bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Providing Equal Educational Opportunity: Public vs. Voucher Schools
Authors: Roemer John E.
Published: January 2009

All advanced societies maintain a commitment to equal educational opportunity, which they claim to implement through a public school system that is charged toprovide all children with an education up to a state-enforced standard. Indeed, what public schools do, even in the best of circumstances, is to provide all children with a more or less equal exposure to educational inputs (teachers, books), rather than to guarantee them equal educational attainment. Children, as the schools receive them, differ markedly in their docility — due in part to innate ability, but perhaps due more to the economic status and cultural practices of their families. Many, including myself, believe that the task of schools should be to provide some measure of equal educational attainment among students of heterogeneous talent and background. Schools should devote more educational resources to students who require them in order that they be educated to an acceptable standard.
Partial Wholes
Authors: Barnes Jonathan
Published: January 2009

Individualists like to think of themselves as atoms, their trajectories causally dependent on collisions with other similar entities but their essence resolutely independent and autonomous. They are whole and entire in themselves: they are not elements or adjuncts of some greater whole. Collectivists take an opposite view. Their oddities and accidents may be individual and independent, their movements and machinations largely self-determined, but in their essence they are necessarily bound to others – for all are adjuncts and elements of a larger whole.

In this essay I discuss one version of the collectivist philosophy, a version which has (I suspect) been as popular and as widely supported as any philosophy of human nature. In Section I, the constituent ideas are expounded, largely by way of citation from Alexander Pope. In Section II, the anthropological aspect of Pope's philosophy is subjected to scrutiny; and in Section III, the axiological side of the theory is examined.
Natural Virtues, Natural Vices
Authors: Baier Annette C.
Published: January 2009

David Hume has been invoked by those who want to found morality on human nature as well as by their critics. He is credited with showing us the fallacy of moving from premises about what is the case to conclusions about what ought to be the case; and yet, just a few pages after the famous is-ought remarks in A Treatise of Human Nature, he embarks on his equally famous derivation of the obligations of justice from facts about the cooperative schemes accepted in human communities. Is he ambivalent on the relationship between facts about human nature and human evaluations? Does he contradict himself – and, if so, which part of his whole position is most valuable?

Between the famous is-ought passage and the famous account of convention and the obligations arising from established cooperative schemes once they are morally endorsed, Hume discusses the various meanings of the term “natural.” “Shou'd it be ask'd, Whether we ought to search for these principles [upon which all our notions of morals are founded] in nature or whether we must look for them in some other origin? I wou'd reply, that our answer to this question depends upon the definition of the word, Nature, than which there is none more ambiguous and equivocal.” (T. 473–74) The natural can be opposed to the miraculous, the unusual, or the artificial. It is the last contrast that Hume wants, for his contrast between the “artificial” culturally variant, convention-dependent obligations of justice and the more invariant “natural virtues,” and what he says about that contrast in this preparation for his account of the “artificial” virtues, makes it clear why he can later refer to justice as “natural” and to the general content of the rules of justice – that is, of basic human conventions of cooperation – as “Laws of Nature” (T. 484).
Le Promeneur Solitaire: Rousseau and the Emergence of the Post-Social Self
Authors: Gauthier David
Published: January 2009

1. The portrait and the man – each is unique. “Here is the only portrait of a man, painted exactly from nature and completely true to it.” And this man, “it will be myself…. Myself alone…. I am different.” And yet this unique portrait of this unique man, “may be used as the first comparative work in the study of man, which is certainly yet to be begun.”
The Biological Justification of Ethics: A Best-Case Scenario
Authors: Rosenberg Alexander
Published: January 2009

Social and behavioral scientists — that is, students of human nature — nowadays hardly ever use the term ‘human nature’. This reticence reflects both a becoming modesty about the aims of their disciplines and a healthy skepticism about whether there is any one thing really worthy of the label ‘human nature’.

For some feature of humankind to be identified as accounting for our ‘nature’, it would have to reflect some property both distinctive of our species and systematically influential enough to explain some very important aspect of our behavior. Compare: molecular structure gives the essence or the nature of water just because it explains most of its salient properties. Few students of the human sciences currently hold that there is just one or a small number of such features that can explain our actions and/or our institutions. And even among those who do, there is reluctance to label their theories as claims about ‘human nature’.

Among anthropologists and sociologists, the label seems too universal and indiscriminant to be useful. The idea that there is a single underlying character that might explain similarities threatens the differences among people and cultures that these social scientists seek to uncover. Even economists, who have explicitly attempted to parlay rational choice theory into an account of all human behavior, do not claim that the maximization of transitive preferences is ‘human nature’.

