bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cable News, Public Opinion, and the 2004 Party Conventions
Authors: Morris Jonathan S. , Francia Peter L.
Published: July 2009

In this study, the authors test for the presence of bias during Fox News and CNN’s coverage of the 2004 national party conventions. The content analysis demonstrates that Fox News’s coverage was more favorable to the Republican Party than it was to the Democratic Party, while CNN’s coverage was more impartial. The authors also use panel data from the National Annenberg Election Survey to show how opinion change toward the 2004 presidential candidates was associated with exposure to cable television coverage of the national party conventions. These findings highlight the evolving role of the cable news media in presidential campaigns and elections.
Political Integration through Ethnic or Nonethnic Voluntary Associations?
Authors: Strömblad Per , Adman Per
Published: July 2009

This article challenges previous findings suggesting that ethnic associations promote political participation among immigrants. Analyzing recent survey data from Sweden, the authors find that political activity among immigrants is encouraged by associational involvement in general but not by associations based on ethnic origin. To explain this difference, the authors examine important causal mechanisms between associational involvement and political participation. They conclude that while ethnic associations induce the development of civic skills, they do not create enough opportunities for mobilization through networks of political recruitment. Hence, compared to associations in which both mechanisms operate, ethnic associations tend to provide less politically stimulating environments.
Supporting Veterans and Their Families: A Case Study and Practice Review
Authors: Lambert Serena M. , Morgan Michael M.
Published: July 2009

Increasing numbers of men and women are returning home from two warfronts in the Middle East with mental health concerns. Evidence suggests that the mental health community is ill prepared to address the needs of these veterans and their family members. The authors present a brief case study that helped call their attention to this problem and their own need as professionals to prepare and serve veterans. Implications for counselors, supervisors, and counselor educators are presented that address treatment, supervision, and self-care suggestions.
Pain and Defense Versus Grace and Justice: The Relational Conflict and Restoration Model
Authors: Sells James N. , Beckenbach John , Patrick Shawn
Published: July 2009

The article presents an integrated theoretical perspective on the origin, maintenance and alteration of relational conflict. It suggests that relational conflict and reconciliation can be understood as two behavioral alternatives that couples respond with during the experience of pain or other negative emotion. The presence of pain elicits a defensive reaction that encourages a perpetuation of the conflict process; or it encourages a demonstration of grace and justice that can permit relationships to be a healing agent. The components of the relational conflict cycle and the relational reconciliation cycle are explained.
Multicultural Training Applied in Clinical Practice: Reflections From a Euro-American Female Counselor-in-Training Working With Mexican Immigrants
Authors: Paynter Clara K. , Estrada Diane
Published: July 2009

The clinical experience of a Euro-American female counselor-in-training providing bilingual family therapy services to Mexican immigrants is described. Cultural themes encountered when applying academic discourse to clinical work are raised in the context of case studies in which the student therapist works from a postmodern client-as-expert therapeutic stance. Strategies and techniques that helped the student counselor adapt Eurocentric counseling theories and processes into culturally congruent interventions with Mexican immigrant clients are detailed. In an effort to increase discussion regarding the implementation of culturally responsive counseling skills, implications for training based on this cross-cultural internship experience are discussed.
Stepparents and the Law: Knowledge for Counselors, Guidelines for Family Members
Authors: Gold Joshua M.
Published: July 2009

This literature-based article will acquaint family counselors with the relevant family law statutes to better guide their counseling with stepfamilies and to help stepparents better understand the current laws regarding their status. The article will specifically address stepparent status, postdivorce custody, visitation, financial support plus inheritance.
Using Candy to Teach Counselors to Teach Clients About Medication Compliance
Authors: Shaffer Tammy
Published: July 2009

Schizophrenia and other serious mental illness hinder medication compliance. Clinicians are often challenged to increase clients' medication compliance, but lack the tools to enhance consistent treatment compliance. Counselor educators enhance their course instruction by offering a specific counseling tool to students. Those working directly with clients can also use the tool to work with clients to increase medication compliance, thus improving treatment outcome. The role of family in medication compliance is discussed.
E-mail and Ethical Issues
Authors: Bradley Loretta J. , Hendricks Bret
Published: July 2009

The proliferation of the use of e-mail and texting has created some ethical dilemmas for family counselors. Although e-mail can expand and encourage communication, it is not problem free and, in fact, can pose problems. There are issues with privacy, confidentiality, and maintaining an appropriate professional relationship. Family counselors should be aware of the promises and pitfalls in using e-mail and related technologies.
Forgiveness: Another Relationship ``F Word''—A Couple's Dialogue
Authors: Eckstein Daniel , Sperber Mark , McRae Shannon
Published: July 2009

