bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social Change and Problems of Young Adults and Women in Russia and Uzbekistan
Authors: Sacks Michael Paul
Published: September 2011

While some groups are discovering new opportunities in the shifting political and economic structures of the former Soviet Union, others are finding that their paths towards upward social mobility have become less clear or blocked. There are also growing regional differences in benefits and losses. Although privileges in the old system often translate into advantages in the new, a contracting economy and the redrawing of political boundaries are altering the social order.
Discussant
Authors: Sadomskaya Natalia
Published: September 2011

I'll start with culture. Today we have been speaking principally about culture in the republics. I would like to address the common problems facing the post-Soviet republics. I agree with Edward Allworth that there is a crisis or trauma not only for the national intellectuals, but for intellectuals as a whole. This is especially a trauma for intellectuals who were supported by the state. They had very comfortable lives inside the institutes and the cultural unions. Now these privileges are disappearing. Previously intellectuals’ lives were characterized by a kind of self-adoration of their positions, of their purity, of their disengagement from political life, and this stance is now also in crisis. Recently, I read a very interesting article which said that today nobody wants to engage in the escapist literature that was once so popular. Nobody wants to hear about themes of history, of Egypt, the Silver Age, and so on because politics is now the hot topic in cultural life. A similar situation occurred in the Prague Spring, and we know that the results in this case were very fruitful. Havel, who was a very sophisticated journal writer, became a very contemporary, very active, and essential writer. And I consider this crisis, this struggle of intellectuals, a good sign. The people who will survive will be those whom other people read. Conversely, Chengiz Aitmatov, who was long a friend of the national struggle, who made a name for himself as a writer concerned with conditions in Kirgizia, and who was a defender of the national traditions, now prefers to be Ambassador to Luxembourg. While I was very surprised by this, this is also typical of the struggle to which I refer. Secondly, as Professor Allworth noted, it is true that Kazakh leaders
Discussant
Authors: Prikulis Yuris
Published: September 2011

I am very pleased and very honored to be a participant in this discussion. In order to understand the situation in the former Soviet Union, we must first realize that there were many backward areas that never fulfilled their Five Year Plans, yet which coexisted with areas that developed much more rapidly. To understand this fact is to look into the future of the successor states. It points to factors that will influence why some states will have constitutions and why these constitutions will often be quite similar if we speak about the future of their political systems.
Post-USSR Political Developments in Former Soviet Central Asia
Authors: Rywkin Michael
Published: September 2011

The current situation in former Soviet Central Asia has been formed by two sets of factors: long-term developments which are the direct results of decades of Soviet rule; and specific trends that are more characteristic of the pre-independence decade.
The Ukrainian Question between Poland and Czechoslovakia: The Lemko Rusyn Republic (1918-1920) and Political Thought in Western Rus'-Ukraine
Authors: Magocsi Paul Robert
Published: September 2011

During the closing months of World War I in late 1918 and the break-up of the historic multinational empires that for centuries had ruled most of East Central Europe, it became common practice for the varying ethnolinguistic or national groups to form councils whose goals were to determine their group's political future. These national councils, as they came to be known, seemed to appear everywhere, but perhaps most frequently in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was not only the “large” former minorities like the Czechs, Poles, Slovaks, Croats, Slovenes, Romanians, or Ukrainians who formed national councils, but many smaller groups acted in the same way. And, like the national councils of the larger groups who very soon created independent republics alone or in cooperation with their immediate neighbors, so, too, did some of these smaller groups proclaim their independence. Thus, in the newspapers of the time and scholarly monographs of today one can still find references to the Baranya, East Slovak, Hutsul, or Przemysl “republics” among others, which during the last few months of 1918 seemed to sprout up like mushrooms after a rainfall, but which for the most part ceased to exist when the borders of East Central Europe began to stabilize as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that opened its deliberations in early 1919.
V. “The Current Political and Cultural Situation in Belorussia”
Authors: Zaprudnik Jan
Published: September 2011

The Soviet empire, if not crumbling, is transforming itself almost beyond recognition, and Belorussia gives us a case-study insight into this process of political, social, cultural, and psychological change. This was the theme of Dr. Zaprudnik's February 8 presentation in which he surveyed the current political landscape in Belorussia.
The Islamic Factor in Nationalism and Nation-Building in Uzbekistan: Causative Agent or Inhibitor?
Authors: Hanks Reuel
Published: September 2011

Nationalism became the bane of the Soviet empire. The disintegration of the USSR due to nationalistic forces has occurred with a swiftness that few, if any, Western Sovietologists anticipated. The four Central Asian states, with high rates of population growth and a strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, now acquire a new significance. Of these Uzbekistan, with a population of twenty million, seventy percent of whom belong to the titular national group, looms largest in terms of demographic and economic potential. The population of Uzbekistan is almost twice as large as the other nascent Central Asian nations combined, and despite severe ecological damage, produces almost two thirds of the cotton in the region, along with natural gas, gold and other minerals.
Restructuring and the Non-Russian Past
Authors: Velychenko Stephen
Published: September 2011

