bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On Fernando’s Photograph
Authors: Bell Vikki
Published: August 2010

This article concerns the striking photograph of a young man, Fernando Brodsky, taken shortly after he was kidnapped in Argentina in 1979. Brodsky was detained in the notorious Escuela de la Armada (ESMA) in Buenos Aires, and remains disappeared. The negative of the photograph was smuggled out of ESMA and the image became part of a bundle of photographic evidence submitted by families of the disappeared during the trials of the military after the return to democracy in 1983. This article seeks to understand the vitality of the photograph, the different courses it takes, the archives it joins and leaves, asking: ‘What sort of life can the photograph have? What sort of desire? What sort of politics?’ The article proposes that we might consider the role of such images ‘biopolitically’, which is to say in the context of the relations established through the attempts to govern populations in times of military rule and in times of transitional democracy. The re-appearance of Fernando in the photograph is part of post-dictatorship politics in which the demand ‘ aparición’ resounds. Fernando, an absolute witness who does not, who cannot, speak nevertheless re-appears in the law courts and in art exhibitions. The article considers the difference between the photograph’s appearance as evidence and its reappearance in the art galleries, arguing that its ‘desires’ can be imagined differently in each. The article argues that while the photograph does not escape archives tout court, in raising the question of how it should be filed, it prompts reflection on the biopolitical present, with its inequitable distribution of life and security among populations. This is a politics of the present, more than it is a politics of memory.
Tang Wei
Authors: Stephanie Hemelryk Donald,
Published: August 2010

This article discusses the Tang Wei incident, which evolved across the first half of 2008, during the run-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing. Tang Wei is a Chinese actress whose breakthrough role in Ang Lee’s film Lust, Caution caused a sensation amongst Chinese audiences. The nudity and sex scenes in the film were explicit, and as such challenged accepted norms in film content. This aspect of the film, combined with the characterization of a national traitor as a heroine, caused deep concern among some parties involved in film regulation and censorship. The argument presented here is that Tang Wei, who was singled out for criticism and upon whom travel and work restraints were placed in the aftermath of the film’s release, was made a scapegoat for the disgust experienced by a masculinist political class when faced with female dissent and sexuality.
Entrainment of Circadian Rhythm by Ambient Temperature Cycles in Mice
Authors: Refinetti Roberto
Published: August 2010

Much is known about how environmental light-dark cycles synchronize circadian rhythms in animals. The ability of environmental cycles of ambient temperature to synchronize circadian rhythms has also been investigated extensively but mostly in ectotherms. In the present study, the synchronization of the circadian rhythm of running-wheel activity by environmental cycles of ambient temperature was studied in laboratory mice. Although all mice were successfully entrained by a light-dark cycle, only 60% to 80% of the mice were entrained by temperature cycles (24-32 °C or 24-12 °C), and attainment of stable entrainment seemed to take longer under temperature cycles than under a light-dark cycle. This suggests that ambient temperature cycles are weaker zeitgebers than light-dark cycles, which is consistent with the results of the few previous studies using mammalian species. Whereas 80% of the mice were entrained by 24-h temperature cycles, only 60% were entrained by 23-h cycles, and none was entrained by 25-h cycles. The results did not clarify whether entrainment by temperature cycles is caused directly by temperature or indirectly through a temperature effect on locomotor activity, but it is clear that the rhythm of running-wheel activity in mice can be entrained by ambient temperature cycles in the nonnoxious range.
Sex Differences in Phase Angle of Entrainment and Melatonin Amplitude in Humans
Authors: Cain Sean W. , Dennison Christopher F. , Zeitzer Jamie M. , Guzik Aaron M. , Khalsa Sat Bir S. , Santhi Nayantara , Schoen Martin W. , Czeisler Charles A. , Duffy Jeanne F.
Published: August 2010

Studies of sex differences in the timing of human circadian rhythms have reported conflicting results. This may be because the studies conducted to date have not controlled for the masking effects of the rest activity cycle on the circadian rhythms being assessed. In the present analysis of data collected under controlled conditions, we examined sex differences in the timing of circadian rhythms while minimizing masking from behavioral and environmental factors using a constant routine (CR) protocol. All participants (28 women and 28 men paired by habitual wake time; age range, 18 30 years) maintained a regular self selected sleep wake schedule at home prior to the study. After 3 baseline days in the laboratory, participants began a CR. Women were found to have a signifi cantly higher melatonin amplitude and lower temperature amplitude than men. While sleep timing was the same between the 2 groups, the timing of the circa dian rhythms of core body temperature and pineal melatonin secretion was ear lier relative to sleep time in women as compared to men. Sleep therefore occurred at a later biological time for women than men, despite being at the same clock time. Given that sleep propensity and structure vary with circadian phase and are impacted by circulating melatonin, these findings may have important impli cations for understanding sex differences in sleep timing and duration, diurnal preference, and the prevalence of sleep disorders such as insomnia.
“I Am Not [Just] a Rabbit Who Has a Bunch of Children!”: Agency in the Midst of Suffering at the Intersections of Global Inequalities, Gendered Violence, and Migration
Authors: Parson Nia
Published: August 2010

