bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tumor Necrosis Factor-α–Converting Enzyme (ADAM17) Mediates GPIbα Shedding From Platelets In Vitro and In Vivo
Authors: Bergmeier Wolfgang , Piffath Crystal L. , Cheng Guiying , Dole Vandana S. , Zhang Yuhua , von Andrian Ulrich H. , Wagner Denisa D.
Published: September 2004

Interaction of the platelet receptor glycoprotein (GP) Ib-V-IX with von Willebrand factor exposed at a site of vascular injury is an essential step in the initiation of a hemostatic plug. Proteolytic cleavage (shedding) of the GPIbα subunit was first described >25 years ago, the protease mediating this event as well as its physiological function, however, have not been elucidated. We reported recently that shedding of GPIbα induced by platelet storage or mitochondrial injury involves a platelet-derived metalloproteinase(s). Here we show that GPIbα shedding in response to mitochondrial injury or physiological activation is inhibited in platelets obtained from chimeric mice, which express inactive tumor necrosis factor-α converting enzyme (TACE
ΔZn/ΔZn
) in blood cells only. Shedding was also inhibited in mouse and human platelets in the presence of 2 potent TACE inhibitors: TAP1 and TMI-1. Our data further suggest that TACE is important in the regulation of GPIbα expression in vivo because we observed an ≈90% reduction in soluble GPIbα (glycocalicin) in plasma of TACE
ΔZn/ΔZn
chimeras as well as significantly increased levels of GPIbα on circulating platelets. In contrast, shedding of P-selectin from activated platelets was not affected by the mutation in TACE. Damaged TACE
ΔZn/ΔZn
platelets were further characterized by a markedly improved post-transfusion recovery and hemostatic function in mice. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that TACE is expressed in platelets and that it is the key enzyme mediating shedding of GPIbα.
Passive Stiffness Changes Caused by Upregulation of Compliant Titin Isoforms in Human Dilated Cardiomyopathy Hearts
Authors: Makarenko I. , Opitz C.A. , Leake M.C. , Neagoe C. , Kulke M. , Gwathmey J.K. , del Monte F. , Hajjar R.J. , Linke W.A.
Published: September 2004

In the pathogenesis of dilated cardiomyopathy, cytoskeletal proteins play an important role. In this study, we analyzed titin expression in left ventricles of 19 control human donors and 9 severely diseased (nonischemic) dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) transplant-patients, using gel-electrophoresis, immunoblotting, and quantitative RT-PCR. Both human-heart groups coexpressed smaller (≈3 MDa) N2B-isoform and longer (3.20 to 3.35 MDa) N2BA-isoforms, but the average N2BA:N2B-protein ratio was shifted from ≈30:70 in controls to 42:58 in DCM hearts, due mainly to increased expression of N2BA-isoforms >3.30 MDa. Titin per unit tissue was decreased in some DCM hearts. The titin-binding protein obscurin also underwent isoform-shifting in DCM. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed a 47% reduction in total-titin mRNA levels in DCM compared with control hearts, but no differences in N2B, all-N2BA, and individual-N2BA transcripts. The reduction in total-titin transcripts followed from a decreased area occupied by myocytes and increased connective tissue in DCM hearts, as detected by histological analysis. Force measurements on isolated cardiomyofibrils showed that sarcomeric passive tension was reduced on average by 25% to 30% in DCM, a reduction readily predictable with a model of wormlike-chain titin elasticity. Passive-tension measurements on human-heart fiber bundles, before and after titin proteolysis, revealed a much-reduced relative contribution of titin to total passive stiffness in DCM. Results suggested that the titin-isoform shift in DCM depresses the proportion of titin-based stiffness by ≈10%. We conclude that a lower-than-normal proportion of titin-based stiffness in end-stage failing hearts results partly from loss of titin and increased fibrosis, partly from titin-isoform shift. The titin-isoform shift may be beneficial for myocardial diastolic function, but could impair the contractile performance in systole.
Homocysteine and the Risk of Ischemic Stroke in a Triethnic Cohort
Authors: Sacco Ralph L. , Anand Kishlay , Lee Hye-Seung , Boden-Albala Bernadette , Stabler Sally , Allen Robert , Paik Myunghee C.
Published: September 2004

Background and Purpose—

The level of total homocysteine (tHcy) that confers a risk of ischemic stroke is unsettled, and no prospective cohort studies have included sufficient elderly minority subjects. We investigated the association between mild to moderate fasting tHcy level and the incidence of ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and vascular death in a multiethnic prospective study.

Methods—

A population-based cohort was followed for vascular events (stroke, myocardial infarction, and vascular death). Baseline values of tHcy and methylmalonic acid were measured among 2939 subjects (mean age, 69±10; 61% women, 53% Hispanics, 24% blacks, and 20% whites). Cox proportional models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs in tHcy categories after adjusting for age, race, education, renal insufficiency, B
12
deficiency, and other risk factors.