The official interpretation of the histories of the nations of the USSR emerged between 1934 and 1953 on the basis of decrees signed by Stalin and/or the Central Committee. This interpretation subsumes the histories of the non-Russian Republics within the “history of the USSR” that begins not in 1917 or 1922 in Moscow, but in prehistoric Asia. The official view recognized the non-Russian nations and republics as separate historical entities, yet imposed upon their pasts a Russocentric statist framework while denying the Russians a separate history of the RSFSR. Within this scheme the history of non-Russian nationalities before they became part of the tsarist state was built around the idea of “oppression” of “the people” and their “struggle” against native and foreign ruling classes. Russian and non-Russian “working people” were assumed always to have been “fraternal” while non-Russian political leaders, before and after incorporation, were judged according to their sympathy and/or loyalty to Russia. Russian political and cultural tutelage of non-Russians was stressed and activists in nineteenth-century national movements were labelled “reactionary” if they were not radical socialists. Official historiography admitted that non-Russians suffered political and cultural oppression but not economic colonialism under tsarist rule. In keeping with the logic of Lenin's The Development of Capitalism in Russia, the official view argued that tsarist economic development was “progressive” for non-Russians because it centralized production and tied “outlying regions” of the empire to the world market. Accordingly, the non-Russian “national bourgeoisie” were “reactionary” because both threatened the integration supposedly demanded by the forces of production. By contrast, during the twenties and the thirties, Russian/non-Russian relations in the Tsarist Empire were presented in terms of Lenin's Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism. Historians argued that tsarist centralism impeded the development in non-Russian provinces and that “national liberation movements” were “progressive” responses to Russian economic colonialism.
Sources of Ethnic Politics in the Soviet Polity: the Pre-Perestroika Dimension
Authors: Zisserman-Brodsky Diana
Published: September 2011

“In modern or transitional societies, politicized ethnicity has become the crucial principle of political legitimization and delegitimization of systems, states, regimes and governments.” While accepting Rothschild's formulation in general, most political analysts did not expect it to be realized in the USSR so soon in its variant of “delegitimization.”
Changes of Ethnic Composition in the Baltic States
Authors: Zvidrinš Peteris
Published: September 2011

The aim of this article is to analyze changes in the ethnic structure in the Baltics. The publication of the results of the 1989 Census data allows one to analyze the dynamics of ethnic structure in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania since the 1920s. The restoration of the de jure independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia allows one to describe accurately the factual ethno-demographic situation, because it has made available information which could not be published openly in the former USSR. Nevertheless, a major problem is posed by territorial alterations, especially in Lithuania.
Estonia Rebuilds: The Second Year of Independence, 1992–1993
Authors: Clemens Walter C.
Published: September 2011

Getting a fix on Estonians’ state of mind was difficult in the years before and after September 1991. The runup and aftermath of independence produced what an observer inEstonian Lifecalled a “psychic rollercoaster”—euphoric hopes, long periods of boredom, and moments of sheer terror as Soviet agents struck hard at Baltic independence. Earlier years of collective obedience training had produced the effect of psychic numbing. In the 1990s Estonians dared to think and feel.
The Greek Minority in the Albanian Republic: a Demographic Study
Authors: Berxholli Arqile , Protopapa Sejfi , Prifti Kristaq
Published: September 2011

Albania, founded at the Congress of Vlora on November 12, 1912, has a far more homogeneous national population than its neighboring states in the Balkans. The Sixth London Conference of the great powers in 1912–1913 ruthlessly divided the territories inhabited by Albanians. The conference fragmented more than half the territories inhabited by ethnic Albanian regions as follows: in the east and the northeast—Kosova, Dibra, Ohri, Struga and Pollugu up to Shkup (Scoplje); in the north—Tivari, Ulqini, Tuzi, Plava and Gucija; and in the south—Camerija. These lands, with an autochthonous Albanian population, were annexed by Serbia, Montenegro (in 1918 by the new Yugoslav State) and by Greece in 1913. Thus, the borders of Albania were confined to an area of 28,748 square kilometers and a population of a little more than 800,000.
The hidden economy: informal and parallel trade in Northwestern Uganda
Authors: Meagher Kate
Published: September 2011

This study of informal and parallel trade in Uganda's Arua District shows that such trade has a long history back through colonialism. Its roots do not lie in the distortions of post‐colonial state intervention, as the current conventional view would have it, but in the activities of the colonial state in imposing borders and divergent currencies and in implementing trading networks. More recently and as part of adjustment programmes, attempts to shift incomes from traders to farmers, by raising producer prices and taxing traders’ incomes, have resulted in traders shifting to parallel markets over the border in Zaire. One such market in Ariwara is analysed and shown to involve trade in visible manufacturers and foodstuffs and more crucially in gold, US dollars and coffee. Conventional views that parallel trade is limited to export crops, and that such cross‐border smuggling is on barter terms, are shown to be greatly mistaken, given the existence of a multi‐product market lubricated by a sophisticated multi‐currency and gold market. In conditions of shortage, where alternative supply channels exist, policies of ‘structural adjustment’ which fail to take the basis of these parallel markets into account, will not succeed.
Successes and Future Prospects of Sanctions Against South Africa
Authors: Hanlon Joseph
Published: September 2011

Without sanctions, Nelson Mandela would not yet be free. Without sanctions, Namibia would not yet be independent. Sanctions were not the most important reason for either event, but sanctions were crucial in providing an extra push. They sped up the events leading to the release of Mandela and the independence of Namibia. And sanctions will continue to play an important role in accelerating progress toward genuine majority rule in South Africa.