This article is based on an analysis of the life history narrative of Antonia, a Peruvian immigrant in Chile, in the context of ethnographic research on Chilean women’s experiences of domestic violence (DV) and the post-dictatorship state’s responses to DV. Structural and socio-cultural constraints and forms of violence, including global and local economic inequalities, migration, racism, and intimate, gender-based abuses in both home and receiving countries interact in Antonia’s experience to produce suffering and influence a form of gendered agency. This analysis points to the need for research and policies specifically designed to attend to the intersecting vulnerabilities migrant women who suffer DV often face, as well as their agentive acts.
Violence Against Women and Natural Disasters: Findings From Post-Tsunami Sri Lanka
Authors: Fisher Sarah
Published: August 2010

This article presents a qualitative study of violence against women in post-tsunami Sri Lanka. It examines the types of violence occurring throughout the disaster’s emergency and later phases, and whether overall levels of violence increased. Explanatory factors and responses by different humanitarian actors are analyzed and recommendations made for future disaster management. It is argued that violence against women during natural disasters must be understood within the context of the violence against women that prevails in societies at “normal” times, which is exacerbated by disaster. Response therefore necessitates addressing both the social inequalities underlying women’s vulnerability to violence and specific factors that “trigger” violence during disaster.
Watch with baby: Cinema, parenting and community
Authors: Boyle Karen
Published: August 2010

This article examines the experiences of women attending dedicated screenings in one Glasgow cinema with their babies. Drawing on participant observation and interviews with 25 women, the article explores the possibilities of pleasure that exist in this context, arguing that watching with baby is most consistently experienced as pleasurable when women are able to reconcile their expectations as adult cinema-goers with their new roles as mothers. Pleasure depends less on film choice than on the possibilities for community and for intimacy that are created in the reconfigured cinema space. The emphasis on the cinema space, its organization and the relationships made possible within it is reminiscent of historical accounts of cinema-going and poses something of a challenge to more contemporary accounts of audiences organized around film texts. This study also begins to consider the ways in which this particular leisure practice fits with — and occasionally conflicts with — discourses of ‘good’ parenting in women’s accounts.
Media literacy and the challenges of contemporary media culture: On savvy viewers and critical apathy
Authors: Teurlings Jan
Published: August 2010

This article aims to make a contribution to the media literacy movement by focusing on the debate between liberal and more radical approaches. It argues that the media literacy movement is fighting a battle that is already partly won, but that contemporary popular culture has moved into a terrain that anticipates and undermines the supposedly liberating effects of increased knowledge on behalf of the television viewers. Drawing on Andrejevic’s work on reality TV and the author’s own work on dating shows, the article argues that the dominant viewing position can be described as a savvy one. The savvy viewer is not ‘duped’ into a naive belief in the media but literally sees through the text. However, the article concludes that the savvy attitude is essentially a conservative one in which the media are understood but not challenged, leaving the capitalist media industries beyond criticism — a phenomenon described as critical apathy.
‘Celebrity chav’: Fame, femininity and social class
Authors: Tyler Imogen , Bennett Bruce
Published: August 2010

This article argues that celebrity is an increasingly significant means by which reactionary class attitudes, allegiances and judgements are communicated. In contradistinction to claims that the concept of social class has lost its analytic value in the context of contemporary consumer society and the growing ideological purchase of meritocracy and choice, the article contends that class remains central to the constitution and meaning of celebrity. A central premise of this article is that celebrity culture is not only thoroughly embedded in everyday social practices, but is more radically constitutive of contemporary social life. This claim is examined through a consideration of the ways in which celebrity produces and sustains class relations. The article argues that a new category of notoriety or public visibility has emerged and is embodied in the figure of the working-class female celebrity within celebrity culture and wider social life.
Double-take: Unpacking the play in the image-nuclear news story
Authors: Caple Helen , Bednarek Monika
Published: August 2010

This paper explores the complex cultural and institutional practice of ‘playing’ and ‘bonding’ with the reader in the Australian print-media, as exemplified through a new news story genre in The Sydney Morning Herald, where events are presented as short, witty news stories with a heading, a dominant photograph and a caption. This is termed the image-nuclear news story. In these stories the heading and image enter into a verbal-visual play that relies on the manipulation of common (often idiomatic) expressions, while the caption elaborates on the story’s news value. Through this play newspapers construe a particular kind of reader, who fulfils certain expectations as far as different types of knowledge (linguistic, cultural, semiotic) are concerned. To analyze the intertextual and multisemiotic play and its interpretation by readers, this article makes use of corpus linguistic methodology and theory, in particular compositional (‘open-choice’) and non-compositional (‘idiom’) principles of interpretation. The analyses show how readers’ linguistic experience enables them to unpack the play in the image-nuclear news story, allowing them to ‘bond’ with the newspaper, and be part of the linguistic and cultural (reading) community construed by this news story genre. As newspaper circulation is falling, creating solidarity with the reader in the hope of maintaining their loyalty is essential to the survival of newspapers, and, arguably, getting them to participate in multisemiotic play is one way of doing so.
Narrative Music, Visuals and Meaning in Film
Authors: Wingstedt Johnny , Brändström Sture , Berg Jan
Published: August 2010

