bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How Can I Help You? A Study of the Perceived Importance of Different Kinds of Hospice Palliative Care Volunteer Support
Authors: Claxton-Oldfield Stephen , Gosselin Natasha
Published: November 2010

A total of 143 adults were asked to imagine that they had recently been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. After reading about the roles of hospice palliative care volunteers, participants were asked whether they would use the services of a volunteer to help them and their loved ones get through this difficult time. The vast majority (94.4%) of the participants said they would choose to have a volunteer. These participants were then asked to rate the importance of 23 different supportive tasks that volunteers can perform. These tasks reflected the different kinds of support—emotional, social, practical, informational, and religious/spiritual—that hospice palliative care volunteers typically provide. Overall, the practical support category (eg, ‘‘Having the volunteer run errands for me’’) received the highest mean importance rating. Significant gender differences were found for the categories of emotional support (eg, ‘‘Having the volunteer hold my hand’’) and social support (eg, ‘‘Having the volunteer share hobbies and interests with me’’), with females rating both of these kinds of support as being more important to them than males did. The findings of this study may have practical implications for volunteer program coordinators.
Evaluating Customer Information Breaches as Service Failures: An Event Study Approach
Authors: Malhotra Arvind , Kubowicz Malhotra Claudia
Published: November 2010

Firms are collecting more information about their customers than ever before in an attempt to understand and better serve customer needs. At the same time, firms are becoming more vulnerable to the compromise of customer information through security breaches. This study attempts to associate breach reports with the decline in market value of firms using an event study. The results show that firms suffer significant market value depreciation over a short as well as a long time window. Further, the greatest devaluation occurs when larger amounts of customer information are compromised at large companies. Due to the greater potential of customer backlash, negative publicity and liability risk, managers must view customer information breaches as service failures rather than as information system failures. Employing established service failure recovery strategies may allow firms to quickly and proactively address customer privacy concerns and thereby mitigate negative market reaction to information breaches.
Perceptions of the use of khat among Somali immigrants living in Swedish society
Authors: Osman Fatumo A. , Söderbäck Maja
Published: November 2010

Aims: The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of Somali immigrants’ perceptions of the use of khat when living in Swedish society. Using khat is illegal in Sweden. Methods: A phenomenographic design was used to capture different perception of using khat. Fourteen interviews were conducted with both men and women. The information was subjected to phenomenographic analysis. Results: Perceptions of the habit of chewing khat among Somalis living in Sweden vary. The use of khat is perceived as a kind of food or as a drug. To use khat is perceived as having a physical impact on individual health, as well as an impact on social and family life. Using khat also has an impact on people’s time, because time is needed to indulge the habit. Furthermore, using khat is perceived as a medium for cultural and community cohesiveness. The Somalis preferred preventive measures in place to counter the use of khat in Sweden. Conclusions: The use of a phenomenographic design which captured the variation in perceptions of the habit of using khat among Somali immigrants’ living in Swedish society is helpful in guiding individual strategies in health promotion activities.
Using Photovoice to Understand Cardiovascular Health Awareness in Asian Elders
Authors: Fitzpatrick Annette L. , Steinman Lesley E. , Tu Shin-Ping , Ly Kiet A. , Ton Thanh G. N. , Yip Mei-Po , Sin Mo-Kyung
Published: November 2010

Photovoice, a qualitative methodology using photography by study participants, is an ideal tool for collecting information on awareness of cardiovascular health from the perspective of persons of different cultural backgrounds and English-speaking abilities who are often subject to health disparities. Participants of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean ethnicity were provided disposable cameras to photograph their perceptions of scenes promoting or acting as barriers to cardiovascular health. After the pictures were developed, they returned for a discussion in their native languages to contextualize the stories told in their photographs. Group facilitators spoke the respective native languages and transcribed sessions into English. Twenty-three adults participated (7 to 9 persons per ethnicity), ranging in age from 50 to 88 (mean 71.6) years; 48% were women. The photographs stimulated conversations of knowledge, beliefs, and concerns regarding heart disease and stroke. Issues surrounding food and exercise were most dominant across ethnic groups, focusing on fat and salt intake and the need to remain active. Cultural beliefs and issues of emotional health, including stress and loneliness related to living in a new country, were also depicted. Photovoice provided insight into perceptions of cardiovascular health that is vital for developing health promotion and education interventions in limited–English-speaking communities.
Review of Life Cycle Assessment in Agro-Chemical Processes
Authors: Gillani Sayed Tamizuddin , Belaud Jean-Pierre , Sablayrolles Caroline , Vignoles Mireille , Le Lann Jean-Marc
Published: November 2010

