bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Poverty Reduction through Long-term Growth: The Thai Experience
Authors: Warr Peter
Published: June 2009

Thailand's impressive long-term rate of economic growth has resulted mainly from accumulation of physical capital. Total factor productivity (TFP) growth at the economy-wide level explains about one-third of the aggregate growth of output. However, this TFP growth was due entirely to resource reallocation from low-productivity sectors, especially agriculture, to higher-productivity industry and services sectors. TFP growth at the sectoral level has been important only in agriculture. Poverty has declined remarkably over time despite a steady increase in income inequality. The rate of decline in poverty incidence has been directly related to the rate of economic growth.
Gendered or Gender-Neutral Care Politics for Fathers?
Authors: Brandth Berit , Kvande Elin
Published: June 2009

This article analyzes how two different policy measures affect gender equality in child care. In the 1990s, Norway introduced two care policies reflecting different ideas about gender and family life. The fathers' quota policy supports the dual-earner family model while the cash-for-care scheme is based on a family model, providing cash benefits irrespective of the parent's work activities. The father's quota is a gendered policy because six weeks of the parental leave period is reserved for the father. Cash-for-care is gender neutral, in which working parents can choose which of them is to stay at home. The analysis is based on interview data from two studies, one on parental leave and one on cash-for-care. We find that the special quota for fathers has had a positive effect on the participation of fathers in child care. The cash-for-care system does not, however, challenge the existing gender structure in child care.
Fathering in the Shadows: Indigenous Fathers and Canada's Colonial Legacies
Authors: Ball Jessica
Published: June 2009

A study of Canadian Indigenous fathers' involvement conceptualized a temporal horizon within which to situate challenges and opportunities for caring for children following decades of colonial interventions that have diminished men's roles. Through five community-university partnerships, conversational interviews were held with eighty First Nations and Métis fathers in British Columbia, Canada. Using a grounded theory approach, a conceptual model was constructed identifying six key ecological and psychological factors that combine to account for Indigenous men's experiences of fatherhood: personal wellness, learning fathering, socioeconomic inclusion, social support, legislative and policy support, and cultural continuity. Indigenous fathers' accounts bring into focus systemic barriers to positive fathers' involvement, including socioeconomic exclusion due to failures of the educational system, ongoing colonization through Canada's Indian Act, and mother-centrism in parenting programs and child welfare practices. Policy and program reforms are suggested to increase Indigenous fathers' positive and sustained engagement with their children.
Fathers, Parental Leave Policies, and Infant Quality of Life: International Perspectives and Policy Impact
Authors: O'Brien Margaret
Published: June 2009

Infant care is no longer purely a private family matter. As more mothers return to paid employment in their child's first year, governments develop provisions to support working parents with very young children. Statutory parental leave and flexible working provisions for fathers are expanding rapidly, particularly in Europe. The author compares fathers' patterns of leave-taking across twenty-four countries from 2003 to 2007 to present new types of father-care-sensitive leave models. Findings show that fathers' use of statutory leave is greatest when high income replacement (50 percent or more of earnings) is combined with extended duration (more than fourteen days). Father-targeted schemes heighten usage. Although studies are limited, parental leave has the potential to boost fathers' emotional investment in and connection with infants. Differential access to statuary leave raises the possibility of a new polarization for infants: being born into either a parental-leave-rich or -poor household and, indeed, country.
Competing Scenarios for European Fathers: Applying Sen's Capabilities and Agency Framework to Work—Family Balance
Authors: Hobson Barbara , Fahlén Susanne
Published: June 2009

European policy and discourse create crosscurrents for fathers: the promotion of work-family balance (WFB) and more involved fathering versus work-focused competitiveness and productivity goals in globalized economies. Using Amartya Sen's capabilities and agency paradigm, the authors provide a theoretical framework for analyzing agency inequalities in WFB: the disjuncture between norms/values and practices and between policies and fathers' capabilities to exercise them. The authors apply the capability framework to comparative European data considering working times and desired working times, flexibility and autonomy in employment, as well as perceptions of economic security and job security. The authors find differences in fathers' capabilities and agency for WFB across countries representing different welfare regime configurations, most strikingly between old and new EU member states. The majority of the European fathers wanted to reduce working hours substantially despite possible reductions in pay, underscoring the value of the capabilities framework for understanding potential freedoms for achieving WFB.
The Perceptions and Experiences of Russian Immigrant and Sudanese Refugee Men as Fathers in an Urban Center in Canada
Authors: Este David C. , Tachble Admasu A.
Published: June 2009

