bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
I Double‐Dog Dare you in Jesus’ Name! Claiming Christian Wealth and the American Prosperity Gospel
Authors: Hladky Kathleen
Published: January 2012

Since the 1980s, prosperity gospel Christianity has exploded in its size and influence, with global television ministries like Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Daystar Television Network, and The Word Network expanding the reach of the American‐born religion to every nation. Most popularly called the Faith movement many may recognize this form of Christianity by a variety of other labels, such as the Gospel of Wealth and Health, Word of Faith, Prosperity Theology, Name it and Claim it, Seed‐Faith, Abundant Life, or the more derisive Blab it and Grab it. Most observers associate the Faith movement with two teachings: first, God grants all his faithful followers physical health and financial prosperity; second, believers claim their divine right to wealth and health through positive confession, financial offerings, and the persistent faith that God must fulfill his promises. Promises of total transformation, concern over exploitation, and controversies over Biblical interpretation have made the prosperity gospel a topic of scholarly and popular interest. This article explores the history of the prosperity gospel, with particular emphasis on understanding the largest and most visible of these traditions, the Faith movement. Throughout, I will highlight scholarly literature critical for understanding the contemporary and historic development of the prosperity gospel and ministries that have coalesced around its optimistic message. As I explore relevant works on New Thought, African American religions, and the Faith movement, I hope to provide insight into central questions, possible pitfalls, and under‐investigated dimensions of the American prosperity gospel, and finally to gesture towards fruitful avenues for future inquiry.
New Study of Anshunsaurus huangnihensis Cheng, 2007 (Reptilia: Thalattosauria): Revealing its Transitional Position in Askeptosauridae
Authors: Long CHENG , Xiaohong CHEN , Baomin ZHANG , Yongjian CAI
Published: December 2011

The skull of Anshunsaurus huangnihensis Cheng, 2007, especially the skull roof, is described in detail in this paper. Compared to other genera and species of Askeptosauroidea, Anshunsaurus huangnihensis has some important transitional characters from Askeptosaurus italicus to Anshunsaurus huangguoshuensis: the rostral length related to the skull length between Askeptosaurus italicus and Anshunsaurus huangguoshuensis; the postfrontal existing but distinctly reduced; the posterolateral process relatedly short and overlapping the parietal. The phylogenetic analysis weakly supports the evolutional progress from Anshunsaurus huangnihensis to Anshunsaurus huangguoshuensis. The skeletal ratios indicated that the node among the Askeptosauridae ingroup. The evolutional direction of Askeptosauridae should be from Askeptosaurus italicus to Anshunsaurus huangguoshuensis. The skeletal ratios indicated that the evolutional progress is Askeptosaurus italicus – Anshunsaurus huangnihensis – Anshunsaurus huangguoshuensis. In biogeography provinces, the Askeptosauroidea taxa from south China have a close relationship with those from western Tethys; however, Xinpusaurus from the Late Triassic is more related to those from the eastern Pacific.
Cretaceous Sandbody Characters at Shallow‐Water Lake Delta Front and the Sedimentary Dynamic Process Analysis in Songliao Basin, China
Authors: Xiyuan CAI , Rong ZHU
Published: December 2011

Based on the abundant information from drilling, cores, and logging, the influence of topography, size of rivers and lakes, climate changes and the lake level's fluctuation on the sandbodies at shallow‐water delta front are systematically summarized and the sedimentary dynamic processes are analyzed. The interwell communication among the sandbodies and their planar distribution revealed from the hydrodynamic features of the development wells are integrated during the analysis. The fundamental requirements for the development of the shallow‐water delta included flat topography and uniform subsiding rate. The delta plain was connected smoothly with the wide delta front and predelta, without the three‐fold structure of topset, foreset, and bottomset as defined in the Gilbert Delta Model. Because of the weak fluvial effect and the lake energy is strong, the small and scattered shallow‐water delta is destroyed by the scouring‐backwashing, coastal current, and lake wave, resulting in the coastal sheet deposition. As the fluvial effect became stronger and the lake energy became weaker, the shape of the shallow‐water deltas transferred from sheets to lumps and then branches.
Association between the ATF3 gene and non‐small cell lung cancer
Authors: Song Xiaoxue , Lu Fang , Liu Reng‐Yun , Lei Zhe , Zhao Jun , Zhou Qinghua , Zhang Hong‐Tao
Published: January 2012

Background:  Non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for ∼85% of all cases of lung cancer and has a poor prognosis. Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), a member of the ATF/cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding (ATF/cyclic response element binding) family of transcription factors, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several types of cancer. However, whether the expression of ATF3 is aberrant in NSCLC and genetic variants, or DNA methylation of the gene contributes to the tumorigenesis of NSCLC, are largely unknown.

Methods:  The expression of ATF3 in four NSCLC cell lines and normal human bronchial epithelial cell (HBEpiC) line was detected by Western blot analysis. The mutation of the 5′‐flanking 1500‐bp and coding sequence regions of the ATF3 gene were screened using DNA direct sequencing, and bisulfite‐sodium modification sequencing was used to detect the promoter methylation status of the gene.