Narrative media music, music used for narrative purposes in multimedia such as film, television or computer games, is becoming one of the largest sources of musical experience in our daily lives. Though typically experienced on an unconscious and unreflected level, this kind of music actively contributes narrative meaning in multimodal interplay with image, speech and sound effects. Often, what we (think we) see is to a large degree determined by what we hear. Using Halliday’s (1978) metafunctions of communication as a starting point, two short film scenes (from Jaws and The Secret of My Success) are examined, with a focus on the intermodal relationships of music and image. The examples illustrate how musical and visual expressions combine to form multimodal statements where the whole is certainly different than the sum of the parts.
Negotiating Romance in Front of the Lens
Authors: Schwarz Ori
Published: August 2010

The paper examines the new roles assumed by digital photography in romantic relationships. Research conducted in Israel demonstrates that the ubiquitous digital and phone cameras have been incorporated into multiple scripts of courtship, reconciliation, eroticism, and relationship formation. Photography often functions as a non-verbal method of expressing an interest in the other party during courtship, of framing the relationship, and of negotiating its status. Being semiotically laden, photography between partners is more structured and done much more cautiously than photography among friends. Photography also helps lovers in “doing romance”, serving as a tool for the production of romantic moments, eroticism and playfulness, thus reshaping emotions and moods in present time rather than in future consumption of photos qua artefact.
Social Ecology
Authors: Oishi Shigehiro , Graham Jesse
Published: August 2010

This article presents a socioecological approach (accounting for physical, societal, and interpersonal environments) to psychological theorizing and research. First, we demonstrate that economic systems, political systems, religious systems, climates, and geography exert a distal yet important influence on human mind and behavior. Second, we summarize the historical precedents of socioecological psychology. There have been several waves of ecological movements with distinct emphases in the history of psychological science, such as K. Lewin’s (1936, 1939) field theory and U. Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) ecological approach to human development. Environmental and community psychologies, created in the late 1960s and early 1970s, promoted social activism through basic and applied research on ecological factors and social outcomes. Most recently, the rise of cultural psychology has encouraged psychologists to pay attention to cultural factors in basic psychological processes, but note that less attention has been given to socioecological factors per se. We highlight the benefits of bringing the socioecological perspective back to mainstream psychological theorizing and research.
Causal Impact of Employee Work Perceptions on the Bottom Line of Organizations
Authors: Harter James K. , Schmidt Frank L. , Asplund James W. , Killham Emily A. , Agrawal Sangeeta
Published: August 2010

Perceptions of work conditions have proven to be important to the well-being of workers. However, customer loyalty, employee retention, revenue, sales, and profit are essential to the success of any business. It is known that these outcomes are correlated with employee attitudes and perceptions of work conditions, but the research into direction of causality has been inconclusive. Using a massive longitudinal database that included 2,178 business units in 10 large organizations, we found evidence supporting the causal impact of employee perceptions on these bottom-line measures; reverse causality of bottom-line measures on employee perceptions existed but was weaker. Managerial actions and practices can impact employee work conditions and employee perceptions of these conditions, thereby improving key outcomes at the organizational level. Perceptions of specific work conditions that engage employees in their work provide practical guidance in how best to manage people to obtain desired results.
Why We Remember and What We Remember
Authors: Ross Michael , Wang Qi
Published: August 2010

We examine cultural (mainly East and West) differences in the functions and contents of autobiographical memory. We discuss how cultural differences in physical environments, self-views, the motivation to self-enhance, concerns for behavioral and emotional regulation, socialization, and language affect the contents and use of memory. Cultural influences take place at the individual level of cognitive schemata and memory strategies, as well as the interpersonal sphere of daily mnemonic practices and exchanges. Autobiographical memory is categorically cultural.
Cultures and Selves
Authors: Markus Hazel Rose , Kitayama Shinobu
Published: August 2010