Results—

The adjusted HR for a tHcy level ≥15 μmol/L compared with <10 μmol/L was greatest for vascular death (HR=6.04; 95% CI, 3.44 to 10.60), followed by combined vascular events (HR=2.27; 95% CI, 1.51 to 3.43), ischemic stroke (HR=2.01; 95% CI, 1.00 to 4.05), and nonvascular death (HR=2.02; 95% CI, 1.31 to 3.14). Mild to moderate elevations of tHcy of 10 to 15 μmol/L were not significantly predictive of ischemic stroke, but increased the risk of vascular death (2.27; 95% CI, 1.44 to 3.60) and combined vascular events (1.42; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.88). The effect of tHcy was stronger among whites and Hispanics, but not a significant risk factor for blacks.

Conclusions—

Total Hcy elevations above 15 μmol/L are an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke, whereas mild elevations of tHcy of 10 to 15 μmol/L are less predictive. The vascular effects of tHcy are greatest among whites and Hispanics, and less among blacks.
Conversion Therapies for Same-Sex Attracted Clients in Religious Conflict
Authors: Morrow Susan L. , Beckstead A. Lee
Published: September 2004

Despite a long history of viewing homosexuality as pathological and in need of change, the majority of mental health professions have, during the past 30 years, adopted statements that have depathologized lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. However, concurrent with these advances has been a rise in religious and therapeutic approaches to sexual reorientation (conversion or “reparative”) therapies. Recent scholarship highlights these controversies and the benefits and harms experienced by clients who have sought such interventions. This major contribution extends extant scholarship to include predisposing environmental and personality variables that lead same-sex attracted individuals in religious conflict to conversion therapies, an understanding of the journey to and through such therapies, and clinical implications and recommendations for working with these clients in a manner that does not contribute to further conflict.
Defined by our strategy or our culture? Hierarchical differences in perceptions of organizational identity and change
Authors: Corley Kevin G.
Published: September 2004

While theory and research have identified the possibility for multiple organizational identities to exist within an organization, there is little empirical evidence on how differentiation occurs or what its implications are for the organization. In the course of inductively studying an organizational spin-off, evidence of identity differentiation based on hierarchy level emerged in interview-, documentation-, and observation-based data. Higher levels of the hierarchy tended to see identity in light of the organization’s strategy, whereas lower aspects of the hierarchy saw it in relation to the organization’s culture. This identity differentiation was evident in marked differences in the perceptions organizational members had about: (i) the nature of organizational identity; (ii) the most salient identity-based discrepancies; (iii) the basis for organizational identity change; and (iv) how identity change can be implemented. After examining how and why this hierarchical differentiation occurred, I discuss the implications for our understanding of organizational identity and situate it in the larger context of organizational change.
‘Doublethink’: The prevalence and function of contradiction in accounts of organizational life
Authors: El-Sawad Amal , Arnold John , Cohen Laurie
Published: September 2004

Those engaged in conducting qualitative research frequently acknowledge the presence of contradiction in their data. However, within the organization studies literature little attention is paid to teasing out these contradictions and subjecting them to critical analysis. This article advances our knowledge of contradiction in accounts of organizational life. Drawing on new empirical evidence from a qualitative interview study of employees working in a large blue-chip corporation, we critically assess a number of instances of contradiction or ‘doublethink’ within this particular organizational setting. We challenge the assumption underpinning much of the existing literature that individuals are uncomfortable with contradiction and seek to resolve it whenever it arises. We argue that doublethink provides a means of containing contradiction such that it is neither acknowledged as contradiction nor experienced as uncomfortable. We consider the findings in relation to notions of role positions which reflect/constitute different ways of ordering an individual’s experience, the mobilization of an overarching idiom to ‘contain’ the contradiction, and the privileging of practice over reflexivity.
Contracting Out in Korean Local Governments: Current Situation and Challenges Ahead
Authors: Park Se-Jeong
Published: September 2004

Faced with an economic crisis in the 1990s, the Korean government pushed on strongly with a privatization policy as one of the main tools for reforming government. In compliance with the national policy, local governments in Korea began to expand privatization in the 1990s. In spite of this development in practice, systemic efforts at assessing privatization have been deficient in academia. Consequently, little is known about privatization in Korean local governments. This study is intended to remedy such a deficiency. It introduces readers to Korean local government experiences with contracting out which is one of the most typical forms of privatization. Main topics in this study include the background to and motivation for contracting out in Korean local governments, features and results of contracting out, problems encountered in the process of contracting out and the tasks ahead. For the discussion, it analyzes the actual cases of two regional governments and 17 municipal governments.
Performance Measurement for Tax Administrations: The Case of Slovenia
Authors: Klun Maja
Published: September 2004