In their effort to adapt to life in Canada, immigrant and refugee fathers encounter several stressors, including underemployment and role changes within their families. Through a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with fourteen Russian immigrant and twenty Sudanese refugee men in Canada, the authors examine the perceptions and experiences of these men as fathers in a large urban center in western Canada. The authors present insights on the meaning of fatherhood, the values that guide their behaviors as fathers, their interactions with and aspirations for their children, decision-making processes within the family related to children, and the challenges these men have faced as fathers in Canadian society.
Why Do Poor Men Have Children? Fertility Intentions among Low-Income Unmarried U.S. Fathers
Authors: Augustine Jennifer March , Nelson Timothy , Edin Kathryn
Published: June 2009

Over the past several decades, nonmarital childbearing rates have risen sharply, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Recent research suggests that disadvantaged Americans may defer or delay marriage in part because of perceived economic barriers. Yet, childbearing is also costly. Few studies have examined low-income parents' motivations for having children in a context of socioeconomic disadvantage. This study deploys qualitative data drawn from repeated, in-depth interviews with a heterogeneous sample of low-income, noncustodial fathers ( N = 171) in which men describe in rich detail the circumstances surrounding the conceptions of each of their children and characterize their fertility intentions. The authors find that “planned” and “unplanned” pregnancies are at either end of a continuum of intentionality and that the vast majority of pregnancies are in intermediate categories along that continuum.
Fathers' Perceptions of Children's Influence: Implications for Involvement
Authors: Daly Kerry J. , Ashbourne Lynda , Brown Jaime Lee
Published: June 2009

In this article, the authors report on a qualitative analysis of how a diverse sample of fathers perceives the influence of their own children on their identity and development. The data were collected within a large partnership-based, multiyear, multisite research project carried out in Canada as a community-university collaboration. Specifically, the data were collected from interviews with 215 fathers across seven cluster sites in Canada. Fathers perceived that children influenced their orientation toward self and other, values and expectations, time, and relationship with their parenting partner. The analysis of how fathers learn from their children resulted in a focus on learning on the spot and contending with uncertainty. The article concludes with a discussion of policy implications on how to support the well-being of fathers through the learning that they have with their children.
Father-Friendly Policies and Time-Use Data in a Cross-National Context: Potential and Prospects for Future Research
Authors: Sullivan Oriel , Coltrane Scott , Mcannally Linda , Altintas Evrim
Published: June 2009

In this article, the authors explore how data on the use of time might be used to investigate the multilevel connections between family-related policies and fathers' child care time in a cross-national context. The authors present a case study analysis of “fathering strategies” in which empirical findings from time-use data are compared with detailed policy information from Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. These analyses show that time-use data can not only shed light on the effects of specific policies in different national contexts but also point to the need to consider the complexity of multiple policies and their adoption in specific national contexts across time. The authors describe the development of a cross-national, cross-time database that combines time-use data with relevant social and family policy information, with the aim of providing a multilevel research tool to those interested in exploring further the relationships between policy and family work.
Effect of Press Parameters on Scratch and Abrasion Resistance of Overlaid Particleboard Panels
Authors: Nemli Gökay , Hiziroglu Salim
Published: June 2009

This study evaluated influence of press temperature and press time on scratch and abrasion resistance of particle board panels overlaid by melamine resin impregnated paper. Three-layer experimental particleboard panels were made from mixed particles of beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky.), poplar (Populus tremula L.), and Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) with an average density of 0.75 g/cm3. Panels were overlaid by melamine impregnated papers using temperature levels of 170, 185, and 205°C and press times ranging from 18 to 46 s. Both scratch and abrasion resistance of the specimens were determined employing two different apparatus. Based on the findings of work both properties of the samples increased with increasing press time for each press temperature level. It appears that increasing press temperature from 185°C to 205°C did not make any significant difference on scratch and abrasion resistance of the panels that were pressed using various press times at 95% confidence level. It was found that 170°C press temperature and 46 s press time resulted in the best characteristics of overlaid samples. It was also determined that effect of melamine resin pick-up ranging from 30% to 60% was an important parameter on both properties of the samples mentioned above.
Preparation and Physical Characterization of Gelatin—Starch/Hydroxyapatite Porous Composite Scaffold Fabricated Using Novel Microwave Energy under Vacuum Technique
Authors: Jaya S. , Durance T.D. , Wang R.
Published: June 2009

This work was initiated to explore the possibility of preparing porous scaffold, using microwave energy under vacuum technique. The hypothesis was that microwave energy under vacuum may promote effective cross-linking of the biopolymers during drying as well as to lead desirable physical characteristics of composites for hard tissue-like bone regeneration. Three different percentages of hydroxyapatite (HA) was reinforced with gelatin—starch polymer network to prepare porous scaffolds. EDS result of the prepared scaffold composite showed that Ca/P ratio of the HA phase was the same for all the HA percentages, 1.7, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 1.67. FTIR results showed the existence of a carbonate group along with the peaks of phosphate groups and hydroxyls, the functional group of HA. The scaffold composite obtained by microwave energy under vacuum technique had good mechanical and structural properties, which showed a promising potential for bone-substitution applications.
Damping Analysis of Sandwich Composite Materials
Authors: Assarar Mustapha , El Mahi Abderrahim , Berthelot Jean-Marie
Published: June 2009