The study of culture and self casts psychology’s understanding of the self, identity, or agency as central to the analysis and interpretation of behavior and demonstrates that cultures and selves define and build upon each other in an ongoing cycle of mutual constitution. In a selective review of theoretical and empirical work, we define self and what the self does, define culture and how it constitutes the self (and vice versa), define independence and interdependence and determine how they shape psychological functioning, and examine the continuing challenges and controversies in the study of culture and self. We propose that a self is the “me” at the center of experience—a continually developing sense of awareness and agency that guides actions and takes shape as the individual, both brain and body, becomes attuned to various environments. Selves incorporate the patterning of their various environments and thus confer particular and culture-specific form and function to the psychological processes they organize (e.g., attention, perception, cognition, emotion, motivation, interpersonal relationship, group). In turn, as selves engage with their sociocultural contexts, they reinforce and sometimes change the ideas, practices, and institutions of these environments.
Effect of aging on martensitic transformation and microhardness of Ni53Mn23·5Ga18·5Ti5 ferromagnetic shape memory alloy
Authors: Dong G. F. , Gao Z. Y. , Cai W. , Sui J. H. , Feng Y. , Li X. H.
Published: August 2010

The effects of aging on martensitic transformation and microhardness were investigated for Ni53Mn23·5Ga18·5Ti5 ferromagnetic shape memory alloy. The results show that precipitation has obvious effect on martensitic transformation temperature and the microhardness increases with increasing aging temperature up to 973 K, and then decreases gradually with the further increase in aging temperature.
Grain boundaries: Their influence on creep strain accumulation
Authors: Wilshire B. , Whittaker M. T.
Published: August 2010

Understanding the role of grain boundaries has been impeded by continued adoption of power law equations for identification of the processes governing creep and creep fracture of metals and alloys. In contrast, the dominant mechanisms can be clarified through new relationships which involve normalisation of the applied stress by the yield and ultimate tensile strengths determined from high strain rate tests at the creep temperatures.
Role of grain boundary plane in grain boundary engineering
Authors: Randle V.
Published: August 2010

There is an increasing amount of interest in grain boundary engineering (GBE) to improve the properties of the grain boundary network. In general, research has concentrated on use of a grain boundary misorientation based approach, namely, the coincidence site lattice (CSL), to categorise ‘special’ boundaries. The present paper presents the case that the specialness of grain boundaries is based on having at least one low index plane at the boundary, rather than because the boundary is a CSL type. It is shown that grain boundary planes play a pivotal role in GBE, and hence, an approach which focuses on the plane is advocated. Some potential routes for ‘grain boundary plane engineering’ are discussed.
Microstructural analysis of creep exposed IN617 alloy
Authors: Krishna R. , Hainsworth S. V. , Atkinson H. V. , Strang A.
Published: August 2010

Ni base alloys such as IN617 are one of the preferred choices for steam turbine components used by fossil fuelled power generation plants. IN617 is a solid solution strengthened Ni based superalloy containing ∼23%Cr, 12%Co and 9%Mo with low content of precipitation strengthening elements Al, Ti and Nb. In the ‘as received’ (solution annealed condition), the microstructure consists of primary carbides (M23C6) and occasional TiN particles dispersed in a single phase austenitic matrix. Owing to high temperature exposure and the creep deformation processes that occur in service, evolution of the microstructure occurs. This results in secondary precipitation and precipitate coarsening, both on grain boundaries and intragranularly in areas of high dislocation density. The influence of creep deformation on the solution treated IN617 alloy at an operating condition of 650 ∼C/574 h, with emphasis on the morphology and distribution of carbide/nitride precipitation is discussed. The applied stress was at an intermediate level.
Residual stress relaxation in shot peened high strength low alloy steel and its implications for hydrogen assisted cracking
Authors: Turnbull A. , Zhou S.
Published: August 2010

The relaxation of compressive residual stress in shot peened and laser peened 300M high strength low alloy steel in response to applied loads has been investigated and for the shot peened specimens the implication for resistance to hydrogen assisted cracking assessed. The near surface residual stress was measured predominantly by X-ray diffraction (first 10 μm) but supplemented by measurements using high resolution, fine increment hole drilling to yield depth profiling. Relaxation of residual stress was most significant under compressive loading (single load cycle) with a loss of ∼70% of the peak residual stress when the applied stress was at the compressive 0·2% proof stress. Constant load tests in 3·5%NaCl were conducted on cadmium or SermeTel coated specimens at open circuit and with uncoated specimens at an applied potential corresponding to the minimum value of the protection potential associated with these coatings. For all peened specimens, stress relaxation was induced by a prior applied stress, usually close to the compressive 0·2% proof stress. Most tests were conducted with notched specimens with a target notch depth about 50–60 m m, close to the peak residual stress on shot peened specimens. Despite the comparative severity of the tests, with applied tensile stresses up to 95% of the tensile 0·2% proof stress and the maximum expected residual stress relaxation, none of the shot peened specimens failed. This is reassuring from an engineering perspective. However, notched specimens did fail below the tensile 0·2% proof stress under slow strain rate conditions and the performance under corrosion fatigue conditions remains to be established.
Editorial: Be careful what you ask for: is the presence of IL-17 indicative of immunity?
Authors: Cooper Andrea M
Published: August 2010

