bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sinus Node Dysfunction Unmasked during Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography
Authors: Khan Waqas , Bustros Thomas , Mitre Cristina , Feit Alan , Salciccioli Louis , Kassotis John
Published: July 2011

Sinus bradycardia and associated isorhythmic AV dissociation may be seen during dobutamine stress echocardiography. This phenomenon is usually considered a benign peri-procedural event and is thought to be secondary to the Bezold-Jarisch reflex, with profound heart rate decrease secondary to a marked increased in vagal efferent discharge. To the best of our knowledge, dobutamine stress echocardiography unmasking clinically relevant sinus node dysfunction has never been reported. We report a case of a 50-year-old man presenting with chest pain and a history of syncope, who had worsening sinus bradycardia with isorhythmic AV dissociation during dobutamine stress echocardiography. An invasive electrophysiological study revealed marked sinus node dysfunction. The patient was referred for the insertion of a permanent pacemaker for sinus node dysfunction, chronotropic incompetence and symptomatic bradycardia. Dobutamine-associated bradycardia may not always be a benign peri-procedural physiologic effect, as in this case it may unmask clinically significant sinus node dysfunction.
Bromocriptine-Induced Coronary Spasm Caused Acute Coronary Syndrome, Which Triggered Its Own Clinical Twin – Takotsubo Syndrome
Authors: Y-Hassan Shams , Jernberg Tomas
Published: July 2011

Bromocriptine-induced coronary spasm (BICS) causing myocardial infarction has been reported. Association between BICS and Takotsubo syndrome (TS) has not been described. We report on a 37-year-old woman presenting with a clinical picture of acute coronary syndrome 1 day after initiation of treatment with bromocriptine for ablactation 3 weeks after a full-term spontaneous vaginal delivery. Coronary angiography showed diffuse narrowing of a large diagonal branch. Left ventriculography showed widespread hypokinesia extending beyond the diagonal branch supply region. There was a slight elevation of myocardial infarction biomarkers that was disproportional to the degree of left ventricular dysfunction. Follow-up coronary angiography, intravascular ultrasound and left ventriculography showed normal coronary arteries including the diagonal branch and complete normalization of the left ventricular function. Cardiac magnetic resonance examination showed no signs of late myocardial gadolinium enhancement. The clinical picture and course of the disease was consistent with TS. Consequently, we describe for the first time a case of TS triggered by myocardial ischemia caused by BICS. Furthermore, our case and sufficient supporting data from the literature demonstrate that acute coronary syndrome is an important and frequent but up till now missed trigger factor for TS.
The High Burden of Obesity and Abdominal Obesity in Urban Indian Schoolchildren: A Multicentric Study of 38,296 Children
Authors: Misra Anoop , Shah Priyali , Goel Kashish , Hazra Daya Kishore , Gupta Rajeev , Seth Payal , Tallikoti Pooja , Mohan Indu , Bhargava Rooma , Bajaj Sarita , Madan Jagmeet , Gulati Seema , Bhardwaj Swati , Sharma Rekha , Gupta Nidhi , Pandey Ravindra Mohan
Published: July 2011

Aims: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of overweight, obesity and abdominal obesity and their associated factors in a large sample of urban Indian schoolchildren. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in 5 cities in India. Height and weight were measured in 38,296 children and waist circumference was measured in 29,244 children aged 8–18 years. The prevalence was compared with respect to age, gender, type of school and city of residence. Results: The mean ± standard deviation for age was 13.3 ± 2.4 years and 18.3 ± 4.3 kg/m2 for BMI. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in 8- to 18-year-old children, respectively, was 14.4 and 2.8% by IOTF cutoffs, 14.5 and 4.8% by CDC cutoffs and 18.5 and 5.3% by WHO cutoffs. When applying the cutoffs specific for Indian ethnicity in 14- to 18-year-old children, the prevalence was higher (21.1 and 12.3%, respectively) as compared to the IOTF, WHO and CDC cutoffs. The overall prevalence of abdominal obesity in urban Indian schoolchildren was 4.5%. The prevalence of overweight and abdominal obesity was significantly higher in females than males (p < 0.001). High socioeconomic status and residing in cities with a population greater than 4 million were independently associated with overweight and abdominal obesity (p < 0.001). On extrapolating these data, more than 15 million children would currently be overweight and 4 million abdominally obese in urban India. Conclusions: There is a substantial burden of childhood obesity in India, which necessitates comprehensive urban-based campaigns for its prevention and control.
Acute Type A Aortic Dissection Involving Right Coronary Artery Orifice in a Case Presenting with Anterior ST Elevation: A Rare Case Report
Authors: Hsu Po-Chao , Su Ho-Ming , Lin Tsung-Hsien , Huang Jiann-Wei , Lai Wen-Ter , Sheu Sheng-Hsiung
Published: July 2011