The article presents an analysis of the damping of sandwich composites, made of PVC foam cores and laminated skins. Damping parameters are investigated using beam test specimens and an impulse technique. Damping modeling is developed using a finite element analysis which evaluated the different energies dissipated in the material directions of the core and the layers of the skins. The results obtained show that this analysis describes fairly well the experimental results. Next, finite element analysis is applied to investigate the influence of different parameters of the core and skins. The finite element analysis considered can be applied to complex shape structures.
Celebrating Local Histories and Defining Neighbourhood Communities: Place-making in a Gentrified Neighbourhood
Authors: Blokland Talja
Published: June 2009

Processes of place-making in urban neighbourhoods include accounts of history that may vary among social groups of residents, especially in neighbourhoods that have witnessed decay and/or regeneration. This paper investigates the historical narratives of residents of a gentrified neighbourhood formerly known as a Little Italy in New Haven, Connecticut, US, as processes of place-making. It confronts these with histories of agents `absent' in the dominant narratives—here, poor Black residents. The paper addresses the consequences of the discursive dominance of certain narratives over others and discusses how such historical narratives affect place stratification and how the symbolic meanings of place strengthened through such accounts of history affect a neighbourhood's access to resources.
Large Redevelopment Initiatives, Housing Values and Gentrification: The Case of the Atlanta Beltline
Authors: Immergluck Dan
Published: June 2009

This paper examines the announcement effects on property values of a large, multipurpose development initiative in Atlanta, Georgia called the “Beltline” which has received substantial public attention. The project involves the redevelopment of an abandoned rail line that encircles the central area of Atlanta. The 6500-acre project will be funded by tax increment financing bonds and will include the development of light rail, greenspace and real estate projects. By examining home sales from 2000 to 2006, the paper identifies changes in price premiums for locations in various geographical buffers around the Beltline and compares the timing of such changes with coverage in the local newspaper. It is found that there are large increases in premiums for homes near the lower-income, southside parts of the Beltline TIF district between 2003 and 2005, which corresponds to the initial media coverage of the planning process. The findings suggest that planning for the Beltline induced substantial speculation and gentrification.
Keeping up Appearances: Profiting from Patriarchy in the Nation's `Safest City'
Authors: Brownlow Alec
Published: June 2009

This paper explores the history and the political and economic dividends of manipulating urban crime data in the US. It demonstrates data manipulation as an historical and widely practised method of safety construction in cities and discusses why rape is a crime especially prone to statistical corruption. Insofar as hiding rape makes a city appear to be safer than it actually is, it is argued that the practice has taken on greater political and economic significance in this era of mobile capital and interurban competition. These themes are explored in a case study from Philadelphia and the many contradictions that it points to are discussed. Patriarchy, it is concluded, is a tool of economic development that puts all urban women at risk.
The Magic of the Marketplace: Sociality in a Neglected Public Space
Authors: Watson Sophie
Published: June 2009

This study explores the potentiality of markets as public space where multiple forms of sociality are enacted. Research was conducted in eight UK markets. The research revealed that markets represented a significant public and social space for different groups in the locality as a site for vibrant social encounters, for social inclusion and the care of others, for `rubbing along' and for mediating differences. The article concludes by arguing that the social encounters and connections found in markets contradict pessimistic accounts of the decline of social association, offering a contrast to the shopping mall and providing the possibility for the inclusion of marginalised groups and for the co-mingling of differences where these are increasingly relegated to more private spheres.
The Dynamics of Urban Economies: Melbourne 1971 to 2006
Authors: Watkins Andrew Robert
Published: June 2009

The spatial economy of metropolitan Melbourne can be grouped into three distinct areas which developed in different ways between 1971 and 2006. The outer parts of Melbourne became more urbanised, while the economies of the inner part of the metropolis maintained a strong presence in the finance, banking and high-level service industries. The middle parts of Melbourne showed much more diverse behaviour and were the destination of much of the manufacturing activity which moved out of the inner part of the metropolis. Melbourne and its component municipalities in most cases underwent a transition to less specialised economic structures over this period, the largest changes occurring in local government areas with the highest level of specialisation. There is little evidence of the city converging to a common economic structure, nor are there any signs of the emergence of economic sub-centres at the expense of the CBD.
The Rise of Gated Communities in Israel: Reflections on Changing Urban Governance in a Neo-liberal Era
Authors: Rosen Gillad , Razin Eran
Published: June 2009