Reforming the public sector has meant changes in tax administration. Yet tax reform in most countries has overlooked administrative improvements and focused instead on changing tax rates, addressing the economic efficiency of the tax system and developing new forms of taxation. The literature does not offer any common definitions for measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of a tax administration, presenting a piecemeal approach to its operations. This article proposes a model for the comprehensive performance measurement of tax administration and describes the use of this model in assessing the work of tax administration in Slovenia. The assessment revealed a common problem with measurements in transition countries, demonstrating that the tax administration is only aware of weak points in areas assessed using indicators derived from data it collects itself. This neglects soft indicators and work assessments assisted by taxpayers. Evaluating work using indicators of this type has revealed the poor functioning of the tax administration in several areas.
Interpreting the Impact of Culture on Structure
Authors: Walsh Kate
Published: September 2004

Research in multinational organizational structures has traditionally used either a rational, conscious perspective in which decision makers, through a single-loop change process, strategically choose to interpret the environmental culture to shape the organization’s structure or a nationalistic view, in which through a double-loop change process, organizational members of one culture impose their favored structures on organizational members of a different culture. This article considers a third perspective, one in which organizational culture and structure are socially constructed phenomena. Through a case study of a multinational office staffed by members of two distinct national cultures (Japanese and American), this research demonstrates how cultures and structures can be simultaneously created through single-, double-, and triple-loop change processes. These processes can lead to a third-order level of change. Ideas for “actionizing” this concept are discussed.
Are Indigenous Chinese Personality Dimensions Culture-Specific?
Authors: Lin Ellen Jia-Ling , Church A. Timothy
Published: September 2004

The cross-cultural generalizability of Chinese personality dimensions—in particular, the Interpersonal Relatedness dimension of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI)—was investigated in samples of Chinese Americans (n= 201) and European Americans (n= 236). Four CPAI factors, including Interpersonal Relatedness, replicated very well in a Chinese American sample and fairly well in a European American sample, indicating that these dimensions are not unique to Chinese populations. Lowacculturation Chinese Americans, but not high-acculturation Chinese Americans, averaged higher than European Americans on the Interpersonal Relatedness dimension. This suggested that the Interpersonal Relatedness dimension, although not culture-unique, is more salient in or characteristic of individuals who retain or identify with traditional Chinese culture. Contrary to previous interpretations of the Interpersonal Relatedness dimension in terms of interdependent self-construals, the dimension was only modestly correlated with relational and collective aspects of self, two aspects of interdependent self-construals.
French and American Mothers’ Childrearing Beliefs
Authors: Suizzo Marie-Anne
Published: September 2004

Previous research on French parenting suggests that the French share characteristics with both individualistic and collectivist cultures, but cross-cultural studies remain scarce. For this study, 84 European American and 120 French mothers completed two measures of beliefs about childrearing practices with 1-day-old to 3-year-old children and long-term goals and values for children. Both groups believed stimulating practices to be more important than responsiveness practices. French mothers attributed greater importance to stimulating and less importance to responding than American mothers. Although both groups valued long-term goals representing inner psychological attributes more than those representing concrete achievements, French mothers valued concrete goals slightly more than American mothers. Results suggest that although French and European American parents’cultural models share some aspects of individualistic cultures, they are distinctly different. This study contributes to the argument that further differentiation of the individualism/ collectivism framework is necessary to adequately explain variations in cultural models of parenting.
Integrating Mindfulness Meditation and Somatic Awareness into a Public Educational Setting
Authors: Holland Daniel
Published: September 2004

Experiential learning in meditation and self-awareness can be valuably integrated into the college and university curriculum. Along with this promotion of experiential learning, greater attention should also be brought to the wisdom and diversity that students with disabilities bring to the college campus. A course was offered at a state university in the South in the fall of 2001 that aimed to address both of these educational goals. The course, entitled “Contemplative Practice, Health Promotion, and Disability on Campus: An Experiential Seminar in Partnership with Disability Support Services,” was developed through support from a Contemplative Practice Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. The experiential course content involved mindfulness meditation and somatic education. The course was open to all students, but students with disabilities were particularly welcomed. The following article describes the nature of the course, its development, and the results. The course syllabus is provided in the appendix.
Picture This
Authors: Clark Roger , Fink Heather
Published: September 2004

The authors provide a multicultural feminist analysis of picture books for children by looking at the illustrations and listening carefully to themes of oppression and resistance in 33 picture books that focus on characters that are on the powerless side of some powerless/powerful social dichotomy. The authors find many images that either depict oppression or celebrate difference. They also find stories that extol the virtues of cooperation among similarly oppressed others, cooperation among differently oppressed others, and escape. They annotate the books to provide some sense of the themes of oppression and resistance that appear in each of them.
Changes in Psychological Distress among East German Adolescents Facing German Unification
Authors: Pinquart Martin , Silbereisen Rainer K. , Juang Linda P.
Published: September 2004