Functional coronary artery occlusion due to type A aortic dissection has rarely been reported in the literature. We report a case of aortic dissection presenting with anterior ST elevation. Coronary angiography revealed normal findings and chest computed tomography-confirmed type A aortic dissection. Emergent surgery was performed and dissection involving the right coronary artery orifice was found. An electrocardiogram after the operation revealed resolution of anterior ST elevation. The mechanism of initial anterior but not inferior ST elevation should be related to functional obstruction of the left main coronary artery by intimal flap and reciprocal ST-T change over inferior leads.
European Core Curriculum in Cariology for Undergraduate Dental Students
Authors: Schulte A.G. , Pitts N.B. , Huysmans M.C.D.N.J.M. , Splieth C. , Buchalla W.
Published: July 2011

As dental caries prevalence is still high in many populations and groups of both children and adults worldwide, and as caries continues to be responsible for significant health, social and economic impacts, there is an urgent need for dental students to receive a systematic education in cariology based upon current best evidence. Although European curriculum guidelines for undergraduate students have been prepared in other dental fields over the last decade, none exist for cariology. Thus the European Organisation for Caries Research (ORCA) formed a task force to work with the Association of Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) on a European Core Curriculum in Cariology. In 2010, a workshop to develop such a curriculum was organised in Berlin, Germany, with 75 participants from 24 European and 3 North-South American countries. The Curriculum was debated by five pre-identified working groups: I The Knowledge Base; II Risk Assessment, Diagnosis and Synthesis; III Decision-making and Preventive Non-surgical Therapy; IV Decision-making and Surgical Therapy; and V Evidence-based Cariology in Clinical and Public Health Practice and then finalised jointly by the group chairs. According to this Curriculum, on graduation, a dentist must be competent at applying knowledge and understanding of the biological, medical, basic and applied clinical sciences in order to recognise caries and make decisions about its prevention and management in individuals and populations. This document, which presents several major and numerous supporting competences, does not confine itself to dental caries alone, but refers also to dental erosion/non-erosive wear and other dental hard tissue disorders.
Outcomes of Cardiac Perforation Complicating Catheter Ablation of Ventricular Arrhythmias
Authors: Tokuda Michifumi , Kojodjojo Pipin , Epstein Laurence M. , Koplan Bruce A. , Michaud Gregory F. , Tedrow Usha B. , Stevenson William G. , John Roy M.
Published: July 2011

Background—

Cardiac perforation is a recognized complication of catheter ablation procedures, most commonly encountered during ablation of atrial fibrillation. The study aims to investigate the incidence, management, and hospital outcomes of cardiac perforation complicating catheter ablation for ventricular arrhythmias.

Methods and Results—

Consecutive patients undergoing catheter ablation for ventricular arrhythmias at a tertiary referral center were included in this retrospective analysis. Of 1152 consecutive catheter ablation procedures in 892 patients over 12 years, 11 procedures (1.0%) were complicated by ventricular perforation. Emergent pericardial drainage and surgical repair were required in 10 (91%) and 6 (55%) cases, respectively. No perforation was apparent in patients with prior cardiac surgery. More than half of the perforations (6 of 11) occurred in the context of steam pops during radiofrequency ablation and were more likely to require surgical repair (
P
=0.07). Intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation, left ventricular assist device, and biventricular assist device were used in 2 patients, 1 patient, and 1 patient, respectively. Of 6 cases in which the site of perforation could be determined at cardiac surgery, 5 were in the right ventricle (4 outflow tract, 1 free wall) and only 1 was located in the left ventricle. All patients survived to discharge.

Conclusions—

Ventricular perforation and tamponade occurs in 1% of ventricular ablation procedures and in this series, occurred only in patients without a history of prior cardiac surgery. More than half the patients required surgical repair. Perforation is often associated with steam pops and emergent surgical repair is often required when perforation occurs after a steam pop.
Towards Automatic Error Analysis of Machine Translation Output
Authors: Popović Maja , Ney Hermann
Published: July 2011

Evaluation and error analysis of machine translation output are important but difficult tasks. In this article, we propose a framework for automatic error analysis and classification based on the identification of actual erroneous words using the algorithms for computation of Word Error Rate (WER) and Position-independent word Error Rate (PER), which is just a very first step towards development of automatic evaluation measures that provide more specific information of certain translation problems. The proposed approach enables the use of various types of linguistic knowledge in order to classify translation errors in many different ways. This work focuses on one possible set-up, namely, on five error categories: inflectional errors, errors due to wrong word order, missing words, extra words, and incorrect lexical choices. For each of the categories, we analyze the contribution of various POS classes. We compared the results of automatic error analysis with the results of human error analysis in order to investigate two possible applications: estimating the contribution of each error type in a given translation output in order to identify the main sources of errors for a given translation system, and comparing different translation outputs using the introduced error categories in order to obtain more information about advantages and disadvantages of different systems and possibilites for improvements, as well as about advantages and disadvantages of applied methods for improvements. We used Arabic–English Newswire and Broadcast News and Chinese–English Newswire outputs created in the framework of the GALE project, several Spanish and English European Parliament outputs generated during the TC-Star project, and three German–English outputs generated in the framework of the fourth Machine Translation Workshop. We show that our results correlate very well with the results of a human error analysis, and that all our metrics except the extra words reflect well the differences between different versions of the same translation system as well as the differences between different translation systems.
Annotating and Learning Event Durations in Text
Authors: Pan Feng , Mulkar-Mehta Rutu , Hobbs Jerry R.
Published: July 2011