This study examines the contemporary development of gated communities in Israel, linking the phenomenon to global trends in privatisation, associated with the rise of neo-liberal landscapes. It is argued that assertions on weakening state intervention and strengthening influence of the market, oversimplify the complex interplay of private developers, public planning institutions and third-sector organisations. Neo-liberal urban governance does not imply the demise of regulation, but rather its changing nature. Although public awareness of gated communities was late to develop in Israel, in part because earlier forms of gating blurred its development, evidence reveals that social and environmental third-sector organisations are important new stakeholders involved in the production of gated spaces through their impact on public policy, balancing the `disciplining' impact of market organisations.
Teleologics of the Snail
Authors: Stiegler Bernard
Published: June 2009

In this article, I would like to show that, concerning this era of ubiquitous technology and its teleologics, the stakes concern the constitution of a new milieu of psychic and collective individuation (in Simondon's sense of these terms), which is at least as radically new as the writing of language was in its time; second, I attempt to show that what is at stake relates to the way technology changes the télos, that is, the rule of ends which shape the social organization of collective desire as a system of care and remedies; and, third, I argue that this era requires a new libidinal economy, if we admit that there can be no télos without desire. I will argue that new ubiquitous digital networks operating as new technical associated milieus have fundamental effects for symbolic and psychical associated milieus, and thus for new ways of being.
RFID: Human Agency and Meaning in Information-Intensive Environments
Authors: Hayles N. Katherine
Published: June 2009

RFID tags, small microchips no bigger than grains of rice, are currently being embedded in product labels, clothing, credit cards, and the environment, among other sites. Activated by the appropriate receiver, they transmit information ranging from product information such as manufacturing date, delivery route, and location where the item was purchased to (in the case of credit cards) the name, address, and credit history of the person holding the card. Active RFIDs have the capacity to transmit data without having to be activated by a receiver; they can be linked with embedded sensors to allow continuous monitoring of environmental conditions, applications that interest both environmental groups and the US military. The amount of information accessible through and generated by RFIDs is so huge that it may well overwhelm all existing data sources and become, from the viewpoint of human time limitations, essentially infinite. What to make of these technologies will be interrogated through two contemporary fictions, David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas and Philip K. Dick's Ubik . Cloud Atlas focuses on epistemological questions — who knows what about whom, in a futuristic society where all citizens wear embedded RFID tags and are subject to constant surveillance. Resistance takes the form not so much of evasion (tactical moves in a complex political Situation) but rather as a struggle to transmit information to present and future stakeholders in a world on the brink of catastrophe. Ubik, by contrast, focuses on deeper ontological questions about the nature of reality itself. Both texts point to the necessity to reconceptualize information as ethical action embedded in contexts and not merely as a quantitative measure of probabilities.
Thoughts Not Our Own
Authors: Stafford Barbara Maria
Published: June 2009

There are now many important contributions to the scientific study of the brain-mind continuum. These results come both from research into non-ordinary states of consciousness and into the brain's intrinsic, largely unconscious mechanisms. The larger potential of such investigations consists precisely in making the parameters of our cognitive system apparent. But they also reveal the socio-cultural uses to which these parameters are currently, or in the foreseeable future, being applied. This article wrestles with that fact. Specifically, it examines the implications for those of us interested in the dynamics of visual awareness and the structural and phenomenological aspects of noticing. Because some of the key characteristics of consciousness are so ingrained that we are usually blind to them, it is all the more important to understand how and why we pay attention to certain features of our environment. Subjective consciousness pertains to the realm of inner experience as well as focusing on the external world. What Daniel Dennett terms `intentionality' or directedness towards an object is a sign of our connectedness to the outside world. Beyond connection, I am interested in how complex works of art help us cognize, confer reality, or have knowledge of what lies before our eyes. I will argue that this calibration of the agent's experience and her perception of the world is under threat today.
Living (with) Technical Time
Authors: Hansen Mark B.N.
Published: June 2009

This article proposes that time is not so much constituted by time-consciousness as given by technical inscriptions of time (including those performed by time-consciousness). The `digital gift' of time that comprises one fundamental mode of this giving of time correlates with Aristotle's conception of time as `the number of movement according to the before and after'; more specifically, it furnishes a minimal form of temporal difference — a minimal before-after structure — that proves useful for exploring how the experience of time has changed today. The article argues that we increasingly live time not, as philosopher Bernard Stiegler argues, through neo-Husserlian temporal objects like the cinema that model the flow of time through our consciousnesses (or our brains), but rather with the aid of artworks that eschew the objectal in favor of the processual. In works like Wolfgang Staehle's Empire 24/7, Pierre Huyghe's L'Ellipse and Lynn Kirby's Six Shooter, we confront open-ended digital structures that provide us with a technically-specific mediation of the minimal before-after structure and allow us to participate in more heterogeneous enframings of time that move beyond the temporal ratios of human perception. The article closes with a brief discussion of contemporary Chinese art that serves to broaden the proposed `digital aesthetic' of time beyond the `digital' construed narrowly as a concrete technical platform.
Anime Creativity
Authors: Condry Ian
Published: June 2009