I think part of the reason that social scientists are reluctant to use ‘human nature’ is that the term has traditionally labeled a theory with normative implications as well as descriptive ones.
Human Nature, Social Engineering, and The Reemergence of Civil Society
Authors: Rau Zbigniew
Published: January 2009

There is not much disagreement that the recent spectacular establishment of parliamentary democracies and market economies in Eastern Europe and the even more breathtaking events in most Soviet republics – which should culminate in the reemergence of the Baltic nations as independent states – may be convincingly conceived of as the triumph of civil society over the Marxist-Leninist system. Both the collapse of the Marxist-Leninist system and the reemergence of civil society may be discussed in terms of theories which deal with the relationship between human nature and sociopolitical systems.
Human Nature Technologically Revisited
Authors: Engelhardt H. Tristram
Published: January 2009

This essay is meant as a form of philosophical exorcism. The goal is to dispel the view that there are general secular grounds for holding human germline genetic engineering to be intrinsically wrong, a malum in se, or a morally culpable violation of human nature. The essay endorses the view that major obligations of prudence and care attend the development of this technology. However, these justifiable moral concerns can be seen more clearly when one has dispelled what must, from a secular perspective, be regarded as pseudo-issues.
Reply to Danto
Authors: Gewirth Alan
Published: January 2009

I want to comment briefly on seven points in Professor Danto's discussion of my paper.

1. He says that according to my conception of the existence of human rights, their esse est demonstrari – that is, for human rights to exist is for them to be demonstrated. He also says that, according to my thesis, “what one argues for cannot be separated from … the argument itself…”

Now this is true in one sense but not in another. There is an ambiguity in Danto's use of words like “demonstrari” and “argument.” These words may refer either to particular, contingent attempts at demonstration and argument or to rationally necessary structures of demonstration and argument. Danto's remarks might suggest that it is in the former sense that I tie the existence of human rights to argument. But, on the contrary, it is obviously the latter meaning that I use when I say: “That human rights exist… is a proposition whose truth depends on the possibility, in principle, of constructing a body of moral justificatory argument from which that proposition follows as a logical consequence,” and that “for human rights to exist… means that there are conclusive moral reasons that justify or ground the moral requirements that constitute the Nature of human rights…” (emphasis added). The existence of such reasons is independent of whether this or that particular justificatory argument is successful; such reasons are discovered, not invented. Hence, what I argue for, that human rights exist, can be separated from my own or anyone else's attempts at argument.
Personal Projects as the Foundation for Basic Rights
Authors: Lomasky Loren
Published: January 2009

A theory of basic moral rights ought to aim at telling us who the beings are that have rights and of what those rights consist. It may, however, seek to achieve that goal via an indirect route. In this paper I shall attempt a strategy of indirection. The first stage of the argument is a consideration of why moral theory can allow any place at all to rights. Acknowledging rights can be inconvenient. An otherwise desirable outcome is blocked if the only ways in which it can be attained involve the violation of rights. Why not jettison rights and thereby render these outcomes achievable? The answer that will be suggested trades on it being a deep fact about human beings that they can and do order their lives by reference to long-term commitments and aspirations. In my terminology, they are project pursuers. If people were rational animals all of whose interests were flickering and evanescent, an ethic entirely resting on maximization of impersonal value would be appropriate. But because projects entail commitments to values not subject to trade-offs, the introduction of rights is plausible.

That is the first major stage of the argument. The second builds on it and tries to show that the recognition of rights or their equivalent is morally required, that only an ethic in which basic rights are acknowledged can be properly responsive to persons' status as project pursuers. More particularly, is suggested that rights take the form of constraints imposing minimal forbearance on others such that one has reasonable expectations of being able to pursue one's projects amidst a world of other project pursuers.
Indirect Utility and Fundamental Rights
Authors: Gray John
Published: January 2009

A TRADITIONAL VIEW OF UTILITY AND RIGHTS

According to a conventional view, no project could be more hopelessly misconceived than the enterprise of attempting a utilitarian derivation of fundamental rights. We are all familiar – too familiar, perhaps – with the arguments that support this conventional view, but let us review them anyway. We may begin by recalling that, whereas the defining value of utilitarianism – pleasure, happiness or welfare – contains no mention of the dignity or autonomy of human beings, it is this value which utilitarianism in all its standard forms invokes as the criterion of right action. Worse, insofar as utilitarian policy must have as its goal the maximization of welfare conceived as an aggregate summed over the utilities of everyone affected, legal and political utilitarianism seems bound to have a collectivist bias, trading on the dangerous fiction of a social entity and ignoring the distinctness of separate selves with their several incommensurable claims.

It seems that, if individuals can appear in the utilitarian calculus at all, it will only be as ciphers, abstract place-holders for units of welfare. For, as an aggregative value, utility must be indifferent to distribution, and insensitive to the preeminently distributive considerations marked by claims about rights. So, if whatever has utility can be broken down into units or elements which are subject to measurement or at least comparison by a common standard, then it will always be possible that a very great loss of welfare for one man or a few men can be justified if it produces a great many small increments of welfare for a vast multitude of men.
Comment on Gibbard Utilitarianism Versus Human Rights
Authors: Fishkin James
Published: January 2009