Forgiveness is one of the most frequently cited virtues that philosophers, spiritual teachers, and counselors use in their healing practices. Following a brief overview to the importance of forgiveness, a series of experiential activities between you and your partner will explore the following topics: (a) your past history on the concept of forgiveness; (b) your own personal history with forgiveness before your current significant relationship; and (c) forgiveness in your present relationship. Next, we address professional and spiritual resources concerned with spiritual forgiveness and self-forgiveness. The article concludes with additional forgiveness theory, a forgiveness checklist, and a quote from the movie Smoke Signals.
College Students With ADHD
Authors: DuPaul George J. , Weyandt Lisa L. , O'Dell Sean M. , Varejao Michael
Published: July 2009

Approximately 2 to 8% of the college population reports clinically significant levels of ADHD symptomatology and at least 25% of college students with disabilities are diagnosed with ADHD. A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted with findings consistently indicating academic deficits associated with ADHD in college students. It is less clear whether this disorder significantly impacts social, psychological, and neuropsychological functioning. Although several self- and parent-report measures have been developed for this population, very few studies of assessment methods have been conducted. Similarly, no controlled studies of psychopharmacological, psychosocial, or educational interventions have been completed in samples of college students with ADHD. Non-prescribed use (i.e., diversion) of stimulant medication is a growing problem with approximately 7% of college students reporting this behavior. Studies, to date, are limited by lack of controlled investigations, use of small samples, and lack of confirmation of diagnostic status. Comprehensive and methodologically sound investigations are needed, especially regarding treatment, to promote the success of students with ADHD in higher education settings. (J. of Att. Dis. 2008; 13(3) 234-250)
State-of-the-Art Blood Management in Cardiac Surgery
Authors: Samolyk Keith A.
Published: July 2009

Blood has been described as the most precious and personal substance in the world. Current directions in cardiac surgery are moving away from transfusing donor “Allogeneic” blood products, and towards improving methods of saving and preserving the patient's own “autologous” blood. Nothing else comes close to the natural healing abilities and homeostasis that one's own whole blood offers. No substitute, whether it is human or artificial, will ever work as well with fluid shifts, hemostasis and homeostasis. News reports today commonly feature severe blood shortages and research documenting recognized transfusion risks such as how older stored blood can put heart surgery patients at increased risk and others that point to the morbidity and mortality associated with its use. Therefore the medical community is moving towards more effective blood utilization by minimizing the exposure to donated blood. Current techniques are saving as much as possible of the patient's own blood that might otherwise be mismanaged or lost during surgery. Techniques, such as Ultrafiltration, that quickly concentrate and reinfuse whole blood back to the patient are the best choice. Admission to discharge hemovigilance requires a concerted multidisciplinary team effort with multimodal tools available in the coagulation armamentarium to effectively avoid this form of organ transplant. Improving outcomes and reducing morbidity and mortality in cardiac surgery takes place at the microcirculatory capillary level and with control of Hemostasis. Cardiac teams need to effectively communicate and minimize blood loss and hemodilution and reverse it, for state of the art blood management in Cardiac surgery.
Sexuality and the Transformation of Culture: The Longue Durée
Authors: Laqueur Thomas W.
Published: July 2009

In the USA today, the election of gay bishops threatens to bring about a schism in the Episcopalian Church. This article asks questions about the extraordinary importance attached to matters sexual, both historically and in the present. Laqueur's anthropological answer to this broad question is that it is connected with a long and divergent tradition of thinking about the origins of culture. Sex and death, he says, organize the work of making culture. The thematic occasion for the history presented here is the notion of 'orgasm', and Laqueur offers four or five dates which can be regarded as turning points in the long history of 'allegories of orgasm'.
Les Choses et les Mots: Missing Words and Blurry Things in the History of Sexuality
Authors: Cryle Peter
Published: July 2009

In Solitary Sex, Thomas Laqueur adopts a position that might be called constructivist but not discursivist. He does not speak, as historians with an allegiance to Foucault's work often do, of 'invention', but argues that masturbation was 'something that had been perfectly well understood since Antiquity, even if it was variously classified and named'. The thing was there already: the word, and any change in words, came later. This article asks some questions about what it might mean for the history of sexuality to talk about unnamed things, missing words, or absent expressions. The examples are taken from the history of frigidity, as an attempt to trace the problematic absence of a name, and the name of a problematic absence.
The Invention of Sadism? The Limits of Neologisms in the History of Sexuality
Authors: Moore Alison
Published: July 2009

How important is a new word for the development of newly imagined sexual pathology? In the case of the neologism 'sadism' at the fin de siècle, this invention was strangely both pivotal and incidental. Tracking sexual concepts, as Laqueur does for masturbation, requires that the neologisms invented at precise historic moments be both recontextualized in relation to earlier discourses, and problematized as stable constructs in their ongoing development. This article is a genealogical sketch of this kind in relation to 'sadism', as part of a larger inquiry into how this sexual construct became available to the Frankfurt School philosophers and as an explanation for Nazi genocidal cruelty.
Reading the 'Sexy Oldie': Gender, Age(ing) and Embodiment
Authors: Vares Tiina
Published: July 2009

