bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
History and the Indigenization of the Arabs in Kedah, Malaysia
Authors: Zaleha binte Syed Hassan Sharifah
Published: April 2005

The Arabs in Southeast Asia have to a large or small extent been indigenized as a result of exposure to and interaction with local cultures and societies. For those Arabs living in colonial and post-independence times in the state of Kedah, Malaysia, making the transition from being an Arab to a Malay means employing different assimilative strategies. In colonial times, because of their close relationship with the Kedah ruling family and the favour shown to them by the British, the Arabs assumed high social status in Kedah. During that time, and consistent with Malay preference for status-ranking, becoming Malay for the Arabs involved acknowledging their moral and social superiority over the local people. In the years following independence, the process entailed the new generation of Arabs in the state downplaying status differences, externalizing values of equality and demonstrating loyalty to the Malaysian nation. In so doing, they almost completely dissolved into Malay society. Though still vaguely recognizable as a social category by their phenotypical features and the use of clan names and the honorific titles of sayyid and sharifah, the Arabs in Kedah are so strongly acculturated to Malay customs, norms, beliefs and political aspirations that to them, Arabness is now an anomaly.
Whose Ministry? a Re-appraisal of Ephesians 4:12
Authors: Page Sydney
Published: April 2005

Eph. 4:12 consists of three prepositional phrases that indicate why Christ gave the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Recent translations take the second of the three phrases as dependent on the first, so that together the two phrases refer to the single purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry. However, a careful examination of the prepositions used in verse 12, the grammatical structure of the verse, the key terms found here, the literary context, and the way the text was understood by Chrysostom suggests that the three phrases ought to be seen as parallel to one another, in which case they describe three distinct purposes for the giving of the individuals mentioned in verse 11.
Managing the Ethical Climate of Customer-Contact Service Employees
Authors: Schwepker Charles H. , Hartline Michael D.
Published: April 2005

Marketing control theory serves as the framework for the development and testing of a model that examines factors (code enforcement, ethical discussions, and punishment for ethical violations) involved in the internalization of ethical codes by customer-contact service employees. The authors argue that code internalization and perceived ethical climate serve as social and cultural control mechanisms that enhance the attitudinal responses (role stress, job satisfaction, and commitment to service quality) of service employees. The findings suggest that enforcing ethical codes and discussing ethical issues on the job enhance code internalization, which in turn enhances perceptions of the ethical climate, reduces role conflict, and increases commitment to service quality. Ethical climate increases job satisfaction and indirectly affects commitment to service quality by reducing role conflict. Implications for controlling code internalization and managing the firm’s ethical climate are provided, along with suggested avenues for future research.
Image Congruence and the Adoption of Service Innovations
Authors: Kleijnen Mirella , de Ruyter Ko , Andreassen Tor W.
Published: April 2005

In this article, the authors investigate whether the fit between consumers’ image and the image of an innovation, commonly referred to as image congruence, has an impact on customers’ attitudes toward innovative services as well as the intention to use these new services. Moreover, situational influences (i.e., private vs. public, and friends vs. colleagues) are examined. The results of the two experiments show that not only does image congruence have a significant impact on consumer attitudes and the adoption decision, but there is also an interaction between image congruence and the consumption situation. Contrary to the authors’ expectations, consumers with low image congruence are influenced more by their surroundings than consumers with high image congruence. It seems that as long as the fit between the consumer’s self-image and the service image is high, signals from the consumer’s environment are overruled.
Trapping of normal EB1 ligands in aggresomes formed by an EB1 deletion mutant
Authors: Riess Nick P , Milward Kelly , Lee Tracy , Adams Matthew , Askham Jon M , Morrison Ewan E
Published: April 2005

Background

EB1 is a microtubule tip-associated protein that interacts with the APC tumour suppressor protein and the p150glued subunit of dynactin. We previously reported that an EB1 deletion mutant that retains both of these interactions but does not directly associate with microtubules (EB1-ΔN2-GFP) spontaneously formed perinuclear aggregates when expressed in COS-7 cells.

Results

In the present study live imaging indicated that EB1-ΔN2-GFP aggregates underwent dynamic microtubule-dependent changes in morphology and appeared to be internally cohesive. EB1-ΔN2-GFP aggregates were phase-dense structures that displayed microtubule-dependent accumulation around the centrosome, were immunoreactive for both the 20s subunit of the proteasome and ubiquitin, and induced the collapse of the vimentin cytoskeleton. Fractionation studies revealed that a proportion of EB1-ΔN2-GFP was detergent-insoluble and ubiquitylated, indicating that EB1-ΔN2-GFP aggregates are aggresomes. Immunostaining also revealed that APC and p150glued were present in EB1-ΔN2-GFP aggregates, whereas EB3 was not. Furthermore, evidence for p150glued degradation was found in the insoluble fraction of EB1-ΔN2-GFP transfected cultures.