In this Briefing, I will first look in detail at sanctions and the Namibia independence process, and consider other experiences of sanctions to show why South Africa is vulnerable to them; secondly, discuss the role of sanctions, and ask how they have affected South Africa and briefly look at the impact of sanctions on the SADCC states. Finally, I will look at the role of sanctions in the coming negotiations in South Africa.
Liberalisation is not enough: structural adjustment and peasants in Guinea‐Bissau
Authors: Galli Rosemary E.
Published: September 2011

After four years of structural adjustment with a considerable injection of funds under International Monetary Fund and World Bank programmes, the benefits have failed to filter out from the capital Bissau to reach the small‐scale rural producers. Instead, the ‘ponteiros’, state officials who have land concessions, swallowed up the credit but generally failed to use it for productive investment. Galli does not contest the need for market liberalisation given the gross distortions that have developed in the economy of Guinea‐Bissau, rather she challenges the assumption that market mechanisms alone can stimulate investment.
Class alliance and class fractions in Ghanaian trading and state formation
Authors: Clark Gracia
Published: September 2011

This article marks a return to an analysis of merchant capital in West Africa. Clark undertakes a longitudinal look at the patterns of populism and class alliances among Ghanaian traders from the pre‐colonial period, through the colonial period up to the current Rawlings administration. She draws attention to the transformation of gender roles in the colonial period stemming from the introduction of the ‘passbook’ system which enabled a significant number of women to begin trading as the men left for the professions. She also notes that these alliances have not always been solid. For the mercantile class, the essence of the alliance was to maintain control over the terms of trade. To achieve this aim this class sought support initially from the chiefs, and later on from smallholders and professionals in their battles with the colonial state, and more recently the post‐colonial regimes.
The child and the primary curriculum — from policy to practice
Authors: Drummond Mary Jane
Published: September 2011

This is the text of a lecture given at the Cambridgeshire Primary Headteachers Conference, 20‐21 September 1990, at the University of East Anglia.
Post‐16 education and training: agendas and structures
Authors: Merson Martin
Published: September 2011

This paper explores the influence of two government departments, the Department of Employment and the Department of Education and Science (now the Department for Education), on post‐16 provision during the last decade. In acknowledging the underlying move to vocationalizing the post‐16 curriculum and processes, two new concepts are introduced for distinguishing those policies intended for the short‐term control of entry to the labour market, regulatory vocationalism, and those longer‐term policies of anticipatory vocationalism intended to raise the skill and knowledge base of the workforce for an uncertain and highly competitive economic and employment future. The paper examines the main instruments of policy from A New Training Initiative: A Programme for Action (DE/DES, 1981) to Education and Training for the 21st Century (DES/DE, 1991), arguing that over the decade it has been the immediate social and political contexts which have largely determined policy towards post‐16 provision and therefore led to a period of superficially episodic initiatives. However, it is further argued that whereas the rhetoric of policy is shifting towards a longer‐term vision, the changes in education and training infrastructure are only compatible with short‐term concerns.
Movers and Shakers: high politics and the origins of the National Curriculum
Authors: Taylor Tony
Published: September 2011

This paper provides a narrative account of politics surrounding the introduction of the National Curriculum to English and Welsh schools, and in particular the struggles between leading politicians, ministries, government agencies and Her Majesty's Inspectorate. The paper argues that Secretary of State Kenneth Baker's victory over Prime Ministerial advisers led to an over‐complex and unmanageable framework which in a few years led to an unprecedented alliance of opposing interest groups and the conditions for a major government climbdown.
Italian Political Culture in Historical Perspective
Authors: Ginsborg Paul
Published: September 2011

Much more so than in the recent past, the eyes of Europe and even of the world are on Italy. This attention does not derive from any innovative solutions that Italy may have offered to the grave problems which today face modern states: those of environmental pollution, of unemployment, of racism, of declining political legitimacy. Rather, Italy has attracted intense scrutiny for two principal reasons. First, because certain courageous magistrates, both in Palermo and Milan, have waged an unprecedented and dramatic war against criminal organizations and political corruption, and this in one of the most corrupt democracies in Europe. Their lead has been taken up in France and Spain, and their actions studied by colleagues as far away as Japan and Argentina. Unexpectedly, the Italian state has produced and allowed space for a group of public servants who have earned admiration on a global scale.
The PDS, the Progressive Alliance and the Crisis
Authors: Bull Martin J.
Published: September 2011