This article presents our work on constructing a corpus of news articles in which events are annotated for estimated bounds on their duration, and automatically learning from this corpus. We describe the annotation guidelines, the event classes we categorized to reduce gross discrepancies in inter-annotator judgments, and our use of normal distributions to model vague and implicit temporal information and to measure inter-annotator agreement for these event duration distributions. We then show that machine learning techniques applied to this data can produce coarse-grained event duration information automatically, considerably outperforming a baseline and approaching human performance. The methods described here should be applicable to other kinds of vague but substantive information in texts.
Parsing Noun Phrases in the Penn Treebank
Authors: Vadas David , Curran James R.
Published: July 2011

Noun phrases (nps) are a crucial part of natural language, and can have a very complex structure. However, this np structure is largely ignored by the statistical parsing field, as the most widely used corpus is not annotated with it. This lack of gold-standard data has restricted previous efforts to parse nps, making it impossible to perform the supervised experiments that have achieved high performance in so many Natural Language Processing (nlp) tasks.

We comprehensively solve this problem by manually annotating np structure for the entire Wall Street Journal section of the Penn Treebank. The inter-annotator agreement scores that we attain dispel the belief that the task is too difficult, and demonstrate that consistent np annotation is possible. Our gold-standard np data is now available for use in all parsers.

We experiment with this new data, applying the Collins (2003) parsing model, and find that its recovery of np structure is significantly worse than its overall performance. The parser's F-score is up to 5.69% lower than a baseline that uses deterministic rules. Through much experimentation, we determine that this result is primarily caused by a lack of lexical information.

To solve this problem we construct a wide-coverage, large-scale np Bracketing system. With our Penn Treebank data set, which is orders of magnitude larger than those used previously, we build a supervised model that achieves excellent results. Our model performs at 93.8% F-score on the simple task that most previous work has undertaken, and extends to bracket longer, more complex nps that are rarely dealt with in the literature. We attain 89.14% F-score on this much more difficult task. Finally, we implement a post-processing module that brackets nps identified by the Bikel (2004) parser. Our np Bracketing model includes a wide variety of features that provide the lexical information that was missing during the parser experiments, and as a result, we outperform the parser's F-score by 9.04%.

These experiments demonstrate the utility of the corpus, and show that many nlp applications can now make use of np structure.
Information Status Distinctions and Referring Expressions: An Empirical Study of References to People in News Summaries
Authors: Siddharthan Advaith , Nenkova Ani , McKeown Kathleen
Published: July 2011

Although there has been much theoretical work on using various information status distinctions to explain the form of references in written text, there have been few studies that attempt to automatically learn these distinctions for generating references in the context of computer-regenerated text. In this article, we present a model for generating references to people in news summaries that incorporates insights from both theory and a corpus analysis of human written summaries. In particular, our model captures how two properties of a person referred to in the summary—familiarity to the reader and global salience in the news story—affect the content and form of the initial reference to that person in a summary. We demonstrate that these two distinctions can be learned from a typical input for multi-document summarization and that they can be used to make regeneration decisions that improve the quality of extractive summaries.
Half-Context Language Models
Authors: Schütze Hinrich , Walsh Michael
Published: July 2011

This article investigates the effects of different degrees of contextual granularity on language model performance. It presents a new language model that combines clustering and half-contextualization, a novel representation of contexts. Half-contextualization is based on the half-context hypothesis that states that the distributional characteristics of a word or bigram are best represented by treating its context distribution to the left and right separately and that only directionally relevant distributional information should be used. Clustering is achieved using a new clustering algorithm for class-based language models that compares favorably to the exchange algorithm. When interpolated with a Kneser-Ney model, half-context models are shown to have better perplexity than commonly used interpolated n-gram models and traditional class-based approaches. A novel, fine-grained, context-specific analysis highlights those contexts in which the model performs well and those which are better treated by existing non-class-based models.
State Building in the Niger Basin in the Common Era and Beyond, 1000–Mid 1800s: The Case of Yorubaland
Authors: Ejiogu EC
Published: July 2011