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method used to evaluate the potential impacts on the environment of a product, process, or activity throughout its life cycle. Todays LCA users are a mixture of individuals with skills in different disciplines who want to evaluate their products, processes, or activities in a life cycle context. This study attempts to present some of the LCA studies on agro-chemical processes, recent advances in LCA and their application on food products and non-food products. Due to the recent development of LCA methodologies and dissemination programs by international and local bodies, use of LCA is rapidly increasing in agricultural and industrial products. The literatures suggest that LCA coupled with other environmental approaches provides much more reliable and comprehensive information to environmentally conscious policy makers, producers, and consumers in selecting sustainable products and production processes. For this purpose, a field study of LCA of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas has been taken as an example in the study. In the past, LCA has been applied primarily to products but recent literature suggests that it has also the potential as an analysis and design tool for processes and services. In general, all primary industries use energy and water resources and emit pollutants gases. LCA is a method to report on and analyze these resource issues across the life cycle of agro-chemical processes. This review has the importance as a first part of a research project to develop a life cycle assessment methodology for agro-chemical industries. It presents the findings of a literature review that focuses on LCA of agriculture and chemical engineering literature.
Hormesis in Regulatory Risk Assessment - Science and Science Policy
Authors: Gray George
Published: November 2010

This brief commentary will argue that whether hormesis is considered in regulatory risk assessment is a matter less of science than of science policy. I will first discuss the distinction between science and science policy and their roles in regulatory risk assessment. Then I will focus on factors that influence science policy, especially as it relates to the conduct of risk assessments to inform regulatory decisions, with a focus on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The key questions will then be how does hormesis interact with current concepts of science and science policy for risk assessment? Finally, I look ahead to factors that may increase, or decrease, the likelihood of hormesis being incorporated into regulatory risk assessment.
The Effects of Reporting Complexity on Small and Large Investor Trading
Authors: Miller Brian P.
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACT: This study examines the effects of financial reporting complexity on investors’ trading behavior. I find that more complex (longer and less readable) filings are associated with lower overall trading, and that this relationship appears due to a reduction in small investors’ trading activity. Additional evidence suggests that the association between report complexity and lower abnormal trading is driven by both cross-sectional variation in firms’ disclosure attributes and variations in disclosure complexity over time. Given regulatory concerns over plain English disclosures and the trend toward more disclosure, my investigation into the effects of reporting complexity on small and large investors should be of interest to regulators concerned with reporting clarity and leveling the playing field across classes of investors.
Investor Reaction to Going Concern Audit Reports
Authors: Menon Krishnagopal , Williams David D.
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACT: The literature provides mixed evidence on whether investors find audit reports modified for going concern reasons to be useful. Using a substantially larger sample than previous studies, we observe negative excess returns when the going concern audit report (GCAR) is disclosed. We find that the reaction is more negative if the GCAR cites a problem with obtaining financing, suggesting that the GCAR provides new information to investors. Also, the reaction is more adverse if the GCAR triggers a technical violation of a debt covenant that restricts the firm from getting a GCAR. The evidence suggests that institutional investors drive the reaction to the GCAR, since there is no detectable reaction at low levels of institutional ownership. The market reaction gets more negative as the level of institutional ownership increases, and there is a decline in institutional ownership after the GCAR is issued. We attribute these results to sophisticated investors’ awareness of the firm’s financing needs and the covenants carried by the firm’s debt.
Can Identifying and Investigating Fraud Risks Increase Auditors’ Liability?
Authors: Reffett Andrew B.
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACT: Legal scholars and accounting practitioners have expressed concern that the U.S. legal system might, in cases of undetected fraud, effectively penalize auditors for identifying and investigating fraud risks (AICPA 2004; Coffee 2004; Golden et al. 2006). This study draws on counterfactual reasoning theory to provide experimental evidence indicating that this concern is warranted. Consistent with counterfactual reasoning theory, I find that evaluators in a natural (i.e., between-participants) environment are more likely to hold auditors liable for failing to detect fraud when the auditors investigated for the perpetrated fraud, relative to when the auditors did not investigate for the fraud. Findings from a less natural within-participants experiment, however, indicate that the between-participant findings likely were unintentional: That is, the same evaluators, when later asked to judge alternative levels of fraud investigation simultaneously, are less likely to hold auditors liable for failing to detect fraud when the auditors investigated for the fraud, relative to when the auditors did not investigate for the fraud.
To Be Human Is To Account?
Authors: Frandsen Ann-Christine , McGoun Elton G.
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACT: Humans have a proclivity for creating good-evil dualities. If accounting is fundamentally naming and counting and if these good-evil dualities are examples of naming (the two parts of the duality) and counting (one part counts more on a goodness scale than the other part), then this proclivity for creating good-evil dualities represents a proclivity for the practice of accounting. Through a chain of translations as described by Bruno Latour, the practice of accounting subsequently reproduces itself and infuses itself into more and more areas of daily life (Latour 1987, 1998). The consequence of these assumptions would be that accounting is an inherent characteristic of our humanity, and the expansion of accounting would be inevitable. To be human would be to account, and humanity would evolve to do more accounting. But is it?
The Effects of Information Presentation Format on Judgment and Decision Making: A Review of the Information Systems Research
Authors: Kelton Andrea Seaton , Pennington Robin R. , Tuttle Brad M.
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACT: This paper reviews the information systems and accounting information systems research on the effects of information presentation format on judgment and decision making. We limit our review to static (noninteractive) formats only, where the user cannot manipulate or change the characteristics of the task, including information presentation format. We provide a conceptual framework, describing the role of information presentation in individual decision making. Additionally, we develop an integrated model of information presentation research based upon the theory of cognitive fit, and use the model to summarize the prior literature and provide suggestions for future research.
Prevalence and Magnitude of Paradoxical Results in Multidimensional Item Response Theory
Authors: Finkelman Matthew D. , Hooker Giles , Wang Zhen
Published: November 2010