From the perspective of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the left generally, the 1989-1994 period can be viewed as a political failure in as far as there was a right-wing outcome (albeit ephemeral) to Italy's transition. Yet, it is a failure which has to be viewed in the context of the deep undercurrents of change at work in Italy in this period and the constraints within which the PDS and its leader, Achille Occhetto, were operating
The Italian Crises and Capitalism
Authors: Sapelli Giulio
Published: September 2011

An examination of the problem of the ‘Italian crises’ from the perspective of the transformations in Italian capitalism will allow this article to develop a theme particularly dear to me: namely the irreducibility of capitalism to economics. The market cannot be seen simply as a series of interpersonal relations governed by prices; it must instead be seen as a relationship between people distorted by the fetishism of commodities.
Homeomorphisms between limbs of the Mandelbrot set
Authors: Dudko Dzmitry , Schleicher Dierk
Published: September 2011

We prove that for every hyperbolic component of the Mandelbrot set, any two limbs with equal denominators are homeomorphic so that the homeomorphism preserves periods of hyperbolic components. This settles a conjecture on the Mandelbrot set that goes back to 1994.
Identification and classification of the genus Bacteroides by multilocus sequence analysis
Authors: Sakamoto Mitsuo , Ohkuma Moriya
Published: September 2011

Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) was performed on representative species of the genus Bacteroides. Internal fragments of the genes selected, dnaJ, gyrB, hsp60, recA, rpoB and 16S rRNA, were amplified by direct PCR and then sequenced from 38 Bacteroides strains representing 35 species. Neighbour-joining (NJ), maximum-likelihood (ML) and maximum-parsimony (MP) phylogenies of the individual genes were compared. The data confirm that the potential for discrimination of Bacteroides species is greater using MLSA of housekeeping genes than 16S rRNA genes. Among the housekeeping genes analysed, gyrB was the most informative, followed by dnaJ. Analyses of concatenated sequences (4816 bp) of all six genes revealed robust phylogenetic relationships among different Bacteroides species when compared with the single-gene trees. The NJ, ML and MP trees were very similar, and almost fully resolved relationships of Bacteroides species were obtained, to our knowledge for the first time. In addition, analysis of a concatenation (2457 bp) of the dnaJ, gyrB and hsp60 genes produced essentially the same result. Ten distinct clades were recognized using the SplitsTree4 program. For the genus Bacteroides, we can define species as a group of strains that share at least 97.5 % gene sequence similarity based on the fragments of five protein-coding housekeeping genes and the 16S rRNA gene. This study demonstrates that MLSA of housekeeping genes is a valuable alternative technique for the identification and classification of species of the genus Bacteroides.
Catabolite repression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase by a zinc finger protein under biotin- and pyruvate carboxylase-deficient conditions in Pichia pastoris
Authors: Vijay Kumar Nallani , Rangarajan Pundi N.
Published: September 2011

We have identified a methanol- and biotin-starvation-inducible zinc finger protein named ROP [repressor of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK)] in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. When P. pastoris strain GS115 (wild-type, WT) is cultured in biotin-deficient, glucose-ammonium (Bio−) medium, growth is suppressed due to the inhibition of anaplerotic synthesis of oxaloacetate, catalysed by the biotin-dependent enzyme pyruvate carboxylase (PC). Deletion of ROP results in a strain (ΔROP) that can grow under biotin-deficient conditions due to derepression of a biotin- and PC-independent pathway of anaplerotic synthesis of oxaloacetate. Northern analysis as well as microarray expression profiling of RNA isolated from WT and ΔROP strains cultured in Bio− medium indicate that expression of the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene (PEPCK) is induced in ΔROP during biotin- or PC-deficiency even under glucose-abundant conditions. There is an excellent correlation between PEPCK expression and growth of ΔROP in Bio− medium, suggesting that ROP-mediated regulation of PEPCK may have a crucial role in the biotin- and PC-independent growth of the ΔROP strain. To our knowledge, ROP is the first example of a zinc finger transcription factor involved in the catabolite repression of PEPCK in yeast cells cultured under biotin- or PC-deficient and glucose-abundant conditions.
Association of heat-shock protein 70 with lipid rafts is required for Japanese encephalitis virus infection in Huh7 cells
Authors: Zhu Yong-Zhe , Cao Ming-Mei , Wang Wen-Bo , Wang Wen , Ren Hao , Zhao Ping , Qi Zhong-Tian
Published: September 2011

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is an enveloped flavivirus and the most common agent of viral encephalitis. It enters cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis and low pH-triggered membrane fusion. Although lipid rafts, cholesterol-enriched lipid-ordered membrane domains, have been shown to participate in JEV entry, the mechanisms of the early events of JEV infection, including the cellular receptors of JEV, remain largely unknown. In the current study, it was demonstrated that heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70), rather than other members of the HSP70 family, was required for JEV entry into a human cell line. Cell-surface expression of HSP70 and a direct interaction between JEV envelope (E) protein and HSP70 were observed. Biochemical fractionation showed that HSP70 clearly migrated into the raft fraction after virus infection and co-fractioned with E protein. Depletion of cholesterol shifted the E protein and HSP70 to a non-raft membrane and decreased JEV entry without affecting virus binding to host cells. Notably, recruitment of HSP70 into lipid rafts was required for activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt signalling pathway in the early stage of JEV infection. These results indicate that lipid rafts facilitate JEV entry, possibly by providing a convenient platform to concentrate JEV and its receptors on the host-cell membrane.
Seroprevalence of St-Valérien-like caliciviruses in Italian swine
Authors: Di Martino Barbara , Di Profio Federica , Ceci Chiara , Martella Vito , Lavazza Antonio , Massirio Ivano , Marsilio Fulvio
Published: September 2011