In recent years there has been a cultural-scientific shift in the ways in which ageing and sexuality are represented. This has been most notable in the popular media where the predominant portrayal of asexual old age is increasingly accompanied by newer images of the 'sexy oldie'. While this shift counters conventional stereotypes of the asexual and disengaged elderly, the implications for seniors of such a change have not yet been adequately researched. Do senior viewers read images of sexy oldies as a challenge to traditional framings of older people as not sexually desirable, desirous, or capable? Do such portrayals disrupt the 'unwatchability' of elderly bodies and sexuality? This article draws on material from a reception study of seniors' readings of the film The Mother (2003) and focuses on the tensions and contradictions within and between the responses of focus groups of men and women (aged 49—85). In particular, I explore the ways in which some female participants' affective responses of 'disgust' to a filmic image of a naked, sexually active woman in her 60s, work to reconstitute it as 'unwatchable'.
Effeminophobia, Misogyny and Queer Friendship: The Cultural Themes of Channel 4's Playing It Straight
Authors: Richardson Niall
Published: July 2009

This article considers the theme of the Channel 4 show 'Playing It Straight' (2005), a variation on the 'dating show' genre in which a female contestant must select the man of her dreams from 10 suitors. However, the twist in the show's format is that not all of the men are heterosexually identified. The article contends that the show's narrative is not homophobic but effeminophobic. Second, the article analyses how the show positions all the male contestants, both gay and straight, within the matrix of New Lad style homosocial bonding. Finally, the article considers how the show mobilises one of the dominant cultural themes in contemporary popular culture: the 'safe eroticism' or 'queer' friendship that can develop between a straight woman and a gay identified man.
Cloaked websites: propaganda, cyber-racism and epistemology in the digital era
Authors: Daniels Jessie
Published: July 2009

This article analyzes cloaked websites, which are sites published by individuals or groups who conceal authorship in order to disguise deliberately a hidden political agenda. Drawing on the insights of critical theory and the Frankfurt School, this article examines the way in which cloaked websites conceal a variety of political agendas from a range of perspectives. Of particular interest here are cloaked white supremacist sites that disguise cyber-racism. The use of cloaked websites to further political ends raises important questions about knowledge production and epistemology in the digital era. These cloaked sites emerge within a social and political context in which it is increasingly difficult to parse fact from propaganda, and this is a particularly pernicious feature when it comes to the cyber-racism of cloaked white supremacist sites. The article concludes by calling for the importance of critical, situated political thinking in the evaluation of cloaked websites.
As real as real? Macroeconomic behavior in a large-scale virtual world
Authors: Castronova Edward , Williams Dmitri , Cuihua Shen  , Ratan Rabindra , Li Xiong  , Yun Huang  , Keegan Brian
Published: July 2009

This article proposes an empirical test of whether aggregate economic behavior maps from the real to the virtual. Transaction data from a large commercial virtual world — the first such data set provided to outside researchers — is used to calculate metrics for production, consumption and money supply based on real-world definitions. Movements in these metrics over time were examined for consistency with common theories of macroeconomic change. The results indicated that virtual economic behavior follows real-world patterns. Moreover, a natural experiment occurred, in that a new version of the virtual world with the same rules came online during the study. The new world's macroeconomic aggregates quickly grew to be nearly exact replicas of those of the existing worlds, suggesting that `Code is Law': macroeconomic outcomes in a virtual world may be explained largely by design structure.
Offline social ties and online use of computers: A study of disabled youth and their use of ICT advances
Authors: Söderström Sylvia
Published: July 2009

This article investigates how differences in social ties lead to differences in the social use of information and communication technology (ICT) and vice versa. The article draws on a qualitative study in the field of disability studies. Through this study of a marginalized subgroup of youth, the article advances insight into the permeability of the real and the virtual and extends the notion of established concepts of social ties and digital differentiation. The youth in the current study are 23 disabled Norwegians aged 15—20 years. The analysis is based on the principles of grounded theory and is characterized by a constant content comparative process. The outcome of this analysis shows how social ties of a marginalized subgroup of young people hold different characteristics than established notions anticipate, how these characteristics are vital in youths' interaction in offline and online life and how this interaction implies a mixed reality.
The radical act of 'mommy blogging': redefining motherhood through the blogosphere
Authors: Lopez Lori Kido
Published: July 2009

This article provides an alternative to the masculine construction of the blogosphere by analyzing 'mommy bloggers' through the lenses of feminism and autobiography. It uses the event of the 2005 BlogHer conference as a starting point for a discussion about the mommy blogger phenomenon, wherein a constellation of ensuing conversations challenge the use of the title 'mommy blogger' and the activities that are encompassed by it. In qualitatively examining the form and content of mommy blogs, this article ultimately argues for their potential to build communities and to challenge dominant representations of motherhood within our society.
Social movement web use in theory and practice: a content analysis of US movement websites
Authors: Stein Laura
Published: July 2009