Results:  up‐regulated expression of ATF3 was observed in NSCLC cell lines, and there was no difference in the sequence regions of the ATF3 gene between NSCLC cells and HBEpiC cells, which were validated in lung cancer tissues and their corresponding paracarcinoma tissues.

Conclusion:  Our findings suggest that the tumorigenesis of NSCLC may particularly attribute to increased expression of ATF3 but not the genetic variants of the gene.
Rotordynamic Evaluation of Centrifugal Compressor Using Electromagnetic Exciter
Authors: Takahashi Naohiko , Magara Yohei , Narita Mitsuhiro , Miura Haruo
Published: January 2012

Since heavier gases exert larger effects on rotordynamic stability, stability evaluation is important in developing or designing high-pressure compressors. To evaluate the rotor stability during operation, an excitation test using a magnetic bearing is the most practical method. In stability analysis, labyrinth seals can produce significant cross coupling forces, which particularly reduce the damping ratio of the first forward mode. Therefore, forward modes should be distinguished from backward modes in the excitation test. One method that excites only the forward modes, not the backward modes (and vice versa), is the use of a rotating excitation. In this method, the force is simultaneously applied to two axes to excite the rotor in circular orbits. Two trigonometric functions, i.e., cosine and sine functions, are used to generate this rotation force. Another method is the use of a unidirectional excitation and a mathematical operation to distinguish the forward whirl from the backward whirl. In this method, a directional frequency response function that separates the two modes in the frequency domain is obtained from four frequency response functions by using a complex number expression for the rotor motion. In this study, the latter method was employed to evaluate the rotor stability of a high-pressure compressor. To obtain the frequencies and damping ratios of the eigenvalues, the curve fitting based on system identification methods, such as the prediction error method, was introduced for the derived frequency response functions. Firstly, these methods were applied to a base evaluation under a low-pressure gas operation, in which the stability mainly depends on the bearing property. Using the obtained results, the bearing coefficients were estimated. Next, the same methods were applied to stability evaluations under high-pressure gas operations. The destabilizing forces were also estimated from the test results and compared with the calculation results.
Removing the Mystery of Entropy and Thermodynamics — Part I
Authors: Leff Harvey S.
Published: December 2011

Energy and entropy are centerpieces of physics. Energy is typically introduced in the study of classical mechanics. Although energy in this context can be challenging, its use in thermodynamics and its connection with entropy seem to take on a special air of mystery. In this five-part series, I pinpoint ways around key areas of difficulty to reduce that mystery. In Part I, the focus is on building an understanding of fundamental ideas of thermodynamics, including its connection with mechanics, and how entropy is defined and calculated. A central thread is that energy tends to spread within and between macroscopic objects, and this spreading is a surrogate for entropy increase. Specific questions are posed and answered, building on foundations laid in prior articles.1–8 Parts II–V elaborate considerably on the ideas introduced here. A question-answer format is used throughout, with major results enumerated in Key Points 1.1–1.5.
Novel Adenovirus-Based Vaccines Induce Broad and Sustained T Cell Responses to HCV in Man
Authors: Barnes Eleanor , Folgori Antonella , Capone Stefania , Swadling Leo , Aston Stephen , Kurioka Ayako , Meyer Joel , Huddart Rachel , Smith Kira , Townsend Rachel , Brown Anthony , Antrobus Richard , Ammendola Virginia , Naddeo Mariarosaria , O’Hara Geraldine , Willberg Chris , Harrison Abby , Grazioli Fabiana , Esposito Maria Luisa , Siani Loredana , Traboni Cinzia , Oo Ye , Adams David , Hill Adrian , Colloca Stefano , Nicosia Alfredo , Cortese Riccardo , Klenerman Paul
Published: January 2012

An adenoviral HCV vaccine induces antiviral T cell responses in human volunteers.
The Effect of Robust Decisions on the Cost of Uncertainty in Military Airlift Operations
Authors: Powell Warren B. , Bouzaiene-Ayari Belgacem , Berger Jean , Boukhtouta Abdeslem , George Abraham P.
Published: December 2011

There are a number of sources of randomness that arise in military airlift operations. However, the cost of uncertainty can be difficult to estimate, and is easy to overestimate if we use simplistic decision rules. Using data from Canadian military airlift operations, we study the effect of uncertainty in customer demands as well as aircraft failures, on the overall cost. The system is first analyzed using the types of myopic decision rules widely used in the research literature. The performance of the myopic policy is then compared to the results obtained using robust decisions that account for the uncertainty of future events. These are obtained by modeling the problem as a dynamic program, and solving Bellman’s equations using approximate dynamic programming. The experiments show that even approximate solutions to Bellman’s equations produce decisions that reduce the cost of uncertainty.
Performance of partial reconfiguration in FPGA systems
Authors: Papadimitriou Kyprianos , Dollas Apostolos , Hauck Scott
Published: December 2011

