bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rapid Implementation of a Smokers’ Quitline Fax Referral Service in an Urban Area
Authors: Bernstein Steven L. , Jearld Saba , Prasad Deepa , Bax Patricia , Bauer Ursula
Published: February 2009

Purpose . To increase use of fax referral services to a state smokers’ quitline.
Design . Program evaluation.
Setting . A populous urban county.
Subjects . Smokers older than 17 years.
Intervention . In January 2005, a state-funded smoking cessation center began to offer training and technical assistance to clinical sites to expand tobacco control services.
Measures . Proportion of each county’s smokers referred to quitline.
Results . Prior to program onset, only one Bronx provider had made a fax referral to the quitline. In 2006, 943 fax referrals were made, representing 0.5% of all smokers in the county. This was a higher proportion than any other state county with an adult population exceeding 250,000. Bronx smokers are 2.47 times more likely to be fax-referred to the quitline than other smokers in New York.
Conclusion . A program consisting of training and technical assistance, and emphasizing systems change, can markedly increase providers’ use of quitline referral services.
Academic Partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Public Health Professions Project
Authors: Glover Saundra H. , Xirasagar Sudha , Jeon Yunho , Pastides Harris
Published: February 2009

We describe our experience of an inter-university partnership among six historically Black colleges and a research university in South Carolina to address health disparities. The program offered fellowships to African American students, from high school through graduate programs, along with structured learning experiences in public health advocacy, practice, and research.
Low-Income Fathers’ Access to Health Insurance
Authors: Corman Hope , Noonan Kelly , Carroll Anne , Reichman Nancy E.
Published: February 2009

We examine the prevalence and correlates of health insurance status among low-income fathers, a group not previously studied in this context. In a sample of 1,653 low-income fathers from a national urban birth cohort study, 29% had private, 14% had public, and 58% had no insurance. Privately insured fathers had greater levels of human capital than did publicly insured fathers; the latter more closely resembled uninsured fathers than they did privately insured fathers. Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicates that being older, being employed, being married, and having a job offering health insurance all increase the likelihood of having private (vs. no) insurance, and that being disabled and married to or cohabiting with the child’s mother increase the likelihood of having public (vs. no) insurance. Public policy should focus on increasing access to health insurance among low-income men, which may improve their health, productivity, and ability to support themselves and their children.
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health Treatment in Six Medicaid Programs
Authors: Samnaliev Mihail , McGovern Mark P. , Clark Robin E.
Published: February 2009

Little is known about ethnic and racial disparities in mental health care among Medicaid beneficiaries. The association between ethnicity and race and the utilization of mental health care was explored in six Medicaid programs. The analysis distinguished between different settings of care, including community-based, outpatient hospital, inpatient, and emergency departments (EDs). Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care were observed across state Medicaid programs. Hispanic and African American beneficiaries with mental illness were much less likely than Whites to be treated in community-based settings. African Americans were more likely to receive mental health treatment in inpatient, ED, and outpatient hospital settings in some states. The implications of these findings and possible initiatives to enhance community-based mental health care among African American and Hispanic Medicaid beneficiaries are discussed.
The Importance of Social Context in Understanding and Promoting Low-Income Immigrant Women’s Health
Authors: De Jesus Maria
Published: February 2009

Understanding the social context and realities of Cape Verdean women in the U.S. as well as other immigrant and ethnic/racial groups is important to promote their overall health and well-being more effectively. The aim of this study was to gain a contextual understanding from the perspectives of health promoters who work with marginalized women. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Cape Verdean women health promoters about their perspectives and experiences of health promotion practice with immigrant women in their community. Using a Glaserian grounded theory approach to analysis, six salient themes describing women’s social context emerged: community and domestic violence, loss and isolation, economic injustice, immigration-related issues and abuse, unequal gender-based power relations, and cultural taboos. These findings challenge health researchers and practitioners to understand health problems and health promotion not only at an individual level, but at multiple levels of influence including interpersonal, family, neighborhood, and structural levels.
The Myth of Western Opposition to Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights?: A Reply to Whelan and Donnelly
Authors: Kirkup Alex , Evans Tony
Published: February 2009

This reply questions the methodology Whelan and Donnelly have applied to the question of economic and social rights in the post-war era. We argue that by taking the global human rights regime at face value and neglecting the role of politics, power, and interests, Whelan and Donnelly have presented a distorted and partial view of the inclusion of economic and social rights, which inaccurately portrays such rights as “universal.” We put forward an alternative perspective that places human rights in the context of the global political economy. This allows us to understand the post-war discrepancy between the formal human rights regime, which posits the universality of all rights, and actual human rights practice, which has been founded upon the distinction between universal civil and political “rights” and uneven economic and social “entitlement.”
Imagining the International Community: The Constitutive Dimension of Universal Jurisdiction
Authors: Addis Adeno
Published: February 2009