Notwithstanding its destructive aspects, historical sociologists have severally used their work to establish that warfare has its constructive side especially in the realm of state building. Through their work, the literature in the sub-specialty is continuously updated with narratives and accounts of war making and state building in Europe and parts of Asia during the early modern era. Such narratives and accounts are troves of information that enrich our knowledge about the trajectories and processes through which the states that we know today in Europe, China and Japan came about. But the neglect of Africa, where states were also built through warfare by indigenous political actors, remains conspicuous in the sub-specialty literature. This article, which begins the process of redressing that neglect, extends Charles Tilly’s theoretical proposition on the symbiotic interaction between war making and state making in early modern Europe to account for the emergence of states in Yorubaland during the Common Era and up until the 1800s using the wealth that accrued from slave-taking and other sources. It draws from the Eckstein-Gurr theoretical framework – or E-G scheme – to show that although those Yoruba states were monarchies, they were also constitutional monarchies that thrived on democratic sociocultural authority patterns of the Yoruba.
The Impact of a Heterogeneous Accrual-Generating Process on Empirical Accrual Models
Authors: Dopuch Nicholas , Mashruwala Raj , Seethamraju Chandra , Zach Tzachi
Published: July 2011

The cross-sectional approach that is typically used to estimate accrual models implicitly assumes that firms within the same industry have a homogeneous accrual-generating process (AGP). In this article, the authors examine this implicit assumption along three dimensions. First, they argue that the relationship between working-capital accruals and changes in sales is more complex than portrayed by existing empirical accrual models. In addition to sales changes, accruals are also affected by accrual determinants such as firms’ inventory and credit policies. Second, the authors provide evidence that the assumption of a uniform AGP is violated in industries whose firms’ accrual determinants are highly dispersed. Third, they document some implications of violating the assumption of a uniform AGP. Firms in industries with high variations in accrual determinants are likely to have large absolute abnormal accruals. The authors show that the previously documented increase in the absolute level of abnormal accruals over time could be attributed, in part, to the increased heterogeneity in industries with respect to their AGPs.
Conflict-of-Interest Reforms and Investment Bank Analysts’ Research Biases
Authors: Guan Yuyan , Lu Hai , Wong M. H. Franco
Published: July 2011

This study examines the consequences of the series of reforms targeting investment banking–related conflicts of interest. The authors compare and contrast optimism biases in analysts’ stock recommendations and earnings forecasts across different types of analyst firms in the postreform period of 2004 to 2007 versus the prereform period of 1998 to 2001. The authors document a significant reduction in the relative optimism of sanctioned investment bank analysts’ stock recommendations but not in their earnings forecasts. Moreover, the authors find little change in the profitability of their stock recommendations but detect a drop in the accuracy of earnings forecasts made by investment bank analysts. In sum, the reforms achieve the objective of mitigating the apparent optimism in investment bank stock recommendations, but they do not provide benefit to investors in terms of more profitable recommendations or more accurate earnings forecasts.
Intergenerational Transmission Effects on Relationship Satisfaction
Authors: Yoshida Keitaro , Busby Dean M.
Published: July 2011

Although intergenerational transmission processes have been studied on various aspects of family life, cross-cultural comparisons have rarely been made. In the present study, the authors examine how intergenerational transmission processes on relationship satisfaction differ between individuals with different gender and cultural identities. A multigroup structural equation modeling analysis compares the influence of family-of-origin factors on relationship satisfaction between Asian-born Asian, North American–born Asian, and Caucasian American heterosexual couples. Results suggest that Asian-born Asians experience greater influence from their family-of-origin than North American–born Asians and Caucasians. Males experience greater influence from their family-of-origin than females in Asian couples whereas females experience greater influence in Caucasian couples. The results suggest that both cultural identity and gender have an impact on the intergenerational transmission of relationship quality. The findings underscore the need for further exploration of the mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission processes in different contexts.
Preoperative BRAF Mutation Has Different Predictive Values for Lymph Node Metastasis according to Tumor Size
Authors: So Yoon Kyoung , Son Young‐Ik , Park Joo Yeon , Baek Chung‐Hwan , Jeong Han‐Sin , Chung Man Ki
Published: July 2011

Objective

To investigate whether BRAF mutation of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has different predictive values for regional lymph node (LN) metastasis according to tumor size.

Study Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting

A tertiary hospital.

Subjects and Methods

From January 2009 to August 2009, the authors prospectively enrolled 102 consecutive patients with unifocal PTC based on the findings of ultrasonography‐guided fine‐needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). BRAF mutation was tested on preoperative FNAB specimens. Total thyroidectomy and bilateral central neck dissection (± lateral neck dissection) was performed for all patients. Among 102 patients, 71 who were confirmed to have unifocal PTC by the surgical pathology were finally selected. The 71 patients were classified into 3 groups according to their tumor size: group I, ≤0.5 cm; group II, >0.5 cm and ≤1 cm; and group III, >1 cm. LN metastasis was evaluated in the surgical specimen as a dependent variable. The authors investigated whether BRAF mutation is predictive of LN metastasis in each group.

Results

Overall, BRAF mutation was a significant predictor of LN metastasis (P =. 045). When patients were classified into 3 groups, frequency of LN metastasis increased with tumor size: 4.8%, 50.0%, and 66.7% (P <. 001). However, the frequency of BRAF mutation was not different among 3 groups: 61.9%, 56.3%, and 72.2% (P =. 536). BRAF mutation was predictive of LN metastasis only in group II (P =. 026).