Conclusion

Our data indicate that aggresomes can be internally cohesive and may not represent a simple "aggregate of aggregates" assembled around the centrosome. Our observations also indicate that a partially misfolded protein may retain the ability to interact with its normal physiological ligands, leading to their co-assembly into aggresomes. This supports the idea that the trapping and degradation of co-aggregated proteins might contribute to human pathologies characterised by aggresome formation.
Sildenafil citrate increases myocardial cGMP content in rat heart, decreases its hypertrophic response to isoproterenol and decreases myocardial leak of creatine kinase and troponin T
Authors: Hassan Madiha AH , Ketat Amal F
Published: April 2005

Background

Cardiac hypertrophy is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality in a number of cardiovascular diseases. Consequently, the signaling pathways that inhibit cardiac hypertrophy are currently receiving much interest. Among them, nitric oxide (NO), signaling via cGMP and cGMP-dependent protein kinase I, has been recognized as a negative regulator of cardiac hypertrophy. The present study investigated the in-vivo effect of sildenafil as a phosphodiestrase-5A (PDE-5A) inhibitor on the hypertrophic response of rat heart to isoproterenol and the relation of this effect to the level of myocardial cGMP and integrity of the constitutive nitric oxide synthase (cNOS) activity.

Results

The results showed that daily intraperitoneal administration of sildenafil per se for 10 days was without noticeable adverse effects on survival or myocardium. Conversely, daily subcutaneous administration of isoproterenol for 10 days caused significant myocardial hypertrophy, cell injury and decline in survival. When sildenafil was injected daily, one hour before isoproterenol, survival was significantly improved and the myocardium didn't show significant hypertrophy or cell injury. Interestingly, sildenafil was accompanied by significant rise in myocardial cGMP level, a parameter which was found in the present study to possess a significant negative correlation with cardiac hypertrophy and leak of cardiac troponin T into serum. At the same time, cGMP was found to possess a positive correlation with myocardial creatine kinase activity that reflects the efficiency of the energy utilization processes in the myocardium. However, in rats given Nω-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) as a competitive inhibitor of cNOS, sildenafil failed to show any favorable effect on survival or the myocardial injury parameters used to assess isoproterenol-induced injury.

Conclusion

The present study suggests that increased cardiac cGMP level by sildenafil have a cardioprotective effect probably through acting as a post-receptor negative regulator of cardiac sympathetic responsiveness. Integrity of NOS function was an essential prerequisite for sildenafil's mediated cardioprotection encountered in the present study.
Automated analysis of digital fundus autofluorescence images of geographic atrophy in advanced age-related macular degeneration using confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO)
Authors: Deckert A , Schmitz-Valckenberg S , Jorzik J , Bindewald A , Holz FG , Mansmann U
Published: April 2005

Background

Fundus autofluorescence (AF) imaging using confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO) provides an accurate delineation of areas of geographic atrophy (GA).

Automated computer-assisted methods for detecting and removing interfering vessels are needed to support the GA quantification process in longitudinal studies and in reading centres.

Methods

A test tool was implemented that uses region-growing techniques to segment GA areas. An algorithm for illuminating shadows can be used to process low-quality images. Agreement between observers and between three different methods was evaluated by two independent readers in a pilot study. Agreement and objectivity were assessed using the Bland-Altman approach.

Results

The new method (C) identifies vascular structures that interfere with the delineation of GA. Results are comparable to those of two commonly used procedures (A, B), with a mean difference between C and A of -0.67 mm2 (95% CI [-0.99, -0.36]), between B and A of -0.81 mm2, (95% CI [-1.08, -0.53]), and between C and B of 0.15 mm2 (95% CI [-0.12, 0.41]). Objectivity of a method is quantified by the mean difference between observers: A 0.30 mm2 (95% CI [0.02, 0.57]), B -0.11 mm2 (95% CI [-0.28, 0.10]), and C 0.12 mm2 (95% CI [0.02, 0.22]).

Conclusion

The novel procedure is comparable with regard to objectivity and inter-reader agreement to established methods of quantifying GA. It considerably speeds up the lengthy measurement process in AF with well defined GA zones.
Overexpression of β1-chain-containing laminins in capillary basement membranes of human breast cancer and its metastases
Authors: Fujita Manabu , Khazenzon Natalya M , Bose Shikha , Sekiguchi Kiyotoshi , Sasaki Takako , Carter William G , Ljubimov Alexander V , Black Keith L , Ljubimova Julia Y
Published: April 2005

Introduction

Laminins are the major components of vascular and parenchymal basement membranes. We previously documented a switch in the expression of vascular laminins containing the α4 chain from predominantly laminin-9 (α4β2γ1) to predominantly laminin-8 (α4β1γ1) during progression of human brain gliomas to high-grade glioblastoma multiforme. Here, differential expression of laminins was studied in blood vessels and ductal epithelium of the breast.

Method

In the present study the expressions of laminin isoforms α1–α5, β1–β3, γ1, and γ2 were examined during progression of breast cancer. Forty-five clinical samples of breast tissues including normal breast, ductal carcinomas in situ, invasive ductal carcinomas, and their metastases to the brain were compared using Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry for various chains of laminin, in particular laminin-8 and laminin-9.