Discussion on how discovery of the pathway by which Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) induces IL-17 in naïve human peripheral blood cells aids our understanding of how Mtb interacts with the host immune response.
This issue of GEOPHYSICS
Authors: Schuster Gerard T.
Published: August 2010

In this article, the Editor of Geophysics provides an overview of all technical articles in this issue of the journal.
Statistical separation strategy to analyze velocity structure obtained by seismic tomography
Authors: Weinzierl Wolfgang , Kopp Heidrun
Published: August 2010

General solutions of inverse problems often can be obtained by introducing probability distributions to sample the model space. We have developed a simple approach to define an a priori space in a tomographic study and retrieve the velocity/depth posterior distribution by a Monte Carlo method. Utilizing a fitting routine designed for very low statistics to set up and analyze the obtained tomography results, we can statistically separate the velocity/depth model space derived from inverting seismic refraction data. A profile acquired in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone reveals the effectiveness of this approach. Resolution analysis of the structural heterogeneity includes a divergence analysis that can dissect long, wide-angle profiles for deep crust and upper mantle studies. The complete information of any parameterized physical system is contained in the a posteriori distribution. Methods for analyzing and displaying key properties of the a posteriori distributions of highly nonlinear inverse problems are therefore essential in the scope of any interpretation. It is possible to map velocity variations in their extent and structure by measuring the total as well as relative divergence of the velocity structure in the a posteriori space. We have applied the divergence analysis to a part of the transect where a backstop structure has been identified, and the method resolves shallow features and returns information concerning the confidence level of results. Assuming a relationship between forearc and backstop, we can obtain a structural image in accordance with previous interpretations.
3D rotated and standard staggered finite-difference solutions to Biot’s poroelastic wave equations: Stability condition and dispersion analysis
Authors: O’Brien Gareth S.
Published: August 2010

A fourth-order in space and second-order in time 3D staggered (SG) and rotated-staggered-grid (RSG) method for the solution of Biot’s equation are presented. The numerical dispersion and stability conditions are derived using a von Neumann analysis. The exact stability condition is calculated from the roots of a 12th-order polynomial and therefore no nontrivial expression exists. To overcome this, a 1D stability condition is usually generalized to three dimensions. It is shown that in certain cases, the 1D approximate stability condition is violated by a 3D SG method. The RSG method obeys the approximate 1D stability condition for the material properties and spatiotemporal scales in the examples shown. Both methods have been verified against an analytical solution for an infinite homogeneous porous medium with a misfit error of less than 0.5%. A free surface has been implement-ed to test the accuracy of this boundary condition. It also serves as a test of the methods to include high material contrasts. The methods have been compared with a quasi-analytical solution. For the specific material properties, spatial grid scaling, and propagation distance used in the test, a maximum error of 3.5% for the SG and 4.1% for the RSG was found. These errors depend on the propagation distance, temporal and spatial scales, and accuracy of the quasi-analytical solution. No discernable difference was found between the two methods except for time steps comparable with the stability-criteria threshold time step, the SG was found to be unstable. However, the RSG remained stable for a homogeneous half-space. Time steps, comparable to the stability criteria, reduce the computational time at the cost of a reduction in accuracy. The methods allow wave propagation to be modeled in a porous medium with a free surface.
Automated microearthquake location using envelope stacking and robust global optimization
Authors: Gharti Hom Nath , Oye Volker , Roth Michael , Kühn Daniela
Published: August 2010

Most earthquake location methods require phase identification and arrival-time measurements. These methods are generally fast and efficient but not always applicable to microearthquake data with low signal-to-noise ratios because the phase identification might be very difficult. The migration-based source location methods, which do not require an explicit phase identification, are often more suitable for such noisy data. Whereas some existing migration-based methods are computationally intensive, others are limited to a certain type of data or make use of only a particular phase of the signal. We have developed a migration-based source location method especially applicable to data with relatively low signal-to-noise ratios. We projected seismograms onto the ray coordinate system for each potential source-receiver configuration and subsequently computed their envelopes. The envelopes were time shifted according to synthetic P- and S-wavearrival times (computed using an eikonal solver) and stacked for a predefined time window centered on the arrival time of the corresponding phase. This was done for each component and phase individually, and the squared sum of the stacks was defined as the objective function. We applied a robust global optimization routine called differential evolution to maximize the objective function and thereby locate the seismic event. Our source location method provides a complete algorithm with only a few control parameters, making it suitable for automatic processing. We applied this method to single and multicomponent data using P and/or S phases. We conducted controlled tests using synthetic seismograms contaminated with a minimum of 30% white noise. The synthetic data were computed for a complex and heterogeneous model of the Pyhäsalmi ore mine in Finland. We also successfully applied the method to real seismic data recorded with the in-mine seismic network of the Pyhäsalmi mine.
Synthesis and composition of virtual-reflector (VR) signals
Authors: Poletto Flavio , Farina Biancamaria
Published: August 2010