Multidimensional Item Response Theory (MIRT) has been proposed as a means to model the relation between examinee abilities and test responses. Three recent articles proved that when MIRT is used in ability estimation, an examinee’s score could theoretically decrease due to a correct answer or increase due to an incorrect answer. The current article examines the extent to which such “paradoxical results” can arise in practice. In an operational test designed to measure two dimensions, a substantial percentage of paradoxical results occurred when using a MIRT model with a prior correlation of 0 between abilities. Assuming a positive correlation between abilities reduced the prevalence of paradoxical results but did not eliminate them entirely. Associated issues in test fairness are discussed.
Basophils Amplify Type 2 Immune Responses, but Do Not Serve a Protective Role, during Chronic Infection of Mice with the Filarial Nematode Litomosoides sigmodontis
Authors: Torrero Marina N. , Hübner Marc P. , Larson David , Karasuyama Hajime , Mitre Edward
Published: November 2010

Chronic helminth infections induce a type 2 immune response characterized by eosinophilia, high levels of IgE, and increased T cell production of type 2 cytokines. Because basophils have been shown to be substantial contributors of IL-4 in helminth infections, and because basophils are capable of inducing Th2 differentiation of CD4+ T cells and IgE isotype switching in B cells, we hypothesized that basophils function to amplify type 2 immune responses in chronic helminth infection. To test this, we evaluated basophil function using the Litomosoides sigmodontis filaria model of chronic helminth infection in BALB/c mice. Time-course studies showed that eosinophilia, parasite Ag-specific CD4+ T cell production of IL-4 and IL-5 and basophil activation and IL-4 production in response to parasite Ag all peak late (6–8 wk) in the course of L. sigmodontis infection, after parasite-specific IgE has become detectable. Mixed-gender and single-sex worm implantation experiments demonstrated that the relatively late peak of these responses was not dependent on the appearance of circulating microfilariae, but may be due to initial low levels of parasite Ag load and/or habitation of the developing worms in the pleural space. Depletion of basophils throughout the course of L. sigmodontis infection caused significant decreases in total and parasite-specific IgE, eosinophilia, and parasite Ag-driven CD4+ T cell proliferation and IL-4 production, but did not alter total worm numbers. These results demonstrate that basophils amplify type 2 immune responses, but do not serve a protective role, in chronic infection of mice with the filarial nematode L. sigmodontis.
The Role of the Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription FactorDec1in the Regulatory T Cells
Authors: Miyazaki Kazuko , Miyazaki Masaki , Guo Yun , Yamasaki Norimasa , Kanno Masamoto , Honda Zen-ichiro , Oda Hideaki , Kawamoto Hiroshi , Honda Hiroaki
Published: November 2010

Naturally occurring regulatory T (Treg) cells play a central role in the maintenance of immune homeostasis and in restraining the development of spontaneous inflammatory responses. However, the underlying mechanisms of Treg homeostasis remain incompletely understood. Of particular note, the IL-2Rα (CD25) is crucial for the homeostasis of Treg cells and the prevention of lymphoproliferative autoimmune disease. In this paper, we report that the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor Dec1 is involved in the homeostasis of Treg cells and plays a role in their survival or expansion after adoptive transfer to lymphopenic recipients. Hence, it is crucial for the suppression of effector T cell-mediated inflammatory responses. Enforced expression of Dec1 upregulates CD25 expression during thymocyte development and increases the number of Treg cells in the periphery. Dec1 binds the transcription factor Runx1 and colocalizes with Runx1 in Treg cells. Specifically, we demonstrate that in Treg cells the Dec1/Runx1 complex binds to regulatory elements present in the Il-2rα locus. Collectively, these data show how Dec1 mechanistically acts in Treg cells.
A Cell-Impermeable Cyclosporine A Derivative Reduces Pathology in a Mouse Model of Allergic Lung Inflammation
Authors: Balsley Molly A. , Malesevic Miroslav , Stemmy Erik J. , Gigley Jason , Jurjus Rosalyn A. , Herzog Dallen , Bukrinsky Michael I. , Fischer Gunter , Constant Stephanie L.
Published: November 2010