Fine-grain reconfigurable devices suffer from the time needed to load the configuration bitstream. Even for small bitstreams in partially reconfigurable FPGAs this time cannot be neglected. In this article we survey the performance of the factors that contribute to the reconfiguration speed. Then, we study an FPGA-based system architecture and with real experiments we produce a cost model of Partial Reconfiguration (PR). This model is introduced to calculate the expected reconfiguration time and throughput. In order to develop a realistic model we take into account all the physical components that participate in the reconfiguration process. We analyze the parameters that affect the generality of the model and the adjustments needed per system for error-free evaluation. We verify it with real measurements, and then we employ it to evaluate existing systems presented in previous publications. The percentage error of the cost model when comparing its results with the actual values of those publications varies from 36% to 63%, whereas existing works report differences up to two orders of magnitude. Present work enables a user to evaluate PR and decide whether it is suitable for a certain application prior entering the complex PR design flow.
Exchanging sources between clean and Haskell
Authors: Groningen John van , Noort Thomas van , Achten Peter , Koopman Pieter , Plasmeijer Rinus
Published: December 2011

The functional programming languages Clean and Haskell have been around for over two decades. Over time, both languages have developed a large body of useful libraries and come with interesting language features. It is our primary goal to benefit from each other's evolutionary results by facilitating the exchange of sources between Clean and Haskell and study the forthcoming interactions between their distinct languages features. This is achieved by using the existing Clean compiler as starting point, and implementing a double-edged front end for this compiler: it supports both standard Clean 2.1 and (currently a large part of) standard Haskell 98. Moreover, it allows both languages to seamlessly use many of each other's language features that were alien to each other before. For instance, Haskell can now use uniqueness typing anywhere, and Clean can use newtypes efficiently. This has given birth to two new dialects of Clean and Haskell, dubbed Clean* and Haskell*. Additionally, measurements of the performance of the new compiler indicate that it is on par with the flagship Haskell compiler GHC.
Experience report
Authors: Morris J. Garrett
Published: December 2011

Hackage, an online repository of Haskell applications and libraries, provides a hub for programmers to both release code to and use code from the larger Haskell community. We suggest that Hackage can also serve as a valuable resource for language designers: by providing a large collection of code written by different programmers and in different styles, it allows language designers to see not just how features could be used theoretically, but how they are (and are not) used in practice.

We were able to make such a use of Hackage during the design of the class system for a new Haskell-like programming language. In this paper, we sketch our language design problem, and how we used Hackage to help answer it. We describe our methodology in some detail, including both ways that it was and was not effective, and summarize our results.
Nikola
Authors: Mainland Geoffrey , Morrisett Greg
Published: December 2011

We describe Nikola, a first-order language of array computations embedded in Haskell that compiles to GPUs via CUDA using a new set of type-directed techniques to support re-usable computations. Nikola automatically handles a range of low-level details for Haskell programmers, such as marshaling data to/from the GPU, size inference for buffers, memory management, and automatic loop parallelization. Additionally, Nikola supports both compile-time and run-time code generation, making it possible for programmers to choose when and where to specialize embedded programs.
Seq no more
Authors: Marlow Simon , Maier Patrick , Loidl Hans-Wolfgang , Aswad Mustafa K. , Trinder Phil
Published: December 2011

We present a complete redesign of
evaluation strategies
, a key abstraction for specifying pure, deterministic parallelism in Haskell. Our new formulation preserves the compositionality and modularity benefits of the original, while providing significant new benefits. First, we introduce an
evaluation-order monad
to provide clearer, more generic, and more efficient specification of parallel evaluation. Secondly, the new formulation resolves a subtle space management issue with the original strategies, allowing parallelism (sparks) to be preserved while reclaiming heap associated with superfluous parallelism. Related to this, the new formulation provides far better support for speculative parallelism as the garbage collector now prunes unneeded speculation. Finally, the new formulation provides improved compositionality: we can directly express parallelism embedded within lazy data structures, producing more compositional strategies, and our basic strategies are parametric in the coordination combinator, facilitating a richer set of parallelism combinators.

We give measurements over a range of benchmarks demonstrating that the runtime overheads of the new formulation relative to the original are low, and the new strategies even yield slightly better speedups on average than the original strategies
Scalable i/o event handling for GHC
Authors: O'Sullivan Bryan , Tibell Johan
Published: December 2011

We have developed a new, portable I/O event manager for the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (GHC) that scales to the needs of modern server applications. Our new code is transparently available to existing Haskell applications. Performance at lower concurrency levels is comparable with the existing implementation. We support millions of concurrent network connections, with millions of active timeouts, from a single multithreaded program, levels far beyond those achievable with the current I/O manager. In addition, we provide a public API to developers who need to create event-driven network applications.
Supercompilation by evaluation
Authors: Bolingbroke Maximilian , Peyton Jones Simon
Published: December 2011