Rather than respond to Gibbard, point by point, I will comment on what I take to be the general spirit of his argument. The old consensus on some form or another of utilitarianism, a consensus that dominated discussions in moral and political theory only a few years ago, has now largely evaporated before the heat of distributional objections founded on justice, the “separateness of persons,” and other concerns for the severe sacrifices that utilitarianism might require of some for the sake of greater gains to others (or for the sake of gains to a greater number of others).
Life, Liberty, and Property
Authors: Kelley David
Published: January 2009

The words “liberty” and “liberalism” have a common root, reflecting the commitment of the original or classical liberals to a free society. Over the last century, the latter term has come to represent a political position that is willing to sacrifice liberty in the economic realm for the sake of equality and/or collective welfare. As a consequence, those who wish to reaffirm the classical version of liberalism – those who advocate liberty in economic as well as personal and intellectual matters – have invented a new word from the old root; they call themselves libertarians. Both in doctrine and in etymology, then, partisans of this view define themselves by their allegiance to liberty. Yet they spend most of their day-to-day polemical energies defending property rights and the economic system of laissez-faire capitalism that is based upon such rights. Evidently there is a strong link between liberty and property at work here. What is that link?

The history of political thought is full of ideas and controversies about precisely this question. My goal here is to raise the question in a specific form, one that I think captures a basic difference in approach between classical liberals and most libertarians today. The difference is not in the substance of the position – it is not a disagreement about how the ideal society would be constituted – but rather in the way the position is to be defended. The key question is: can the right to property be derived from the right to liberty?

Of course a property right is a right to kind of freedom.
Comment on Flathman Difficulties With Flathman's Moderation Thesis
Authors: Beitz Charles R.
Published: January 2009

Professor Flathman's main aim in this interesting paper is to set forth what we might call the “moderation thesis.” It holds that there may be occasions when the best thing to do, all things considered, is to violate a right – at least if the violation takes the form of what Flathman calls “civil encroachment” or “civil non-enforcement.” Moreover, it would be desirable, in a society whose practices include rights, for this belief to be generally accepted, so that those who engaged with good reason in “civil encroachment” would receive the sympathetic support of the community.

Let me begin by trying to explain the source of the problem to which this thesis is a response. As Flathman notes, rights have a discretionary character: if I have a right to do or to have something, it is up to me whether to do it or to have it. Having a right, I am entitled to make a choice. Since we cannot say, in advance, what choice I will make, we cannot say, in advance, what will be the state of the world after I make it. But since it seems plain that some states of the world are more desirable than others, it will always be possible that the consequences of my choice will be worse, on the whole, than the consequences of some other choice that I might have made but did not. To moderate rights is apparently to act in ways that redress or compensate for the undesirable results of their exercise.
Acquisition of gender agreement in Lithuanian: Exploring the effect of diminutive usage in an elicited production task
Authors: SAVICKIENĖ INETA , KEMPE VERA , BROOKS PATRICIA J.
Published: January 2009

This study examines Lithuanian children's acquisition of gender agreement using an elicited production task. Lithuanian is a richly inflected Baltic language, with two genders and seven cases. Younger (N=24, mean 3 ; 1, 2 ; 5–3 ; 8) and older (N=24, mean 6 ; 3, 5 ; 6–6 ; 9) children were shown pictures of animals and asked to describe them after hearing the animal's name. Animal names differed with respect to familiarity (novel vs. familiar), derivational status (diminutive vs. simplex) and gender (masculine vs. feminine). Analyses of gender-agreement errors based on adjective and pronoun usage indicated that younger children made more errors than older children, with errors more prevalent for novel animal names. For novel animals, and for feminine nouns, children produced fewer errors with nouns introduced in diminutive form. These results complement findings from several Slavic languages (Russian, Serbian and Polish) that diminutives constitute a salient cluster of word forms that may provide an entry point for the child's acquisition of noun morphology.
A new source of volatile organoiodine compounds in surface seawater
Authors: Martino Manuela , Mills Graham P. , Woeltjen Janina , Liss Peter S.
Published: January 2009

Volatile organoiodine compounds (VOIs) are the main carrier of iodine from the oceans to the atmosphere. We have identified a novel, sea‐surface source of the short‐lived VOIs CH2I2, CHClI2 and CHI3 in a series of laboratory experiments. These compounds were formed when seawater, collected during winter in the North Sea, was exposed to ambient levels of ozone. The VOIs are produced from the reaction of marine dissolved organic matter with hypoiodous acid/molecular iodine, which are formed at the sea surface when ozone reacts with dissolved iodide. The same three VOIs were formed when we incubated seawater of different productivity levels with molecular iodine during a cruise in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. We suggest that the presence of dissolved iodide, dissolved organic matter and ozone can lead to the sea‐surface production of CH2I2, CHClI2 and CHI3. As such, this process could provide a ubiquitous source of iodine to the marine atmosphere.
Seasonal variations of the electron density distribution in the polar region during geomagnetically quiet periods near solar maximum
Authors: Kitamura N. , Shinbori A. , Nishimura Y. , Ono T. , Iizima M. , Kumamoto A.
Published: January 2009