The virtual-reflector (VR) method creates new seismic signals by processing seismic traces that have been produced by impulsive or transient sources. Under proper recording-coverage conditions, this technique allows a seismogram to be obtained as if there were an ideal reflector at the position of the receivers (or sources). Only the reflected signals from this reflector are synthesized. The algorithm is independent of the medium-velocity model and is based on convolution of the recorded traces and on subsequent integration of the crossconvolved signals in the receiver (or source) space. We use the VR method in combination with seismic interferometry (SI) by crosscorrelation to compose corresponding virtual-reflection events in seismic exploration. For that purpose, we use weighted-summation and data-crossfiltering approaches. In applying these combination methods, we assume common travel paths in the virtual signals, taking into account that VR and SI by crosscorrelation imply different stationary-phase conditions. We present applications in which we combine the SI-by-crosscorrelation and VR signals to (1) suppress unwanted effects, such as marine water-layer reflections in synthetic ocean-bottom-cable data, and (2) obtain virtual two-way traveltime seismograms with real borehole data from walkaway vertical seismic profiling (VSP). Analysis shows that time gating and selection of reflection events are critical steps in processing water-layer multiples.
Investigation of links between Precambrian basement structure and Paleozoic strata in the Fort Worth basin, Texas, U.S.A., using high-resolution aeromagnetic (HRAM) data and seismic attributes
Authors: Elebiju Olubunmi O. , Keller G. Randy , Marfurt Kurt J.
Published: August 2010

Effective hydraulic fracturing is critical for generating permeability within the Barnett Shale of the Fort Worth basin (FWB). Therefore, knowledge of the nature of the induced and natural fractures, faults, and collapse features that may form conduits to the underlying Ellenburger aquifer is vital. We use coherence and curvature seismic attributes, which are sensitive to faults, fractures, and collapse features, to map sedimentary features. We then integrate high-resolution aeromagnetic (HRAM) data with the seismic attributes extracted along the Ellenburger Formation and the top of basement from the north-central portion of the FWB, thereby linking features in the Precambrian basement to shallower sedimentary structures. HRAM-derived maps, designed to enhance basement structures, confirm that much of the sedimentary faulting is basement controlled. Specifically, attribute lineaments are aligned parallel to HRAM anomaly lineaments, consistent with regional tectonics. The northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast orientations of folds and faults in the sedimentary section parallel the northeast-trending Ouachita orogenic belt and the northwest-trending Muenster arch, which in turn correlate with reactivated Cambrian/late Precambrian basement faults. Mapping such features can aid in the design of the hydraulic fracture program and ability to predict structurally deformed areas of the basin.
Of course it is (the delusion that's really true)
Authors: Byrne Peter
Published: August 2010

William Burroughs described the paranoid man as one ‘who knows a little of what's going on’. In that rare beast, a mainstream Hollywood film that portrays schizophrenia with humanity and without a murder, A Beautiful Mind (2001), John Nash (Russell Crowe) irritates his wife when he says he heard the garbage truck outside at night. He has been hospitalised with psychosis and in that movie convention much imitated in life, anything he says must be taken as fantasy, unless proven otherwise. But the garbage guys are outside and thus begins a process where she (and the audience) begin to trust and identify with Nash again. This is the exception that proves the rule. When a filmic character with mental illness reports the ‘unfortunate event’ on which the film turns, nobody believes him/her: The Couch Trip (1988), Twelve Monkeys (1995), Independence Day (1996), Conspiracy Theory (1997) and K-Pax (2001) all milk this conceit for its full comic potential. Director Alan J. Pakula's paranoid trilogy Klute (1971), The Parallax View (1974) and All the President's Men (1975) project the angst of the unbelieved onto a battered American audience, reeling from Vietnam and Nixon. A flavour of paranoia excites modern science fiction (Total Recall, 1990 and the Matrix trilogy, 1999–2003), and infuses the contemporary celebrity film, The Truman Show (1998).
Abreaction for conversion disorder: systematic review with meta-analysis
Authors: Poole Norman A , Wuerz Axel , Agrawal Niruj
Published: August 2010

Background

The value of drug interviews in the treatment of conversion disorder is at present unknown.

Aims

To review all the available papers published in English that report on the use of drug interviews for treating conversion/dissociative disorder.

Method

Databases (including EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO) were searched from 1920 to 2009. Selected publications had to report on the use of drug interviews in people diagnosed with a conversion/dissociative disorder. Qualitative and quantitative data were extracted. Predictors of a positive response were ascertained using meta-analytic techniques.

Results

Fifty-five papers meeting inclusion criteria were identified. No studies compared the intervention with a suitable control group. However, two studies reported high response rates when drug interview was used in individuals with treatment-resistant conversion disorder. In the meta-analysis, the use of suggestion and occurrence of emotional catharsis during the interview were positively associated with recovery. Combining two medications and comorbid psychiatric disorder were negatively associated with recovery.