Abrupt social change, such as the breakdown of a political system of the former communist states, presents a major adaptive challenge to the individual. The authors analyzed whether commitment to the old political system and high self-efficacy beliefs measured before German unification would predict change in psychological distress in East German adolescents in the first 2 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Adolescents who were highly committed to the old East German political system showed a stronger increase in distress after unification, however only if they had low preunification self-efficacy beliefs. In adolescents with average and high levels of preunification self-efficacy, previous identification with the East German system was not related to change in psychological distress. In addition, higher self-efficacy predicted a decrease in psychological distress over time.
Strategic Beliefs and the Formation of Enduring International Rivalries: Israel’s National Security Conception, 1948–56
Authors: Mor Ben D.
Published: September 2004

Knowledge about enduring rivalries has grown in the last decade, but their ideational foundations remain largely unexplored. A few studies have related the incrementalist pattern of rivalry formation to the impact of beliefs, but the same has not been attempted for the punctuated equilibrium pattern of evolution. The latter possibility is considered in this article, which argues that national security conceptions – as strategic belief systems – may have such an effect. This happens when the conjunction of early conflict events with certain components of the national security conception generate a protracted threat perception, leading to a rapid lock-in of the rivalry. Thereafter, the interaction stabilizes as a result of self-reinforcing cycles that engage beliefs, behavior, and outcomes in a vicious circle. These ideas are examined in the context of Israel’s national security conception, as it evolved during the early years of the Egyptian–Israeli rivalry.
Systemism, Social Mechanisms, and Scientific Progress: A Case Study of the International Crisis Behavior Project
Authors: James Patrick
Published: September 2004

Systemism and social mechanisms, as articulated by Bunge, are concepts with great potential for application to assessment of research progress. This study will use the conceptual tools made available by systemism and social mechanisms to evaluate the International Crisis Behavior (ICB) Project as a scientific effort toward the greater understanding of crises in world politics. Systemism and social mechanisms are articulated as key concepts in the quest for scientific progress. The goals and basic characteristics of the ICB Project as a scientific venture then are described. The ICB Project is assessed in terms of how well it lives up to standards for scientific progress. Finally, conclusions and ideas about future research are presented. The basic finding of this study is that the ICB Project is quite successful in meeting the standards for scientific progress entailed by the concepts of systemism and social mechanisms.
Naturalizing Or Demythologizing Scientific Inquiry: Kitcher’s
Authors: Rottschaefer William A.
Published: September 2004

In Science, Truth and Democracy, Philip Kitcher has argued that science ought to meet both the epistemic goals of significant truth and the nonepistemic goals of serving the interests of a democratic society. He opposes this science as servant model to both the theology of science as source of salvific truth and the theology of science as anti-Christ. In a recent critical comment, Paul A. Roth argues that Kitcher remains entangled in the theology of salvific truth, not realizing that its goal is either vacuous or unattainable. Instead of theologies, Roth proposes demythologization. In the end, science attains neither truth nor value, for these goals are incomprehensible and unattainable. Consequently, science’s goals are entirely pedestrian and without special interest. Adopting Kitcher’s own scientific naturalistic epistemology, the author argues for a naturalized theology of science, using a science as mediator model, in which both nature and scientist have a role in the acquisition of significant truth.
Can Understanding Undermine Explanation? The Confused Experience of Revolution
Authors: Kurzman Charles
Published: September 2004

This article makes six points, using evidence from the Iranian Revolution of 1979: (1) Causal mechanisms, indeed all explanations, imply certain inner states on the part of individuals. (2) The experience of revolution is dominated by confusion. (3) People involved in revolutions act largely in response to their best guesses about how others are going to act. (4) These guesses and responses can shift swiftly and dramatically, in ways that participants and observers cannot predict. (5) Explanation involves retroactive prediction: it implies that if we had recognized causal factors A, B, or C at the time, we would have expected some ensuing development. (6) To the extent that revolutionary experience is characterized by confusion, then understanding this experience may disconfirm all explanation.
Mother Goose’s Map
Authors: Churchill David S.
Published: September 2004

This article is an exploration of the ways that gay men negotiated and created urban spaces in 1950s Toronto. A significant part of this everyday encounter was the proliferation of tabloid journalism that exploited and mapped out transgressive domains of same-sex erotics for its readers. Using a variety of sources, such as oral histories, government documents, and these local newspaper tabloids, the author traces the contours of same-sex urban spaces, their conceptual and geographical linkages, and their relationship to the larger society within which they are set. Ultimately, the author shows how the securing of these spaces was deeply implicated in existing class and gender hierarchies that simultaneously served as places of resistance and domination.
Cultural Identity and Local Self-Government
Authors: Hon Tze-Ki
Published: September 2004