Although the main regulators of leukocyte trafficking are chemokines, another family of chemotactic agents is cyclophilins. Intracellular cyclophilins function as peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerases and are targets of the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporine A (CsA). Cyclophilins can also be secreted in response to stress factors, with elevated levels of extracellular cyclophilins detected in several inflammatory diseases. Extracellular cyclophilins are known to have potent chemotactic properties, suggesting that they might contribute to inflammatory responses by recruiting leukocytes into tissues. The objective of the present study was to determine the impact of blocking cyclophilin activity using a cell-impermeable derivative of CsA to specifically target extracellular pools of cyclophilins. In this study, we show that treatment with this compound in a mouse model of allergic lung inflammation demonstrates up to 80% reduction in inflammation, directly inhibits the recruitment of Ag-specific CD4+ T cells, and works equally well when delivered at 100-fold lower doses directly to the airways. Our findings suggest that cell-impermeable analogs of CsA can effectively reduce inflammatory responses by targeting leukocyte recruitment mediated by extracellular cyclophilins. Specifically blocking the extracellular functions of cyclophilins may provide an approach for inhibiting the recruitment of one of the principal immune regulators of allergic lung inflammation, Ag-specific CD4+ T cells, into inflamed airways and lungs.
Aim2 Deficiency Stimulates the Expression of IFN-Inducible Ifi202, a Lupus Susceptibility Murine Gene within the Nba2 Autoimmune Susceptibility Locus
Authors: Panchanathan Ravichandran , Duan Xin , Shen Hui , Rathinam Vijay A. K. , Erickson Loren D. , Fitzgerald Katherine A. , Choubey Divaker
Published: November 2010

Murine Aim2 and p202 proteins (encoded by the Aim2 and Ifi202 genes) are members of the IFN-inducible p200 protein family. Both proteins can sense dsDNA in the cytoplasm. However, upon sensing dsDNA, only the Aim2 protein through its pyrin domain can form an inflammasome to activate caspase-1 and induce cell death. Given that the p202 protein has been predicted to inhibit the activation of caspase-1 by the Aim2 protein and that increased levels of the p202 protein in female mice of certain strains are associated with lupus susceptibility, we compared the expression of Aim2 and Ifi202 genes between Aim2-deficient and age-matched wild-type mice. We found that the Aim2 deficiency in immune cells stimulated the expression of Ifi202 gene. The increased levels of the p202 protein in cells were associated with increases in the expression of IFN-β, STAT1, and IFN-inducible genes. Moreover, after knockdown of Aim2 expression in the murine macrophage cell line J774.A1, IFN-β treatment of cells robustly increased STAT1 protein levels (compared with those of control cells), increased the activating phosphorylation of STAT1 on Tyr-701, and stimulated the activity of an IFN-responsive reporter. Notably, the expression of Aim2 in non-lupus-prone (C57BL/6 and B6.Nba2-C) and lupus-prone (B6.Nba2-ABC) splenic cells and in a murine macrophage cell line that overexpressed p202 protein was found to be inversely correlated with Ifi202. Collectively, our observations demonstrate an inverse correlation between Aim2 and p202 expressions. We predict that defects in Aim2 expression within immune cells contribute to increased susceptibility to lupus.
Strong and Extremely Strong Ditkin sets for the Banach AlgebrasApr(G) =Ap⋂Lr(G)
Authors: Granirer Edmond E.
Published: November 2010

LetAp(G) be the Figa-Talamanca, Herz Banach Algebra onG; thusA2(G) is the Fourier algebra. Strong Ditkin (SD) and Extremely Strong Ditkin (ESD) sets for the Banach algebrasApr(G) are investigated for abelian and nonabelian locally compact groupsG. It is shown that SD and ESD sets forAp(G) remain SD and ESD sets forApr(G), with strict inclusion for ESD sets. The case for the strict inclusion of SD sets is left open.

A result on the weak sequential completeness ofA2(F) for ESD setsFis proved and used to show that Varopoulos, Helson, and Sidon sets are not ESD sets forA2r(G), yet they are such forA2(G) for discrete groupsG, for any 1 ≤r≤ 2.

A result is given on the equivalence of the sequential and the net definitions of SD or ESD sets forσ-compact groups.

The above results are new even ifGis abelian.
Inventory sharing under decentralized preventive transshipments
Authors: Rong Ying , Snyder Lawrence V. , Sun Yang
Published: November 2010

We consider preventive transshipments between two stores in a decentralized system with two demand subperiods. Replenishment orders are made before the first subperiod, and the stores may make transshipments to one another between the subperiods. We prove that the transshipment decision has a dominant strategy, called a control‐band conserving transfer policy, under which each store chooses a quantity to transship in or out that will keep its second‐subperiod starting inventory level within a range called a control band. We prove that the optimal replenishment policy is a threshold policy in which the threshold depends on the capacity level at the other store. Finally, we prove that there does not exist a transfer price that coordinates the decentralized supply chain. Our research also explains many of the differences between preventive and emergency transshipments, including differences in the optimal transfer policies and the existence or nonexistence of transfer prices that coordinate the system. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010
Adaptive random search for continuous simulation optimization
Authors: Andradóttir Sigrún , Prudius Andrei A.
Published: November 2010