Results

Laminin α4 chain was observed in vascular basement membranes of most studied tissues, with the highest expression in metastases. At the same time, the expression of laminin β2 chain (a constituent of laminin-9) was mostly seen in normal breast and carcinomas in situ but not in invasive carcinomas or metastases. In contrast, laminin β1 chain (a constituent of laminin-8) was typically found in vessel walls of carcinomas and their metastases but not in those of normal breast. The expression of laminin-8 increased in a progression-dependent manner. A similar change was observed from laminin-11 (α5β2γ1) to laminin-10 (α5β1γ1) during breast tumor progression. Additionally, laminin-2 (α2β1γ1) appeared in vascular basement membranes of invasive carcinomas and metastases. Chains of laminin-5 (α3β3γ2) were expressed in the ductal epithelium basement membranes of the breast and diminished with tumor progression.

Conclusion

These results suggest that laminin-2, laminin-8, and laminin-10 are important components of tumor microvessels and may associate with breast tumor progression. Angiogenic switch from laminin-9 and laminin-11 to laminin-8 and laminin-10 first occurs in carcinomas in situ and becomes more pronounced with progression of carcinomas to the invasive stage. Similar to high-grade brain gliomas, the expression of laminin-8 (and laminin-10) in breast cancer tissue may be a predictive factor for tumor neovascularization and invasion.
Dangerous and Endangered Youth: Social Structures and Determinants of Violence
Authors: SCHEPER‐HUGHES NANCY
Published: April 2005

Abstract:Structural violence is violence that is permissible, even encouraged. It refers to the invisible social machinery of inequality that reproduces social relations of exclusion and marginalization via ideologies, stigmas, and dangerous discourses (such as “youth violence” itself) attendant to race, class, sex, and other invidious distinctions. Structural violence “naturalizes” poverty, sickness, hunger, and premature death, erasing their social and political origins so that they are taken for granted and no one is held accountable except the poor themselves. Structural violence also refers to the ease with which humans are capable of reducing the socially vulnerable (even those from their own class and community) into expendable non‐persons, thus allowing the licence—even the duty—to kill them. I exemplify this through two ethnographic critical case studies: the operation of a virulent death squad in Northeast Brazil that mobilized the support of ordinary people in an almost genocidal attack against Afro‐Brazilian street kids and young “marginals”; and the uneasy truce with, and incomplete integration of “dangerous and endangered” youth still living in squatter camps and shack communities of urban South Africa.
The Discourse on Violence Prevention: What are the Implications for Smaller Schools?
Authors: DEVINE JOHN
Published: April 2005

Abstract:A seemingly rigorous positivistic scientific research that claims only to record the “objective facts” about school violence (e.g., by identifying “persistently dangerous schools” or recording the numbers of “violent incidents” in a particular school) in fact constructs the very subject (the violent student) that it purports to describe. This dominant discourse, reinforced by funding agencies that insist on “evidenced‐based” results and randomized controlled trials (said to be the “gold standard” for establishing “what works”), have reduced the unit of analysis to the individual adolescent (who finally becomes defined as the “perpetrator”) instead of investigating the societal institutions (e.g., large overcrowded schools, the prevalence of guns, violent films) which undergird the violence. This paper rejects such simplistic and reductionistic explanations for youth violence and argues that psychoanalysis, ethnography, and social interactionist disciplines reveal a much more complex picture of the contexts in which youth violence occurs. The small school movement in conjunction with the appearance of the initiative known as social and emotional education are two hopeful phenomena that have emerged to address some of these social inequities and injustices.
Biological Aspects of Social Bonding and the Roots of Human Violence
Authors: PEDERSEN CORT A.
Published: April 2005