The assertion of prescriptive and adjudicative universal jurisdictions by some countries in relation to a handful of offenses that are classified as international or universal crimes (e.g. genocide) has led to a great deal of controversy. Those who favor universal jurisdiction argue that certain acts (often crimes) affect all of us, not just the specific individual or group of victims or the country of which the victims are nationals. It is therefore legitimate, they argue, for any state to punish or suppress such acts regardless of any traditional jurisdictional connection between the alleged acts and the state asserting jurisdiction. The availability of universal jurisdiction is premised on the presumed effect of certain crimes on humanity as a whole. Those who commit these offenses are referred to as hostis humani generis —enemies of human kind. Skeptics argue that the idea of universal jurisdiction is conceptually incoherent, inconsistent with the principle of political self-determination, and has great potential to be an instrument of political mischief. While they disagree on the conceptual coherence and utility of the notion of universal jurisdiction, both proponents and opponents view its function in purely instrumental terms, to provide the condition for punishing or suppressing certain offenses that affect all of us. This article argues that universal jurisdiction also serves another, less articulated purpose. It has a constitutive function as well. It is partly a process through which the identity of the international community is imagined and enacted. It is an expression of a sense of ourselves (a community of humankind) at given moments of time. This article argues that neglect of this constitutive dimension leads to an incomplete analysis of universal jurisdiction.
Democracy Assistance: Political vs. Developmental?
Authors: Carothers Thomas
Published: February 2009

Two distinct approaches to international democracy assistance have emerged in recent years: the political approach and the developmental approach. They vary with respect to their underlying conceptions of democracy and democratization and their methods and areas of focus. U.S. democracy promotion makes use of both approaches; European democracy support efforts largely favor the developmental approach. Neither approach is necessarily preferable overall; both have multiple strengths and weaknesses. The existence of two core approaches is evidence that democracy aid is diversifying to adapt to a more challenging international political landscape.

Democracy-aid providers are moving away from one-size-fits-all strategies and are adapting their programs to diverse political contexts. Two distinct overall approaches to assisting democracy have emerged in response.
Debating the Color Revolutions: An Interrelated Wave
Authors: Beissinger Mark R.
Published: February 2009

Abstract:
In contrast to the arguments of those who study the color revolutions as an interrelated phenomenon, Lucan Way’s highly structural account considers the failure of authoritarian consolidation causally sufficient, something that obviates the need to explain opposition mobilization against the state and its role in the collapse of these regimes. Yet for scholars who take the politics of mobilization seriously, such arguments fail on several accounts. First, authoritarian weakness alone cannot address the contingencies involved in the process of mobilization. Second, it cannot explain why these revolutions assumed similar forms across diverse contexts. And third, it does not tell us why attempts at revolution rapidly proliferated across so many different contexts during a compressed period of time.

Authoritarian weakness alone cannot explain why the mobilization process during the color revolutions assumed similar forms across varied contexts.
Can Cuba Change? Tensions in the Regime
Authors: Mujal-León Eusebio
Published: February 2009

Abstract:
Relative to other twentieth-century totalitarian experiments, the Cuban regime has developed a special mix of control, mobilization, and harassment. Since the crushing of internal opposition in the 1960s, the regime has created a system of “vertical” controls that concentrate power in the hands of the state and “disempower” and “direct” society, while in the process diminishing alternative or horizontal information flows, contacts, organizations, and solidarity networks. Over the past fifteen years, the regime has moved from full totalitarianism to a more transitional “charismatic post-totalitarianism.” Since Fidel Castro fell ill in 2006, the trend toward posttotalitarianism has deepened, and the pending question now is whether the Cuban regime will “mature” into this phase, or move toward another regime type.

Although the transfer of power from Fidel to Raúl has been relatively uneventful, potential divisions within the ruling elite, especially between the military and the Party, are likely to emerge before too long.
Illiberal Resilience in Serbia
Authors: Edmunds Timothy
Published: February 2009

Since 2000, overt resistance to democratization in Serbia has been rare. However, illiberal actors and networks have persisted within the formal framework of democracy itself; coopting formal institutions to their own particularist interests and adapting to the constraints and opportunities of electoral competition. Though rooted in domestic political culture, this process can only be understood as part of a dynamic interaction with international policy. The project of liberal democracy in Serbia has thus become transnational; both underpinned and undermined by the actions and policies of external actors.

Serbia has become a country where political contention is vigorous, but illiberal forces have shown an ability to adapt to the new conditions.
The Curious Case of Finland’s Clean Politics
Authors: Zook Darren C.
Published: February 2009

Corruption is a pervasive and persistent problem that affects every country to some degree. Finland has enjoyed remarkable, long-term success in battling corruption, and has managed to cultivate a clean and stable political environment in both policy and practice, in spite of an often tumultuous and unsettled past. How has Finland managed to do this? The answer lies in the continuous effort to enhance and integrate effective policy, efficient institutions, and a vibrant civil society. The Finnish model also holds promise for other countries struggling with corruption, especially those in the process of democratic transition and expansion.

