Foramen Ovale in a Young Woman
Authors: Namazi Mohammad Hassan , Biglari Marjan , Khani Mohammad , Eslami Vahid , Movahed Mohammad Reza ,   Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,   Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,   Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,   Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,   The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System and University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Professor of Medicine, The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System and University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center, 1501 North Campbell Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85724. E: rmova@aol.com
Published: June 2014

A 40-year-old woman presented with an extensive anterior myocardial infarction. After initial thrombolytic therapy, coronary angiography was performed a few days later revealing normal coronaries with severe left ventricular dysfunction secondary to anterior wall akinesia. Echocardiography showed severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction and a patent foramen ovale (PFO). The patient had a history of long-term oral contraceptive consumption. A paradoxical embolus into the left coronary artery via a large PFO was suspected and was successfully treated with PFO closure.
Urine Albumin to Creatinine Ratio and Echocardiographic Left Ventricular Structure and Function in Patients with Essential Hypertension
Authors: Hemmati Rohola , Gharipour Mojgan , Shemirani Hasan , Khosravi Alireza , Khosravi Elham ,   Internist and Cardiologist Sub Special, Faculty Of Medicine, Elam University Of Medical Sciences, Elam,   Biochemistry Department, Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center (WHO collaborating center in EMR), Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Isfahan University of Medical Science, PO Box 81465-1148, Isfahan, Iran. E: gharipour@crc.mui.ac.ir,   Cardiologist, Faculty of Medicine,   Cardiologist, Hypertension Research Center,   Hypertension Research Centre, Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan
Published: June 2014

Background:Appearance of microalbuminuria, particularly in patients with hypertension, might be associated with a higher prevalence of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and geometric abnormalities. This study was undertaken to determine whether high urine albumin to creatinine ratio (UACR) as a sensitive marker for microalbuminuria can be associated with LV hypertrophy (LVH) and systolic and diastolic LV dysfunction.Methods:The study population consisted of 125 consecutive patients with essential uncomplicated hypertension. Urine albumin and creatinine concentration was determined by standard methods. LVH was defined as a LV mass index >100 g/m2 of body surface area in women and >130 g/m2 in men. Echocardiographic LV systolic and diastolic parameters were measured.Results:The prevalence of microalbuminuria in patients with essential hypertension was 5.6 %. UACR was significantly no different in patients with LVH than in patients with normal LV geometry (21.26 ± 31.55 versus 17.80 ± 24.52 mg/mmol). No significant correlation was found between UACR measurement and systolic and diastolic function parameters, including early to late diastolic peak velocity (E/A) ratio (R=-0.192, p=0.038), early diastolic peak velocity to early mitral annulus velocity (E/E') ratio (R=-0.025, p=0.794), LV ejection fraction (R=0.008, p=0.929), and LV mass (R=-0.132, p=0.154). According to the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, UACR measurement was not an acceptable indicator of LVH with areas under the ROC curves 0.514 (95 % confidence interval 0.394–0.634). The optimal cut-off value for UACR for predicting LVH was identified at 9.4, yielding a sensitivity of 51.6 % and a specificity of 48.3 %.Conclusion:In patients with uncomplicated essential hypertension, abnormal systolic and diastolic LV function and geometry cannot be effectively predicted by the appearance of microalbuminuria.