Abstract: The brain systems that motivate humans to form emotional bonds with others probably first evolved to mobilize the high‐quality maternal care necessary for reproductive success in placental mammals. In these species, the helplessness of infants at birth and their dependence upon nutrition secreted from their mothers' bodies (milk) and parental body heat to stay warm required the evolution of a new motivational system in the brain to stimulate avid and sustained mothering behavior. Other types of social bonds that emerged subsequently in placental mammals, in particular monogamous bonds between breeding pairs, appear to have evolved from motivational brain systems that stimulate maternal behavior. This chapter focuses on aspects of the evolution and neurobiology of maternal and pair bonding and associated behavioral changes that may provide insights into the origins of human violence. The roles of the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin as well as the neurotransmitter dopamine will be emphasized. Maternal and pair bonding are accompanied by increased aggressiveness toward perceived threats to the object of attachment as well as diminished fear and anxiety in stressful situations. The sustained closeness with mother required for the survival of infant mammals opened a new evolutionary niche in which aspects of the mother's care became increasingly important in regulating development in offspring. The quantity and quality of maternal care received during infancy determines adult social competence, ability to cope with stress, aggressiveness, and even preference for addictive substances. Indeed, the development of neurochemical systems within the brain that regulate mothering, aggression, and other types of social behavior, such as the oxytocin and vasopressin systems, are strongly affected by parental nurturing received during infancy. Evidence will be reviewed that the neural circuitry and neurochemistry implicated in studies of lower mammals also facilitate primate/human interpersonal bonding. It is hypothesized that neural bonding systems may also be important for the development in individuals of loyalty to the social group and its culture. Neglect and abuse during early life may cause bonding systems to develop abnormally and compromise capacity for rewarding interpersonal relationships and commitment to societal and cultural values later in life. Other means of stimulating reward pathways in the brain, such as drugs, sex, aggression, and intimidating others, could become relatively more attractive and less constrained by concern about violating trusting relationships. The ability to modify behavior based on negative experiences may be impaired. Unmet needs for social bonding and acceptance early in life might increase the emotional allure of groups (gangs, sects) with violent and authoritarian values and leadership. Social neurobiology has the potential to provide new strategies for treating and preventing violence and associated social dysfunction.
Strengthening Healthy Resistance and Courage in Children: A Gender‐Based Strategy for Preventing Youth Violence
Authors: GILLIGAN CAROL
Published: April 2005

Abstract:Beginning with the distinction between core consciousness or a core sense of self and a self that is wedded to a story about itself, this paper suggests that we have collectively been wedded to afalsestory about ourselves, a story that the core self resists. The gender disparity with respect to times in development when children's resilience is at heightened risk highlights the costs of an initiation that occurs for boys in early childhood and for girls at adolescence. Because of this difference in the timing, girls can become informants about a process of psychic splitting and dissociation that impedes the relational capacities of children and opens the way to violence. The articulateness of girls' resistance to losses that are psychologically and socially consequential illuminates a resistance in boys that may otherwise be overlooked. Evidence drawn from studies of girls' development leads to the suggestion that by joining a healthy resistance in children, we can act to prevent youth violence. The paper ends with a case study of a suicidal adolescent girl to illustrate how a relational framework shifts the interpretation of violent behavior and informs a strategy of response.
Male Adolescent Rites of Passage: Positive Visions of Multiple Developmental Pathways
Authors: POLLACK WILLIAM S.
Published: April 2005

Abstract: Unlike the separation‐based, stereotyped views of boys' developmental movement into adulthood, this paper will argue that there are more modern and relational models, as well as multiple pathways, for young males to journey through such rites of passage. Indeed, it will be suggested and supported by both qualitative and quantitative data that the more classic models depend on a “boy code” of traumatic separation from mother and the feminine, a process that is not only negative rather than positive in its developmental trajectory, but also likely to create a premature traumatic separation, leaving boys at risk for emotional maladjustment, everyday sadness, increased incidence of depression and the potential for violence toward the self, suicide, as well as violence toward others. More‐positive visions and versions of male rites of passage will be posited and described. The definition of emotional “resilience” during this significant period will be re‐addressed as one of “healthy vulnerability,” sustained through connection to loving adults, rather than a classic belief in stoicism and release from relational ties. Attachment theory will be brought to bear and the desperate yearnings of adolescent males not only for connection to adult mentors, but also for non‐romanticized friendships with adolescent females, will be discussed. Finally, the understanding and substitution of these new, more positive, developmental pathways will be linked to the prevention of violence.
Age, Puberty, and Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence in Adolescence
Authors: FOSTER HOLLY , HAGAN JOHN , BROOKS‐GUNN JEANNE
Published: April 2005

Abstract: This paper links sociological and epidemiologic research on violence and the life course to biosocial perspectives on pubertal maturation to examine risk factors associated with exposure to intimate partner violence in adolescence. While prior research has established early puberty as a risk factor for delinquent behavior, studies to date have not yet investigated whether early puberty is also linked to intimate partner violence in adolescence. Prior epidemiologic research has found that increasing age in adolescence is a risk factor for dating violence, but this work has not yet incorporated the element of pubertal maturation. The present study examines the relative effects of chronological age and maturational age in a biosocial model predicting risk for intimate partner violence among adolescent females, net of established control variables, using three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. These findings indicate that early maturation in females is an additional risk factor for exposure to intimate partner violence in adolescence. The importance of disentangling types of age effects as raised in the developmental literature and as supported by these findings is discussed in relation to the prevention of youth violence.
Early‐Life Trauma and the Psychogenesis and Prevention of Violence
Authors: FONAGY PETER
Published: April 2005

Abstract: This article considers the development of violence with particular reference to family factors in violence such as the quality of the parent‐child relationship. In taking a developmental approach to violence, a link is established between the maltreatment of children in an attachment context and the risk of violence via the child's capacity to envision mental states in the other. Evidence from epidemiology and neuroscience is brought to bear on this link. Finally, some studies of prevention of violence that are likely to enhance attachment and mentalizing are considered.
Collective Violence: Comparisons between Youths and Chimpanzees
Authors: WRANGHAM RICHARD W. , WILSON MICHAEL L.
Published: April 2005