Until recently, the study of Chinese historical writings of the 1920s and 1930s has centered on “the May Fourth approach to history,” especially the Doubting Antiquity Movement (yigu yundong) led by Gu Jiegang. By privileging their historical writings as modern or progressive and labeling their opponents’ as traditional or regressive, we fail to see the full scope of the modern Chinese historical debate and overlook its social and political underpinnings. In this article, based on a close reading of History of Chinese Culture (Zhongguo wenhua shi) of Liu Yizheng (1880-1956), the author seeks to contextualize the historical debate in terms of the political and social change in post-1911 China. Written in the early 1920s when intellectuals still could express different views of the nation without the fear of state censorship, Liu’s History of Chinese Culture gave renewed emphasis to local self-government, thereby challenging the expansion of the state.
Anxiety, Depression and Self-Esteem in Secondary School Children
Authors: Locker Joanne , Cropley Mark
Published: September 2004

With the introduction of a new curriculum and increased targets for schools, children are facing increased pressure to succeed in examinations at increasingly earlier ages. It is therefore necessary to emphasize the need for greater awareness of the distress that may be experienced by young children and adolescents as a result and implement provision for early interventions. The aim of this study was to investigate changes occurring in anxiety, affect, depression and self-esteem in secondary school children as they approached important school examinations and to examine variations between schools of differing design and status. There were a total of 520 participants, from four different schools in two school years (year 9, age 13-14 and year 11, age 15-16). Participants completed self-report questionnaires at two time points—firstly during regular term time and the second in the week immediately prior to the examinations. Gender differences were found in the majority of measures with females displaying greater levels of anxiety and negative affect immediately before the examinations, whereas males reported higher positive affect and self-esteem and lower depression and anxiety, even within the week prior to the examinations. Differences between the schools were also found. However, there were no significant differences between the two school years and the two times of testing. A number of trends were identified in relation to both gender differences and the influence of the type of school attended. Females, particularly those attending independent or grammar schools, reported a greater negative mood overall and before the examinations. It is suggested that there is a need for a school-based provision aimed at pro-actively increasing pupils self-esteem and to develop skills for dealing with stressful situations—particularly important examinations.
Getting a Cue: The Need to Belong and Enhanced Sensitivity to Social Cues
Authors: Pickett Cynthia L. , Gardner Wendi L. , Knowles Megan
Published: September 2004

To successfully establish and maintain social relationships, individuals need to be sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others. In the current studies, the authors predicted that individuals who are especially concerned with social connectedness—individuals high in the need to belong—would be particularly attentive to and accurate in decoding social cues. In Study 1, individual differences in the need to belong were found to be positively related to accuracy in identifying vocal tone and facial emotion. Study 2 examined attention to vocal tone and accuracy in a more complex social sensitivity task (an empathic accuracy task). Replicating the results of Study 1, need to belong scores predicted both attention to vocal tone and empathic accuracy. Study 3 provided evidence that the enhanced performance shown by those high in the need to belong is specific to social perception skills rather than to cognitive problem solving more generally.
Race/Ethnicity and Marital Status in IADL Caregiver Networks
Authors: Feld Sheila , Dunkle Ruth E. , Schroepfer Tracy
Published: September 2004

Racial/ethnic variations in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) caregiver network composition were examined in a nationally representative sample of elders, using task specificity and hierarchical compensatory theoretical perspectives. Logistic regressions tested network differences among White, Black, and Mexican American elders ( n = 531 married, n = 800 unmarried). Findings concerning racial/ethnic differences were partially dependent on marital status, differentiation of spouses from other informal helpers among married elders, and which racial/ethnic groups were compared. Networks including formal caregivers did not differentiate married or unmarried Black from White elders but were more common among unmarried Mexican American elders than for comparable White and Black elders. Married Black elders with solely informal networks were more likely than comparable White elders to have informal helpers other than the spouse. Racial/ethnic similarities and differences in caregiver networks are discussed relative to their sociocultural context, including marital status, elder’s and spouse’s health, and financial resources
Bringing Space Back in: Organizing the Generative Building
Authors: Kornberger Martin , Clegg Stewart R.
Published: September 2004