Conclusion

BRAF mutation of PTC may have differential predictive values for LN metastasis, according to tumor size.
Female Gender as a Risk Factor for Transient Post‐Thyroidectomy Hypocalcemia
Authors: Sands Noah B. , Payne Richard J. , Côté Valerie , Hier Michael P. , Black Martin J. , Tamilia Michael
Published: July 2011

Objectives

Transient post‐thyroidectomy hypocalcemia is a common complication following thyroid surgery. Studies have identified risk factors and possible ways to help predict post‐thyroidectomy hypocalcemia with the intent of ultimately limiting its incidence. This study evaluates the role of patient gender as a potential risk factor.

Study Design

A retrospective case series with chart review of 270 consecutive total thyroidectomy patients was conducted.

Setting

Jewish General Hospital, a McGill University–affiliated hospital in Montreal, Canada.

Subjects and Methods

219 women and 51 men were included. Postoperative hypocalcemia was defined as any 1 of the following: total serum calcium 1.90 mmol/L or less, or signs and symptoms of hypocalcemia. The following were evaluated as potential confounding factors in the study: age, menopause, preoperative calcium, parathyroid hormone, magnesium and phosphate levels, presence of carcinoma in the surgical specimen, number of parathyroid glands preserved in situ, thyroid gland volume, and nodule size.

Results

Female patients experienced transient postoperative hypocalcemia in 24.7% (54/219) of cases, which was significantly greater than the 11.8% (6/51) incidence detected in men (P <. 05). This represents a female/male relative risk ratio of 2.1 (confidence interval, 1.0‐4.6). There was no significant difference in rates of hypocalcemia between premenopausal and postmenopausal women (22.7% vs 26.6%).

Conclusion

These findings suggest that being female is likely a risk factor for transient post‐thyroidectomy hypocalcemia. Although this association is statistically significant, its magnitude and clinical relevance are uncertain and may be trivial. Additional research is needed to ascertain the physiologic mechanisms underlying this gender difference.
The Efficacy of Ankaferd Blood Stopper in Heparin‐Induced Hemostatic Abnormality in a Rat Epistaxis Model
Authors: Iynen Ismail , Sogut Ozgur , Kose Rustu
Published: July 2011

Objective

To assess the in vivo hemostatic effect of Ankaferd Blood Stopper (ABS).

Study Design

An experimental study of an animal anterior epistaxis model.

Setting

A tertiary care university hospital.

Subjects and Methods

Wistar rats were randomized into 4 groups of 7 each: group 1, control, no pretreatment, irrigated with saline; group 2, no pretreatment, irrigated with ABS; group 3, control, heparin pretreatment, irrigated with saline; and group 4, heparin pretreatment, irrigated with ABS. In all groups, a standardized rat epistaxis model was obtained by cutting the anterior nasal septal mucosa. To control bleeding, compressive dressings were placed after instilling 1 mL of either ABS or saline to the bleeding area. The hemostasis time and amount of nasal bleeding were measured in all groups to compare the treatments without and with ABS.

Results

Without heparin pretreatment, ABS shortened the hemostasis time by 1.57 minutes (P =. 003) and reduced the amount of the bleeding by 0.35 g (P =. 006). With heparin pretreatment, ABS shortened the hemostasis time by 2.86 minutes and reduced the amount of the bleeding by 0.49 g (both P =. 002).

Conclusion

ABS irrigation was more effective than saline irrigation for treating anterior epistaxis hemostasis in animals using a compressive dressing with or without heparin pretreatment.
Techniques for quantifying the accuracy of gridded elevation models and for mapping uncertainty in digital terrain analysis
Authors: Gonga-Saholiariliva N. , Gunnell Y. , Petit C. , Mering C.
Published: July 2011

We first provide a critical review of statistical procedures employed in the literature for testing uncertainty in digital terrain analysis, then focus on several aspects of spatial autocorrelation that have been neglected in the analysis of gridded elevation data. When applied to first derivatives of elevation such as topographic slope, a spatial approach using Moran’s I and the LISA (Local Indicator of Spatial Association) allows: (1) georeferenced data patterns to be generated; (2) error hot- and coldspots to be located; and (3) error propagation during DEM manipulation to be evaluated. In a worked example focusing on the Wasatch mountain front, Utah, we analyse the relative advantages of six DEMs resulting from different acquisition modes (airborne, optical, radar, or composite): the LiDAR (2 m), CODEM (5 m), NED10 (10 m), ASTER DEM (15 m) and GDEM (30 m), and SRTM (90 m). The example shows that (apart from the LiDAR) the NED10, which is generated from composite data sources, is the least error-ridden DEM for that region. Knowing error magnitudes and where errors are located determines where corrections to elevation are required in order to minimize error accumulation or propagation, and clarifies how they might affect expert judgement in environmental decisions. Ground resolution issues can subsequently be addressed with greater confidence by resampling the preferred grid to terrain resolutions suited to the landscape attributes of interest. Source product testing is an essential yet often neglected part of DEM analysis, with many practical applications in hydrological modelling, for predictions of slope- to catchment-scale mass sediment flux, or for the assessment of slope stability thresholds.
Constructively Responding to Requests for Paraprofessionals
Authors: Giangreco Michael F. , Doyle Mary Beth , Suter Jesse C.
Published: July 2011