The case of Finland challenges conventional thinking on clean politics. Can it serve as a model for its more corrupt counterparts?
Violence and the Rise of Open-Access Orders
Authors: North Douglass C. , Wallis John Joseph , Weingast Barry R.
Published: February 2009

The problem of controlling the use of force and those who are best at wielding it is foundational to human collective life. For most of history, a social order that was relatively “closed” has seemed the most natural way to manage this problem. But over the past century or two, a transition from closed- to open-access orders has led to the emergence of societies with widespread political participation, the use of elections to select governments, constitutional arrangements to limit and define the powers of government, and unbiased application of the rule of law.

For most of history, a closed social order has seemed the most “natural” way to manage the problem of controlling the use of force. The rise of modern democracy can be understood only in the context of the transition to open-access orders.
Debating the Color Revolutions: A Reply to My Critics
Authors: Way Lucan
Published: February 2009

Abstract:
The debate on the color revolutions is principally about the relative importance ascribed to diffusion versus certain key structural factors. Among these factors is the extent and impact of Western pressure, which varies depending on the degree of linkage to Western Europe and the United States. In the low-linkage former Soviet states, domestic forces—notably, the strength of the incumbent state and party—have weighed more heavily. Contingent factors played a role both in mobilizing opposition and in defeating incumbents, but diffusion was only one such contingent factor, and not necessarily the most important.

The color revolutions illustrate both the prevalence of diffusion and the potential limits of its impact on political change.
Debating the Color Revolutions: Necessary Distinctions
Authors: Fairbanks Charles H.
Published: February 2009

Abstract:
Lucan Way’s elucidating account of postcommunist authoritarianism and democratization includes compelling critiques of diffusion-based arguments, particularly with regard to timing and electoral cycles. Yet his interpretation glosses over a distinction that ought to be the foundation of any discussion about post-Soviet governments—the distinction among regimes, rulers, and political teams. Further, Way underestimates the importance of the strength of autocratic parties or armed forces. Autocrats need strong parties and armed forces because they need either to resist or to control something. To understand the power of whatever that “something” is, political scientists need to pay greater attention to the weak legitimacy of autocracy.

Western pressure can be decisive, but it is not always easy to forecast when and how it will be applied.
The Case of Predicates (Revisited): Predicate Instrumental in Russian and Its Restrictions
Authors: Markman Vita G.
Published: February 2009

This paper addresses the syntax of copular constructions in Russian with special attention to the prohibition on the appearance of instrumental predicates in present-tense copular constructions and their obligatory presence in argument small clauses with null predicators. I argue that copular constructions with instrumental predicates involve an eventive Pred (following Adger and Ramchand 2003), which I call “PredEv”. PredEv introduces an event argument and checks instrumental case on the predicate. In contrast, constructions with nominative predicates involve a non-eventive Pred that has no case to check. I further argue that the event argument introduced by PredEv must be licensed by Asp. However, the present-tense form of the Russian verb ‘be’ ( est’ ) lacks the relevant aspect features. Consequently, instrumental predicates are impossible in present-tense copular constructions. In argument small clauses, on the other hand, the event argument is licensed by the Asp of the matrix verb, which makes instrumental predicates possible. In the course of the discussion I also address predicate case in adjunct small clauses and in constructions with overt predicators. Finally, I briefly compare predicate case phenomena in Russian to those in other Slavic languages.
Vendlerian Classes and the Russian Aspectual System
Authors: Braginsky Pavel , Rothstein Susan
Published: February 2009

This paper considers the relevance of the Vendlerian lexical aspectual classification of verbs in Russian. We focus on the lexical classes of accomplishments and activities and argue that the classification of verbs into activities and accomplishments cuts across the classification into perfective and imperfective verbs. Accomplishments display incremental structure and occur as perfectives and imperfectives. Activities do not display incremental structure and also occur in the perfective and imperfective aspect. The distinction between activities and accomplishments is expressed through their interactions with what we call incremental modifiers: modifiers which are sensitive to the incremental structure of the verb meaning. These modifiers include postepenno ‘gradually’, and ‘X by X’ modifiers such as stranica za stranicej ‘page by page’ and ètaž za ètažom ‘floor by floor’. Imperfective activities do not occur with either postepenno or the ‘X by X’ modifiers, and neither do the verb forms which Padučeva 1996 calls “delimited activities” (delimitativ). Accomplishments in both the imperfective and the perfective aspects occur with postepenno and the ‘X by X’ modifiers (although some Russian speakers find some examples of perfective accomplishments with ‘X by X’ modifiers unnatural owing to what we consider to be pragmatic reasons). We show that the behavior of these modifiers generally follows if we assign accomplishments the incremental structure posited in Rothstein 2004 and treat the modifiers as directly modifying the incremental structure.
Clitic Placement, Prosody, and the Bulgarian Verbal Complex
Authors: Franks Steven
Published: February 2009