While communication scholars suggest that the internet can serve as an important resource for social movement communication, few studies examine whether and how social movements actually use the internet. This article examines US-based social movement organization (SMO) internet use at one of its most visible points of access, the world wide web. Drawing on alternative media studies, the article develops a typology of communication functions central to social movements and surveys a random sample of SMO websites in order to determine whether and to what degree they exhibit features or attributes related to these types. The survey results suggest that the majority of US-based SMOs are not utilizing the web to its full potential, and posits a number of reasons why this might be the case, including organizational objectives, organizational resources and resource sharing.
'If you had been with us': mainstream press and citizen journalists jockey for authority over the collective memory of Hurricane Katrina
Authors: Robinson Sue
Published: July 2009

Using the anniversary coverage of Hurricane Katrina, this textual analysis explores how reporters and citizen journalists considered themselves and each other in their different versions of a specific news narrative. This research indicates that online citizen writers undermined the mainstream news story by offering an often contrary version of Hurricane Katrina. Their collective memory focused on personal experience, asserting their right to tell this societal story. By inserting themselves into the news production process of collective memory formation, these citizens renegotiated their relationships with journalists and with journalism. In some cases, this resulted in complete role reversals. The findings suggest that new patterns for information flow are being created, renovating the existing institutional power structure involving the press and society. The conclusion of this article suggests that theorists evaluate citizen journalism alongside mainstream journalists' work, for they are now part of the same news production process.
The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games
Authors: Williams Dmitri , Martins Nicole , Consalvo Mia , Ivory James D.
Published: July 2009

A large-scale content analysis of characters in video games was employed to answer questions about their representations of gender, race and age in comparison to the US population. The sample included 150 games from a year across nine platforms, with the results weighted according to game sales. This innovation enabled the results to be analyzed in proportion to the games that were actually played by the public, and thus allowed the first statements able to be generalized about the content of popular video games. The results show a systematic over-representation of males, white and adults and a systematic under-representation of females, Hispanics, Native Americans, children and the elderly. Overall, the results are similar to those found in television research. The implications for identity, cognitive models, cultivation and game research are discussed.
Measuring Community (Dis)Organizational Processes through Key Informant Analysis
Authors: Pauwels Lieven , Hardyns Wim
Published: July 2009

The role of community (dis)organizational processes is a major issue in contemporary criminology. As a consequence, researchers have been increasingly eager to measure community-level social mechanisms such as social trust and disorder. However, community inhabitants are predominantly used to measure community (dis)organizational processes. This approach requires large numbers of respondents to generate reliable and valid measures of social trust and disorder. In this article, the use of expert key informants is discussed as an alternative method of measuring community processes. Our findings suggest that key informants can provide reliable and valid measures of social cohesion and disorder on two rather small units of analysis.
The Effects of Increasing the Certainty of Punishment
Authors: Killias Martin , Scheidegger David , Nordenson Peter
Published: July 2009

Since 1993, Zurich's suburban transport systems have operated without attendants on the trains, and passengers' tickets were checked only sporadically. After increasing worries about crime and passenger safety on suburban trains, it was decided, in order to reduce fear of crime, to reintroduce attendants on all trains after 9 p.m. As well as dealing with order on the trains, these attendants had to check the tickets of all passengers. The programme was launched in June 2003, and once it was fully implemented the resources devoted to ticket checks and, thus, the number of passengers controlled after 9 p.m. rose by roughly 1500 percent. However, ticket checks remained stable and sporadic during day-time hours. The programme led to a dramatic reduction in fare-dodging on trains operating during the evening and, as an unexpected outcome, during day-time hours. The decline in fare evasion eventually levelled off. The results suggest that certainty of punishment works as a deterrent in a non-linear way, and that benefits from increased certainty can be maximized if checks are concentrated on critical hours and areas.
Exploring Long-Term and Short-Term Risk Factors for Serious Delinquency
Authors: van der Laan André M. , Blom Martine , Kleemans Edward R.
Published: July 2009

Scholars in the field of developmental criminology traditionally assign a major role to long-term risk factors such as inadequate parental supervision or poor school performance. Only recently has attention been paid to the effects of situational risk factors such as the presence of co-offenders and being drunk. Hardly any empirical research, however, integrates both long-term and short-term risk factors. We formulated hypotheses derived from the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential theory (Farrington 2005) with regard to long-term and short-term risk factors for serious delinquency, and tested these hypotheses using data from the WODC Youth Delinquency Survey (data sweep 2005) of 292 juvenile delinquents. The findings indicate that serious delinquency is related not only to (an accumulation of) long-term risk factors, but also to situational factors, such as lack of tangible guardians and having used substances (alcohol or drugs) prior to the offence.
Casting versus percutaneous pinning for extra-articular fractures of the distal radius in an elderly chinese population: a prospective randomised controlled trial
Authors: Wong T. C. , Chiu Y. , Tsang W. L. , Leung W. Y. , Yam S. K. , Yeung S. H.
Published: July 2009