This paper shows how call-by-need supercompilation can be recast to be based explicitly on an evaluator, contrasting with standard presentations which are specified as algorithms that mix evaluation rules with reductions that are unique to supercompilation. Building on standard operational-semantics technology for call-by-need languages, we show how to extend the supercompilation algorithm to deal with recursive
let
expressions.
Concurrence of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Kaouther Ben Abdelghani , Leila Souabni , Salwa Belhadj , Leith Zakraoui
Published: January 2012

We report a 21-year-old female patient known to have Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) who later developed multiple sclerosis (MS). The disease was documented on the brain and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the visual evoked potential. Our case emphasizes the need to evaluate the symptoms and brain MRI carefully. The concurrence of MS and JIA is uncommon. The possible relationship between the 2 diseases was discussed.
Diurnal and Seasonal Patterns of Methane Emissions from a Dairy Operation in North China Plain
Authors: Gao Zhiling , Yuan Huijun , Ma Wenqi , Li Jianguo , Liu Xuejun , Desjardins Raymond L.
Published: December 2011

In China, dairy cattle managed in collective feedlots contribute about 30% of the milk production and are believed to be an important contributor to national methane emissions. Methane emissions from a collective dairy feedlot in North China Plain (NCP) were measured during the winter, spring, summer, and fall seasons with open-path lasers in combination with an inverse dispersion technique. Methane emissions from the selected dairy feedlot were characterized by an apparent diurnal pattern with three peaks corresponding to the schedule of feeding activities. On a per capita basis, daily methane emission rates of these four seasons were 0.28, 0.32, 0.33, and 0.30 kg head−1 d−1, respectively. In summary, annual methane emission rate was 112.4 kg head−1 yr−1associated with methane emission intensity of 32.65 L CH4L−1of milk and potential methane conversion factor Ymof 6.66% of gross energy intake for mature dairy cows in North China Plain.
Extraskeletal Chondroma: Another Diagnostic Possibility for a Soft Tissue Axillary Mass in an Adolescent
Authors: Adaletli Ibrahim , Laor Tal , Yin Hong , Podberesky Daniel J.
Published: December 2011

Extraskeletal chondroma is a benign cartilaginous tumor that occurs predominantly in the soft tissues near small joints of the hands and feet. There are rare reports of the lesion in other sites, such as the head, neck, trunk, oral cavity, larynx, and pharynx. We present a case of an axillary mass in a 15-year-old girl who underwent MRI examination and resection, with the ultimate diagnosis of an extraskeletal chondroma, in order to expand the differential diagnosis of an axillary soft tissue mass in an adolescent.
Applications of GIS and Very High-Resolution RS Data for Urban Land Use Change Studies in Mongolia
Authors: Amarsaikhan D. , Battsengel V. , Egshiglen E. , Gantuya R. , Enkhjargal D.
Published: December 2011

The aim of this study is to analyze the urban land use changes occurred in the central part of Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, from 1930 to 2008 with a 10-year interval using geographical information system (GIS) and very high-resolution remote sensing (RS) data sets. As data sources, a large-scale topographic map, panchromatic and multispectral Quickbird images, and TerraSAR synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data are used. The primary urban land use database is developed using the topographic map of the study area and historical data about buildings. To extract updated land use information from the RS images, Quickbird and TerraSAR images are fused. For the fusion, ordinary and special image fusion techniques are used and the results are compared. For the final land use change analysis and RS image processing, ArcGIS and Erdas imagine systems installed in a PC environment are used. Overall, the study demonstrates that within the last few decades the central part of Ulaanbaatar city is urbanized very rapidly and became very dense.
Some Identities on the q‐Integral Representation of the Product of Several q‐Bernstein‐Type Polynomials
Authors: Kim Taekyun
Published: December 2011

The purpose of this paper is to give some properties of several q‐Bernstein‐type polynomials to express the q‐integral on [0, 1] in terms of q‐beta and q‐gamma functions. Finally, we derive some identities on the q‐integral of the product of several q‐Bernstein‐type polynomials.
Necrotizing Fasciitis in a Pediatric Patient Caused by Lancefield Group G Streptococcus: Case Report and Brief Review of the Literature
Authors: Rausch John , Foca Marc
Published: December 2011

We report a case of necrotizing fasciitis with an accompanying toxic shock syndrome caused by Group G Streptococcus in a pediatric patient with a lymphatic malformation. Pediatricians need to be aware of the possibility of such infections, especially in those with vascular/lymphatic malformations, as early treatment is critical for survival.
The Role of Athletics in the Self-Esteem of Tomboys
Authors: Halim May Ling , Dalmut Elizabeth , Greulich Faith K. , Ahlqvist Sheana , Lurye Leah E. , Ruble Diane N.
Published: December 2011

Many girls self-identify as tomboys, yet little is known about their experiences. Tomboys deviate from gender stereotypes; they also may be more highly aware of gender status differences. Because tomboys may feel different from others and more keenly feel the lower status of their gender group, they may suffer from lower levels of self-esteem. Yet many tomboys also tend to participate in athletics, an activity that often leads to higher levels of self-esteem. Two studies sought to disentangle the interactive effects of tomboy identification and athleticism on self-esteem. Study 1 sampled 144 female undergraduates and Study 2 sampled 66 girls aged from 8 to 13. In both studies, greater self-identification as a tomboy during childhood was associated with lower current self-esteem, but only for less athletic participants. Tomboys who were highly athletic had high levels of self-esteem. Together these findings suggest that participating in athletics can protect tomboys from decreased self-esteem.
Regime-Switching Risk: To Price or Not to Price?
Authors: Siu Tak Kuen
Published: December 2011