This paper compares competing ways of understanding the fact that clitics but nothing else freely and necessarily intervene between the two verbal heads in Bulgarian compound tenses of the type [participle + (clitics +) auxiliary]. These involve a participle fronted for focus reasons. The problem is then how the clitics get in the middle. I argue that prosodic and morphological approaches are not adequate, nor is any PF-filtering necessitated. Instead, the complex head structure [[participle + clitics] + [auxiliary]] must be created syntactically, with the participle adjoining to the clitics before the resulting complex adjoins to the auxiliary.
In Search of Heschel
Authors: Marmur Michael
Published: February 2009

This overview of commentary and scholarship on the life and thought of Abraham Joshua Heschel presents different aspects of Heschel reflected in the rapidly burgeoning literature on his work and personality. Eight dimensions of Heschel, prisms through which he may be perceived, are presented: Heschel as philosopher, as theologian of the deed, as mystic and Ḥasid, as scholar, as prophet of pathos, as poet and stylist, as twentieth-century symbol, and finally in terms of the influence exerted upon and by him. The question of Heschel’s attitude towards symbolism is cited as an example of how he may be perceived through a variety of prisms. It may be that rather than seeking the unifying principle by which the enigma of Heschel may be solved, an appreciation of the multi-faceted nature of his thought and action may provide the most helpful way of conducting this search.
Heschel on Israel
Authors: Moore Donald J.
Published: February 2009

This paper attempts to present Heschel’s thoughts on the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem, examining the demands and goals that he set for himself and the Jewish people as a result of the Six-Day War, observing how well Israel has lived up to these ideals since then, and asking if they could be further fulfilled and/or critiqued.
“My Place in Judaism”: Geography, Ethnicity, and Sexuality on Sarah Schulman’s Lower East Side
Authors: Bachmann Monica
Published: February 2009

Novelist Sarah Schulman’s characters inhabit southern Manhattan’s lower East Side and the East Village, drawing on real and imagined histories of Jewish and gay activism and creativity in their search for physical and cultural space in which they can experiment with sexuality, art, and politics. Variant sexuality and minority ethnicity inform and amplify each other, as metaphors drawn from Jewish culture find their way into descriptions of queer life, and gay references function as comments on Jewish existence. Even while Schulman’s characters move through streets rich with references to both Jewish and gay communities, those references increasingly nod to the past, as Jews move out of “the city” to the suburbs and to other cities, and gentrification threatens the economic viability of lesbians and gay men living on capitalism’s margins. Schulman’s fictional “tours” of gay and Jewish spaces of lower New York both memorialize and construct these intertwined communities.
Rethinking “Sephardic”: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Observances among the Jews of Bombay
Authors: Needel Yale M.
Published: February 2009

This study explores the ritual enactments of the Bene Israel and Baghdadi Jewish communities in Bombay, India during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. By comparing and contrasting the ritual enactments of the two communities against each other, the Sephardic norm, and various faiths in India, their acculturation and hybridization in India is displayed and expressed as “Eastern Sephardic” Jewry. The results demonstrate that the religious life of the Bene Israel and Baghdadi Jews resembles that of other Mizrachi or “Eastern” Sephardic Jews, that is, “traditional” Sephardic rites were superimposed on older, ancestral Jewish customs, with additional contributions from their respective locales. The study argues that the Bene Israel and Baghdadi Jews have not lost their Jewish identity by adapting to their host country and culture; rather, they have developed and nurtured a finely balanced and unique Indo-Judaic identity through a demonstrative cultural and religious inclusion of their Indian neighbors.
New media art as research: art-making beyond the autonomy of art and aesthetics
Authors: Strehovec Janez
Published: February 2009

Today we come across new media art projects as post-industrial art services that occur at the intersection of contemporary art, new economy, post-political politics (activism, hacktivism), technosciences and techno lifestyles. The artwork is not a stable object anymore, it is a process,
an artistic software, an experience, a service devoted to solving a particular (cultural and non-cultural) problem, a research, an interface which demands from its user also the ability for associative selection, algorithmic (logical) thinking and for procedures pertaining to DJ and VJ culture,
such as mixing, cutting, sampling and recombination.