In this article, we re.ect on architecture and management and organization theory, in terms of their mutual implications. We focus especially on a tacit implication in mainstream organization theory, which has an architectural genesis. In the past, management has been largely undergirded by a Cartesian rationality, one seen most clearly in the argument that structure follows strategy. Architecturally, this Cartesianism is present in the injunction that form follows function. Criticizing this point of view, we argue that organizations should be thought of as material, spatial ensembles — not just cognitive abstractions writ large. Linking space and organization in this way, we re.ect on the power that every spatial organization necessarily implies, both in negative and positive terms. After examining existing approaches to this issue, we discuss some positive power implications for management. We introduce the concept of the generative building that, instead of being a merely passive container for actions happening in it, contributes positively towards an organization’s capacities. We conclude with a re.ection on the impact of the generative building on management and processes of organizing.
The (Non)Sense of Organizational Change: An Essai about Universal Management Hypes, Sick Consultancy Metaphors, and Healthy Organization Theories
Authors: Sorge Arndt , van Witteloostuijn Arjen
Published: September 2004

The global business world is infected by a virus that induces a permanent need for organizational change, which is fed by the management consultancy industry. The nature of the organizational change hype changes colour frequently, through the emergence of new universal management fashions. An urge to change is understandable from the perspectives of the consultant and the manager, but often organizational changes are ineffective or counter-productive when implemented. In this context, this article’s purpose is threefold. First, on the basis of an interpretation of different literatures, we .esh out an argument about the nonsense of organizational change that is driven by sick consultancy metaphors. Second, we argue that the application of healthy organization theories offers ample guidelines for organizational change initiatives that make more sense than prominent management consultancy rhetoric. Third, pulling both strings together, we plead for the development of an evidence-based (change) consultancy practice.
How Sarcastic are You?
Authors: Ivanko Stacey L. , Pexman Penny M. , Olineck Kara M.
Published: September 2004

In the present research, the authors examined the effects of self-perceived use of sarcasm on the production, interpretation, and processing of verbal irony. Accordingly, they first devised and evaluated a sarcasm self-report scale (SSS). In Experiment 1, results showed that participants’ self-perceived use of sarcastic irony (as assessed by the SSS) predicted their use of ironic statements in a production task and was related to their interpretation of ironic criticisms and ironic compliments. In Experiment 2, results showed that participants’ perceived use of irony was related to their processing of ironic statements: SSS scores were related to relative processing speeds for literal and ironic statements. The results of these experiments indicate that there are individual differences in purported use of sarcasm that influence interpretation and processing of verbal irony.
Gender Markedness of Language
Authors: Irmen Lisa , Roßberg Nadja
Published: September 2004

Three experiments investigated how grammatical gender and gender stereotypicality influence the way person information is mentally represented. Participants read sentences about social groups denoted by nouns with different grammatical gender and stereotypicality. A following sentence contained a reference to the social group that qualified the group members as female, male, or neither one. Experiment 1 tested grammatically masculine nouns; Experiment 2 tested gender-balanced forms, composed of the masculine and the feminine or neither one; and Experiment 3 tested nouns without gender inflection. Stereotypicality varied within studies. Second sentence reading times differed depending on the fit between grammatical gender and stereotypicality of the first sentence’s subject and the subsequent information’s gender-relatedness. Both grammatical gender and stereotypicality contribute biological gender information to mentally represented person information. Strong grammatical input may override stereotypicality’s influence. The feminine’s influence seems to be weaker than the masculine’s. Results are discussed in the framework of the scenario mapping and focus approach.
Style and Content in E-Mails and Letters to Male and Female Friends
Authors: Colley Ann , Todd Zazie , Bland Matthew , Holmes Michael , Khanom Nuzibun , Pike Hannah
Published: September 2004

This study examined gender differences in the style and content of e-mails and letters sent to friends on the topic of how time had been spent in the previous summer. Gender differences were found in both style and content supporting previous findings that female communication is more relational and expressive than that of males and focuses more upon personal and domestic topics. Women used the less formal stylistic conventions of e-mails to signal excitability in different ways to their male and female friends, whereas men ended their communications in a more relational way to their female than their male friends, and the nature of this difference varied according to the type of communication used.
The Liverpool Desistance Study and Probation Practice: Opening the Dialogue
Authors: Maruna Shadd , Porter Louise , Carvalho Irene
Published: September 2004

The notion of ‘desistance’ (or ‘going straight’) is becoming a more prominent one in criminological discourse, and the Liverpool Desistance Study(LDS) aimed to provide a deeper understanding of this process from the perspective of the individuals taking this life path. However, the LDS was not intended to address how the research might be applied in practice. This article therefore briefly outlines the research and discusses some of the policy implications, in order to open a debate with practitioners and others about the way that the research might be relevant to everyday practice with people who offend. The papers that follow this article were written in response to the challenge of applying the findings of the LDS in probation practice.
Perceived Mattering in Young Adults’ Romantic Relationships
Authors: Mak Leanne , Marshall Sheila K.
Published: September 2004