This article examines ethnographically the production of anime (Japanese animated films and TV shows) by focusing on how professional animators use characters and dramatic premises to organize their collaborative creativity. In contrast to much of the analysis of anime that focuses on the stories of particular media texts, I argue that a character-based analysis provides a critical perspective on how anime relates to broader transmedia phenomena, from licensed merchandise to fan activities. The ideas of characters, premises, and world-settings also specify in greater detail the logic of anime production, which too often is glossed as emerging from a generalized Japanese culture, as in the ongoing debates about `cool Japan'. I conclude that an ethnographic approach to anime production through a focus on characters can offer new ways of thinking about what moves across media, what distinguishes anime from other media forms, and what gives anime its value.
Anytime, Anywhere
Authors: Steinberg Marc
Published: June 2009

Japan's first weekly, 30-minute animated TV series, Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy), is not only commonly regarded as the first instance of what is now known as `anime'; it is also regarded as the point of emergence of the commercial phenomenon of character-based merchandizing. Interesting enough, it is not so much Tetsuwan Atomu the TV series as the practice of including Atomu stickers as premiums in the candy maker Meiji Seika's chocolate packages that really ignited the character merchandizing boom. The key to the success of the stickers — along with the use of the already popular figure of Atomu — was their ability to be stuck anywhere, and seen anytime. This anytime-anywhere potential of the stickers arguably led to the new communicational media environment and the cross-media connections that characterize the anime system and the force which drives it: the character. Part historical, part theoretical, this article will explore the thesis that it was the `medium' of stickers that led to the development of the character-based multimedia environment that is a key example of — and perhaps even a precursor to — the ubiquity of media that is the theme of this journal issue.
Love in the Time of Tamagotchi
Authors: Pettman Dominic
Published: June 2009

There is a popular conception among many Zeitgeist watchers, especially in places like the US, Western Europe and Australia, of the urbanized East as existing somehow further into the future. As William Gibson once stated: `The future is here; it just isn't equally distributed yet.' This kind of cultural fetishism extends to not only technolust, but the practices that new gadgets and electronics encourage. The specific phenomenon explored in this article is that of virtual girlfriends and boyfriends: whether in the form of avatars or automated SMS text messages. This particularly Japanese `craze', if we can call it that, fascinates and appals people who still hold P2P romance IRL in high-esteem. It seems like an insult to the intrinsically human and humanist discourse of courtship; and indeed it is. How does this perspective change, however, if we consider `love' as a technology? That is, as both a code with its own algorithmic parameters, and a discourse that also challenges the hyper-rational assumptions of the `merely machinic'. Extending the argument articulated in my book, Love and Other Technologies, this article asks how the emergence of virtual dating and other techno-inflected treatments of romance are working to undo our jealously held notions of intimacy and identity. It concludes that all sex can be considered cybersex, given the communication flows that occur both before, during and after the act. For, as we continue to enframe the discourse of intimacy via new and mobile media, we find it increasingly difficult to deny that intensified inter-subjectivity is always already a matter of technics. Indeed, what Heidegger says of modern technology can effectively be applied to modern love: that it embodies an `unreasonable demand' of nature (and thus has the capacity to reveal something essential about the posthuman condition).
The Myth of Media Interactivity
Authors: Abe Kiyoshi
Published: June 2009

Since the 1980s, a number of discourses have celebrated the coming of the information society in Japan. In those discourses, enabling media interactivity has been emphasized as the objective of technological innovations, creating a sort of `myth' of media interactivity. This article tries to investigate the close relationship between media interactivity and surveillance modality in newly emergent information and communication technologies, especially SNS (social networking services) on the Internet. While the traditional image of surveillance society is gloomy and repressive, contemporary, ubiquitous surveillance appears brighter and more fun, since people voluntarily engage with interactive media whilst acknowledging its surveillance modality. In that sense, the logic of surveillance is not merely repressive but also seductive for users of interactive media. Given the rising desire for public security after 9/11, the logic of surveillance is becoming more prevalent and dominant all over the world. With the rise of globalized security, philosophical and social scientific interrogations of security-obsessed contemporary society have become indispensable for critical academic discourse. In order to critically interrogate rising surveillance and media interactivity, this article tries to analyze the liberating potentials of the ideal of hospitality, which is expected to offer a counter-logic against surveillance.
Symbiotic Architecture
Authors: Parisi Luciana
Published: June 2009