We present, analyze, and compare three random search methods for solving stochastic optimization problems with uncountable feasible regions. Our adaptive search with resampling (ASR) approach is a framework for designing provably convergent algorithms that are adaptive and may consequently involve local search. The deterministic and stochastic shrinking ball (DSB and SSB) approaches are also convergent, but they are based on pure random search with the only difference being the estimator of the optimal solution [the DSB method was originally proposed and analyzed by Baumert and Smith]. The three methods use different techniques to reduce the effects of noise in the estimated objective function values. Our ASR method achieves this goal through resampling of already sampled points, whereas the DSB and SSB approaches address it by averaging observations in balls that shrink with time. We present conditions under which the three methods are convergent, both in probability and almost surely, and provide a limited computational study aimed at comparing the methods. Although further investigation is needed, our numerical results suggest that the ASR approach is promising, especially for difficult problems where the probability of identifying good solutions using pure random search is small. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010
THE POOR INQUIRY AND IRISH SOCIETY – A CONSENSUS THEORY OF TRUTH
Authors: Ciosáin Niall Ó
Published: November 2010

The most detailed contemporary ethnographic representation of early nineteenth-century Ireland can be found in the reports produced by the Poor Inquiry of 1833–6. Despite their richness, however, these reports remained marginal to contemporary policy discussions and public debate. This is normally, and correctly, attributed to the unpopularity and impracticability of the specific recommendations of the Inquiry. This paper argues that the marginalisation of the reports was also due to their discursive originality. It focuses on the voluminous oral evidence which was collected and published by the Inquiry. This evidence was taken in public from large groups representing all social classes, and much of it was printed verbatim. This method was unique among state reports of the nineteenth century in the United Kingdom, and unusual in social discourse more generally. It emerged from an equally unusual conception of truth as social consensus, a theory which the Inquiry adopted in order to overcome what it saw as the socially fragmented nature of representation in Ireland.
IRISH SOCIAL THOUGHT AND THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, 1847–1880
Authors: Gray Peter
Published: November 2010

This paper investigates the way in which the ‘problem of poverty’ in Ireland was encountered, constructed and debated by members of the Irish intellectual and political elite in the decades between the Great Famine and the outbreak of the land war in the late 1870s. This period witnessed acute social upheavals in Ireland, from the catastrophic nadir of the Famine, through the much-vaunted economic recovery of the 1850s–1860s, to the near-famine panic of the late 1870s (itself prefigured by a lesser agricultural crisis in 1859–63). The paper focuses on how a particular elite group – the ‘Dublin School’ of political economists and their circle, and most prominently William Neilson Hancock and John Kells Ingram – sought to define and investigate the changing ‘problem’, shape public attitudes towards the legitimacy of welfare interventions and lobby state officials in the making of poor law policy in this period. It suggests that the crisis of 1859–63 played a disproportionate role in the reevaluation of Irish poor relief and in promoting a campaign for an ‘anglicisation’ of poor law measures and practice in Ireland.
The Elusive Self and the I-Thou Relation
Authors: Lewis H. D.
Published: November 2010

The elusive self! Let me first indicate how I understand these terms. For those who posit, as I do, a self that is more than its passing states, and which may not be reduced at all to observable phenomena, the problem arises at once of how such a self is to be described and identified. It cannot be identified in terms of any pattern of experience or of any relation to a physically identifiable body. How then can it be known at all? It is known, I maintain, solely in the way each one, in the first instance, knows himself to be the unique being he is.
The Place of Structure in Communication
Authors: Potts Timothy C.
Published: November 2010

In this lecture, I want to convey some ideas about linguistic communication which will probably be found not only unfamiliar, but also difficult to grasp at a first encounter. Perhaps I am being too ambitious in so short a compass. At any rate, my only hope of success is to work within closely defined limits, to concentrate more upon expounding these suggestions than upon detailed justification of them, and to say as little as possible about the shortcomings of alternative proposals which are current. The references which I cite have also been rather narrowly selected. As to the limits of this discussion, it will be confined to linguistic communication, as effected by the use of sentences. This is not to deny that there are non-linguistic forms of communication, both between men and between other animals, nor that there are other units of linguistic communication than the sentence; I have taken only what seems most typical of human communication, in order to make the task manageable.
Desires as Causes of Actions
Authors: Pears David
Published: November 2010

It is not easy to explain how people know what they are going to do. The phenomenon occurs: obviously we often do know what we are going to do; but its explanation is less obvious. When I say this, I do not mean that we have some mysterious method by which we discover what we are going to do, like forecasting tomorrow's weather. Usually we know without any investigation, and without the use of any method of discovery. You know some of the things that you are going to do tomorrow immediately – i.e. you know them without the mediation of any evidence. This is a rather mysterious phenomenon, and it is not at all easy to classify it. How is it possible for there to be any immediate knowledge of something which lies in the future? Is it like the kind of immediate knowledge of the past which is supplied by memory? If so, does this analogy help us to understand our knowledge of our own future actions? Or is memory equally mysterious?
Mental Causes
Authors: Whiteley C. H.
Published: November 2010