The central goal of this study was to examine the construct of perceived mattering, the psychological tendency to perceive the self as significant to specific others, with regard to a romantic partner. In Study 1, data were collected from young adults involved in romantic relationships ( N = 173) using open-ended survey response techniques. Findings from a qualitative analysis provided complex and rich information about young adults’ perceptions of mattering to their current romantic partners. Responses were used to develop a scale that was administered in Study 2 to a sample ( N = 99) of young adults in romantic relationships. Analyses indicated that the scale is internally consistent and tests of association with measures of the quality of alternatives, relationship satisfaction, and investment size offer support for the validity of the measure.
Preference Assessment Method Affects Decision-Analytic Recommendations: A Prostate Cancer Treatment Example
Authors: Elkin Elena B. , Cowen Mark E. , Cahill Daniel , Steffel Mary , Kattan Michael W.
Published: September 2004

Purpose. To evaluate the effect of preference assessment method on treatment recommended by an individualized decision-analytic model for early prostate cancer. Methods. Health state preferences were elicited by time tradeoff, rating scale, and a power transformation of the rating scale from 63 men ages 55 to 75. The authors used these values in a Markov model to determine whether radical prostatectomy or watchful waiting yielded the greater quality-adjusted life expectancy. Results. Time tradeoff and transformed rating scale recommendations differed widely. Time tradeoff and transformed rating scale utilities differed in their treatment recommendation for 21% to 52% of men, and the mean difference in quality-adjusted life years varied from less than 0.5 to greater than 1.0. Conclusions. Treatment recommendations from the prostate cancer decision model were sensitive to the method of preference assessment. If decision analysis is used to counsel individual patients, careful considerationmust be given to the method of preference elicitation.
Computation on Parametric Curves with an Application in Grasping
Authors: Jia Yan-Bin
Published: September 2004

Curved shapes are frequent subjects of maneuvers by the human hand. In robotics, it is well known that antipodal grasps exist on curved objects and guarantee force closure under proper finger contact conditions. This paper presents an efficient algorithm that computes, up to numerical resolution, all pairs of antipodal points on a simple, closed, and twice continuously differentiable plane curve. Dissecting the curve into segments everywhere convex or everywhere concave, the algorithm marches simultaneously on a pair of such segments with provable convergence and interleaves marching with numerical bisection recursively. It makes use of new insights into the differential geometry at two antipodal points. We have avoided resorting to traditional nonlinear programming, which would neither be quite as efficient nor guarantee to find all antipodal points. A byproduct of our result is a procedure that constructs all common tangent lines of two curves, achieving quadratic convergence rate. Dissection and the coupling of marching with bisection constitute an algorithm design scheme potentially applicable to computational problems involving curves and curved shapes.
Celebrating the Père de Famille: Pronatalism and Fatherhood in Eighteenth-Century France
Authors: Tuttle Leslie
Published: September 2004

Between 1760 and 1790, the French royal government awarded thousands of tax reductions and payments to fathers with ten or more children. The official purpose of the awards was to encourage population, but the correspondence between applicants and administrators dwells on the definition of a “good father” more than on population. Applicants and administrators agreed in general on a sentimentalized model of good fatherhood with roots in the Catholic Reformation; a good father provided sustenance, education, and a good moral example to his children in performance of his quasi-sacred paternal duty. The ideal of fatherhood emerging from pronatalist discourse confirms that the patriarchal-authoritarian model, which had in the past bolstered arguments for royal power, was displaced in the mid-eighteenth century by a newer focus on paternal obligation, even in the administrative discourse of the royal government.
Strangers, Citizens and Outsiders: Otherness, Multiculturalism and the Cosmopolitan Imaginary in Mobile Societies
Authors: Rundell John
Published: September 2004

This article deploys a double conceptual framework. One frame is positioned through the ideas of absolute strangers and outsiders. The other frame develops out of, though is distinct from, the first, and refers to the disaggregated forms of modern citizenship. The citizen-as-absolute-stranger in addition to accruing political rights may also accrue social, economic or identity rights, or traverse wider relations between him or herself and other absolute strangers in either national or international settings. It is in this context that outsiders are configured - aliens who have no national-juridical status
The Effects of Ventilation and Preburn Time on Water Mist Extinguishing of Diesel Fuel Pool Fires
Authors: Yuan Liming , Lazzara Charles P.
Published: September 2004