We carried out a prospective randomised controlled clinical trial to compare the functional and radiological outcomes of casting with percutaneous pinning in treating extra-articular distal radial fracture in an elderly Chinese population. Sixty patients were randomly allocated by sealed envelopes to either a ‘Cast’ group ( n = 30) or a ‘K-wire’ group ( n = 30). All patients were available for final follow-up assessment. The radiological outcomes in terms of dorsal angulation, radial inclination and radial length were statistically significantly better in the K-wire group, whereas the Mayo wrist score and quality of life, healing rate, healing time, and complications were similar. The functional outcomes and quality of life were not affected by the treatments. Both treatments had a very low rate of complication and high healing rates.
Review: Endoluminal treatment of Barrett’s esophagus: current and future prospects
Authors: Smith Michael S. , Lightdale Charles J.
Published: July 2009

Endoluminal treatment of Barrett’s esophagus has become the preferred option for initial intervention for advanced neoplasia without invasive carcinoma. Data from abstracts presented at Digestive Disease Week 2008 provide greater insight into optimal use of existing techniques and an early look at potential next generation therapies. Results from the AIM Dysplasia trial describe a larger study with longer post-treatment surveillance highlighting the efficacy and tolerability of radiofrequency ablation, while early results from liquid nitrogen cryotherapy studies suggest a potential to obtain similar eradication results with very high tolerability. Endoscopic resection, despite its risks, remains a popular option for focal as well as more widespread resection of Barrett’s mucosa. Additional abstracts highlight novel approaches to ablation and resection. Enhanced imaging techniques and molecular marker analysis also appear to improve treatment outcomes. However, time and further studies of combined approaches to diagnosis and eradication are necessary to optimize treatment algorithms.
Numerical simulation for welding pool and welding arc with variable active element and welding parameters
Authors: Lu S. P. , Dong W. C. , Li D. Z. , Li Y. Y.
Published: July 2009

A numerical modelling of the welding arc and weld pool is established for moving argon shielded gas tungsten arc welding to systematically investigate the effect of the active element oxygen and the welding parameters on the Marangoni convection and the weld shape using FLUENT software. The different welding parameters will change the temperature distribution and gradient on the pool surface, and affect the strength of Marangoni convection and the weld shape. Under high oxygen content, the weld depth/width (D/W) ratio substantially depends on the welding parameters. A high welding speed or large electrode gap (arc length) will make the weld D/W ratio decrease. The weld D/W ratio initially increases and then remains constant around 0·5 with the increasing welding current. When the oxygen content is lower, the weld D/W ratio decreases with the increasing welding current. However, the weld D/W ratio is not sensitive to the welding speed or electrode gap. The predicted weld D/W ratio agrees well with the experimental results.
Characterisation of creep-weak zones (white bands) in grade 91 weld metal
Authors: Zhang Y. , Shipway P. H. , Boue-Bigne F.
Published: July 2009

A microstructural study of creep failure in grade 91 weld metal has revealed two primary modes of creep failure. In addition to creep fractures along columnar grain boundaries (typical of weld metal creep failure), creep fractures were also found along creep-weak ‘white bands’ which had formed at the inter-bead boundaries. The white-band regions consisted of material where the M23C6 carbides had dissolved during creep testing; the loss of carbides had allowed recrystallisation of the martensitic structure to ferrite and consequently this material was much softer than the bulk weld metal. The element mapping over the weld metal by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy demonstrated that there was significant inhomogeneity in the distribution of certain elements, most significantly, chromium. This inhomogeneity resulted in strong activity gradients in carbon (even though the carbon concentration was homogeneous following welding) resulting in carbon loss from the alloy-depleted regions, the associated dissolution of carbides and the recrystallisation that accompanied this, and thus the poor mechanical properties which resulted in creep failure.
Effect of dynamic contact resistances on advanced high strength steels under medium frequency DC spot welding conditions
Authors: Shome M.
Published: July 2009

The effect of dynamic contact resistance (DCR) during MFDC spot welding of dual phase and martensitic steels was evaluated. A comparative analysis of DP590 to DP590 with DP780 to DP780 steel welds, and DP780 to DP780 with M1200 to M1200 steels welds was carried out. The DCR of DP780 steel is higher than DP590 steel during the initial stages of weld time, but is reversed later. The bulk resistance component, which is higher in DP780 steel, is dominant and generates more energy early in the process and controls melting. Although the total energy input is almost same, the higher β-peak and its early occurrence ensures better heat utilisation resulting in larger nugget size. Contrarily, in martensitic steel the interface resistance component remains high throughout the entire welding process and compensates for the lower bulk resistance effect. Even with relatively lower energy input the nuggets produced in M1200 steel are comparable to DP780 steel.
Neural network analysis of oxygen in weld metals
Authors: Metzbower E. A. , Olson D. L. , Yurioka N.
Published: July 2009