Conclusions

The evidence for effectiveness of drug interviews is of poor quality but it may be of benefit in the treatment of acute and treatment-resistant conversion disorder. A proactive approach during the interview, making suggestions the individual will respond, could influence outcome. Comorbid psychiatric disorder should be treated conventionally. Experimental studies to determine efficacy are required.
Insight, grey matter and cognitive function in first-onset psychosis
Authors: Morgan Kevin D. , Dazzan Paola , Morgan Craig , Lappin Julia , Hutchinson Gerard , Suckling John , Fearon Paul , Jones Peter B. , Leff Julian , Murray Robin M. , David Anthony S.
Published: August 2010

Background

Several studies have suggested that neuropsychological and structural brain deficits are implicated in poor insight. Few insight studies however have combined neurocognitive and structural neuroanatomical measures.

Aims

Focusing on the ability to relabel psychotic symptoms as pathological, we examined insight, brain structure and neurocognition in first-onset psychosis.

Method

Voxel-based magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 82 individuals with psychosis and 91 controls assessed with a brief neuropsychological test battery. Insight was measured using the Schedule for the Assessment of Insight.

Results

The principal analysis showed reduced general neuropsychological function was linked to poor symptom relabelling ability. A subsequent between-psychosis group analysis found those with no symptom relabelling ability had significant global and regional grey matter deficits primarily located at the posterior cingulate gyrus and right precuneus/cuneus.

Conclusions

The cingulate gyrus (as part of a midline cortical system) along with right hemisphere regions may be involved in illness and symptom self-appraisal in first-onset psychosis.
Long-term outcomes of obsessive–compulsive disorder: follow-up of 142 children and adolescents
Authors: Micali N. , Heyman I. , Perez M. , Hilton K. , Nakatani E. , Turner C. , Mataix-Cols D.
Published: August 2010

Background

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) often starts in childhood and adolescence and can be a chronic disorder with high persistence rates. There are few prospective long-term follow-up studies.

Aims

To follow up young people with OCD to clarify persistence rates and relevant predictors, presence of other psychiatric disorders, functional impairment, service utilisation and perceived treatment needs.

Method

All young people with OCD assessed over 9 years at the National and Specialist Paediatric OCD clinic, Maudsley Hospital, London, were included. Sixty-one per cent (142 of 222) of all contactable young people and parents completed computerised diagnostic interviews and questionnaires.

Results

We found a persistence rate of OCD of 41%; 40% of participants had a psychiatric diagnosis other than OCD at follow-up. The main predictor for persistent OCD was duration of illness at assessment. High levels of baseline psychopathology predicted other psychiatric disorders at follow-up. Functional impairment and quality of life were mildly to moderately affected. Approximately 50% of participants were still receiving treatment and about 50% felt a need for further treatment.

Conclusions

This study confirms that paediatric OCD can be a chronic condition that persists into adulthood. Early recognition and treatment might prevent chronicity. Important challenges for services are ensuring adequate treatment and a smooth transition from child to adult services.
Help-seeking and receipt of treatment among UK service personnel
Authors: Iversen Amy C. , van Staden Lauren , Hughes Jamie Hacker , Browne Tess , Greenberg Neil , Hotopf Matthew , Rona Roberto J. , Wessely Simon , Thornicroft Graham , Fear Nicola T.
Published: August 2010

Background

For armed forces personnel, data on help-seeking behaviour and receipt of treatment for mental disorders are important for both research and policy.

Aims

To examine mental healthcare service use and receipt of treatment in a sample of the UK military.

Method

Participants were drawn from an existing UK military health cohort. The sample was stratified by reserve status and by participation in the main war-fighting period of the Iraq War. Participants completed a telephone-based structured diagnostic interview comprising the Patient Health Questionnaire and Primary Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Screen (PC–PTSD), and a series of questions about service utilisation and treatment receipt.

Results

Only 23% of those with common mental disorders and still serving in the military were receiving any form of medical professional help. Non-medical sources of help such as chaplains were more widely used. Among regular personnel in receipt of professional help, most were seen in primary care (79%) and the most common treatment was medication or counselling/psychotherapy. Few regular personnel were receiving cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT). These findings are comparable with those reported for the general population.