The art service is not so much the manufacturing of things as it is a process of reshaping the thing, moving it, repurposing it, connecting it and incorporating it into new contexts and relations. The service presupposes a problem, a
challenge or an order to be solved or carried out. The performer of the service is always faced with a certain task, challenged to solve it in a sequence of steps, chosen as economically as possible. The service therefore ends with a solution of the problem (or its removal) and not with the
manufacturing of a finished object. The service always implies an algorithmic procedure that has to be as rational as possible, economical, divided into phases, steps, instructions needed for it to be carried out. By defining the new media art in terms of post-industrial service activity,
the traditional concepts of aesthetic and autonomous art are left behind and replaced with novel theoretical devices, e.g. software, repurposing, remixing, recombination, rewriting and hybridization.
Exploring the intelligent art installation as a space for expansion of the conscious mind
Authors: Anker Kathrine Elizabeth
Published: February 2009

This paper argues for the digital interactive installation artwork based on principles of complexity as an interface with the potential to evoke ekspansions in the subjective experience by confronting the user with an idea of abstract thought, created through a conceptual design, and
experienced through bodily interaction and contemplative acts at symbolic levels. The claim is, that ideas presented through good artworks based on the coalision of science and technology can potentially create a synthesis between ideas inspired by the philosophies and empiricisms of the physical-material
world view, but also of a higher, spiritual dimension, in which new possibilities of knowledge are potentially to be found. The article accepts the thesis of cognition being the cause of evolution, rather than evolution of man being the cause of cognition.
Biobehavioural basis of art
Authors: Harle R. F
Published: February 2009

This paper argues that the human activity of art making and art usage has a biological foundation which precedes language acquisition. Together with cultural dynamics we have created ourselves as we have created our arts. I attempt a synthesis of the theories of Dissanayake and Joyce
which shows the human trait of art behaviour evolved as surely as did the behaviours of mating and hunting.
Exploring hypermedia through the myths
Authors: Nascimento Cludia Martin
Published: February 2009

Nowadays hypermedia constitutes, with its singular characteristics, a new language whose structure seems to be complex because it includes features such as multiple simultaneous paths, multiplicity of voices, the simultaneous manifestation of ordinary and scholarly languages and the
mixture of means, genres and verbal, visual and aural languages. However, behind its complexity, hypermedia can reveal simple structures of order. Comprehending its nature, we can better construct using its language. This has great potential for creating narratives understood as universal
manifestations of human discourse through which people share their comprehension of the world.

Using a parallel between the narrative structure of hypermedia and that found by the anthropologist Claude Lvi-Strauss in South-American indigenous mythical narratives, I looked for an alternative
perspective for the comprehension and manipulation of the hypermedia logic structure and the resources it mobilizes to form a coherent whole, such as the temporality and spatiality of narratives, symbology and metaphors and its own alternative means of producing meaning.
Leni Riefenstahl and German expressionism: research in Visual Cultural Studies using the transdisciplinary semantic spaces of specialized dictionaries
Authors: Yoshida Yukihiko
Published: February 2009

This paper reports on an analysis of the work of Leni Riefenstahl, and German expressionism, through the use of trans-disciplinary semantic associative search in specialized databased dictionaries1. Within this database space (Kitagawa and Kiyokim 1993), the quantitative
data of objects as representation can be visualized by number. While the method of image analysis is qualitative, it is based on a quantitative analysis of visual representation. Through this analysis, Riefenstahl's film Olympia Fest der Vlker is compared with the Nazi ideology of the body
image. The film is often categorized as romantic; however, this paper proposes a new interpretation based on theories of Jonathan Crary, and Martin Jay, which are combined using the mechanism of connotation in searching database systems. We proposs that, in the context of Visual Culture Studies,
the use of digital technologies may provide new possibilities for research in the humanities.
Gelotophobia: The fear of being laughed at
Authors: Titze Michael
Published: February 2009

Gelotophobia may be considered as a specific variant of shame-bound anxiety. It is defined as the pathological fear of being an object of laughter. This fear can be traced back to early childhood experiences of intense and repeated exposure to “put-down,” mockery and ridicule in the course of socialization. Gelotophobes constantly fear being screened by others for evidence of ridiculousness. Thus, they carefully avoid situations in which they feel exposed to others. Gelotophobia at its extreme, therefore, involves a pronounced paranoid tendency, a marked sensitivity to offense, and a resulting social withdrawal (Titze, Die heilende Kraft des Lachens, 1995, Humor & Health Journal 5:1–11, 1996). The origins and consequences of gelotophobia are described, and a model of specific treatment is presented.
Humor theory and the fear of being laughed at
Authors: Davies Christie
Published: February 2009

Systematic empirical research into the extent to which individuals in different societies fear being laughed at is new and has implications for humor theory. Humor theorists such as Hobbes and Bergson implicitly assume that such fears were generally at a high level and both Hobbes' superiority theory of laughter and Bergson's view of it as a social corrective depend on this assumption. They purport to be general theories but are in fact the product of the particular societies in which those philosophers' lived and whose mores they took for granted. However, we can use their work to generate hypotheses that can in the future be tested against the comparative empirical data now being produced. In particular we should pay attention is the social variables of shame, face, etiquette and embarrassment on the one hand, and hierarchy, status divisions and power on the other, as probably having explanatory power.
The emotions of gelotophobes: Shameful, fearful, and joyless?
Authors: Platt Tracey , Ruch Willibald
Published: February 2009