The question I shall consider is whether there are any mental causes, that is, whether there is anything which is both a state of mind and a cause of other mental or physical happenings. The obvious common-sense answer to this question is Yes. In ordinary discourse (that is, outside philosophy and psychology) we constantly refer to human actions and experiences in what appears to be causal language; we seem to be saying that some states of mind are causes of other states of mind, and of some bodily activities. Sometimes we do this by using the word ‘cause’ itself— ‘His driving into the ditch was caused by his seeing a child run into the road’, ‘The cause of his silence was his wish to protect his friend’. More often we use expressions which in physical contexts are admittedly causal— ‘A glimpse of the look on her face made him hesitate’, ‘Ambition was the driving force of his career’. Most philosophers have taken for granted the genuineness of these causal attributions. But recently it has been frequently denied that any state of mind can be properly described as the cause either of other states of mind or of physical occurrences, at any rate if by a state of mind one means a state of consciousness. Some philosophers who deny this are materialists, advocates of the Unity of Science. They believe that everything that happens in the universe can be causally accounted for by reference to a single set of fundamental laws, the laws of physics, and since a state of consciousness is not, as such, a physical state of any kind, it cannot have a place in the causal explanation of any event, and must be an epiphenomenon. Others are believers in an indeterminist interpretation of human freedom, and hold that o t introduce the category of cause and effect into the explanation of human actions is to deny that there is any genuine free will. I shall not be concerned with either of these general metaphysical objections, neither of which convinces me; but I shall consider some more specific objections to the admission of particular sorts of mental causes.
Thinking and Reflecting
Authors: Ryle Gilbert
Published: November 2010

Just as there was a vogue at one time for identifying thinking either with mere processions or with more or less organised processions of images, so there is a vogue now for identifying thinking with something oddly called ‘language’, namely with more or less organised processions of bits of French or English, etc.
Reason in Mystery
Authors: Kretzmann Norman
Published: November 2010

The philosophy in Christianity is both inert and active. The late Greek metaphysics around which Christian doctrine first developed is Christianity's inert philosophical skeleton. Even if the dehellenizers could succeed in their efforts to remove it, Christianity itself would be unrecognizable without it. But the philosophy that is in Christianity actively, the enterprise of philosophical theology, is in it insecurely and only intermittently because it seems vulnerable to important religious and philosophical objections. As I see it, philosophical theology can be and actually has been successfully defended against those objections, and it is, I believe, incomparably the most interesting and important philosophy in Christianity—in fact, theonlyphilosophy of more than historical interest there really is in Christianity.
The Philosophy In Christianity: Arius and Athanasius
Authors: Wiles Maurice
Published: November 2010

Cui bono? Cherchez la femme! These ancient maxims offer counsel to the investigator of an unsolved murder or some inexplicable pattern of behaviour. They advise the pursuit of what has come more recently to be known as a form of lateral thinking. The puzzle may not best be solved by an intensification of the examination of the immediate data. The primary clue may lie out of sight somewhere further back. Financial advantage or sexual attraction, which does not show up as a feature of the immediate situation, may be the hidden motive of the traditionally male agent's actions. When that is recognized, the otherwise inexplicable phenomena may become intelligible.
Could God Become Man?
Authors: Swinburne Richard
Published: November 2010

The central doctrine of Christianity is that God intervened in human history in the person of Jesus Christ in a unique way; and that quickly became understood as the doctrine that in Jesus Christ God became man. In AD 451 the Council of Chalcedon formulated that doctrine in a precise way utilizing the current philosophical terminology, which provided a standard for the orthodoxy of subsequent thought on this issue. It affirmed its belief in ‘our Lord Jesus Christ, … truly God and truly man, … in two natures … the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person’. One individual, one thing that is; and being a rational individual, one person. An individual's nature are those general properties which make it the sort of individual it is. The nature of my desk is to be a solid material object of a certain shape; the nature of the oak tree in the wood is to take in water and light, and to grow into a characteristic shape with characteristic leaves and give off oxygen. Chalcedon affirmed that the one individual Jesus Christ had a divine nature, was God that is; and it assumed that the divine nature was an essential nature.
Augustine's Philosophy of Being
Authors: Stead Christopher
Published: November 2010

Augustine's philosophy of being, the subject of my lecture, might be approached in two ways. In traditional terms, we might consider the question quid est esse, or alternatively the question quaenam sunt. This latter question is easily explained; it means, roughly speaking, what does the real universe contain or comprise, in a large and general sense. Material objects, of course, we can all accept; but what should be said about minds and spirits and the things with which they are concerned? The other question is more difficult to explain in simple terms. Suppose we translate it ‘What is being?’, we may seem to be asking a question about the word ‘being’; what is the sense which Augustine gives to this word? But in fact we shall discover a whole spectrum of senses. ‘Being’, for Augustine, sometimes appears to express the purely minimal notion of mere existence; but he also uses it as a powerful symbol to formulate his deepest reflections on the spiritual life and the nature of God.
Christian Averroism, Fideism and the ‘Two-fold Truth’
Authors: Brown Stuart
Published: November 2010