The fine acicular ferrite microstructure in the weld metal that results in both good strength and toughness is the result of various oxides that form during solidification. The intent of this paper is to develop a neural networks for the Vickers hardness number as a function of composition and cooling time from 800 to 500°C. The predictive capability of the neural network will then be used to examine the effect of oxygen and its oxides and nitrogen and its nitrides on the Vickers hardness number.
Selection guide of insert piece shape for steel joint by autocompleting friction welding method
Authors: Kimura M. , Utsumi D. , Kusaka M. , Kaizu K.
Published: July 2009

An autocompleting friction welding method, which was developed by the authors, is to weld with using a rotating insert piece set between fixed base metals. This paper describes the selection guide of the insert piece size for steel joints by the autocompleting friction welding method. The base metal was low carbon steel (LCS), and the weld faying surface of the fixed specimen had a 10 mm diameter. The effect of the thickness at the bottom of the grooves for the insert piece (groove bottom thickness) on the joining phenomena was investigated. When the joint was made at a friction pressure of 90 MPa with a friction speed of 27·5 s−1, the insert piece had a shear fracture towards the circumferential direction (circumferential shear fracture) in the peripheral portion of the weld interfaces by the initial peak produced during the friction process. In this case, the insert piece had the following dimensions: the thickness was 4·0 mm, and the groove bottom thickness was 1·2 mm or over with an inner groove diameter of 11 mm. In particular, the joint with a groove bottom thickness of 1·2 mm had 100% joint efficiency and the LCS base metal fracture with no crack at the weld interface. The value of a circumferential shear fracture (CSF value) was defined and calculated by the ratio between the theoretical and the actual generated friction torques. When the CSF value nearly equalled 1, the joint had 100% joint efficiency and the LCS base metal fracture with no crack at the weld interface.
High temperature tribological behaviour of 31CrMoV9 gas nitrided steel
Authors: Emami M. , Ghasemi H. M. , Rassizadehghani J.
Published: July 2009

In the present study, high temperature tribological behaviour of gas nitrided 31CrMoV9 steel was investigated. Gas nitriding was carried out in ammonia gas atmosphere at 520°C for 24 h. The wear behaviour of the specimens was studied using a high temperature pin on disc wear tester at 25, 300 and 500°C. The results showed that the wear resistance of the nitrided steel improved by 1·8fold compared with the untreated specimen at room temperature. The wear tests at 300°C and notably at 500°C showed much better improvements in wear behaviour of nitrided steel by about 3·6- and 33fold respectively. Scanning electron microscopy study of worn surfaces indicated that the formation of solid compact layers was responsible for the higher wear resistance of the gas nitrided samples at higher temperatures.
Studies on chrome free galvanic conversion coating on magnesium alloy AZ31B for space applications
Authors: Parida Benudhar , Uma Rani R. , Sharma A. K.
Published: July 2009

A novel galvanic conversion coating was studied on magnesium alloy AZ31B in an electrolyte system consisting of ammonium molybdate and magnesium chloride. The conditions of the conversion coating process and the characteristic of the coatings are studied in detail. The coatings were characterised by energy dispersive X-ray, infrared spectral and scanning electron microscopy studies. The thermoanalytical investigations have been carried out using thermogravimetry (TG), derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The space worthiness of the coating was evaluated by environmental tests, namely, humidity, thermal cycling, thermovacuum performance and thermal stability tests. Optical properties (solar absorptance and infrared emittance) were measured before and after each environmental test to ascertain its stability. The coating provides higher solar absorptance and infrared emittance in the order of ∼0·80. The developed procedure is simple, ecofriendly and economically viable.
Friction surfacing of titanium alloy with aluminium metal matrix composite
Authors: Reddy G Madhusudhan , Prasad K Satya , Rao K S , Mohandas T
Published: July 2009

Present work pertains to investigation carried out on solid state surfacing of titanium alloy Ti–6Al–4V with AA2124SiCp metal matrix composite by friction surfacing. The coating was characterised by metallography and dry sliding wear. For the first time it was found that titanium alloy could be friction surfaced with metal matrix composites. The surface coating exhibited the wear properties to many‐fold than that of the titanium substrate. Significant improvement in the wear resistance of titanium alloy may be attributed to the interdiffusion of elements and the formation of nanocrystalline layer of the alloy at the interface.
Evaluation of hot corrosion behaviour of HVOF sprayed Ni–5Al and NiCrAl coatings in coal fired boiler environment
Authors: Mahesh R. A. , Jayaganthan R. , Prakash S.
Published: July 2009