The present research examines the hypothesis that the fear of being laughed at is related to three emotions: shame, fear, and (low) joy. In two self-report studies the participants (N = 234, N = 102) filled in the GELOPH (Ruch and Titze, GELOPH〈46〉. Unpublished questionnaire, 1998) for the assessment of the level of gelotophobia and the Anchor Que question form (Ekman, Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life, Owl Books, 2007) measuring five parameters (latency, maximal intensity, duration, expression, and intensity during a typical week) of emotions. Across both studies gelotophobes reported that their maximal experience of shame was of a higher intensity and longer duration, also they reported experiencing shame more frequently during a typical week. Their maximal experience of happiness was less intense, and it took longer for these intense feeling to develop lasting for shorter periods of time. Gelotophobia was also positively related to intensity, duration, and intensity experienced during a typical week of fear. Among individuals with a higher prevalence of shame, compared to happiness, approximately 50% were gelotophobes. Gelotophobia is notably related to the interplay of three emotions fear, shame and the low disposition to happiness. This dynamic is a new, yet equally plausible explanation for the onset of gelotophobia.
Legal and Biological Perspectives of “Plant Variety” in IPR Context
Authors: Parvin Mohammad Reza
Published: February 2009

The possibilities of human intervention on plants were limited for a long time to simple handling of selection or crossing which were always regarded as essentially biological processes. However, the development of the genetic engineering in the field of plants and the possibilities of plants genetic inheritance handling by the advanced techniques, such as the recombining DNA, evoked debates over the patentability of plant inventions.

According to Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement, Members may exclude “plants” from patentability, but they shall provide for the protection of “plant varieties” either by patent or by an effective

The relationship between plant breeder's rights (as a

In view of the importance of the decision of countries to protect plant varieties, the study assesses also the legal positions adopted by jurisprudence or doctrine to determine the scope of the plant varieties exception.

It is concluded that the actual and biological differences between “plant” and “plant variety” could give good reason for interpreting the two terms in different ways.
Integrated anaerobic treatment of dairy industrial wastewater and sludge
Authors: Passeggi Mauricio , López Iván , Borzacconi Liliana
Published: February 2009

Performance parameters were studied in an alternative full-scale dairy effluent treatment system comprising two anaerobic sludge-blanket reactors in parallel arrangement with upward flow, internal fat-separation by flotation, external lamella settler and floated material digester. Reactors were initially inoculated with flocculent sludge and granulated in a high-load stage. Using loading rates up to a maximum 5.5 kgCOD/m3.d–hydraulic residence time of 17 hours- reactor efficiency was found to remain stable around 90% of COD. Average sludge digester efficiency using a loading rate of 3.5 kgVS/m3.d with a lipid content of 47% of COD amounted to 78% of VS (87% of lipid removal). LCFA inhibition as assayed using palmitate was found to depend not only on the palmitate concentration but also on the palmitate-to-biomass concentration ratio.
Comparative study of polyvinylidene fluoride and PES flat membranes in submerged MBRs to treat domestic wastewater
Authors: Zhu T. , Xie Y. H. , Jiang J. , Wang Y. T. , Zhang H. J. , Nozaki T.
Published: February 2009

Two kinds of membranes, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polyethersulfone (PES), were used in submerged flat membrane bioreactors (MBRs) to treat domestic wastewater in this study. The MBRs ran under the same reactor structure, the same membrane pore size of 0.45 μm and the same anoxic/ oxic (A/O) process. The experimental results showed that: (1) With the influent of BOD5 200–500 mg/L and CODCr 400–1,000 mg/L, PVDF MBR achieved the removal efficiencies of BOD5 96–98% and CODCr 89–98%, and those were 97–99% and 93–97% in PES MBR. The interceptive efficiency of PES membrane to BOD5 and CODCr was superior to PVDF membrane. (2) The removal efficiencies of TN and NH3-N in two MBRs exhibited good results which were greater than 85%. The removal efficiencies of TP were greater than 80% in both MBRs. (3) MLSS concentration changed from 2,000 mg/L to 7,000 mg/L during the experiment. PES membrane was not washed and the membrane flux was steady. However, the flux of PVDF one decreased quickly and was washed for twice. It meant that PES membrane had fine capability than PVDF one.
Decision support system for optimal reservoir operation modeling within sediment deposition control
Authors: Hadihardaja Iwan K.
Published: February 2009