Abstract:Patterns of collective violence found among humans include similarities to those seen among chimpanzees. These include participation predominantly by males, an intense personal and group concern with status, variable subgroup composition, defense of group integrity, inter‐group fights that include surprise attacks, and a tendency to avoid mass confrontation. Compared to chimpanzee communities, youth gangs tend to be larger, composed of younger individuals, occupying smaller territories and having a more complex organization. Youth gangs also differ from chimpanzee communities as a result of numerous cultural and environmental influences including complex relations with non‐gang society. These relations are governed in important ways by such factors as perceived economic and personal constraints, policing, family structure, and levels of poverty, crime, and racism. Nevertheless, the concepts that sociologists use to account for collective violence in youth gangs are somewhat similar to those applied by anthropologists and biologists to chimpanzees. Thus in both cases collective violence is considered to emerge partly because males are highly motivated to gain personal status, which they do by physical violence. In the case of youth gangs, the reasons for the prevalence of physical violence in status competition compared to non‐gang society are clearly context‐specific, both culturally and historically. By contrast, among chimpanzees the use of physical violence to settle status competition is universal (in the wild and captivity). The use of physical violence in individual status competition therefore has different sources in youth gangs and chimpanzees. Regardless of its origin, however, its combination with an intense concern for status can explain: (1) why individual males form alliances among each other; and hence (2) how such alliances generate social power, closed groups, and a capacity for defense of territory or pre‐emptive attacks on rivals. This comparison suggests that the use of physical violence to resolve individual status competition is an important predictor of collective violence at the gang level. We therefore view the similarities in aggression between humans and chimpanzees that we review here as being adaptive responses to local conditions, predicated on an inherent male concern for social status.
Genetic Influences on Aggressive Behaviors and Arousability in Animals
Authors: OGAWA SONOKO , CHOLERIS ELENA , PFAFF DONALD
Published: April 2005

Abstract:In a variety of species, strain differences in aggressive behaviors strongly indicate genetic influences. In people, as suggested, for example, by the work of Kagan, Rothbart, Cloninger, and their collaborators, long‐lasting differences in temperament argue for genetic as well as environmental effects. After well‐controlled experimentation in mice, we have learned five lessons about gene/behavior causal relations bearing on sociosexual and aggressive behaviors. The effect of a given gene on a given behavior depends upon: (1) exactly when and where that gene is expressed in the brain; (2) the gender of the animal in which it is expressed; (3) the age of the animal; (4) the nature of the opponent; and (5) the form of aggression (e.g., testosterone‐facilitated aggression vs. maternal aggression). Moreover, in female mice, better social recognition is correlated with lower levels of aggression. We have gathered evidence for a four‐gene micronet involving estrogen receptors α and β, oxytocin, and the oxytocin receptor as expressed in the hypothalamus and amygdala. Normal performance of this micronet is required for social recognition and thus for control over aggression. Underlying certain genetic influences on sociosexual behaviors and aggression may be alterations in generalized brain arousal.
The Psychopharmacologic Treatment of Violent Youth
Authors: GILLIGAN JAMES , LEE BANDY
Published: April 2005

Abstract: Aggressive violence has been described as the greatest problem and the most frequent reason for referrals in child and adolescent psychiatry. In this country we have only partially emerged from an epidemic of violence that was really an epidemic of youth violence. Thus it is hardly surprising that psychiatrists are being asked more and more frequently whether psychiatric medications might help to diminish the toll from this behavioral plague. Medications are useful and appropriate for only a small minority of the people who commit serious violence. Even when they are indicated, they can never be the sole treatment modality, but should be supplemented by psychological and social therapies. When the violence is a byproduct or symptom of an underlying mental illness, treating that illness is generally the most effective method of preventing future violence on a long‐term basis. However, most violence is not committed by those who are mentally ill, and most of the mentally ill never commit a serious act of violence. That is why many attempts have been made to discover whether there are drugs that diminish the symptom, violence, even when there is no underlying mental illness for which drugs would normally be prescribed. In fact there are several, and their indications and use are reviewed here. Different principles govern the acute short‐term emergency treatment of a violent crisis and the long‐term treatment of those who are chronically and repetitively violent, and these differences are also summarized here.
Serotonin and Aggression
Authors: OLIVIER BEREND
Published: April 2005

Abstract: The neurotransmitter serotonin (5‐HT) has been implicated in the modulation of aggression in animals and humans. A longstanding dogma that aggression and serotonergic activity are inversely related has to be abandoned in light of many new findings. Trait and state aggression are differentially regulated by the 5‐HT system and different 5‐HT receptors seem to be involved. Of the 14 different 5‐HT receptors, the 5‐HT1B receptor, particularly the postsynaptically located 5‐HT1B heteroreceptor, plays a highly selective role in the modulation of offensive aggression. We are still far from understanding the complex role played by the serotonergic system in the modulation of a complex set of behaviors like aggression.
Anabolic Androgenic Steroids and Aggression: Studies Using Animal Models
Authors: McGINNIS MARILYN Y.
Published: April 2005