This article tackles an old, classical problem, which is acquiring a new epochal relevance with the techno-aesthetic processing of form and substance, expression and content. The field of digital architecture is embarked in the ancient controversy between the line and the curve, binary communication and fuzzy logic. Since the 1990s, the speculative qualities of digital architecture have exposed spatial design to the qualities of growing or breeding, rather than planning. However, such qualities still deploy the tension between discrete spaces and continual curving. In this context, the article suggests the computational coexistence of discrete coding with continual morphing, defying any easy resolution for an aesthetic of continuity or discontinuity, the superiority of the analog or the meta-logic of the digital. The metaphysical dimension of such coexistence needs to include the abstract capacities of experiencing the transition from one state to another as the registering of algorithmic processing. Computation is intrinsic to microperceptions, incomputable quantities deploying the infectious property of the digital code. The article draws on the digital architecture of Greg Lynn to explore whether the computational nature of the digital calculus has the potential to challenge the bifurcation between the biological and the mathematical, the physical and the mental.
Touch, Time and Technics
Authors: Boothroyd Dave
Published: June 2009

The development of immersive media-communication environments, and their theorization in terms of the `haptic', calls for a reconsideration of the relationship between sensuality and the ethics of contact. For the most part, the cultural theorization of the virtual which remains preoccupied with the visual has tended to limit its scope to the paradoxes, politics and ethics of representation. Much of media and cultural studies work, for instance, has adopted, directly or indirectly, the traditional visual and ocularcentric paradigm in its analyses of cultural forms and technologies as these have become integrated into contemporary life. Whilst it has been argued, for instance by Mark Hansen in his recent books, that this paradigm is inadequate to digital media and the developments of human-machine interactions the digital introduces, few comentators have addressed how new developments in immersive sensory media environments bear on the ethics of communication. By way of a reflection on the themes of the tactility of contact and the ethics of touch in the work of Emmanuel Levinas, this article critically evaluates the ethical significance of the `sensory extension' haptic media represent. It identifies and argues against the neo-positivist tendency of Hansen's reliance on the empiricism of the neurosciences whilst locating the resources for an ethics of touch in Levinas' concept of time as `diachrony'.
Ernest Fenollosa's Etymosinology in the Age of Global Communication
Authors: Jung Hwa Yol
Published: June 2009

This article puts forward the thesis that in the age of multiculturalism, global communication is rooted in cross-cultural understanding as shown in McLuhan's late communication theory. The American philosopher Ernest Fenollosa went to Japan during the Meiji Restoration when it started in earnest full-scale Westernization. He became fascinated with the poetics of sinography manifested in etymosinology. Etymosinology reveals the depth of the Sinic cultural soul, which is this-worldly, practical, concrete and specific. Sinism (i.e. Confucianism, Daoism and Chan/Zen Buddhism) is a species of relational ontology which is predicated upon the conception of reality as social process. This social process is always already embodied. With the aid of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of embodiment, I critically explore and examine the connection between embodiment and `new media' theory.
Love Messaging
Authors: Manghani Sunil
Published: June 2009

The article examines the nature of mobile phone text messaging, or `txting', in the context of a discourse of love. It draws links between the txt message and the much older, revered form of love messaging, Japanese tanka poetry. In cutting across both a historical and technological divide, it seeks to elucidate a more subtle understanding of how text messaging — from a literary perspective — plays its part in amorous exchange and argues how it has the capacity to enable individuals to affirm their own private thoughts, feelings and anxieties. Taking a cue from Michel Foucault's late work, concerned with the philosophical precept of `care of the self', the article argues that these differing forms of exchange — as `tender' technologies of the self and inter-subjectivity — go beyond any one medium or age of media. Aspects of our relationships are worked out in the silent confines of being alone with text and, in the case today, with text messaging, making for the potential of a new poetics of time and space. While we cannot free ourselves from the lover's code or discourse, there is the potential for an affirmation of our part in its production, which prompts a question about how we might go on to research the currently missing archive of text messaging.
Women's Games in Japan
Authors: Kim Hyeshin
Published: June 2009

Women's games refers to a category of games developed and marketed exclusively for the consumption of women and girls in the Japanese gaming industry. Essentially gender-specific games comparable to the `games for girls' proposed by the girls' game movement in the USA, Japanese women's games are significant for their history, influence and function as a site for female gamers to play out various female identities and romantic fantasies within diverse generic structures. This article will first review previous research and literature on women and gaming, analyze the key issues raised in the discourse concerning femininity and electronic games, outline the history and development of women's games, explain how multiple factors contributed to the appeal of women's games by analyzing the games Angelique and Harukanaru Tokino Nakade3 and, lastly, discuss the meaning and significance of women's games in the larger context of women and gaming. The 1994 game Angelique succeeded in establishing a loyal and close-knit fan base by actively utilizing popular female culture such as shoujo manga (girls' comics) and the fan base for voice actors. Angelique also set up the specifics and conventions of women's games: a focus on romance, easy controls and utilizing other multimedia. In 2004, Harukanaru Tokino Nakade3 deconstructed the genre and gender conventions of women's games and shoujo manga, while developing a new type of feminine identity and narrative. Women's games indicate that genderspecific games can be more than educational tools to familiarize girls with technology or perpetuate stereotypes; they can be a significant extension of female culture into the realm of gaming, and contribute to the development of women's culture and the diversification of the gaming industry.
Diabetes treatments, gastrointestinal symptoms and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy
Authors: Kent Alex J , Graf Bethan , Prasad Priyajit , Banks Matthew R , Feher Michael D
Published: June 2009

Background. Diabetes mellitus has been associated with an increased incidence of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, possibly related to diabetes medications.