Suspended sediment deals with surface runoff moving toward watershed affects reservoir sustainability due to the reduction of storage capacity. The purpose of this study is to introduce a reservoir operation model aimed at minimizing sediment deposition and maximizing energy production expected to obtain optimal decision policy for both objectives. The reservoir sediment-control operation model is formulated by using Non-Linear Programming with an iterative procedure based on a multi-objective measurement in order to achieve optimal decision policy that is established in association with the development of a relationship between stream inflow and sediment rate by utilizing the Artificial Neural Network. Trade off evaluation is introduced to generate a strategy for controlling sediment deposition at same level of target ratio while producing hydroelectric energy. The case study is carried out at the Sanmenxia Reservoir in China where redesign and reconstruction have been accomplished. However, this model deals only with the original design and focuses on a wet year operation. This study will also observe a five-year operation period to show the accumulation of sediment due to the impact of reservoir storage capacity.
Water Framework Directive catchment planning: a case study apportioning loads and assessing environmental benefits of programme of measures
Authors: Crabtree Bob , Kelly Sarah , Green Hannah , Squibbs Graham , Mitchell Gordon
Published: February 2009

Complying with proposed Water Framework Directive (WFD) water quality standards for ‘good ecological status’ in England and Wales potentially requires a range of Programmes of Measures (PoMs) to control point and diffuse sources of pollution. There is an urgent need to define the benefits and costs of a range of potential PoMs. Water quality modelling can be used to understand where the greatest impact in a catchment can be achieved through ‘end of pipe’ and diffuse source reductions. This information can be used to guide cost-effective investment by private water companies and those with responsibilities for agricultural, industrial and urban diffuse inputs. In the UK, river water quality modelling with the Environment Agency SIMCAT model is regarded as the best current approach to support decision making for river water quality management and planning. The paper describes how a SIMCAT model has been used to conduct a trial WFD integrated catchment planning study for the River Ribble catchment in the North West of England. The model has been used to assess over 80 catchment planning scenarios. The results are being used support a national assessment of the cost-effectiveness of proposed PoMs.
Risk-based climate-change impact assessment for the water industry
Authors: Thorne O. M. , Fenner R. A.
Published: February 2009

In response to a rapidly changing and highly variable climate, engineers are being asked to perform climate-change impact assessments on existing water industry systems. There is currently no single method of best practice for engineers to interpret output from global climate models (GCMs) and calculate probabilistic distributions of future climate changes as required for risk-based impact assessments. The simplified climate change impact assessment tool (SCIAT) has been developed to address the specific needs of the water industry and provides a tool to translate climate change projections into ‘real world’ impacts or for detailed statistical analysis. Through the use of SCIAT, water system operators are provided with knowledge of potential impacts and an associated probability of occurrence, enabling them to make informed, risk-based adaptation and planning decisions. This paper demonstrates the application of SCIAT to the consideration of the impacts of climate change on reservoir water quality under future climate scenarios.
Between a rock and a hard place: incompatible objectives at the heart of river basin planning?
Authors: Blackstock K. L.
Published: February 2009

River Basin Management Planning (RBMP) is a policy that seeks to integrate multiple objectives for water bodies, that is enacted at multiple scales and through the collaboration of multiple stakeholders, using an adaptive management cycle. Insights from spatial planning and community planning literatures illustrate how many challenges are not particular to RBMP but are fundamental to strategic planning in modern society. The literatures draw attention to the institutional arrangements governing these complex collaborations. The emerging findings are a series of tensions that resonate with the wider literatures (such as between efficiency and inclusion of all voices, quick delivery and implementing best practice). Thus, to what extent are these short-term implementation problems or a deeper and more fundamental clash of policy objectives?
How to deal with cost-efficiency aspects at the set-up of programmes of measures
Authors: Weyand Michael , Grünebaum Thomas , Schweder Heinrich , Huber Christian
Published: February 2009

The achievement of good ecological and chemical status of rivers is the main objective of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). According to Annex III of the WFD, necessary measures within a possible field of action are to be chosen taking into account their cost efficiency and cost effectiveness. One of these fields of action is, for example, river morphology. In view of the given deficits in the morphological structures of the German rivers, concepts for morphological improvement have been drawn up for many rivers, resulting in the elaboration of a multitude of different appropriate measures. In order to evaluate these measures with respect to the objectives of the WFD, a methodology was developed that showed the relationships between the assessed efficiency of measures, the length of the river stretch being influenced by these measures, and the estimated costs. Result is a cost-efficiency quotient that can serve as a supporting factor in helping to set the right priorities. The methodology was tested in a subcachtment of the Ruhr River basin and proved to be useful for the given purpose. In general, the applied methodology is not limited to morphological measures, but also applicable to other fields of action in the sector of water and river basin management.
Biodegradable Polydepsipeptides
Authors: Feng Yakai , Guo Jintang
Published: February 2009

This paper reviews the synthesis, characterization, biodegradation and usage of bioresorbable polymers based on polydepsipeptides. The ring-opening polymerization of morpholine-2,5-dione derivatives using organic Sn and enzyme lipase is discussed. The dependence of the macroscopic properties of the block copolymers on their structure is also presented. Bioresorbable polymers based on polydepsipeptides could be used as biomaterials in drug controlled release, tissue engineering scaffolding and shape-memory materials.
Properties of an Oral Preparation Containing a Chitosan Salt
Authors: Murata Yoshifumi , Kodama Youko , Hirai Daijirou , Kofuji Kyouko , Kawashima Susumu
Published: February 2009