Hot corrosion was recognised as a serious problem in connection with the degradation of fireside boiler tubes in coal fired steam generating plants. It is one of the most deleterious forms of surface degradation which can lead to the loss of mechanical strength and catastrophic failure of structural and engineering components. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to evaluate the hot corrosion behaviour of high velocity oxyfuel (HVOF) sprayed Ni–5Al and NiCrAl coatings on iron based superalloy in an actual coal fired boiler environment. The coated specimens were hung in the low temperature superheater zone (∼700°C) of a coal fired boiler. The studies were carried out for 10 cycles each cycle consisting of exposing the coated specimens for 100 h followed by 1 h cooling to ambient conditions. NiCrAl coated specimen provided better resistance to hot corrosion than Ni–5Al coated specimen in the given environment.
Synthesis and characterisation of oriented Bi2S3 thin films by novel ultrasonic assisted cathodic electrodeposition route
Authors: Wang Y , Huang J F , Cao L Y , Zhu H , He H Y , Wu J P
Published: July 2009

A novel ultrasonic assisted cathodic electrodeposition route without using any surfactant, template or toxic/hazardous materials has been applied for the synthesis of Bi2S3 thin films on indium tin oxide (ITO) glass at room temperature. The as deposited thin films were characterised by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoluminescence spectrum (PL). Results show that uniform rectangular parallelepiped‐like Bi2S3 thin films with different kinds of orientation growth can be obtained with a solution containing Bi(NO3)3, Na2S2O3 and Na3C6H5O7 at different concentration ratios. (240) oriented film can be obtained at the concentration ratio 1∶5∶1 and (021) oriented film can be obtained at the concentration ratio 1∶9∶1. The obtained (240) orientation growth Bi2S3 thin films exhibit stronger blue green photoluminescence properties under the ultraviolet light excitation at room temperature than (021) orientation growth thin films.
CdS films from two different low cost techniques for solar cell applications – a comparative study
Authors: Ravichandran K. , Muruganantham G. , Sakthivel B. , Philominathan P.
Published: July 2009

CdS films with good structural and optical properties were fabricated by employing a simple and inexpensive spray pyrolysis technique using a perfume atomizer. The films were deposited at a relatively low substrate temperature (280°C) compared with conventional spray pyrolysis technique. The microstructure, surface morphology and optical properties of the sprayed CdS films prepared from starting solutions having different S/Cd ratios (1 : 1, 3 : 1and 5 : 1) were investigated and compared with that of the chemical bath deposited films. It was observed that, for the sprayed CdS films, the preferred orientation changes from (002) plane to (101) plane when S/Cd ratio in the starting solution increases, whereas in the case of their chemical bath deposited counterparts only the degree of preferred orientation increases with the increase in S/Cd ratio. The sprayed CdS films showed good visible transmittance (>85%) and wide optical band gap (2·42 eV) suitable for solar cell applications.
High temperature nitriding of grey cast iron substrates in arc plasma heated furnace
Authors: Nayak B B , Kar O P N , Behera D , Mishra B K
Published: July 2009

Grey cast iron substrates were case nitrided at 1000–1100°C by varying several process parameters such as nitriding time, flowrate of N2 and nitriding gas configuration. Ar and H2 were mixed with N2 to change the configuration and to observe their influence on the nitrided case. Nitriding was carried out in a specially designed arc plasma heated reactor with water cooled steel casing. X‐ray diffraction studies show that the nitride peaks arise due to growth of iron nitride phases such as γ′ (Fe4N: 5·7–6·1%N), ϵ (Fe3N: 8–11·2%N) and carbon nitride (C3N4). Typical surface morphologies of the 10–30 μm nitride layer were studied by SEM. Microhardness studies exhibited twofold improvement of surface hardness. Nanoindentation test indicated poor plastic behaviour of the surface. Micro‐Raman spectra of the nitided case established the presence of β‐C3N4, a superhard phase. Nitrided grey cast iron may find use in wear and corrosion resistant dies, machine components and parts in various industrial applications.
Activation of endothelial intrinsic NF-κB pathway impairs protein C anticoagulation mechanism and promotes coagulation in endotoxemic mice
Authors: Song Dongmei , Ye Xiaobing , Xu Honglei , Liu Shu Fang
Published: July 2009