Paraprofessional utilization has steadily risen in an effort to meet the needs of students with disabilities in inclusion-oriented classrooms. To date, no widely accepted processes exist to assist schools in determining when the use of paraprofessional staff is warranted. Many schools have attempted to fill this void by developing local processes designed to justify paraprofessional assignment. This article describes how justification approaches to paraprofessional decision making operate from a reactive posture, include inherently problematic criteria, and perpetuate socially constructed myths that certain students need one-to-one paraprofessionals. An alternative framework for making decisions is offered through a series of school/district- and classroom/team-level concepts and corresponding actions that can be pursued in developing proactive processes and practices tailored to local contexts.
Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstriction Syndrome
Authors: Ghosh Partha S. , Rothner A. David , Zahka Kenneth G. , Friedman Neil R.
Published: July 2011

Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome is characterized by a reversible segmental and multifocal vasoconstriction of cerebral arteries, and severe headaches with or without focal neurologic deficits or seizures. A 15-year-old boy presented with thunderclap headache. He had severe hypertension, although his neurologic examination was normal. Initial workup for thunderclap headache to exclude subarachnoid or intracranial hemorrhage, meningitis, pituitary apoplexy, or venous sinus thrombosis was negative. Brain magnetic resonance angiography and cerebral angiography demonstrated bilateral anterior and posterior circulation diffuse, multifocal, vascular irregularities (beading and stenosis) suggestive of underlying vasculopathy or vasculitis. He was started on verapamil. There was complete reversal of the vascular abnormalities in 6 weeks evident by magnetic resonance angiography, with resolution of headache and normalization of blood pressure. Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome has been rarely reported in children. This case report highlights the diagnostic dilemma and management of the rare childhood presentation of this condition.
‘Let Them Build Sea Walls’: Ecological Crisis, Economic Crisis and the Political Economic Opportunity Structure
Authors: Clement Matthew Thomas
Published: July 2011

The notion of a political economic opportunity structure not only provides a sociological description of capitalism’s economic and ecological crises but also connects these crises to radical social and environmental movements, which must confront both political and economic institutions to bring about change. Until now, the theoretical foundation that the political economic opportunity structure (PEOS) uses to explain the perpetration of injustice has conditionally accepted ecological modernization theory and the classless notion of circularity described in risk theory. By constructively criticizing the theoretical foundation of the PEOS, this paper primarily emphasizes the class structure of the economic and ecological crises of capitalism as the context in which social and environmental movements exist.
Quality of Life and Physical Activity in a Sample of Brazilian Older Adults
Authors: Guedes Dartagnan P. , Hatmann Angélica C. , Martini Fábio Antônio N. , Borges Marcelo B. , Bernardelli Rinaldo
Published: July 2011

Objective: To investigate the association between physical activity and quality of life in a sample of Brazilian older adults. Method: The Portuguese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-Older Adults Module and International Physical Activity Questionnaire was administered to 1,204 subjects (645 women and 559 men) aged ≥ 60 years. Results: Older adults of both genders who reported to be more physically active attributed higher scores to the sensory ability, autonomy, and intimacy domains, in addition to presenting significantly higher overall quality of life, irrespectively of age, marital status, educational level, and socioeconomic status. Specifically in women, the scores obtained for the social participation domain were significantly higher in the strata of active and very active subjects when compared to sedentary subjects. Discussion: The results indicate that increases in the levels of physical activity can contribute to improvements in quality of life of older adults.
A novel genetic programming approach to the design of engine control systems for the voltage stabilization of hybrid electric vehicle generator outputs
Authors: Gladwin D , Stewart P , Stewart J
Published: July 2011

This paper describes a Genetic Programming based automatic design methodology applied to the maintenance of a stable generated electrical output from a series-hybrid vehicle generator set. The generator set comprises a three-phase AC generator whose output is subsequently rectified to DC. The engine/generator combination receives its control input via an electronically actuated throttle, whose control integration is made more complex due to the significant system time delay. This time delay problem is usually addressed by model predictive design methods, which add computational complexity and rely as a necessity on accurate system and delay models. In order to eliminate this reliance, and achieve stable operation with disturbance rejection, a controller is designed via a Genetic Programming framework implemented directly in Matlab and, particularly, Simulink. The principal objective is to obtain a relatively simple controller for the time-delay system which does not rely on computationally expensive structures, yet retains inherent disturbance rejection properties. A methodology is presented to automatically design control systems directly upon the block libraries available in Simulink to automatically evolve robust control structures.
Greening chemistry: Emerging epistemic political tensions in California and the United States
Authors: Iles Alastair
Published: July 2011