Meridional electron density distributions above 45° invariant latitude (ILAT) during geomagnetically quiet periods are statistically studied. Electron density data were obtained from plasma waves observed by the Akebono satellite from March 1989 to February 1991 (near solar maximum) in an altitude range of 274–10,500 km. Field‐aligned electron density profiles were fitted by the sum of exponential and power law functions. The transition height, where the power law term equals the exponential term, is highest in the summer (at low solar zenith angle (SZA)) at ∼4000 km and lowest in the winter (at high SZA) at ∼1800 km in a region of ILAT ≥ 70°; this is caused by the larger scale height in the summer (∼550 km) than that in the winter (∼250 km). The largest seasonal variation and SZA dependence of the electron density are found at an altitude of ∼2000 km with a factor of ∼50 (∼104 /cc in the summer, ∼103 /cc in the winter) in the trough, auroral, and polar cap regions. The seasonal variation and SZA dependence are smaller, about a factor of 5–10, above ∼5000 km. Day‐night asymmetries in each season (within a factor of 5) are smaller than the seasonal variation. The scale height is larger in the dayside than in the nightside in each season. These results indicate that photoionization processes in the ionosphere strongly control electron density distributions up to at least ∼5000 km in the trough, auroral, and polar cap regions.
On the coupling between the Harang reversal evolution and substorm dynamics: A synthesis of SuperDARN, DMSP, and IMAGE observations
Authors: Zou S. , Lyons L. R. , Wang C.‐P. , Boudouridis A. , Ruohoniemi J. M. , Anderson P. C. , Dyson P. L. , Devlin J. C.
Published: January 2009

The Harang reversal is a prominent feature frequently observed in the electric and magnetic field patterns in the high‐latitude auroral zone and plays an important role in substorm dynamics. A comprehensive set of instruments, including Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), and Imager for Magnetopause‐to‐Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE), is used to investigate the relationship between the Harang reversal and substorms. On the basis of nine events that have been analyzed, we find that the Harang reversal forms and becomes well defined during the growth phase. Azimuthal flows equatorward of the Harang reversal, a majority of which are in the subauroral region, enhance during the growth phase. The observations indicate that subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) and the Harang reversal evolve together as part of the growth phase development of the region 2 current system. Furthermore, the substorm auroral onset is seen to occur quite near the center of the Harang flow shear, which suggests that the substorm upward field‐aligned current develops there. After onset, the evolution of convection flows in the vicinity of the Harang region depends strongly on their location relative to that of the onset. SAPS flows equatorward of the Harang reversal suddenly increase at the substorm onset; flow shear east of the auroral onset relaxes after the onset; and poleward flows, part of a clockwise vortex, are observed west of the auroral onset after the onset. These observations demonstrate the strong coupling between the Harang reversal evolution and substorm dynamics and suggest that the nightside region 2 physics is closely related to substorm dynamics.
Tropospheric tidal effects on the middle and upper atmosphere
Authors: Hagan M. E. , Maute A. , Roble R. G.
Published: January 2009

Numerical experiments that explore the effects of tides of tropospheric origin on the upper and middle atmosphere reveal strong signatures of an eastward propagating zonal wave number 3 diurnal tide (DE3), which peaks near 110 km and penetrates into the upper thermosphere. We demonstrate that nonmigrating tidal dissipation dominated by DE3 effects in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) strongly accelerates the zonal mean wind field, affecting both the altitude and magnitude of the low‐latitude jets. We also quantify, for the first time, a stationary planetary wave 4 oscillation (sPW4) in the MLT, which is excited by nonlinear interaction between the DE3 and the migrating diurnal tide (DW1). Our results suggest that the sPW4 modulates the DE3 MLT response and may impact the E region dynamo as well as ionospheric and thermospheric signatures at much higher altitudes.
Observational facts in revealing a close relation between acoustic‐gravity waves and midlatitude spread F
Authors: Xiao Sai‐guan , Xiao Zuo , Shi Jian‐kui , Zhang Dong‐he , Feng Xue‐shang , Hao Yong‐qiang , Huang Wei‐quan
Published: January 2009

The main purpose of this paper is to provide observational phenomena which show a close relation between acoustic‐gravity waves (AGWs) and blurred traces of HF Doppler shifts. This relationship is regarded as observational evidence of a close connection of AGWs with midlatitude spread F (MSF), analyzed with six years of HF Doppler records. It is found that the frequency shift traces often become very blurred after local sunset and this kind of echo is reasonably assumed to be caused by ionospheric irregularities, namely, spread F. In most of the cases, these blurred echoes follow leading AGWs. Generally, the periods of AGWs were in a range of 15–30 mins and the Doppler frequency shifts were around or greater than 0.5 Hz (roughly equivalent to the amplitude of AGW, about 30–50 m/s). Usually, during local night, when there were AGWs with larger amplitudes, indicated by a frequency shift up to 0.5 Hz and above, the blurred echoes followed or overlapped them. These phenomena lasted for hours in general, then weakened gradually with the wavelike echoes still existing or having ceased. Of course, this is not always the case; in a few instances, clear wavelike disturbances solely are without accompanying blurred echoes, or blurred echoes occurred with only small amplitude waves ahead. However, it should be stressed that such exceptions were quite few. Statistics show that 23.5% of the total night time records were with blurred traces and 96% of blurred traces were accompanied with AGWs. In this paper, some typical examples are provided for different background (such as typhoon, volcano eruption, and other situations whenever AGWs appeared). These observations can be regarded as evidence of AGWs' having a seeding role in exciting MSF.
The MgSiO3system at high pressure: Thermodynamic properties of perovskite, postperovskite, and melt from global inversion of shock and static compression data
Authors: Mosenfelder Jed L. , Asimow Paul D. , Frost Daniel J. , Rubie David C. , Ahrens Thomas J.
Published: January 2009