Conclusions

In the UK armed forces, the majority of those with mental disorders are not currently seeking medical help for their symptoms. Further work to understand barriers to care is important and timely given that this is a group at risk of occupational psychiatric injury.
Ethical dilemmas: should antipsychotics ever be prescribed for people with dementia?
Authors: Treloar Adrian , Crugel Monica , Prasanna Aparna , Solomons Luke , Fox Chris , Paton Carol , Katona Cornelius
Published: August 2010

The use of antipsychotics for the treatment of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) is controversial. Antipsychotics cause harm and evidence-based guidelines advise against their use. We argue that antipsychotics may be justified using a palliative model: by reducing severe distress in those whose life expectancy is short.
A disabling combination: fatigue and depression
Authors: Leone Stephanie S.
Published: August 2010

Fatigue and common psychiatric symptoms – depression in particular – have consistently been found to be strongly associated. All have a negative impact on functional status, but evidence suggests that functional impairment is especially marked when they co-occur. Therefore, it is pertinent to understand the relationship between fatigue and depression.
The roots of hospital alternative care
Authors: Warner Richard
Published: August 2010

British hospital alternatives inherit some of their most valuable features, such as the use of small, domestic environments and the avoidance of coercion and confinement, from the early 19th-century moral management movement. The North American experience illustrates that these advantages can be lost if clinical benefits are overridden by cost and other practical concerns.
Alternatives to standard acute in-patient care in England: roles and populations served
Authors: Johnson S. , Lloyd-Evans B. , Morant N. , Gilburt H. , Shepherd G. , Slade M. , Jagielska D. , Leese M. , Byford S. , Osborn D. P. J.
Published: August 2010

Background

Key questions regarding residential alternatives to standard acute psychiatric care, such as crisis houses and short-stay in-patient units, concern the role that they fulfil within local acute care systems, and whether they manage people with needs and illnesses of comparable severity to those admitted to standard acute wards.

Aims

To study the extent to which people admitted to residential alternatives and to standard acute services are similar, and the role within local acute care systems of admission to an alternative service.

Method

Our approach combined quantitative and qualitative methods. Consecutive cohorts of patients in six residential alternatives across England and six standard acute wards in the same areas were identified, and clinical and demographic characteristics, severity of symptoms, impairments and risks compared. Semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in each local service system were used to explore the role and functioning of each alternative.

Results

Being already known to services (OR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.3–5.2), posing a lower risk to others (OR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.31–0.78) and having initiated help-seeking in the current crisis (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.2–4.3) were associated with being admitted to an alternative rather than a standard service. Stakeholder interviews suggested that alternatives have a role that is similar but not identical to standard hospital services. They can divert some, but not all, patients from acute admission.

Conclusions

Residential alternatives are integrated into catchment area mental health systems. They serve similar, but not identical, clinical populations to standard acute wards and provide some, but not all, of the functions of these wards.
Service users' experiences of residential alternatives to standard acute wards: qualitative study of similarities and differences
Authors: Gilburt Helen , Slade Mike , Rose Diana , Lloyd-Evans Brynmor , Johnson Sonia , Osborn David P. J.
Published: August 2010

Background

Little is known about the preferences and experiences of people with mental illness in relation to residential alternatives to hospital.

Aims

To explore patients' subjective experiences of traditional hospital services and residential alternatives to hospital.

Method

In-depth interviews were conducted with 40 purposively selected patients in residential alternative services who had previously experienced hospital in-patient stays. Transcripts were coded and analysed for thematic content.

Results

Patients reported an overall preference for residential alternatives. These were identified as treating patients with lower levels of disturbance, being safer, having more freedom and decreased coercion, and having less paternalistic staff compared with traditional in-patient services. However, patients identified no substantial difference between their relationships with staff overall and the care provided between the two types of services.

Conclusions

For patients who have acute mental illness but lower levels of disturbance, residential alternatives offer a preferable environment to traditional hospital services: they minimise coercion and maximise freedom, safety and opportunities for peer support.
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of admissions to women's crisis houses compared with traditional psychiatric wards: pilot patient-preference randomised controlled trial
Authors: Howard L. , Flach C. , Leese M. , Byford S. , Killaspy H. , Cole L. , Lawlor C. , Betts J. , Sharac J. , Cutting P. , McNicholas S. , Johnson S.
Published: August 2010

Background

Women's crisis houses have been developed in the UK as a less stigmatising and less institutional alternative to traditional psychiatric wards.

Aims

To examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of women's crisis houses by first examining the feasibility of a pilot patient-preference randomised controlled trial (PP–RCT) design (ISRCTN20804014).

Method

We used a PP–RCT study design to investigate women presenting in crisis needing informal admission. The four study arms were the patient preference arms of women's crisis house or hospital admission, and randomised arms of women's crisis house or hospital admission.

Results

Forty-one women entered the randomised arms of the trial (crisis house n = 19, wards n = 22) and 61 entered the patient-preference arms (crisis house n = 37, ward n = 24). There was no significant difference in outcomes (symptoms, functioning, perceived coercion, stigma, unmet needs or quality of life) or costs for any of the groups (randomised or preference arms), but women who obtained their preferred intervention were more satisfied with treatment.

Conclusions

Although the sample sizes were too small to allow definite conclusions, the results suggest that when services are able to provide interventions preferred by patients, those patients are more likely to be satisfied with treatment. This pilot study provides some evidence that women's crisis houses are as effective as traditional psychiatric wards, and may be more cost-effective.