The 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2-methylpropionic acid (CMP) salt of chitosan (CS), CS-CMP, and that of a CS derivative (CP), were prepared and their ability to adsorb bile acids investigated. CS-CMP and CP-CMP rapidly adsorbed taurocholate (TCA) and glycocholate (GCA) when these bile acids were present together in the medium, with simultaneous release of CMP. A secondary bile acid, taurodeoxycholate, was preferentially adsorbed over TCA and GCA. Alginate gel beads containing CS-CMP did not differ from CS-CMP alone in their manner of bile acids take up. Furthermore, oral administration of CS-CMP to rats resulted in decreased serum cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels for two weeks. Therefore, CS-CMP, as well as a vehiclecontaining CS-CMP, might be a useful agent with which to treat hyperlipidemia
Copper(II) Sulfamate: An Efficient Catalyst for the One-Pot Synthesis of 3,4-Dihydropyrimidine-2(1H)-ones and thiones
Authors: Liu Chen-Jiang , Wang Ji-De
Published: February 2009

A simple, efficient procedure for the one-pot Biginelli condensation reaction of aldehydes, β-ketoesters and urea or thiourea employing copper(II) sulfamate as a novel catalyst is described. Compared to the classical Biginelli reaction conditions, the present method has the advantages of good yields, short reaction times and experimental simplicity.
Increasing demands on limited water resources: Consequences for two endangered plants in Amargosa Valley, USA
Authors: Hasselquist Niles J. , Allen Michael F.
Published: February 2009

Recent population expansion throughout the Southwest United States has created an unprecedented demand for already limited water resources, which may have severe consequences on the persistence of some species. Two such species are the federally protected Nitrophila mohavensis (Chenopodiaceae) and Grindelia fraxino‐pratensis (Asteraceae) found in Amargosa Valley, one valley east of Death Valley, California. Because both species are federally protected, no plant material could be harvested for analysis. We therefore used a chamber system to collect transpired water for isotopic analysis. After a correction for isotopic enrichment during transpiration, δ18O values of plant xylem water were significantly different between N. mohavensis and G. fraxino‐pratensis throughout the study. Using a multisource mixing model, we found that both N. mohavensis and G. fraxino‐pratensis used soil moisture near the soil surface in early spring when surface water was present. However, during the dry summer months, G. fraxino‐pratensis tracked soil moisture to deeper depths, whereas N. mohavensis continued to use soil moisture near the soil surface. These results indicate that pumping groundwater and subsequently lowering the water table may directly prevent G. fraxino‐pratensis from accessing water, whereas these same conditions may indirectly affect N. mohavensis by reducing surface soil moisture and thus its ability to access water.
Mosquito Bed Net Use and Burkitt Lymphoma Incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Schmit Nora , Kaur Jeevan , Aglago Elom K.
Published: April 2024

Importance

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is one of the most common childhood cancers in sub-Saharan Africa and is etiologically linked to malaria. However, evidence for an effect of malaria interventions on BL is limited.

Objective

To investigate the potential population-level association between large-scale rollout of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) in sub-Saharan Africa in the 2000s and BL incidence.

Data Sources

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, a search was conducted in the Embase, Global Health, and Medline databases and in cancer registry publications between January 1, 1990, and February 27, 2023.

Study Selection

All epidemiologic studies on BL incidence rates in children and adolescents aged 0 to 15 years in sub-Saharan African countries where malaria is endemic were identified by 2 reviewers blinded to each other’s decision.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

The systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses reporting guideline. Data were extracted independently by 2 reviewers, and quality was scored based on 3 predefined criteria: data collection, case ascertainment, and calculation of person-time at risk.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Incidence rates of BL during childhood and mean ITN use in the population. Data were analyzed using a random-effects negative binomial regression model.

Results

Of 2333 studies meeting selection criteria, 23 comprising 66 data points on BL incidence were included based on 5226 BL cases from locations with large-scale ITN use in 17 countries. Rates of BL were 44% (95% CI, 12%-64%) lower in the period after ITN introduction compared with before. The adjusted pooled incidence rates of BL were 1.36 (95% CI, 0.88-2.10) and 0.76 (95% CI, 0.50-1.16) per 100 000 person-years before and after introduction of ITNs, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, a 1–percentage point increase in mean ITN use in the population in the 10 years before BL data collection was associated with a 2% (95% CI, 1%-4%) reduction in BL incidence.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, large-scale rollout of ITNs in the 2000s was associated with a reduction in BL burden among children in sub-Saharan Africa. Although published data may not be representative of all incidence rates across sub-Saharan Africa, this study highlights a potential additional benefit of malaria control programs.