We present new equation‐of‐state (EoS) data acquired by shock loading to pressures up to 245 GPa on both low‐density samples (MgSiO3glass) and high‐density, polycrystalline aggregates (MgSiO3perovskite + majorite). The latter samples were synthesized using a large‐volume press. Modeling indicates that these materials transform to perovskite, postperovskite, and/or melt with increasing pressure on their Hugoniots. We fit our results together with existingP‐V‐Tdata from dynamic and static compression experiments to constrain the thermal EoS for the three phases, all of which are of fundamental importance to the dynamics of the lower mantle. The EoS for perovskite and postperovskite are well described with third‐order Birch‐Murnaghan isentropes, offset with a Mie‐Grüneisen‐Debye formulation for thermal pressure. The addition of shock data helps to distinguish among discrepant static studies of perovskite, and for postperovskite, constrain a value ofK′ significantly larger than 4. For the melt, we define for the first time a single EoS that fits experimental data from ambient pressure to 230 GPa; the best fit requires a fourth‐order isentrope. We also provide a new EoS for Mg2SiO4liquid, calculated in a similar manner. The Grüneisen parameters of the solid phases decrease with pressure, whereas those of the melts increase, consistent with previous shock wave experiments as well as molecular dynamics simulations. We discuss implications of our modeling for thermal expansion in the lower mantle, stabilization of ultra‐low‐velocity zones associated with melting at the core‐mantle boundary, and crystallization of a terrestrial magma ocean.
Clustering T‐cell GM1 lipid rafts increases cellular resistance to shear on fibronectin through changes in integrin affinity and cytoskeletal dynamics
Authors: Mitchell Jason S , Brown Wells S , Woodside Darren G , Vanderslice Peter , McIntyre Bradley W
Published: January 2009

Lipid rafts are small laterally mobile microdomains that are highly enriched in lymphocyte signaling molecules. GM1 gangliosides are a common lipid raft component and have been shown to be important in many T‐cell functions. The aggregation of specific GM1 lipid rafts can control many T‐cell activation events, including their novel association with T‐cell integrins. We found that clustering GM1 lipid rafts can regulate β1 integrin function. This was apparent through increased resistance to shear flow‐dependent detachment of T cells adherent to the α4β1 and α5β1 integrin ligand fibronectin (FN). Adhesion strengthening as a result of clustering GM1 enriched lipid rafts correlated with increased cellular rigidity and morphology through the localization of cortical F‐actin, the resistance to shear‐induced cell stretching, and an increase in the surface area and symmetry of the contact area between the cell surface and adhesive substrate. Furthermore, clustering GM1 lipid rafts could initiate integrin ‘inside‐out’ signaling mechanisms. This was seen through increased integrin–cytoskeleton associations and enhanced soluble binding of FN and VCAM‐1, suggesting the induction of high‐affinity integrin conformations. The activation of these adhesion‐strengthening characteristics appears to be specific for the aggregation of GM1 lipid rafts as the aggregation of the heterogeneous raft‐associated molecule CD59 failed to activate these functions. These findings indicate a novel mechanism to signal to β1 integrins and to activate adhesion‐strengthening processes.
Channel-interacting PDZ protein, ‘CIPP’, interacts with proteins involved in cytoskeletal dynamics
Authors: Alpi Emanuele , Landi Elena , Barilari Manuela , Serresi Michela , Salvadori Piero , Bachi Angela , Dente Luciana
Published: January 2009

Neuronal CIPP (channel-interacting PDZ protein) is a multivalent PDZ protein that interacts with specific channels and receptors highly expressed in the brain. It is composed of four PDZ domains that behave as a scaffold to clusterize functionally connected proteins. In the present study, we selected a set of potential CIPP interactors that are involved directly or indirectly in mechanisms of cytoskeletal remodelling and membrane protrusion formation. For some of these, we first proved the direct binding to specific CIPP PDZ domains considered as autonomous elements, and then confirmed the interaction with the whole protein. In particular, the small G-protein effector IRSp53 (insulin receptor tyrosine kinase substrate protein p53) specifically interacts with the second PDZ domain of CIPP and, when co-transfected in cultured mammalian cells with a tagged full-length CIPP, it induces a marked reorganization of CIPP cytoplasmic localization. Large punctate structures are generated as a consequence of CIPP binding to the IRSp53 C-terminus. Analysis of the puncta nature, using various endocytic markers, revealed that they are not related to cytoplasmic vesicles, but rather represent multi-protein assemblies, where CIPP can tether other potential interactors.
A VAMP7/Vti1a SNARE complex distinguishes a non-conventional traffic route to the cell surface used by KChIP1 and Kv4 potassium channels
Authors: Flowerdew Sarah E. , Burgoyne Robert D.
Published: January 2009