The man generally known as Averroes—Muhammad Ibn Ahmad (c.1126–98)—was a Muslim scholar from southern Spain who came to be regarded as one of the great authorities on Aristotle's philosophy. Medieval and even later philosophers in the Scholastic tradition referred to him simply as ‘the Commentator’ just as they referred to Aristotle himself as ‘the Philosopher’. Averroes' authority as an expositor was never wholly unchallenged and, in a purely historical context, the term ‘Averroist’ should strictly be reserved for those Aristotelians who followed the interpretations of Averroes rather than those of, say, Avicenna. Some of these interpretations, however, suggested beliefs that were inconsistent with acceptance of a Creator of the material world or with belief in a last judgment at which individual souls would be punished or rewarded for their life on earth. They suggested, rather, that the material world was eternal and that individual souls did not survive bodily death. This raised a general problem about what to say in the face of a conflict between faith and reason, between the teachings of the Church and the teachings of philosophy. Averroism became associated with a particular problem and with what was known as the ‘twofold truth’, according to which it is possible to admit the conflict and continue to profess a religious faith without abandoning or abridging one's commitment to philosophy.
Does Philosophy ‘Leave Everything as it is’? Even Theology?
Authors: Bambrough Renford
Published: November 2010

Does photography leave everything as it is? Clearly not. It scalps Uncle George, as he stands at the church door, proudly, innocently, in the role of bride's father, and it decapitates his nephew James, who had until now been a head taller than any other member of the wedding group. It reduces to two dimensions, and to black and white, such solid three-dimensional objects as the Rocky Mountains and St Paul's Cathedral, such colourful scenes and sights as the Aurora Borealis and sunset in the desert.
Enterprise Bargaining and Productivity in Australia: What do We Know?
Authors: Loundes Joanne , Tseng Yi‐Ping , Wooden Mark
Published: November 2010

There appears to be widespread consensus, at least in industry and government, that enterprise bargaining has been beneficial for productivity. Many academics, however, have argued that the link between bargaining structure and workplace productivity is a contentious one, and that research has been unable to establish a relationship. The present paper re‐examines the existing evidence. The review reinforces the need to exercise caution before asserting that enterprise bargaining is necessarily beneficial for workplace productivity. The main conclusion that emanates from this review, however, is not the absence of a clear‐cut finding, but how poorly developed the relevant research literature is.
HbA1c in diagnosing and predicting Type 2 diabetes in impaired glucose tolerance: the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study
Authors: Pajunen P. , Peltonen M. , Eriksson J. G. , Ilanne‐Parikka P. , Aunola S. , Keinänen‐Kiukaanniemi S. , Uusitupa M. , Tuomilehto J. , Lindström J. ,   for the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS)
Published: November 2010

Diabet. Med. 28, 36–42 (2011)

Aims  We analysed the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study data in order to evaluate how the new HbA1c‐based criterion compares with the oral glucose tolerance test in diagnosing Type 2 diabetes among high‐risk individuals during a prospective average follow‐up of 4 years.

Methods  In the Diabetes Prevention Study, 172 men and 350 women who were overweight and had impaired glucose tolerance at baseline were randomized into an intensive lifestyle intervention or a control group. The oral glucose tolerance test and HbA1c measurements were performed annually until the diagnosis of diabetes using the World Health Organization 1985 criteria.

Results  The sensitivity of the HbA1c≥ 6.5% (≥ 48 mmol/mol) as a diagnostic criterion for Type 2 diabetes was 35% (95% CI 24%, 47%) in women and 47% (95% CI 31%, 64%) in men compared with diagnosis based on two consecutive oral glucose tolerance tests. The corresponding sensitivities for HbA1c≥ 6.0% (≥ 42 mmol/mol) were 67% (95% CI 55%, 77%) and 68% (95% CI 51%, 82%). The participants with HbA1c≥ 6.5% (≥ 48 mmol/mol) and diabetes based on the oral glucose tolerance test were more obese and had higher fasting glucose and 2‐h glucose concentrations than those who had a diabetic oral glucose tolerance test but HbA1c < 6.5% (< 48 mmol/mol). There were no differences in the predictive performance of baseline fasting glucose, oral glucose tolerance test and HbA1c.