The goal of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Pittsburgh Research Laboratory Fire Fighting and Prevention Program is to reduce the number of fires and fire-related injuries in the mining industry. As part of this effort, water mist is being evaluated for the suppression of underground mine fires, such as fires in diesel fuel storage areas. In this study a series of large-scale fire tests was conducted to investigate the effects of ventilation and preburn time on water mist extinguishing of three diesel fuel pool fires with heat release rates of 230 kW, 1, and 3MW. The experiments were conducted in a simulated underground coal mine diesel fuel storage area under three ventilation conditions: no ventilation, natural ventilation, and forced ventilation and with two preburn times for the no ventilation condition: 30 s and 1 min. Without ventilation the 230kW fire was the most difficult to extinguish; with natural ventilation the 1MW fire took the longest time to extinguish; and with forced ventilation the 3MW fire was the most challenging one. With the 30-s preburn time, the extinguishing time was nearly the same for the 230kW fire as with the 1-min preburn time, while it increased for both 1 and 3MW fires, with the 1MW fire being the most difficult to extinguish. The extinguishing mechanisms including fuel surface cooling, flame cooling, and oxygen depletion and displacement are discussed. The critical water flow rate is estimated for the fires extinguished by the surface cooling mechanism.
Experimental Investigation into Penetration of a Weak Fire Plume into a Hot Upper Layer
Authors: Watanabe Jun-Ichi , Tanaka Takeyoshi
Published: September 2004

A hot upper layer pre-established under the ceiling of a room in a house due to a solar load in the summer or room heating in the winter may cause problems for fire detection by ceiling-mounted smoke detectors. A weak plume from a smoldering fire may be pushed back down by the hot layer, and be unable to reach a ceiling-mounted detector. In this study, based on the physics of plume penetration into a hot upper layer, a model for the penetration height was developed as a function of the distance of an upper layer from a fire source and the temperatures of the upper layer and the plume axis. A series of experiments were conducted to validate the model and determine the value of the coefficient involved in the model. Also measurements were made of the heat of combustion of smoldering fire of Test Fire 3 (TF3) prescribed in ISO/TC21/SC3 N301(Draft) using a cone calorimeter to see if a well-established formula for plume temperature is still usable for predicting penetration of a weak plume. Based on these results, it was confirmed that plume penetration height can be estimated even if the plume originates from a small heat source such as smoldering fire.
A National Research Council-Style Study
Authors: Stiftel Bruce , Rukmana Deden , Alam Bhuiyan
Published: September 2004

Faculty quality assessment methods of the National Research Council study of research doctorate programs are applied to U.S. urban and regional planning graduate programs. Findings suggest that about one-half of planning faculty actively publish and that there is considerable concentration of both publication and citation activity among a relatively small group of scholars and schools. Accredited and nonaccredited schools show substantial differences, as do doctoral degree-granting schools compared with master’s-only schools. The strengths and weaknesses of faculty quality measures used are discussed, leading to a call for other studies using different measures.
Venomous Snakebites Worldwide with a Focus on the Australia-Pacific Region: Current Management and Controversies
Authors: Cheng Allen C. , Currie Bart J.
Published: September 2004

Snakebites are estimated to cause approximately 100,000 deaths each year worldwide and disproportionately affect rural populations in resource-poor settings. Snake venoms may produce local tissue damage and/or distinct clinical syndromes, including neurotoxicity, coagulopathy, hypotension, rhabdomyolysis, and renal failure. Field management is aimed at delaying systemic absorption of toxins, minimizing local damage and infection, and expediting transport to medical facilities. The use of the pressureimmobilization method remains controversial. The use of antivenom, administered in a timely fashion and in adequate doses, is the mainstay of hospital treatment of significant envenomation. The availability, efficacy, and safety of antivenoms vary throughout the world, with a current crisis in antivenom supplies.
Protocol-Driven Ventilator Management in Children: Comparison to Nonprotocol Care
Authors: Restrepo Ruben D. , Fortenberry James D. , Spainhour Christine , Stockwell Jana , Goodfellow Lynda T.
Published: September 2004

The purpose of this study was to compare ventilator weaning time, time to spontaneous breathing, and overall ventilator hours duration with use of a ventilator management protocol (VMP) versus standard nonprotocol-based care in a pediatric intensive care unit. A multidisciplinary task force developed a comprehensive protocol for ventilator management with four specific phases: initial ventilator set up and adjustment, weaning, minimal settings, and spontaneous mode prior to extubation. Medical records of ventilated patients both before and after protocol implementation were reviewed. A total of 187 patients were studied (89 nonprotocol and 98 VMP patients). No differences were seen between groups in PRISM scores, Murray scores, or oxygenation indices, but VMP patients were significantly younger (P= .03). Ventilator weaning times (P= .005) and time to spontaneous breathing modes (P= .006) were significantly decreased in VMP patients compared to nonprotocol patients, but overall ventilator duration was not significantly different. No significant differences were seen in extubation failure, use of corticosteroids, or use of racemic epinephrine between groups. Use of an institution-specific VMP developed by a multidisciplinary team was associated with significantly reduced ventilator weaning time and time to spontaneous breathing. Further studies are needed.