Abstract: The use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) has escalated in teenagers and is associated with increased violence. Adolescent exposure to chronic high levels of AASs is of particular concern because puberty is a hormonally sensitive period during which neural circuitry for adult male patterns of behavior develop. Thus, teenage AAS use may have long‐term repercussions on the potential for displaying aggression and violence. Animal models have contributed valuable information on the effects of AAS use. For example, studies in rodents confirmed that exposure to the AASs testosterone and nandrolone, but not stanozolol, does indeed increase aggression. A side effect of AAS use reported in humans is “'roid rage,” characterized by indiscriminate and unprovoked aggression. Results of animal studies demonstrated that pubertal rats receiving AASs respond appropriately to social cues as they are more aggressive toward intact males than are castrates. Also, testosterone‐treated males recognize appropriate environmental cues as they are most aggressive in their home cage. Thus, adolescent AAS exposure increases aggressive behaviors, but does not induce indiscriminate aggression. To assess whether AAS exposure increases aggression after provocation, rats were tested following a mild tail‐pinch. In adolescent males, provocation increased aggression after withdrawal from testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozolol, an effect which persisted for many weeks. The data suggest that AASs sensitize animals to their surroundings and lower the threshold to respond to provocation with aggression. Thus, in humans, pubertal AAS exposure may not cause violent behaviors, but may increase the likelihood that aggressive acts will result in violence. This may persist into adulthood.
Secretory pathway Ca2+-ATPase (SPCA1) Ca2+ pumps, not SERCAs, regulate complex [Ca2+]i signals in human spermatozoa
Authors: Harper Claire , Wootton Laura , Michelangeli Francesco , Lefièvre Linda , Barratt Christopher , Publicover Stephen
Published: April 2005

The sarcoplasmic-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) inhibitors thapsigargin (0.1-1 μM) and cyclopiazonic acid (10 μM), failed to affect resting [Ca2+] in human spermatozoa. Slow progesterone-induced [Ca2+ i]i oscillations in human spermatozoa, which involve cyclic emptying-refilling of an intracellular Ca2+ store were also insensitive to these inhibitors. Non-selective doses of thapsigargin (5-30 μM, 50-300 times the saturating dose for SERCA inhibition), caused elevation of resting [Ca2+]i and partial, dose-dependent disruption of oscillations. A 10-40 μM concentration of bis(2-hydroxy-3-tert-butyl-5-methyl-phenyl)methane (bis-phenol), which inhibits both thapsigargin-sensitive and -insensitive microsomal Ca2+ ATPases, caused elevation of resting [Ca2+]i and inhibition of [Ca2+]i oscillations at doses consistent with inhibition of thapsigargin-resistant, microsomal ATPase and liberation of stored Ca2+. Low doses of bis-phenol had marked effects on [Ca2+]i oscillation kinetics. Application of the drug to cells previously stimulated with progesterone had effects very similar to those observed when it was applied to unstimulated cells, suggesting that the sustained Ca2+ influx induced by progesterone is not mediated via mobilisation of Ca2+ stores. Western blotting for human sperm proteins showed expression of secretory pathway Ca2+ ATPase (SPCA1). Immunolocalisation studies revealed expression of SPCA1 in all cells in an area behind the nucleus, extending into the midpiece. Staining for SERCA, carried out in parallel, detected no expression with either technique. We conclude that: (1) intracellular Ca2+ store(s) and store-dependent [Ca2+]i oscillations in human spermatozoa rely primarily on a thapsigargin/cyclopiazonic acid-insensitive Ca2+ pump, which is not a SERCA as characterised in somatic cells; (2) effects of high-dose thapsigargin on spermatozoa primarily reflect non-specific actions on non-SERCAs and; (3) secretory pathway Ca2+ ATPases contribute at least part of this non-SERCA Ca2+ pump activity.
Slow Dutch Auctions
Authors: Carare Octavian , Rothkopf Michael
Published: April 2005

Theorists have long believed that Dutch auctions are strategically equivalent to standard sealed bidding. However, in recent controlled experiments with actual Dutch and sealed-bid Internet auctions of collectibles, the Dutch auctions produced significantly more revenue. We believe that this happened, in part, because the Internet Dutch auctions are a slow process in which bidders incur incremental transaction costs if they delay bidding. This paper presents models of slow Dutch auctions that include these costs and explain this belief. We first present a decision-theoretic model of a slow Dutch auction. While simple, the decision-theoretic model is fairly general and provides the basic intuition underlying our revenue results. We then develop a game-theoretic model of a slow Dutch auction. We derive two symmetric, payoff-equivalent equilibria of the game in the absence of a cost of return and then consider the more general case of costly return. When the cost of return is in an appropriate range, the seller's expected revenue is an increasing function of that cost.
Efficient Auction Mechanisms for Supply Chain Procurement
Authors: Chen Rachel R. , Roundy Robin O. , Zhang Rachel Q. , Janakiraman Ganesh
Published: April 2005