Aims. The purpose of our study was to assess the prevalence of GI symptoms and pathology in diabetic subjects referred for lower GI endoscopy.

Results. We identified 31 diabetic patients from 621 patients undergoing lower GI endoscopy over a 6-month period. Diarrhoea and abdominal pain were common symptoms in the diabetic patients. Twelve diabetic subjects were investigated purely for GI symptoms and nine were referred with symptoms potentially related to diabetes medications. In these nine patients only one had an endoscopic diagnosis which accounted for their symptoms. Five patients had normal endoscopies. Conclusion. Diabetic medications may be associated with GI symptoms and alternative medications should be tried before referring for endoscopy.
Clinical aspects of silent myocardial ischaemia: with particular reference to diabetes mellitus
Authors: Dweck Marc , Campbell Ian W , Miller Douglas , Francis C Mark
Published: June 2009

Silent ischaemia is a common, under-recognised condition that is associated with an adverse prognosis. It is a marker of significant underlying coronary artery disease and therefore of future cardiovascular events. It is more prevalent in the diabetic population and diagnosis is usually made by a positive exercise tolerance test, positive myocardial perfusion scan or stress echo. The basis of treatment, in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects, is risk factor modification and coronary revascularisation of prognostically important coronary disease. Diabetic patients should receive risk factor modification even in the absence of ischaemia. Detection of silent ischaemia allows patients with prognostically important disease to be offered further treatment. The difficulty lies in deciding who to investigate further for this surreptitious disorder. The following clinical markers are of predictive use in this regard: electrocardiographic changes; erectile dysfunction; peripheral vascular disease and cardiac autonomic neuropathy. Their presence should prompt further investigation for silent ischaemia. Conventional risk factors and breathlessness on exertion may also be helpful. We have proposed an algorithm for the detection, investigation and management of silent myocardial ischaemia in diabetic patients.
Review: Mechanisms of silent myocardial ischaemia: with particular reference to diabetes mellitus
Authors: Dweck Marc , Miller Douglas , Campbell Ian W , Francis C Mark
Published: June 2009

Angina occurs relatively late following the onset of ischaemia: after the development of left ventricular dysfunction and electrocardiographic changes. Most ischaemic episodes are not severe enough or long enough to fully stimulate the anginal pain pathway. They are therefore clinically silent. More severe and prolonged episodes of ischaemia can also be silent. Pain thresholds vary between individuals and this is due to differences in gating mechanisms at the level of the thalamus. This gating appears to be modulated by levels of endogenous endorphins, among other mechanisms. This seems to have a relation to personality type. Silent ischemia is especially common in diabetic patients, and is often due to cardiac autonomic neuropathy.
Haemoglobin response to intravenous iron in non-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease and diabetes
Authors: Mostafa Samiul A , Burden Andrew C , Cropper Liz , Tagboto Senyo
Published: June 2009

Aims. Our aim is to compare the response of people with or without diabetes to intravenous iron and to evaluate the efficacy of this therapy in improving haemoglobin (Hb) levels in non-dialysis patients according to chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage.

Method. This was a prospective study of 100 consecutive adult patients referred to the renal anaemia service for intravenous iron. Patients with other causes of anaemia or receiving erythropoietin therapy were excluded. Patients were given weekly intravenous doses of 200 mg iron sucrose for 4 weeks and monitored at weeks-1 and 5. Data, including diabetic/CKD status, were collated from patient records. Results. Pre-treatment Hb was similar in people with and without diabetes and treatment significantly increased Hb levels (0.5 g/dL, p<0.003 and 0.5 g/dL, p<0.0001 respectively). Pre-treatment transferrin saturation and the proportion of hypochromic red cells were not significantly different between the groups. Hb levels rose more in CKD stages 3 (0.5 g/dL, p<0.05) and 4 (0.6 g/ dL, p<0.02) than in stage 5 (-0.1 g/dL).