The KChIPs (K+ channel-interacting proteins) are EF hand-containing proteins required for the traffic of channel-forming Kv4 K+ subunits to the plasma membrane. KChIP1 is targeted, through N-terminal myristoylation, to intracellular vesicles that appear to be trafficking intermediates from the ER (endoplasmic reticulum) to the Golgi but differ from those underlying conventional ER–Golgi traffic. To define KChIP1 vesicles and the traffic pathway followed by Kv4/KChIP1 traffic, we examined their relationship to potential SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein-attachment protein receptor) proteins mediating the trafficking step. To distinguish Kv4/KChIP1 from conventional constitutive traffic, we compared it to the traffic of the VSVG (vesicular-stomatitis virus G-protein). Expression of KChIP with single or triple EF hand mutations quantitatively inhibited Kv4/KChIP1 traffic to the cell surface but had no effect on VSVG traffic. KChIP1-expressing vesicles co-localized with the SNARE proteins Vti1a and VAMP7 (vesicle-associated membrane protein 7), but not with the components of two other ER–Golgi SNARE complexes. siRNA (small interfering RNA)-mediated knockdown of Vti1a or VAMP7 inhibited Kv4/KChIP1traffic to the plasma membrane in HeLa and Neuro2A cells. Vti1a and VAMP7 siRNA had no effect on VSVG traffic or that of Kv4.2 when stimulated by KChIP2, a KChIP with different intrinsic membrane targeting compared with KChIP1. The present results suggest that a SNARE complex containing VAMP7 and Vti1a defines a novel traffic pathway to the cell surface in both neuronal and non-neuronal cells.
Etomoxir-induced partial carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I (CPT-I) inhibition in vivo does not alter cardiac long-chain fatty acid uptake and oxidation rates
Authors: Luiken Joost J. F. P. , Niessen Hanneke E. C. , Coort Susan L. M. , Hoebers Nicole , Coumans Will A. , Schwenk Robert W. , Bonen Arend , Glatz Jan F. C.
Published: January 2009

Although CPT-I (carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I) is generally regarded to present a major rate-controlling site in mitochondrial β-oxidation, it is incompletely understood whether CPT-I is rate-limiting in the overall LCFA (long-chain fatty acid) flux in the heart. Another important site of regulation of the LCFA flux in the heart is trans-sarcolemmal LCFA transport facilitated by CD36 and FABPpm (plasma membrane fatty acid-binding protein). Therefore, we explored to what extent a chronic pharmacological blockade of the LCFA flux at the level of mitochondrial entry of LCFA-CoA would affect sarcolemmal LCFA uptake. Rats were injected daily with saline or etomoxir, a specific CPT-I inhibitor, for 8 days at 20 mg/kg of body mass. Etomoxir-treated rats displayed a 44% reduced cardiac CPT-I activity. Sarcolemmal contents of CD36 and FABPpm, as well as the LCFA transport capacity, were not altered in the hearts of etomoxir-treated versus control rats. Furthermore, rates of LCFA uptake and oxidation, and glucose uptake by cardiac myocytes from etomoxir-treated rats were not different from control rats, neither under basal nor under acutely induced maximal metabolic demands. Finally, hearts from etomoxir-treated rats did not display triacylglycerol accumulation. Therefore CPT-I appears not to present a major rate-controlling site in total cardiac LCFA flux. It is likely that sarcolemmal LCFA entry rather than mitochondrial LCFA-CoA entry is a promising target for normalizing LCFA flux in cardiac metabolic diseases.
Top Management Support of Enterprise Systems Implementations
Authors: Dong Linying , Neufeld Derrick , Higgins Chris
Published: January 2009

Despite the general consensus regarding the critical role of top management in the information systems (ISs) implementation process, the literature has not yet provided a clear and compelling understanding of the top management support (TMS) concept. Applying metastructuring (Orlikowski et al., 1995) as a guiding framework for understanding TMS behaviors, this paper attempts to address the gap by focusing on two key questions: (1) What supportive actions do top managers engage in during IS implementations? (2) How do these actions affect IS implementation outcomes? Analyses of in-depth case studies at two Canadian universities that had implemented a large-scale enterprise system revealed three distinct types of TMS actions: TMS - resource provision (TMSR - actions related to supplying key resources such as funds, technologies, staff, and user training programs); TMS - change management (TMSC - actions related to fostering organizational receptivity of a new IS); and TMS - vision sharing (TMSV - actions related to ensuring that lower-level managers develop a common understanding of the core objectives and ideals for the new system). Results suggest that different support behaviors exercise different influences on implementation outcomes, and that top managers need to adjust their support actions to achieve the desired outcomes. In particular, TMSR affected project completion, TMSC impacted formation of user skills and attitudes, and TMSV influenced middle manager buy-in. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Action in Context and Context in Action: Modelling Complexity in Multimedia Systems Development
Authors: Webb Brian , Gallagher Seamus
Published: January 2009