St-Valérien-like viruses are newly recognized porcine caliciviruses recently detected in North America and Europe. In this study, baculovirus-expressed virus-like particles of the St-Valérien strain 25A/ITA were generated and used for the development of an antibody-detection ELISA kit to assess the seroprevalence of these novel caliciviruses in swine. Antibodies specific for St-Valérien-like virus were detected in 63 (10.3 %) of 614 serum samples tested with titres ranging from 1 : 50 (28.6 %) to 1 : 800 (40.7 %). These results indicate that St-Valérien-like infections are common among domestic pigs, italy.
Retention and extinction of delay eyeblink conditioning are modulated by central cannabinoids
Authors: Steinmetz Adam B. , Freeman John H.
Published: September 2011

Rats administered the cannabinoid agonist WIN55,212-2 or the antagonist SR141716A exhibit marked deficits during acquisition of delay eyeblink conditioning, as noted by Steinmetz and Freeman in an earlier study. However, the effects of these drugs on retention and extinction of eyeblink conditioning have not been assessed. The present study examined the effects of WIN55,212-2 and SR141716A on retention and extinction of delay eyeblink conditioning in rats. Rats were given acquisition training for five daily sessions followed by one session of retention training with subcutaneous administration of 3 mg/kg of WIN55,212-2 or 5 mg/kg of SR141716A and an additional session with the vehicle. Two sessions of extinction training were then given with WIN55,212-2, SR141716A, or vehicle. Retention and extinction were impaired by WIN55,212-2, whereas SR141716A produced no deficits. The extinction deficit in rats given WIN55,212-2 was observed only during the first session, suggesting a specific impairment in short-term plasticity mechanisms. The current results and previous findings indicate that the cannabinoid system modulates cerebellar contributions to acquisition, retention, and extinction of eyeblink conditioning.
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Copper Homeostasis in Populus trichocarpa Reveals an Integrated Molecular Remodeling for a Preferential Allocation of Copper to Plastocyanin in the Chloroplasts of Developing Leaves
Authors: Ravet Karl , Danford Forest L. , Dihle Alysha , Pittarello Marco , Pilon Marinus
Published: September 2011

Plastocyanin, which requires copper (Cu) as a cofactor, is an electron carrier in the thylakoid lumen and essential for photoautotrophic growth of plants. The Cu microRNAs, which are expressed during Cu deprivation, down-regulate several transcripts that encode for Cu proteins. Since plastocyanin is not targeted by the Cu microRNAs, a cofactor economy model has been proposed in which plants prioritize Cu for use in photosynthetic electron transport. However, defects in photosynthesis are classic symptoms of Cu deprivation, and priorities in Cu cofactor delivery have not been determined experimentally. Using hydroponically grown Populus trichocarpa (clone Nisqually-1), we have established a physiological and molecular baseline for the response to Cu deficiency. An integrated analysis showed that Cu depletion strongly reduces the activity of several Cu proteins including plastocyanin, and consequently, photosynthesis and growth are decreased. Whereas plastocyanin mRNA levels were only mildly affected by Cu depletion, this treatment strongly affected the expression of other Cu proteins via Cu microRNA-mediated transcript down-regulation. Polyphenol oxidase was newly identified as Cu regulated and targeted by a novel Cu microRNA, miR1444. Importantly, a spatiotemporal analysis after Cu resupply to previously depleted plants revealed that this micronutrient is preferentially allocated to developing photosynthetic tissues. Plastocyanin and photosynthetic electron transport efficiency were the first to recover after Cu addition, whereas recovery of the other Cu-dependent activities was delayed. Our findings lend new support to the hypothesis that the Cu microRNAs serve to mediate a prioritization of Cu cofactor use. These studies also highlight poplar as an alternative sequenced model for spatiotemporal analyses of nutritional homeostasis.
On the Strain Rate- and Temperature-Dependent Tensile Behavior of Eutectic Sn–Pb Solder
Authors: Boyce B. L. , Brewer L. N. , Neilsen M. K. , Perricone M. J.
Published: September 2011