Green chemistry promises to make the global chemical industry more sustainable through redesigning chemical production. Nonetheless, many green chemists in the US have focused on persuading other chemists and industrial corporations to change through education and voluntary industry action. Green chemistry in the US may have stagnated relatively because of missing societal input and public scrutiny of chemistry choices. Using recent green chemistry policy experiments in California and the US, I explore how new epistemic political tensions over the roles of expertise, societal participation, and regulation may be creating new societal input and, perhaps, greater industry take-up. I consider whether the concept of socially robust knowledge can help illuminate California’s experiments more broadly, and find that this concept needs to be expanded to include the politics of expertise and institutional innovations for increasing information flows between experts and societal actors.
Representations of energy policy and technology in British and Finnish newspaper media: A comparative perspective
Authors: Teräväinen Tuula
Published: July 2011

This article analyses media representations of the strengthening technological energy policy orientation in the UK and Finland. Drawing from over 1200 newspaper articles from 1991 to 2006, it scrutinises how energy policy in general and energy technologies in particular have been discussed by the media in these two countries, and how the media representations have changed over time. The results point to the importance of national political, economic and cultural features in shaping media discussions. At the same time, international political events and ideas of technology-driven economic growth have transformed media perceptions of energy technologies. While the British media have been rather critical towards national policies throughout the period of analysis, the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has supported successive national governments. In both countries, energy technologies have increasingly become linked to global societal and political questions.
Effect of linear thermal gradient on vibrations of trapezoidal plates whose thickness varies parabolically
Authors: Gupta Arun Kumar , Sharma Pragati
Published: July 2011

Plates of variable thickness are widely used in modern technology nowadays in various engineering fields, such as marine engineering, aeronautical fields, nuclear reactors etc. The present paper is a study of linear thermal gradient on the vibration of trapezoidal plates with parabolically varying thickness. The Rayleigh Ritz technique is used to get the required frequency equation. In the present investigation, the effect of various factors, i.e. thermal gradient, taper constant and aspect ratio are studied to calculate the frequencies corresponding to the first two modes of vibration and are presented in tabular and graphical form.
Scattering of flexural waves by a semi-infinite crack in an elastic plate carrying an electric current
Authors: Abrahams I David , Lawrie Jane B
Published: July 2011

Smart structures are components used in engineering applications that are capable of sensing or reacting to their environment in a predictable and desired manner. In addition to carrying mechanical loads, smart structures may alleviate vibration, reduce acoustic noise, change their mechanical properties as required or monitor their own condition. With the last point in mind, this article examines the scattering of flexural waves by a semi-infinite crack in a non-ferrous thin plate that is subjected to a constant current aligned in the direction of the crack edge. The aim is to investigate whether the current can be used to detect or inhibit the onset of crack growth. The model problem is amenable to an exact solution via the Wiener–Hopf technique, which enables an explicit analysis of the bending (and twisting) moment intensity factors at the crack tip, and also the diffracted field. The latter contains an edge wave component, and its amplitude is determined explicitly in terms of the current and angle of incidence of the forcing flexural wave. It is further observed that the edge wave phase speed exhibits a dual dependence on frequency and current, resulting in two distinct asymptotic behaviours.
Microstructure and dry sliding wear properties of 3Si–2Ni and 3Si–2Mn powder metallurgy steels with different graphite content
Authors: Tekeli S , Güral A , Özyürek D
Published: July 2011

In this study, plain iron powder (ASC.100.29) was mixed with 0.35–1.1 % graphite + 3 % Si + 2 % Ni and 0.35–1.1 % graphite + 3 % Si + 2 % Mn powders. While coarse pearlitic structure with homogeneous distribution of Mn was obtained in Mn-added specimens, Ni-rich austenitic areas with divorced pearlite structure were observed in Ni-added specimens. Wear tests were carried out at a load of 50 N. The experimental results showed that the highest wear resistance was obtained in the Ni-added specimen. While subsurface brittle cracking caused more wear in the Mn-added specimens, the wear occured by plastic deformation of surface Ni-added specimens.
Calculation of eddy current loss for magnetic thrust bearings
Authors: Tian Y-S , Sun Y-H , Yu L
Published: July 2011

A magnetic circuit model of eddy current loss for a magnetic thrust bearing (MTB) is presented based on the effective reluctance and the magnetic circuit theorem. Considering the skin effect of eddy current, the effective reluctance is introduced into the flux path, and the magnetic flux, coil impedance and eddy current loss are analysed. In addition, a harmonic analysis on the finite element method model of the MTB and the magnetic circuit model is conducted and the results are compared in consideration of such affecting factors as material non-linearity, leakage, and fringing flux. It shows that the magnetic flux and the coil impedance have the same frequency domain properties in the above two models. The eddy current losses derived from these two models agree well with the experimental results.
Part-time of what? Job quality and part-time employment in the legal profession in Australia
Authors: Campbell Iain , Charlesworth Sara , Malone Jenny
Published: July 2011