Whereas multimedia systems development (MSD) is inherently complex, and increasingly so, little is known about how multimedia designers manage or cope with this complexity. In particular, little is known about complexity beyond technical and process levels, and how such complexity impacts design activity. In this paper we construct a model of MSD based on the formulation of the broader concept of context complexity. This concept, which subsumes but also transcends technical and process complexity, is used to explain design strategies and their consequences. We identify four design contexts that explain, and are also explained by, complexity. These contexts map out the ‘landscape for action’ over which design activity takes place. They shape the design environment and the responses taken to it. We use a grounded theory approach to study what designers actually do (as opposed to theorising what they should do). We argue that a better understanding of context determined and context determining strategies better informs interventions aimed at improving MSD design practice. Our main conclusion is that interventions should be directed to those situations where there is a mismatch between the level of complexity in the design context and the level of complexity in the design strategy taken in response to that context. We call these situations ‘breakdown’ contexts and examine their causes and consequences in greater detail. Our claimed contribution is to broaden the concept of design breakdowns through a specific understanding of the role and impact of (context) complexity in MSD.
The Diffusion of Ip Telephony and Vendors’ Commercialisation Strategies
Authors: Constantiou Ioanna D , Papazafeiropoulou Anastasia , Dwivedi Yogesh K
Published: January 2009

The Internet telephony (IP telephony) has been presented as a technology that can replace existing fixed-line services and disrupt the telecommunications industry by offering new low-priced services. This study investigates the diffusion of IP telephony in Denmark by focusing on vendors’ commercialisation strategies. The theory of disruptive innovation is introduced to investigate vendors’ perceptions about IP telephony and explore their strategies that affect the diffusion process in the residential market. The analysis is based on interview data collected from the key market players. The study's findings suggest that IP telephony is treated as a sustaining innovation that goes beyond the typical voice transmission and enables provision of advanced services such as video telephony.
The effect of photonic structures on the light guiding efficiency of fluorescent concentrators
Authors: Peters M. , Goldschmidt J. C. , Löper P. , Bläsi B. , Gombert A.
Published: January 2009

It is possible to increase the efficiency of fluorescent concentrator systems with photonic structures. This is achieved by reducing the losses caused by the loss cone of total internal reflection. Examples of fluorescent concentrators we are currently working with are given and different photonic structures designed for the application on these fluorescent concentrators are presented. We discuss the optical characteristics of the photonic structures and their effects on the light guiding efficiency of the fluorescent concentrators. An analytical model is established to analyze and quantify the effects of these filters on the light guiding efficiency theoretically. This model is used to analyze the given photonic structures in detail. We show that with a real photonic structure the loss cone losses can be reduced by more than 75%.
Electrothermal ac electro-osmosis
Authors: Gagnon Zachary R. , Chang Hsueh-Chia
Published: January 2009

Two ac polarization mechanisms, charge accumulation due to electrode double layer charging and bulk permittivity/conductivity gradients generated by Joule heating, are combined in the double layer by introducing zwitterions to produce a new ac electrokinetic pump with the largest velocity (>1 mm/s) and flow penetration depth (100 μm) reported for low-conductivity fluids. The large fluid velocity is due to a quartic scaling with respect to voltage, as is true of electrothermal flow, but exhibits a clear maximum at a frequency corresponding to the electrode double layer inverse RC time.
A mixed finite element/boundary element approach to simulate complex guided elastic wave periodic transducers
Authors: Ballandras S. , Lardat R. , Wilm M. , Pastureaud Th. , Reinhardt A. , Champavert N. , Steichen W. , Daniau W. , Laude V. , Armati R. , Martin G.
Published: January 2009

The development of new surface acoustic wave devices exhibiting complicated electrode patterns or layered excitation transducers has been favored by an intense innovative activity in this area. For instance, devices exhibiting interdigital transducers covered by piezoelectric or dielectric layers have been fabricated and tested, but the design of such structures requires simulation tools capable to accurately take into account the actual shape of the wave guide elements. A modeling approach able to address complicated surface acoustic wave periodic structures (defined in the saggital plane) exhibiting any geometry then has been developed and implemented. It is based on the combination of a finite element analysis and a boundary element method. A first validation of the computation is reported by comparison with standard surface wave devices. Surface transverse wave resonators covered by amorphous silica have been built and consequently used for theory/experiment assessment. Also the case of recessed electrodes has been considered. The proposed model offers large opportunities for modeling any two-dimensional periodic elastic wave guide.
Efficient global representations of potential energy functions: Trajectory calculations of bimolecular gas-phase reactions by multiconfiguration molecular mechanics
Authors: Tishchenko Oksana , Truhlar Donald G.
Published: January 2009