Although the role of systemic activation of the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) pathway in septic coagulation has been well documented, little is known about the contribution of endothelial-specific NF-κB signaling in this pathologic process. Here, we used transgenic mice that conditionally overexpress a mutant I-κBα, an inhibitor of NF-κB, selectively on endothelium, and their wild-type littermates to define the role of endothelial-specific NF-κB in septic coagulation. In wild-type mice, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge (5 mg/kg intraperitoneally) caused markedly increased plasma markers of coagulation, decreased plasma fibrinogen level, and widespread tissue fibrin deposition, which were abrogated by endothelial NF-κB blockade in transgenic mice. Endothelial NF-κB blockade inhibited tissue factor expression in endothelial cells, but not in leukocytes. Endothelial NF-κB blockade did not inhibit LPS-induced tissue factor expression in heart, kidney, and liver. Endothelial NF-κB blockade prevented LPS down-regulation of endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) and thrombomodulin protein expressions, inhibited tissue tumor necrosis factor-α converting enzyme activity, reduced EPCR shedding, and restored plasma protein C level. Our data demonstrate that endothelial intrinsic NF-κB signaling plays a pivotal role in septic coagulation and suggests a link between endothelial-specific NF-κB activation and the impairment of the thrombomodulin-protein C-EPCR anticoagulation pathway.
Apolipoprotein-mediated lipid antigen presentation in B cells provides a pathway for innate help by NKT cells
Authors: Allan Lenka L. , Hoefl Katrin , Zheng Dong-Jun , Chung Brian K. , Kozak Frederick K. , Tan Rusung , van den Elzen Peter
Published: July 2009

Natural killer T (NKT) cells are innate-like lymphocytes that recognize lipid antigens and have been shown to enhance B-cell activation and antibody production. B cells typically recruit T-cell help by presenting internalized antigens recognized by their surface antigen receptor. Here, we demonstrate a highly efficient means whereby human B cells present lipid antigens to NKT cells, capturing the antigen using apolipoprotein E (apoE) and the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R). ApoE dramatically enhances B-cell presentation of alpha-galactosylceramide (αGalCer), an exogenous CD1d presented antigen, inducing activation of NKT cells and the subsequent activation of B cells. B cells express the LDL-R on activation, and the activation of NKT cells by B cells is completely LDL-R dependent, as shown by blocking experiments and the complete lack of presentation when using apoE2, an isoform of apoE incapable of LDL-R binding. The dependence on apoE and the LDL-R is much more pronounced in B cells than we had previously seen in dendritic cells, which can apparently use alternate pathways of lipid antigen uptake. Thus, B cells use an apolipoprotein-mediated pathway of lipid antigen presentation, which constitutes a form of innate help for B cells by NKT cells.
A species delimitation approach in the Trochulus sericeus/hispiduscomplex reveals two cryptic species within a sharp contact zone
Authors: Dépraz Aline , Hausser Jacques , Pfenninger Markus
Published: July 2009

Background

Mitochondrial DNA sequencing increasingly results in the recognition of genetically divergent, but morphologically cryptic lineages. Species delimitation approaches that rely on multiple lines of evidence in areas of co-occurrence are particularly powerful to infer their specific status. We investigated the species boundaries of two cryptic lineages of the land snail genus Trochulus in a contact zone, using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA marker as well as shell morphometrics.

Results

Both mitochondrial lineages have a distinct geographical distribution with a small zone of co-occurrence. In the same area, we detected two nuclear genotype clusters, each being highly significantly associated to one mitochondrial lineage. This association however had exceptions: a small number of individuals in the contact zone showed intermediate genotypes (4%) or cytonuclear disequilibrium (12%). Both mitochondrial lineage and nuclear cluster were statistically significant predictors for the shell shape indicating morphological divergence. Nevertheless, the lineage morphospaces largely overlapped (low posterior classification success rate of 69% and 78%, respectively): the two lineages are truly cryptic.

Conclusion

The integrative approach using multiple lines of evidence supported the hypothesis that the investigated Trochulus lineages are reproductively isolated species. In the small contact area, however, the lineages hybridise to a limited extent. This detection of a hybrid zone adds an instance to the rare reported cases of hybridisation in land snails.
Polymorphic segmental duplication in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
Authors: Vergara Ismael A , Mah Allan K , Huang Jim C , Tarailo-Graovac Maja , Johnsen Robert C , Baillie David L , Chen Nansheng
Published: July 2009

Background

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was the first multicellular organism to have its genome fully sequenced. Over the last 10 years since the original publication in 1998, the C. elegans genome has been scrutinized and the last gaps were filled in November 2002, which present a unique opportunity for examining genome-wide segmental duplications.

Results

Here, we performed analysis of the C. elegans genome in search for segmental duplications using a new tool–OrthoCluster–we have recently developed. We detected 3,484 duplicated segments–duplicons–ranging in size from 234 bp to 108 Kb. The largest pair of duplicons, 108 kb in length located on the left arm of Chromosome V, was further characterized. They are nearly identical at the DNA level (99.7% identity) and each duplicon contains 26 putative protein coding genes. Genotyping of 76 wild-type strains obtained from different labs in the C. elegans community revealed that not all strains contain this duplication. In fact, only 29 strains carry this large segmental duplication, suggesting a very recent duplication event in the C. elegans genome.

Conclusion

This report represents the first demonstration that the C. elegans laboratory wild-type N2 strains has acquired large-scale differences.