We consider multiunit Vickrey auctions for procurement in supply chain settings. This is the first paper that incorporates transportation costs into auctions in a complex supply network. We first introduce an auction mechanism that makes simultaneous production and transportation decisions so that the total supply chain cost is minimized and induces truth telling from the suppliers. Numerical study shows that considerable supply chain cost savings can be achieved if production and transportation costs are considered simultaneously. However, the buyer's payments in such auctions can be high. We then develop a new Vickrey-type auction that incorporates the buyer's reservation price function into quantity allocation and payment decision. As a result, the buyer has some control over his payments at the expense of introducing uncertainty in the quantity acquired in the auction.
Emotional Bidders—An Analytical and Experimental Examination of Consumers' Behavior in a Priceline-Like Reverse Auction
Authors: Ding Min , Eliashberg Jehoshua , Huber Joel , Saini Ritesh
Published: April 2005

E-commerce has proved to be fertile ground for new business models, which may be patented (for up to 20 years) and have potentially far-reaching impact on the e-commerce landscape. One such electronic market is the reverse-auction model popularized by Priceline.com. There is still uncertainty surrounding the survival of such new electronic markets currently available on the Internet. Understanding user behavior is necessary for better assessment of these sites' survival. This paper adds to economic analysis a formal representation of the emotions evoked by the auction process, specifically, the excitement of winning if a bid is accepted, and the frustration of losing if it is not. We generate and empirically test a number of insights related to (1) the impact of expected excitement at winning, and frustration at losing, on bids across consumers and biddings scenarios; and (2) the dynamic nature of the bidding behavior—that is, how winning and losing in previous bids influence their future bidding behavior.
A Branch-and-Price Algorithm and New Test Problems for Spectrum Auctions
Authors: Günlük Oktay , Ladányi Lászlo , de Vries Sven
Published: April 2005

When combinatorial bidding is permitted in auctions, such as the proposed FCC Auction #31, the resulting full valuations and winner-determination problem can be computationally challenging. We present a branch-and-price algorithm based on a set-packing formulation originally proposed by Dietrich and Forrest (2002, “A column generation approach for combinatorial auctions,” in Mathematics of the Internet: E-Auction and Markets. The IMA Volumes in Mathematics and Its Applications, Vol. 127, Springer-Verlag, New York, 15–26). This formulation has a variable for every possible combination of winning bids for each bidder. Our algorithm exploits the structure of the XOR-of-OR bidding language used by the FCC. We also present a new methodology to produce realistic test problems based on the round-by-round results of FCC Auction #4. We generate 2,639 test problems, which involve 99 items and are substantially larger than most of the previously used benchmark problems. Because there are no real-life test problems for combinatorial spectrum auctions with the XOR-of-OR language, we used these test problems to observe the computational behavior of our algorithm. Our algorithm can solve all but one test problem within 10 minutes, appears to be very robust, and for difficult instances compares favorably to the natural formulation solved using a commercial optimization package with default settings.

Although spectrum auctions are used as the guiding example to describe the merits of branch and price for combinatorial auctions, our approach applies to auctions of multiple goods in other scenarios similarly.
Low-Revenue Equilibria in Simultaneous Ascending-Bid Auctions
Authors: Engelbrecht-Wiggans Richard , M. Kahn Charles
Published: April 2005

Low-revenue equilibria allow participants in an auction to obtain goods at prices lower than would prevail in a competitive market. These outcomes are generated as perfect equilibria of ascending-bid, multiunit auctions. We show that these equilibria are possible under mild conditions—conditions that are likely to prevail in many situations where auction formats have recently been adopted. We argue that these equilibria could explain the low revenues of some recent auctions, and discuss potential remedies to eliminate low-revenue equilibria.
Competitive Options, Supply Contracting, and Electronic Markets
Authors: Wu D. J. , Kleindorfer Paul R.
Published: April 2005

This paper develops a framework for analyzing business-to-business (B2B) transactions and supply chain management based on integrating contract procurement markets with spot markets using capacity options and forwards. The framework is motivated by the emergence of B2B exchanges in several industrial sectors to facilitate such integrated contract and spot procurement. In the framework developed, a buyer and multiple sellers may either contract for delivery in advance (the “contracting” option) or they may buy and sell some or all of their input/output in a spot market. Contract pricing involves both a reservation fee per unit of capacity and an execution fee per unit of output if capacity is called. The key question addressed is the structure of the optimal portfolios of contracting and spot market transactions for the buyer and these sellers, and the pricing thereof in market equilibrium. Existence and structure of market equilibria are characterized for the associated competitive game between sellers with heterogeneous technologies, under the assumption that they know the buyer's demand function. This allows an explicit characterization of the price of capacity options and the value of managerial flexibility, as well as providing conditions under which B2B exchanges are efficient and sustainable.
Positive vs. Negative Externalities in Inventory Management: Implications for Supply Chain Design
Authors: Netessine Serguei , Zhang Fuqiang
Published: April 2005

In this paper we analyze the impact of supply-side externalities existing among downstream retailers on supply chain performance. Namely, multiple retail firms face stochastic demand, purchase the product from the upstream wholesaler, and make stocking decisions that affect all other retailers in the same echelon. Two sources of inefficiencies exist in such a supply chain: One is double marginalization and the other is externalities among retailers. Whereas double marginalization always leads to inventory understocking at the retail echelon, we find that the implications of externalities are more complex, because different externalities can improve or deteriorate supply chain performance, relative to the situation without externalities.