Multiconfiguration molecular mechanics (MCMM) was previously applied to calculate potential energies, gradients, and Hessians along a reaction path and in the large-curvature tunneling swath, and it was shown that one could calculate variational transition state theory rate constants with optimized multidimensional tunneling without requiring more than a few electronic structure Hessians. It was also used for molecular dynamics simulations of liquid-phase potentials of mean force as functions of a reaction coordinate. In the present article we present some improvements to the formalism and also show that with these improvements we can use the method for the harder problem of trajectory calculations on gas-phase bimolecular reactive collisions. In particular, we apply the MCMM algorithm to the model reaction OH+H2→H2O+H, for which we construct the global full-dimensional interpolated potential energy surfaces with various numbers of electronic structure Hessians and various molecular mechanics force fields, and we assess the quality of these fits by quasiclassical trajectory calculations. We demonstrate that chemical accuracy (1–2 kcal/mol) can be reached for a MCMM potential in dynamically important regions with a fairly small number of electronic structure Hessians. We also discuss the origins of the errors in the interpolated energies and a possible way to improve the accuracy.
Transmitting high power rf acoustic radiation via fluid couplants into superstrates for microfluidics
Authors: Hodgson Ryan P. , Tan Ming , Yeo Leslie , Friend James
Published: January 2009

In this study, surface acoustic radiation is refracted from lithium niobate through a fluid coupling into a thin glass plate. We demonstrate and explain its propagation as an asymmetric Lamb wave along the glass plate with sufficient power to transport fluid droplets across the glass surface at 8 mm/s. Such technology enables the use of standard processing techniques to fabricate an inexpensive and disposable microfluidics device together with the power transmission capabilities of surface acoustic wave devices with an easily renewable coupling.
Cole–Davidson dynamics of simple chain models
Authors: Dotson Taylor C. , Budzien Joanne , McCoy John D. , Adolf Douglas B.
Published: January 2009

Rotational relaxation functions of the end-to-end vector of short, freely jointed and freely rotating chains were determined from molecular dynamics simulations. The associated response functions were obtained from the one-sided Fourier transform of the relaxation functions. The Cole–Davidson function was used to fit the response functions with extensive use being made of Cole–Cole plots in the fitting procedure. For the systems studied, the Cole–Davidson function provided remarkably accurate fits [as compared to the transform of the Kohlrausch–Williams–Watts (KWW) function]. The only appreciable deviations from the simulation results were in the high frequency limit and were due to ballistic or free rotation effects. The accuracy of the Cole–Davidson function appears to be the result of the transition in the time domain from stretched exponential behavior at intermediate time to single exponential behavior at long time. Such a transition can be explained in terms of a distribution of relaxation times with a well-defined longest relaxation time. Since the Cole–Davidson distribution has a sharp cutoff in relaxation time (while the KWW function does not), it makes sense that the Cole–Davidson would provide a better frequency-domain description of the associated response function than the KWW function does.
Chemical reaction surface vibrational frequencies evaluated in curvilinear internal coordinates: Application to H+CH4⇌H2+CH3
Authors: Banks Simon T. , Clary David C.
Published: January 2009

We consider the general problem of vibrational analysis at nonglobally optimized points on a reduced dimensional reaction surface. We discuss the importance of the use of curvilinear internal coordinates to describe molecular motion and derive a curvilinear projection operator to remove the contribution of nonzero gradients from the Hessian matrix. Our projection scheme is tested in the context of a two-dimensional quantum scattering calculation for the reaction H+CH4→H2+CH3 and its reverse H2+CH3→H+CH4. Using zero-point energies calculated via rectilinear and curvilinear projections we construct two two-dimensional, adiabatically corrected, ab initio reaction surfaces for this system. It is shown that the use of curvilinear coordinates removes unphysical imaginary frequencies observed with rectilinear projection and leads to significantly improved thermal rate constants for both the forward and reverse reactions.
Compact collimated fiber optic array diagnostic for railgun plasmas
Authors: Tang V. , Solberg J. M. , Ferriera T. J. , Tully L. K. , Stephan P. L.
Published: January 2009

We developed and tested a compact collimated 16 channel fiber optic array diagnostic for studying the light emission of railgun armature plasmas with approximately millimeter spatial and submicrosecond temporal resolution. The design and operational details of the diagnostic are described. Plasma velocities, oscillation, and dimension data from the diagnostic for the Livermore fixed hybrid armature experiment are presented and compared with one-dimensional simulations. The techniques and principles discussed allow the extension of the diagnostic to other railgun and related dense plasma experiments.
Morphological stability of strained magnetic films against undulation
Authors: Chiu Cheng-hsin , Leyson G. P.
Published: January 2009

The morphological stability of a strained magnetic film on a substrate against surface undulation is investigated by considering the total energy change during the surface undulation process. The energy change is calculated by the first-order boundary perturbation method, taking into account the effects of the strain energy, the surface energy, and the magnetic energy. The results show that the flat film morphology of the system can be stabilized by a lateral magnetic field. The stabilizing effects may decay or increase with the film thickness, depending on the magnetic properties of the film.