Should the regime-switching risk be priced? This is perhaps one of the important
“normative” issues to be addressed in pricing contingent claims under a Markovian, regime-switching, Black-Scholes-Merton model. We address this issue using a minimal relative entropy approach. Firstly, we apply a martingale representation for a double martingale to characterize the canonical space of equivalent martingale measures which may be viewed as the largest space of equivalent martingale measures to incorporate both the diffusion risk and the regime-switching risk. Then we show that an optimal equivalent martingale measure over the canonical space selected by minimizing the relative entropy between an equivalent martingale measure and the real-world probability measure does not price the regime-switching risk. The optimal measure also justifies the use of the Esscher transform for option valuation in the regime-switching market.
Induced Sputum Substance P in Children with Difficult-to-Treat Bronchial Asthma and Gastroesophageal Reflux: Effect of Esomeprazole Therapy
Authors: Bediwy Adel Salah , Elkholy Mohamed Gamal A. , Al-Biltagi Mohammed , Amer Hesham Galal , Farid Eman
Published: December 2011

Objectives. To assess the induced sputum substance P (ISSP) levels in children having difficult-to-treat asthma (DA) with and without gastroesophageal reflux (GER). We aimed also to evaluate the association of GER with childhood DA, relationship of GER severity with childhood asthma control test (C-ACT), FEV1, peak expiratory flow (PEF) variability, and ISSP. Finally, we tried to evaluate esomeprazole treatment effect on C-ACT and FEV1in children with DA.Methods. Spirometry, C-ACT, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and ISSP measurement were done for children with DA compared to healthy controls.Results. ISSP was high in DA with higher levels in the group having associated GER. In the latter group, ISSP and C-ACT improved significantly after esomeprazole treatment while FEV1and PEF variability did not improve. Reflux severity was positively correlated with ISSP and negatively correlated with FEV1.Conclusions. GER was found in 49% of our patients with childhood DA. Very high ISSP levels in children with DA may be used as a marker for presence of GERD. Esomeprazole therapy improved asthma symptoms but did not improve lung function.
Human Excretion of Bisphenol A: Blood, Urine, and Sweat (BUS) Study
Authors: Genuis Stephen J. , Beesoon Sanjay , Birkholz Detlef , Lobo Rebecca A.
Published: December 2011

Background. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an ubiquitous chemical contaminant that has recently been associated with adverse effects on human health. There is incomplete understanding of BPA toxicokinetics, and there are no established interventions to eliminate this compound from the human body. Using 20 study participants, this study was designed to assess the relative concentration of BPA in three body fluids—blood, urine, and sweat—and to determine whether induced sweating may be a therapeutic intervention with potential to facilitate elimination of this compound.Methods. Blood, urine, and sweat were collected from 20 individuals (10 healthy participants and 10 participants with assorted health problems) and analyzed for various environmental toxicants including BPA.Results. BPA was found to differing degrees in each of blood, urine, and sweat. In 16 of 20 participants, BPA was identified in sweat, even in some individuals with no BPA detected in their serum or urine samples.Conclusions. Biomonitoring of BPA through blood and/or urine testing may underestimate the total body burden of this potential toxicant. Sweat analysis should be considered as an additional method for monitoring bioaccumulation of BPA in humans. Induced sweating appears to be a potential method for elimination of BPA.
The Neuroprotective Disease-Modifying Potential of Psychotropics in Parkinson's Disease
Authors: Lauterbach Edward C. , Fontenelle Leonardo F. , Teixeira Antonio L.
Published: December 2011

Neuroprotective treatments in Parkinson's disease (PD) have remained elusive. Psychotropics are commonly prescribed in PD without regard to their pathobiological effects. The authors investigated the effects of psychotropics on pathobiological proteins, proteasomal activity, mitochondrial functions, apoptosis, neuroinflammation, trophic factors, stem cells, and neurogenesis. Only findings replicated in at least 2 studies were considered for these actions. Additionally, PD-related gene transcription, animal model, and human neuroprotective clinical trial data were reviewed. Results indicate that, from a PD pathobiology perspective, the safest drugs (i.e., drugs least likely to promote cellular neurodegenerative mechanisms balanced against their likelihood of promoting neuroprotective mechanisms) include pramipexole, valproate, lithium, desipramine, escitalopram, and dextromethorphan. Fluoxetine favorably affects transcription of multiple genes (e.g., MAPT, GBA, CCDC62, HIP1R), although it and desipramine reduced MPTP mouse survival. Haloperidol is best avoided. The most promising neuroprotective investigative priorities will involve disease-modifying trials of the safest agents alone or in combination to capture salutary effects on H3 histone deacetylase, gene transcription, glycogen synthase kinase-3, α-synuclein, reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), apoptosis, inflammation, and trophic factors including GDNF and BDNF.
Consensus on Twenty-First-Century Rainfall Projections in Climate Models More Widespread than Previously Thought
Authors: Power Scott B. , Delage François , Colman Robert , Moise Aurel
Published: December 2011

Under global warming, increases in precipitation are expected at high latitudes and near major tropical convergence zones in some seasons, while decreases are expected in many subtropical and midlatitude areas in between. In many other areas there is no consensus among models on the sign of the projected change. This is often assumed to indicate that precipitation projections in these regions are highly uncertain.