Conclusion. CKD patients with or without diabetes have similar iron status and Hb response to intravenous iron therapy. Patients with CKD stage 5 respond less well to intravenous iron than patients with CKD stages 3 or 4, despite having similar baseline iron status.
Diversity and complexity of urinary tract infection in diabetes mellitus
Authors: Hakeem Lukman M , Bhattacharyya Diptendu N , Lafong Cyril , Janjua Khalid S , Serhan Jonathan T , Campbell Ian W
Published: June 2009

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common burden in patients with diabetes mellitus. Cystitis, ascending infections leading to pyelonephritis, emphysematous complications and renal and perinephric abscesses are well recognised in this group of patients especially if glycaemic control is poor. Despite the clinical significance of UTI in diabetes, it is inadequately understood and management regimens are mostly not evidence based. Anticipation of potential complications and earlier interventions are vital to reduce serious adverse outcomes. Herein we discuss the aetiology, pathogenesis and management of UTI and its local and more remote complications.
Role of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding in the treatment of obesity and related disorders
Authors: Singhal Rishi , Super Paul
Published: June 2009

Bariatric surgery is increasing in popularity as an approach to the treatment of obesity, with a consequent benefit on co-morbid conditions. Laparoscopic gastric banding, as discussed herein, is a relatively safe, simple procedure in comparison with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. The former technique offers comparable weight loss, but with some compromise on resolution of metabolic co-morbidities. The advantage, mainly relating to patient safety, makes laparosopic gastric banding an effective option for any obese individual in whom weight loss surgery is indicated.
AAV-1–mediated gene transfer to skeletal muscle in humans results in dose-dependent activation of capsid-specific T cells
Authors: Mingozzi Federico , Meulenberg Janneke J. , Hui Daniel J. , Basner-Tschakarjan Etiena , Hasbrouck Nicole C. , Edmonson Shyrie A. , Hutnick Natalie A. , Betts Michael R. , Kastelein John J. , Stroes Erik S. , High Katherine A.
Published: June 2009

In a clinical trial for adeno-associated virus serotype 1 (AAV-1)–mediated gene transfer to muscle for lipoprotein lipase (LPL) deficiency, 1 subject from the high-dose cohort experienced a transient increase in the muscle enzyme creatine phosphokinase (CPK) 4 weeks after gene transfer. Simultaneously, after an initial downward trend consistent with expression of LPL, plasma triglyceride levels returned to baseline. We characterized B- and T-cell responses to the vector and the transgene product in the subjects enrolled in this study. IFN-γ enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISpot) and intracellular cytokine staining assays performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from the subject who experienced the CPK elevation showed the activation of capsid-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Four of 8 subjects had detectable T-cell responses to capsid with dose-dependent kinetics of appearance. Subjects with detectable T-cell responses to capsid also had higher anti–AAV-1 IgG3 antibody titer. No subject developed B- or T-cell responses to the LPL transgene product. These findings suggest that T-cell responses directed to the AAV-1 capsid are dose-dependent. Whether they also limit the duration of expression of the transgene at higher doses is unclear, and will require additional analyses at later time points.
Phosphatidylserine-selective Conformational Change of α-Helix Peptide, Td3717, and Its Ability to Transfect Cancer Cells
Authors: Kuriyama Shinichi , Nishimura Kanako , Taguchi Yasushi , Yanagibashi Kazutoshi , Katayama Yoshiki , Niidome Takuro
Published: June 2009

A synthetic peptide, Td3717, showed selective affinity for anionic phospholipids, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylglycerol, and formed an amphiphilic α-helical structure. This specificity originated not only from electrostatic interactions, but also from the primary amino acid sequence and overall structure of the peptide.
Voltammetric Determination of Tryptophan and Serotonin at Glassy Carbon Paste Electrodes in a Potential Region Free from Interfering Substances
Authors: Inada Kazufumi , Nishiyama Katsuhiko , Taniguchi Isao
Published: June 2009

Voltammetric determination of tryptophan (Trp) and serotonin (5-HT) was successfully conducted. To do this, we analyzed the redox peaks of their oxidation products at glassy carbon paste electrodes (GCPEs) in phosphate buffer solutions in the presence of interfering substances. The oxidation products of Trp and 5-HT provided redox couples at more negative potentials than for that of the interfering substance: fivefold tyrosine (Tyr) did not hinder the determination of Trp, and 200-fold uric acid (UA) and acetaminophen (APAP) did not hinder the determination of 5-HT.
Hydrophobic Protic Ionic Liquid for Nonhumidified Intermediate-temperature Fuel Cells
Authors: Yasuda Tomohiro , Ogawa Atsushi , Kanno Michihiro , Mori Kazuki , Sakakibara Kazuhisa , Watanabe Masayoshi
Published: June 2009

A novel protic ionic liquid ethylmethylpropylammonium nonafluorobutanesulfonate ([empa][NfO]) was found to exhibit hydrophobicity, high ionic conductivity, and facile electroactivity toward hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions; these properties make it a suitable electrolyte for nonhumidified intermediate-temperature fuel cells.