We show that the effect of externalities depends critically on whether the stocking decisions of retailers exhibit positive (complementarity) or negative (substitutability) externalities, and whether retailers are managed centrally or competitively. Under complementarity, competing retailers tend to understock the product (compared with the centralized inventory management at the retail level), thus aggravating the double-marginalization effect. This is the opposite of what happens under substitutability, where competing retailers tend to overstock the product, thus compensating for the double-marginalization effect. Hence, we conclude that supply chain coordination between retailers and the wholesaler is most important when there is downstream competition that exhibits complementarity. From the wholesaler's point of view, competition among retailers is preferable over centralization of retailers when externalities are negative, and vice versa when externalities are positive. Moreover, with competition on complements, both retailers and the wholesaler have incentives to coordinate the supply chain.
Evaluating Operations Management–Related Journals via the Author Affiliation Index
Authors: Gorman Michael F. , Kanet John J.
Published: April 2005

We evaluate operations management–related journals based on a novel indicator of journal quality—the Author Affiliation Index (AAI). We explain the basic rationale behind the AAI, as well as its advantages and disadvantages with respect to other such indicators of journal quality. We provide a specific recipe for its calculation and apply it to 27 journals in which researchers in the field of operations management might wish to publish. We compare the resulting journal rankings to those from published survey reports and citation analyses and test AAI for sensitivity to its inputs. We find the rankings from AAI to be consistent with other studies and to be robust with respect to changes in inputs.
On the Value of Mix Flexibility and Dual Sourcing in Unreliable Newsvendor Networks
Authors: Tomlin Brian , Wang Yimin
Published: April 2005

We connect the mix-flexibility and dual-sourcing literatures by studying unreliable supply chains that produce multiple products. We consider a firm that can invest in product-dedicated resources and totally flexible resources. Product demands are uncertain at the time of resource investment, and the products can differ in their contribution margins. Resource investments can fail, and the firm may choose to invest in multiple resources for a given product to mitigate such failures.

In comparing a single-source dedicated strategy with a single-source flexible strategy, we refine the common intuition that a flexible strategy is strictly preferred to a dedicated strategy when the dedicated resources are costlier than the flexible resource. We prove that this intuition is correct if the firm is risk neutral or if the resource investments are perfectly reliable. The intuition can be wrong, however, if both of these conditions fail to hold, because there is a resource-aggregation disadvantage to the flexible strategy that can dominate the demand pooling and contribution-margin benefits of the flexible strategy when resource investments are unreliable and the firm is risk averse.

We investigate the influence that resource attributes, firm attributes, and product-portfolio attributes have on the attractiveness of various supply-chain structures that differ in their levels of mix flexibility and diversification, and we investigate the influence these attributes have on the optimal resource investments within a given supply-chain structure. Our results indicate that the appropriate levels of diversification and flexibility are very sensitive to the resource costs and reliabilities, the firm's downside risk tolerance, the number of products, the product demand correlations and the spread in product contribution margins.
Does metformin modify ovarian responsiveness during exogenous FSH ovulation induction in normogonadotrophic anovulation? A placebo-controlled double-blind assessment
Authors: van Santbrink Evert J P , Hohmann Femke P , Eijkemans Marinus J C , Laven Joop S E , Fauser Bart C J M
Published: April 2005

Objective: To assess whether the addition of metformin to gonadotrophin ovulation induction in insulin-resistant, normogonadotrophic, anovulatory women alters ovarian responsiveness to exogenous FSH.

Design: Placebo-controlled double-blind assessment in an academic hospital.

Results: After a progestagen withdrawal bleeding, patients were randomised for either metformin (n = 11) or placebo (n = 9) treatment. In cases of absent ovulation, exogenous FSH was subsequently administered to induce ovulation. Only during metformin treatment did body mass index and androgen (androstenedione and testosterone) levels decrease, whereas FSH and LH levels increased significantly. In the metformin group, a single patient ovulated before the initiation of exogenous FSH. Significantly more monofollicular cycles and lower preovulatory oestradiol concentrations were observed in women receiving FSH with metformin compared with FSH alone.

Conclusions: Metformin co-treatment in a group of insulin-resistant, normogonadotrophic, anovulatory patients resulted in normalization of the endocrine profile and facilitated monofollicular development during the FSH induction of ovulation.