Here, twenty-first century precipitation projections under the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario using 24 World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)/Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) climate models are examined. In areas with no consensus on the sign of projected change there are extensive subregions where the projected change is “very likely” (i.e., probability > 0.90) to be small (relative to, e.g., the size of interannual variability during the late twentieth century) or zero. The statistical significance of and interrelationships between methods used to identify model consensus on projected change in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report are examined, and the impact of interdependency among model projections on statistical significance is investigated. Interdependency among projections is shown to be much weaker than interdependency among simulations of climatology. The results show that there is more widespread consistency among the model projections than one might infer from the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment report. This discovery highlights the broader need to identify regions, variables, and phenomena that are expected to be little affected by anthropogenic climate change and to communicate this information to the wider community. This is especially important for projections of climate for the next 1–3 decades.
Integrating Remote Sensing Data with WRF for Improved Simulations of Oasis Effects on Local Weather Processes over an Arid Region in Northwestern China
Authors: Wen Xiaohang , Lu Shihua , Jin Jiming
Published: December 2011

Land use/cover types derived by satellite remote sensing data from the Earth Observing System Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were used to replace the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data in the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). Simulations in this study were further improved by modifying the initial fields of WRF with soil temperature and moisture observations, because these two variables are important to producing “cold–wet island” effects. A series of WRF simulations were performed to describe microclimate characteristics and the local thermal circulation generated by the inhomogeneous surface over the Jinta oasis, which is located in Gansu—a northwestern province of China. Comparison between simulations and observations showed that the WRF results produced with observed soil temperature and moisture initializations agreed well with near-surface measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, and wind direction. Moreover, low temperatures over the oasis were found to coexist with high temperatures over the bare land, further leading to developments of local atmospheric circulation. The simulated winds over the oasis showed airmass divergence over the surface layer, triggering local circulation in the upper level. The integration of the MODIS land use/cover data with WRF and the initialization of WRF’s soil temperature and moisture with in situ observations improved the simulations in air temperature, relative humidity, and heat fluxes. These improvements enabled the WRF to reproduce the observed “cold and wet island” effects of the oasis.
Comparing Information Content of Upwelling Far-Infrared and Midinfrared Radiance Spectra for Clear Atmosphere Profiling
Authors: Merrelli Aronne , Turner David D.
Published: December 2011

The information content of high-spectral-resolution midinfrared (MIR; 650–2300 cm−1) and far-infrared (FIR; 200–685 cm−1) upwelling radiance spectra is calculated for clear-sky temperature and water vapor profiles. The wavenumber ranges of the two spectral bands overlap at the central absorption line in the CO2 ν2 absorption band, and each contains one side of the full absorption band. Each spectral band also includes a water vapor absorption band; the MIR contains the first vibrational–rotational absorption band, while the FIR contains the rotational absorption band. The upwelling spectral radiances are simulated with the line-by-line radiative transfer model (LBLRTM), and the retrievals and information content analysis are computed using standard optimal estimation techniques. Perturbations in the surface temperature and in the trace gases methane, ozone, and nitrous oxide (CH4, O3, and N2O) are introduced to represent forward-model errors. Each spectrum is observed by a simulated infrared spectrometer, with a spectral resolution of 0.5 cm−1, with realistic spectrally varying sensor noise levels. The modeling and analysis framework is applied identically to each spectral range, allowing a quantitative comparison. The results show that for similar sensor noise levels, the FIR shows an advantage in water vapor profile information content and less sensitivity to forward-model errors. With a higher noise level in the FIR, which is a closer match to current FIR detector technology, the FIR information content drops and shows a disadvantage relative to the MIR.
Estimating the Impact of Real Observations in Regional Numerical Weather Prediction Using an Ensemble Kalman Filter
Authors: Kunii Masaru , Miyoshi Takemasa , Kalnay Eugenia
Published: December 2011

The ensemble sensitivity method of Liu and Kalnay estimates the impact of observations on forecasts without observing system experiments (OSEs), in a manner similar to the adjoint sensitivity method of Langland and Baker but without using an adjoint model. In this study, the ensemble sensitivity method is implemented with the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with real observations. The results in the case of Typhoon Sinlaku (2008) show that upper-air soundings have the largest positive impact on the 12-h forecasts, and that the targeted impact evaluation performs as expected and is computationally efficient. Denying negative-impact observations improves the forecasts, validating the estimated observation impact.
A Tour of a New Paradigm
Authors: Blustein David L. , Medvide Mary Beth , Kozan Saliha
Published: December 2011