The present study examines the thermomechanical strain-rate sensitivity of eutectic 63Sn–37Pb solder over a broad range of strain-rates from 0.0002 s–1 to 200 s–1, thus encompassing failure events between 1 h and 1 ms, at temperatures ranging from −60 °C to + 100 °C. A newly developed servohydraulic tensile method enabled this broad range of strain-rates to be evaluated by a single technique, eliminating ambiguity caused by evaluation across multiple experimental methods. Two solder conditions were compared: a normalized condition representing a solder joint that has largely stabilized ∼30 days after solidification and an aged condition representing ∼30 years at near-ambient temperatures. The tensile behavior of both conditions exhibited dramatic temperature and strain-rate sensitivity. At 100 °C, the yield strength increased from 5 MPa at 0.0002 s–1 to 42 MPa at 200 s–1, while at −60 °C, the yield strength increased from 57 MPa at 0.0002 s–1 to 71 MPa at 200 s–1. The room temperature strain rate-dependent behavior was also measured for the lead free SAC396 alloy. The SAC alloy exhibited thermal strain-rate sensitivity similar to Sn–Pb over this temperature and strain-rate regime. Microstructural characterization using backscatter electron imaging and electron backscatter diffraction showed distinct, morphological changes of the microstructure for different thermomechanical conditions as well as some systematic changes in the crystallographic texture. However, very little intergranular rotation was observed over the range of thermomechanical conditions, suggesting the dominance of a grain boundary sliding (GBS) deformation mechanism. Finally, a recently developed unified-creep-plasticity constitutive model for solder deformation was found to describe the observed behavior with much higher fidelity than the common Johnson–Cook model.
N-Terminal Acetylation Acts as an Avidity Enhancer Within an Interconnected Multiprotein Complex
Authors: Scott Daniel C. , Monda Julie K. , Bennett Eric J. , Harper J. Wade , Schulman Brenda A.
Published: September 2011

Acetylation of an amino-terminal methionine is important for mediating specific protein-protein interactions.
Replication-Dependent Loss of 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine in Mouse Preimplantation Embryos
Authors: Inoue Azusa , Zhang Yi
Published: September 2011

The oxidation product of methylated cytosine is passively lost from DNA in the zygote as cell division progresses.
Evaluation of the incremental cost to the National Health Service of prescribing analogue insulin
Authors: Holden Sarah E , Poole Chris D , Morgan Christopher Ll , Currie Craig J
Published: September 2011

Introduction

Insulin analogues have become increasingly popular despite their greater cost compared with human insulin. The aim of this study was to calculate the incremental cost to the National Health Service (NHS) of prescribing analogue insulin preparations instead of their human insulin alternatives.

Methods

Open-source data from the four UK prescription pricing agencies from 2000 to 2009 were analysed. Cost was adjusted for inflation and reported in UK pounds at 2010 prices.

Results

Over the 10-year period, the NHS spent a total of £2732 million on insulin. The total annual cost increased from £156 million to £359 million, an increase of 130%. The annual cost of analogue insulin increased from £18.2 million (12% of total insulin cost) to £305 million (85% of total insulin cost), whereas the cost of human insulin decreased from £131 million (84% of total insulin cost) to £51 million (14% of total insulin cost). If it is assumed that all patients using insulin analogues could have received human insulin instead, the overall incremental cost of analogue insulin was £625 million.

Conclusion

Given the high marginal cost of analogue insulin, adherence to prescribing guidelines recommending the preferential use of human insulin would have resulted in considerable financial savings over the period.
Factors associated with disclosure of medical errors by housestaff
Authors: Kronman Andrea C , Paasche-Orlow Michael , Orlander Jay D
Published: September 2011

Purpose

Attributes of the organisational culture of residency training programmes may impact patient safety. Training environments are complex, composed of clinical teams, residency programmes, and clinical units. We examined the relationship between residents' perceptions of their training environment and disclosure of or apology for their worst error.

Method

Anonymous, self-administered surveys were distributed to Medicine and Surgery residents at Boston Medical Center in 2005. Surveys asked residents to describe their worst medical error, and to answer selected questions from validated surveys measuring elements of working environments that promote learning from error. Subscales measured the microenvironments of the clinical team, residency programme, and clinical unit. Univariate and bivariate statistical analyses examined relationships between trainee characteristics, their perceived learning environment(s), and their responses to the error.

Results

Out of 109 surveys distributed to residents, 99 surveys were returned (91% overall response rate), two incomplete surveys were excluded, leaving 97: 61% internal medicine, 39% surgery, 59% male residents. While 31% reported apologising for the situation associated with the error, only 17% reported disclosing the error to patients and/or family. More male residents disclosed the error than female residents (p=0.04). Surgery residents scored higher on the subscales of safety culture pertaining to the residency programme (p=0.02) and managerial commitment to safety (p=0.05). Our Medical Culture Summary score was positively associated with disclosure (p=0.04) and apology (p=0.05).

Conclusion

Factors in the learning environments of residents are associated with responses to medical errors. Organisational safety culture can be measured, and used to evaluate environmental attributes of clinical training that are associated with disclosure of, and apology for, medical error.
Paediatric arrhythmias in the emergency department
Authors: Clausen Henning , Theophilos Theane , Jackno Kim , Babl Franz E
Published: September 2011

Objective

Emergency department (ED) staff need to rapidly establish accurate diagnosis and management for children with arrhythmias. Limited data are available on the presenting features, epidemiology and management of arrhythmias encountered in the ED. The aim of this study was to characterise the incidence, presenting features, management and outcomes of arrhythmias at a large tertiary children's hospital ED.