This article examines the quality of part-time employment for solicitors in private practice in Australia. Although full-time jobs based on long hours are dominant in the legal profession, part-time jobs, primarily taken by women, have attracted attention in recent years. The article seeks to answer fundamental questions about the extent and quality of these jobs, and how well they serve the needs of the increasingly diverse workforce. The article draws on recent surveys and in-depth interviews, as well as Census and other secondary data to describe the features of the part-time workforce and to explore aspects of poor quality such as limited access, inferior job content, stalled career progression and narrow schedules. It suggests that the major barrier to improving the quality of part-time jobs is the dominant model of full-time work in law firms, centred on heavy workloads, high targets of ‘billable hours’ and long working hours.
Fat embolism syndrome: What have we learned over the years?
Authors: Tzioupis Christopher C , Giannoudis Peter V
Published: July 2011

Although its original clinical description dates from the nineteenth century, fat embolism syndrome remains a diagnostic challenge for clinicians. Fat emboli occur in all patients with long-bone fractures, but only few of them develop a multisystem disorder affecting the lung, brain, and skin, also known as fat embolism syndrome (FES). The incidence of FES varies and is often underestimated. Mechanical and biochemical theories have been proposed for the pathophysiology of FES. Clinical manifestations consist of respiratory and cerebral dysfunction and a petechial rash. Diagnosis of FES is difficult and based mainly on clinical criteria. FES is a self-limiting disease and treatment needs to be mainly supportive. Surgical treatment of the coexistent injuries is still obscured by controversies and the treatment methods used provide inconclusive results. In this context, prevention focuses on the early identification of predisposing factors.
A comparative study between switching and adaptive controllers for a remotely operated vehicle
Authors: Cavalletti M , Ippoliti G , Longhi S
Published: July 2011

This paper considers the tracking control problem of an underwater vehicle subject to different load configurations, that result in considerable variations of its mass and inertial parameters. For this class of mode-switch processes, traditional control techniques are not adequate to guarantee the required performance when a change of configuration occurs. Advanced control techniques have been analysed; a switching control and an adaptive control have been developed with the aim to compare the performance of these types of controllers. The stability of the two controllers has been analysed using the Lyapunov theory and their performance has been evaluated by numerical simulations. On the basis of numerical tests, when an adequate a priori knowledge of different vehicle configurations is available, the switching controller is found to be the better control strategy with respect to an adaptive solution because of its significantly reduced transient response.
The Screening Test for Emotional Problems–Self-Report (STEP-S)
Authors: Erford Bradley T. , Short Sarah , Freeman Angela
Published: July 2011

The Screening Test for Emotional Problems–Self-Report (STEP-S) was designed to assess students aged 10 to 17 years referred for wide-ranging emotional disturbances categorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Preliminary analysis indicated that subscale coefficients alpha ranged from .76 to .85 and test–retest coefficients from .65 to .79. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a marginal fit of the five-factor model to the data, whereas substantial support was provided for diagnostic, convergent, and discriminant score validity.
Classification Accuracy of easyCBM First-Grade Mathematics Measures
Authors: Clarke Ben , Nese Joseph F. T. , Alonzo Julie , Smith Jean Louise M. , Tindal Gerald , Kame’enui Edward J. , Baker Scott K.
Published: July 2011

The results from a year-long study to investigate the technical features of easyCBM mathematics screening measures for first grade are presented. Measures were designed based on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum Focal Point standards, which for Grade 1 include (a) Number and Operations and Algebra, (b) Number and Operations, and (c) Geometry (2006). A sample of 145 students was assessed at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. Reliability of the measures was adequate, and concurrent and predictive validity results—with the TerraNova 3—were moderate. Receiver operating curve analyses, based on mathematics difficulty below the 25th and 40th percentile, indicated adequate classification accuracy. We examine results from the study in the context of linking assessment to instructional decision making.
MSI2 protein expression predicts unfavorable outcome in acute myeloid leukemia
Authors: Byers Richard J. , Currie Treeve , Tholouli Eleni , Rodig Scott J. , Kutok Jeffery L.
Published: July 2011

MSI2 is highly expressed in human myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines, and high expression of MSI2 mRNA is associated with decreased survival in AML, suggesting its use as a new prognostic marker. To test this, we measured MSI2 protein level by immunohistochemistry in 120 AML patients. Most cases (70%) showed some nuclear or cytoplasmic positivity, but the percentage of positive cells was low in most cases. Despite this, MSI2 protein expression was negatively associated with outcome, particularly for patients with good cytogenetic subgroup. For practical diagnostic purposes, the strongest significance of association was seen in cases with > 1% of cells showing strong MSI2 staining, these having a very poor outcome (P < .0001). Multivariate analysis with cytogenetic category, age, white cell count, and French-American-British subtype demonstrated that nuclear MSI2 levels were independently predictive of outcome (P = .0497). These results confirm the association of MSI2 expression with outcome in AML at the protein level and demonstrate the utility of MSI2 protein as a clinical prognostic biomarker. In addition, although positive at some level in most cases, its prognostic power derived from few positive cells, supporting its role in control of normal hematopoietic stem cell function and highlighting its role in disease progression.