The authors provide a reaction to the Major Contribution by Richardson in this issue of The Counseling Psychologist on the counseling for work and relationships perspective. The authors examine the trajectory of Richardson’s work, beginning with her seminal article in 1993, which set the stage for a new paradigm for vocational psychology. Richardson’s current contribution fulfills the promise of her earlier work by creating a profound and pragmatic model for counseling that affirms market work, care work, relationships, and the complex social forces that frame these fundamental life experiences. The authors describe the core elements of the new paradigm and identify a few growth edges for this important new perspective. The authors recommend that scholars and practitioners examine their values about the good life and a good society as a means of expanding the scope and impact of Richardson’s work. The article concludes with an exploration of the practice and training implications of Richardson’s work.
Implications of Static-99 Field Reliability Findings for Score Use and Reporting
Authors: Boccaccini Marcus T. , Murrie Daniel C. , Mercado Cynthia , Quesada Stephen , Hawes Samuel , Rice Amanda K. , Jeglic Elizabeth L.
Published: December 2011

The Static-99 is a well-researched measure used in many courtroom and correctional settings to help make decisions about sexual offenders. But, as with most forensic assessment measures, we know much more about interrater agreement for the Static-99 in formal research studies than in routine forensic and correctional practice. This study describes “field reliability” for the Static-99 in two states that use the Static-99 for routine correctional procedures, Texas ( N = 600) and New Jersey ( N = 135). Rater agreement coefficients were strong for Static-99 total scores (intraclass correlations = .79 and .88), but the total scores assigned by pairs of evaluators differed for approximately 45% of offenders in each state. Because each individual Static-99 score has a unique interpretation, and a 1-point difference in a Static-99 score can have substantial practical implications for decision making, these findings suggest the need for administration procedures or interpretation methods that acknowledge and account for measurement error in Static-99 total scores.
Experiences in Reconciling Risk Management and Restorative Justice
Authors: Hannem Stacey
Published: December 2011

Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) is a restorative justice–based model that originated in Canada in the mid-1990s for the postincarceration reintegration of those who have offended sexually. Although the roots of COSA are in restorative justice philosophy, the program has also found favour, to some degree, with organisations such as police services and corrections that are traditionally concerned more with protecting community safety than with the ideals of restorative justice. Informed by the author’s research and personal experience as a COSA volunteer, and analysis of recent and historical representations of COSA, this article explores theoretically how the development of the COSA initiative has been influenced by the seemingly disparate concerns of both the restorative justice and community protection movements, and examines the importance of balancing these paradigms in the everyday practices of circles.
Modification of gelatin films using 2-ethylhexyl acrylate by gamma radiation
Authors: Zaman Haydar U , Khan Mubarak A , Khan Ruhul A
Published: December 2011

Gelatin films were prepared from gelatin granules in aqueous medium by casting. Tensile strength, tensile modulus, elongation at break and glass point of the gelatin films were found to be 30 MPa, 450 MPa, 7.1% and 56.5°C, respectively. After irradiation with gamma radiation, the tensile properties increased due to the dense network structure. A series of gelatin solutions was prepared by blending varying percentages (1–10% by wt) of ethylhexyl acrylate and then films were prepared and irradiated with gamma radiation. It was found that the tensile and thermal properties of gelatin films improved significantly. Water uptake of the gelatin films was evaluated.
Effect of Triton X-100 on MWCNT/PP composites
Authors: Xin Fei , Li Lin
Published: December 2011

A nonionic surfactant, Triton X-100, was used to treat multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and the Triton X-100-treated MWCNTs (TCNTs) were then mixed with polypropylene (PP) to prepare MWCNT/PP composites, followed by characterization using scanning electron microscopic, electrical, mechanical and thermal measurements. It was found that the best usage of Triton X-100 for the treatment of MWCNTs was 80 wt% based on the MWCNTs. The TCNTs could effectively improve the electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of the composites over pristine MWCNTs. The highest electrical conductivity of TCNT/PP composites was 2.1 × 10−2 S/cm at 10% TCNTs. Both MWCNTs and TCNTs could act as nucleating agents to promote the crystallization of PP but the crystallinity of PP decreased with increasing filler’s content. Both fillers caused shifting of the crystallization temperature of PP to higher temperatures. The TCNT/PP composites showed the lower crystallization temperature and lower crystallinity than the MWCNT/PP composites at the same filler’s content. The mechanisms for the results have been discussed.
Wasted Time and Money in Meetings
Authors: Rogelberg Steven G. , Shanock Linda Rhoades , Scott Cliff W.
Published: December 2011