Patients and methods

Retrospective review of medical records identified via the ED electronic database using ICD-10 codes for arrhythmias including cardiac arrests over a 6-year period (2002–2008). Patients <18 years were analysed using predefined criteria.

Results

There were a total of 444 non-arrest arrhythmias with an incidence of 11.5:10 000 presentations. Median age of patients at presentation was 10.4 years; 45% were male. Supraventricular arrhythmias (SVTs) represented the largest subgroup (n=250, 56%). Conduction disorders (n=18), ventricular tachycardia (n=17) and atrial flutter/fibrillation (n=7) were rare. There were 19 cardiac arrests. Fifty-seven (13%) patients had underlying congenital heart disease. For ongoing SVT (n=135), vagal manoeuvres were used in 74%, and antiarrhythmic drugs in 64%. In five patients with SVT, drugs other than adenosine were used. Defibrillators were used only on 2 occasions for arrthymias and 6 times for cardiac arrests. 18 of 19 children in cardiac arrest died.

Conclusion

In this largest paediatric series outside the intensive care and postoperative setting, arrhythmias were uncommon, defibrillator use was very rare, and observed mortality was low.
Use of healthcare information and advice among non-urgent patients visiting emergency department or primary care
Authors: Backman Ann-Sofie , Lagerlund Magdalena , Svensson Tobias , Blomqvist Paul , Adami Johanna
Published: September 2011

Background

Healthcare information provided by telephone service and internet sources is growing but has not been shown to reduce inappropriate emergency department (ED) visits.

Objective

To describe the use of advice or healthcare information among patients with non-urgent illnesses seeking care before attendance at an ED, or primary care (PC) centres in an urban region in Sweden.

Design

Patients with non-urgent illnesses seeking care at an ED or patients attending the PC were followed up with a combination of patient interviews, a questionnaire to the treating physician and a prospective follow-up of healthcare use through a population-based registry.

Results

Half of the non-urgent patients attending the ED had used healthcare information or advice before the visit, mainly from a healthcare professional source. In PC, men were more likely to have used information or advice compared with women (OR 2.5 95% CI 1.3 to 5.0), whereas the situation was reversed among ED patients (OR=0.4 95% CI 0.2 to 0.9). Men with no previous healthcare experience attending the ED had the lowest use of healthcare information (p<0.01). Very few in both groups had utilised healthcare information on the internet in a case of perceived emergency.

Conclusion

ED patients rated as non-urgent by the triage nurse used more advice and healthcare information than PC patients, irrespective of the physician-rated urgency of the symptoms. The problem seems not to be lack of information about appropriate ED use, but to find ways to direct the information to the right target group.
Multiple chlamydia infection among young women: comparing the role of individual- and neighbourhood-level measures of socioeconomic status: Table 1
Authors: Biello Katie Brooks , Pettigrew Melinda M , Niccolai Linda M
Published: September 2011

Background

Young women have the highest burden of chlamydia infections, and socioeconomic disparities exist. Individual-level measures of socioeconomic status (SES) may be difficult to assess for young women. The authors examined whether neighbourhood SES provides a useful measure in comparison with individual-level SES with respect to the burden of multiple chlamydia diagnoses.

Methods

In a study of young women with chlamydia (n=233; mean age =21 years), multiple infections were assessed with self-report and follow-up testing. General estimating equations and pseudo-R2were used to assess the roles of individual-level SES (education and employment) and neighbourhood-level SES (percentage of people in census tract of residence below poverty) on multiple chlamydia diagnoses.

Results

Neither education nor employment was associated with multiple chlamydia diagnoses. Women living in high-poverty areas were significantly more likely than those living in low-poverty areas to have multiple chlamydia diagnoses (adjusted OR 3.46, 95% CI 1.18 to 10.15). This neighbourhood-level poverty measure improved model fit by 17%.

Conclusions

Neighborhood-level poverty may provide a better measure of SES than individual-level variables as a predictor of multiple chlamydia diagnoses in young women and can be useful when valid measures of individual-level SES are unavailable.
Concentration- and time-dependent effects of enoxaparin on human adenocarcinomic epithelial cell line A549 proliferation in vitro
Authors: Abu Arab Walid , Kotb Rami , Sirois Marco , Rousseau Éric
Published: September 2011