Conclusions  Of those with diabetes diagnosis based on two oral glucose tolerance tests during the Diabetes Prevention Study follow‐up, 60% would have remained undiagnosed if diagnosis had been based on HbA1c≥ 6.5% (≥ 48 mmol/mol) criterion.
Free Path Sampling in High Resolution Inhomogeneous Participating Media
Authors: Szirmay‐Kalos László , Tóth Balázs , Magdics Milán
Published: November 2010

This paper presents efficient algorithms for free path sampling in heterogeneous participating media defined either by high‐resolution voxel arrays or generated procedurally. The method is based on the concept of mixing ‘virtual’ material or particles to the medium, augmenting the extinction coefficient to a function for which the free path can be sampled in a straightforward way. The virtual material is selected such that it modifies the volume density but does not alter the radiance. We define the total extinction coefficient of the real and virtual particles by a low‐resolution grid of super‐voxels that are much larger than the real voxels defining the medium. The computational complexity of the proposed method depends just on the resolution of the super‐voxel grid and does not grow with the resolution above the scale of super‐voxels. The method is particularly efficient to render large, low‐density, heterogeneous volumes, which should otherwise be defined by enormously high resolution voxel grids and where the average free path length would cross many voxels.
Information availability on Chinese apparel B2C Websites
Authors: Zhang Liyi , Han Ying , Wang Lei
Published: November 2010

This paper explores the availability of information on Chinese apparel business to consumer (B2C) Websites, including product information, customer service information and purchase information. A content analysis of 35 Chinese apparel B2C Websites is conducted to assess online retailers' performance in providing 64 information attributes of the instrument developed for this study. The results find that most descriptive information about the product was available on Chinese apparel B2C Websites, except for sensory‐oriented and experiential‐oriented product information. Most Chinese E‐trailers provide extensive customer service information, though certain defects still exist. This study provides a practical tool to measure the amount and the type of information on apparel B2C Websites. With these findings, Chinese E‐trailers can use this tool to create benchmarks against which they can evaluate their own Website.
Trying to complain: the impact of self‐referencing on complaining intentions
Authors: Hansen Håvard , Samuelsen Bendik M. , Andreassen Tor Wallin
Published: November 2010

This paper introduces the Theory of Trying to complaining behaviour, and argues that complaining intentions can be explained by the model. Moreover, we model propensity to self‐reference (SR) as a moderating variable, and suggest that the effects of the causes to complaining intentions depend on the SR‐level held by consumers. A sample of undergraduate business students participated in the study, where the goal was to get a better understanding of complaining intentions. Our study provides new and additional insights in the drivers of complaining by also taking dispositional personality differences into consideration. The results demonstrate that boundary conditions for main‐effect models like the theory of trying can be fruitfully addressed through the notion of individual differences.

The research documented that customers' propensity to complain systematically differed as a function of their level of self‐referencing. This is both good and bad news to managers. The good news is that a proportion of the customers rely less on their previous experiences in the complaining domain when they form intentions to complain. The bad news is that some others do. The obstacle is that managers cannot tell by the look if they are talking to an individual with high or low propensity to self‐reference. As the customer base contains both types case could be taken in designing marketing communication campaigns that target the groups differently.
Feature Selection for Inductive Generalization
Authors: Yu Na‐Yung , Yamauchi Takashi , Yang Huei‐Fang , Chen Yen‐Lin , Gutierrez‐Osuna Ricardo
Published: November 2010

Judging similarities among objects, events, and experiences is one of the most basic cognitive abilities, allowing us to make predictions and generalizations. The main assumption in similarity judgment is that people selectively attend to salient features of stimuli and judge their similarities on the basis of the common and distinct features of the stimuli. However, it is unclear how people select features from stimuli and how they weigh features. Here, we present a computational method that helps address these questions. Our procedure combines image‐processing techniques with a machine‐learning algorithm and assesses feature weights that can account for both similarity and categorization judgment data. Our analysis suggests that a small number of local features are particularly important to explain our behavioral data.
Interaction of Sesbania mosaic virus movement protein with the coat protein – implications for viral spread
Authors: Chowdhury Soumya Roy , Savithri Handanahal Subbarao
Published: November 2010

Sesbania mosaic virus (SeMV) is a single‐stranded positive‐sense RNA plant virus belonging to the genus Sobemovirus. The movement protein (MP) encoded by SeMV ORF1 showed no significant sequence similarity with MPs of other genera, but showed 32% identity with the MP of Southern bean mosaic virus within the Sobemovirus genus. With a view to understanding the mechanism of cell‐to‐cell movement in sobemoviruses, the SeMV MP gene was cloned, over‐expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Interaction of the recombinant MP with the native virus (NV) was investigated by ELISA and pull‐down assays. It was observed that SeMV MP interacted with NV in a concentration‐ and pH‐dependent manner. Analysis of N‐ and C‐terminal deletion mutants of the MP showed that SeMV MP interacts with the NV through the N‐terminal 49 amino acid segment. Yeast two‐hybrid assays confirmed the in vitro observations, and suggested that SeMV might belong to the class of viruses that require MP and NV/coat protein for cell‐to‐cell movement.

Structured digital abstract

MINT‐8050243: p53 (uniprotkb:P02340) physically interacts (MI:0915) with T‐Ag (uniprotkb:P03070) by two hybrid (MI:0018)

MINT‐8050226: MP (uniprotkb:Q9EB09) physically interacts (MI:0915) with CP (uniprotkb:Q9EB06) by two hybrid (MI:0018)