Meetings are a significant investment for organizations and the groups that comprise them, but the small group literature has often neglected the direct study of meetings. This article closes the special issue on work meetings by exploring the costs associated with unnecessary or poorly facilitated meetings and proposes a three-stage model that groups and organizations may use to assure that the time invested in meetings is more likely to deliver a return on the resources invested.
Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor With Primitive Neuroepithelial Differentiation in an Adult
Authors: Anvikar Arti Rameshrao , Kulkarni Medha Pradeep , Ramteerthakar Nayan Anant , Gosavi Alka Vikas , Sulhyan Kalpana Ranjitsingh
Published: December 2011

Primitive neuroepithelial differentiation in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) has been reported in children but is extremely rare in adults. The authors report the case of a 70-year-old woman who presented with swelling of the right leg of 1-month duration. Fine-needle aspiration cytology was suggestive of a benign peripheral nerve sheath tumor. Histopathological examination of the excised mass revealed a MPNST with spindle-cell areas and a few round-cell areas with rosettes. The spindle cells showed positive immunoreactivity for S-100 protein and vimentin and negativity for desmin, confirming their nerve sheath origin. The round cells were immunoreactive for synaptophysin and chromogranin, indicating primitive neuroepithelial differentiation. These cells did not stain for CD99, which is consistently expressed by the cells of primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) of bone and soft tissue but not by central nervous system (CNS) PNETs or medulloblastomas. In this case, the PNET-like focus resembled a CNS-PNET.
Public preferences for sentencing purposes: What difference does offender age, criminal history and offence type make?
Authors: Spiranovic Caroline A. , Roberts Lynne D. , Indermaur David , Warner Kate , Gelb Karen , Mackenzie Geraldine
Published: December 2011

Preferences of 800 randomly selected Australians for retributive and utilitarian sentencing purposes were examined in response to brief crime scenarios where offender age, offence type and offender history were systematically varied. Respondents selected rehabilitation as the most important purpose for first-time, young and burglary offenders. Punishment was endorsed as most important for repeat, adult and serious assault offenders. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that offence history was a stronger predictor of public preferences than offender age or offence type; the odds of choosing rehabilitation compared with punishment were significantly increased by a factor of 6.1 for cases involving first-time offenders. It appears that when given specific cases to consider, the public takes an approach akin to that taken by the sentencing courts as they weigh up the importance of the various purposes for the case at hand. Public preferences are thus broadly consistent with current law and sentencing practice.
Controversies in modern evolutionary biology: the imperative for error detection and quality control
Authors: Prosdocimi Francisco , Linard Benjamin , Pontarotti Pierre , Poch Olivier , Thompson Julie D
Published: January 2012

Background

The data from high throughput genomics technologies provide unique opportunities for studies of complex biological systems, but also pose many new challenges. The shift to the genome scale in evolutionary biology, for example, has led to many interesting, but often controversial studies. It has been suggested that part of the conflict may be due to errors in the initial sequences. Most gene sequences are predicted by bioinformatics programs and a number of quality issues have been raised, concerning DNA sequencing errors or badly predicted coding regions, particularly in eukaryotes.

Results

We investigated the impact of these errors on evolutionary studies and specifically on the identification of important genetic events. We focused on the detection of asymmetric evolution after duplication, which has been the subject of controversy recently. Using the human genome as a reference, we established a reliable set of 688 duplicated genes in 13 complete vertebrate genomes, where significantly different evolutionary rates are observed. We estimated the rates at which protein sequence errors occur and are accumulated in the higher-level analyses. We showed that the majority of the detected events (57%) are in fact artifacts due to the putative erroneous sequences and that these artifacts are sufficient to mask the true functional significance of the events.

Conclusions

Initial errors are accumulated throughout the evolutionary analysis, generating artificially high rates of event predictions and leading to substantial uncertainty in the conclusions. This study emphasizes the urgent need for error detection and quality control strategies in order to efficiently extract knowledge from the new genome data.
Circular contour retrieval in real-world conditions by higher order statistics and an alternating-least squares algorithm
Authors: Jiang Haiping , Marot Julien , Fossati Caroline , Bourennane Salah
Published: January 2012

In real-world conditions, contours are most often blurred in digital images because of acquisition conditions such as movement, light transmission environment, and defocus. Among image segmentation methods, Hough transform requires a computational load which increases with the number of noise pixels, level set methods also require a high computational load, and some other methods assume that the contours are one-pixel wide. For the first time, we retrieve the characteristics of multiple possibly concentric blurred circles. We face correlated noise environment, to get closer to real-world conditions. For this, we model a blurred circle by a few parameters--center coordinates, radius, and spread--which characterize its mean position and gray level variations. We derive the signal model which results from signal generation on circular antenna. Linear antennas provide the center coordinates. To retrieve the circle radii, we adapt the second-order statistics TLS-ESPRIT method for non-correlated noise environment, and propose a novel version of TLS-ESPRIT based on higher-order statistics for correlated noise environment. Then, we derive a least-squares criterion and propose an alternating least-squares algorithm to retrieve simultaneously all spread values of concentric circles. Experiments performed on hand-made and real-world images show that the proposed methods outperform the Hough transform and a level set method dedicated to blurred contours in terms of computational load. Moreover, the proposed model and optimization method provide the information of the contour grey level variations.