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a major health problem. Surgery is the only potential curative treatment, in spite of the high recurrence and mortality rates. Low molecular weight heparins (LMWH) have been suggested to have a positive impact on the outcome of various cancers, mainly attributed to their anticoagulant properties; yet a direct antineoplastic effect has not been excluded. We thought to evaluate the direct effect of the LMWH enoxaparin on the human lung adenocarcinomic epithelial cell line A549 and to determine potential antiproliferative and antimetastatic effects that could guide future trials. A549 cells were cultured with different concentrations of enoxaparin (1–30 U/mL). Cell counting was performed at 24, 48, and 72 h. Detection of c-Myc protein and CD44 protein was performed by electrophoresis and Western blotting. Statistical analysis was performed using paired Student’s t tests. Cell counts were decreased with increasing concentrations and time of exposure to enoxaparin. This corresponds to decreased expression of c-Myc and CD44. In conclusion, enoxaparin displayed a direct dose and exposure duration dependent suppressor effect on A549 cell proliferation and the expression of both c-Myc and CD44 in vitro, suggesting reduced proliferative and metastatic potentials of these cells.
Multiple arrhythmic syndromes in a newborn, owing to a novel mutation in SCN5A
Authors: Calloe Kirstine , Schmitt Nicole , Grubb Soren , Pfeiffer Ryan , David Jens-Peter , Kanter Ronald , Cordeiro Jonathan M. , Antzelevitch Charles
Published: September 2011

Background. Mutations in the SCN5A gene have been linked to Brugada syndrome (BrS), conduction disease, Long QT syndrome (LQT3), atrial fibrillation (AF), and to pre- and neonatal ventricular arrhythmias. Objective. The objective of this study is to characterize a novel mutation in Nav1.5 found in a newborn with fetal chaotic atrial tachycardia, post-partum intraventricular conduction delay, and QT interval prolongation. Methods. Genomic DNA was isolated and all exons and intron borders of 15 ion-channel genes were sequenced, revealing a novel missense mutation (Q270K) in SCN5A. Nav1.5 wild type (WT) and Q270K were expressed in CHO-K1 with and without the Navβ1 subunit. Results. Patch-clamp analysis showed ∼40% reduction in peak sodium channel current (INa) density for Q270K compared with WT. Fast and slow decay of INa were significantly slower in Q270K. Steady-state activation and inactivation of Q270K channels were shifted to positive potentials, and window current was increased. The tetrodotoxin-sensitive late INa was increased almost 3-fold compared with WT channels. Ranolazine reduced late INa in WT and Q270K channels, while exerting minimal effects on peak INa. Conclusion. The Q270K mutation in SCN5A reduces peak INa while augmenting late INa, and may thus underlie the development of atrial tachycardia, intraventricular conduction delay, and QT interval prolongation in an infant.
SHADOWING PROPERTIES OF RANDOM HYPERBOLIC SETS
Authors: FAKHARI ABBAS , GOLMAKANI ALI
Published: September 2011

In this paper, some kinds of random shadowing properties are introduced. It is shown that, for some natural analogs of the deterministic case, a random hyperbolic set satisfies the shadowing properties.
A LOGARITHMALLY IMPROVED BLOW-UP CRITERION OF SMOOTH SOLUTIONS FOR THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MHD EQUATIONS
Authors: WANG YU-ZHU , ZHAO HENGJUN , WANG YIN-XIA
Published: September 2011

In this paper we investigate the Cauchy problem for the three-dimensional incompressible magnetohydrodynamic equations. A logarithmal improved blow-up criterion of smooth solutions is obtained.
PICARD GROUP OF HYPERSURFACES IN TORIC 3-FOLDS
Authors: BRUZZO UGO , GRASSI ANTONELLA
Published: September 2011

We show that the usual sufficient criterion for a very general hypersurface in a smooth projective manifold to have the same Picard number as the ambient variety can be generalized to quasi-smooth hypersurfaces in complete simplicial toric varieties. This sufficient condition always holds for very general K3 surfaces embedded in Fano toric 3-folds.
ON THE IRREDUCIBLE COMPONENTS OF A SEMIALGEBRAIC SET
Authors: FERNANDO JOSÉ F. , GAMBOA J. M.
Published: September 2011

In this work we define a semialgebraic set S ⊂ ℝn to be irreducible if the noetherian ring [Formula: see text] of Nash functions on S is an integral domain. Keeping this notion we develop a satisfactory theory of irreducible components of semialgebraic sets, and we use it fruitfully to approach four classical problems in Real Geometry for the ring [Formula: see text]: Substitution Theorem, Positivstellensätze, 17th Hilbert Problem and real Nullstellensatz, whose solution was known just in case S = M is an affine Nash manifold. In fact, we give full characterizations of the families of semialgebraic sets for which these classical results are true.
ON THE GRADED RING OF SIEGEL MODULAR FORMS OF DEGREE TWO WITH RESPECT TO A NON-SPLIT SYMPLECTIC GROUP
Authors: KITAYAMA HIDETAKA
Published: September 2011

We will give an explicit ring structure of the graded ring of Siegel modular forms of degree two with respect to a certain discrete subgroup of Sp(2;ℝ) contained in a non-split ℚ-form. We will also give the fundamental relations among the generators.
Testing
Authors: Armour Phillip G.
Published: September 2011

Optimizing what we learn from testing.
Rebooting the CS publication process
Authors: Wallach Dan S.
Published: September 2011

A proposal for a new cost-free open-access publication model for computer science papers.
Biology as reactivity
Authors: Fisher Jasmin , Harel David , Henzinger Thomas A.
Published: September 2011

Exploring the connection of biology with reactive systems to better understand living systems.