bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Measuring Perceptual Hysteresis with the Modified Method of Limits: Dynamics at the Threshold
Authors: Hock Howard , Schöner Gregor
Published: July 2010

This article describes modifications to the psychophysical method of limits that eliminate artifacts associated with the classical method, and thereby indicate whether or not there is perceptual hysteresis. Such hysteresis effects, which are characteristic of dynamical systems, would provide evidence that the near-threshold perception of an attribute is affected by stabilization mechanisms intrinsic to individual neural detectors, and by nonlinear interactions that functionally integrate the detectors when there is sufficient stimulus-initiated activation, thereby stabilizing activation at suprathreshold levels. The article begins with a review of research employing the modified method of limits. It concludes with a model and computational simulations showing how detection instabilities inherent in neural dynamics can create 'activational gaps' between the functionally-integrated and functionally-independent states of neural ensembles, resulting in clear and distinct discrimination between the perception and non-perception of an attribute. The 'self-excitation' threshold for engaging such functionally-integrating detector interactions is differentiated from the traditional 'read-out' threshold (criterion) that determines whether or not the attribute in question can be perceived.
The Ukrainian “Friday” and the Russian “Robinson”: The Uneasy Advent of Postcoloniality
Authors: Ryabchuk Mykola
Published: July 2010

The paper addresses the problem of Russian-Ukrainian asymmetric relations as revealed in the struggle of two discourses—the discourse of imperial dominance and the discourse of national/nationalistic resistance and liberation. Critical discourse analysis is applied to deconstruct the imperial discourse as a major obstacle for the normalization of Russian-Ukrainian relations. Postcoloniality is suggested as a desirable condition for both Russian and Ukrainian cultures to achieve internal freedom and eliminate colonial stereotypes and anti-colonial mobilization, respectively.
Defending the Cultural Nation before and after 1991: Ivan Dziuba
Authors: Pavlyshyn Marko
Published: July 2010

The Ukrainian literary and cultural critic Ivan Dziuba (b. 1931) exerted his greatest impact on Ukrainian public life as a dissident in the 1960s and as a public intellectual from the late 1980s onward. Throughout his writings Dziuba has urged state and society to develop Ukrainian culture proactively and to defend it against encroachment by dominant cultures allied to politically and economically dominant powers.
Religion and Refugee Resettlement: Evolving Connections to Ukraine since World War II
Authors: Wanner Catherine
Published: July 2010

Several waves of Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the United States since 1945, each following a remarkably different resettlement and assimilation path. This article offers a comparative analysis of the role of religious affiliation and transnational religious organizations and networks in shaping processes of resettlement, ethnic group formation and the creation of attachments to Ukraine to explain the lower than expected levels of engagement of the last two waves with the Ukrainian diaspora and with Ukraine. Evolving global forces and the social structures within them render diasporic identities, which are closely associated with a territorially anchored sense of national culture, less appealing than the highly fluid transnational networks of religious groups. The role of religious-based resettlement organizations and their networks in the United States is likely to exert an ever greater effect on refugee resettlement and migration more generally.
From Anarchy to Connectivity to Cognitive Mapping: Contemporary Ukrainian Writers of the Younger Generation Engage with Globalization
Authors: Chernetsky Vitaly
Published: July 2010

This article discusses several Ukrainian writers who gained prominence during the post-Soviet period, in particular Vasyl Makhno, Serhii Zhadan, Andrii Bondar, Natalka Sniadanko, Oksana Lutsyshyna, and Dmytro Lazutkin. Grounded in theoretical models of cultural globalization, the analysis focuses on these authors' strategies of engagement with the rapidly changing global contexts in texts ranging from philosophical poetry to counterfactual fiction and appropriations of mass-culture forms.
How God Paired Men and Women: Stories and Religious Revival in Post-Soviet Rural Ukraine
Authors: Kononenko Natalie
Published: July 2010

Religious stories told by Ukrainian women who are active in the revival of village churches seem to be coded protestations against gender inequality. Examination of the narratives in context reveals that they are a way of coping with a shift in authority from civil to religious. Also important is performance. Women feel deprived because they no longer act as celebrants of religious rites, especially funerals and baptisms.
Orange Harvest?: Women's Activism and Civil Society in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia since 2004
Authors: Hrycak Alexandra
Published: July 2010

Rising authoritarianism throughout post-Soviet countries has met with responses ranging from small-scale revolts to “electoral revolutions.” This article analyzes women's activism to explore the impact of domestic political opportunity dynamics on the trajectory of civic organizing in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The extent and form of state repression are shown to affect the development of women's activism by influencing the number, scope and capacity of women's nongovernmental organizations.
Cultural Politics on Ukrainian Television: Language Choice and Code Switching on “Khoroshou”
Authors: Bilaniuk Laada
Published: July 2010

This article examines language politics in Ukraine through the analysis of interactional dynamics on a televised music-centered talk show. The episode analyzed here, which aired in the summer of 2002, provides an example of the non-accommodating bilingualism that had become widespread in both the media and everyday practice. The Russian language clearly dominated, but the continuous presence of Ukrainian language asserted the distinct Ukrainianness of the program in various ways.
The Effects of Victim-Related Contextual Factors on the Criminal Justice System
Authors: Hoskins Haynes Stacy
Published: July 2010

Despite numerous reforms designed to integrate the needs and concerns of crime victims into the criminal justice system, which include expanding programs for compensation and restitution, providing counseling and other services to victims, and increasing victims’ involvement in the criminal justice process, critics have argued that these reforms have failed to produce any meaningful change. To investigate this claim, the current study examined how community contextual factors (i.e., characteristics of the economic, political, and social contexts) and victim-related contextual factors (i.e., the availability of victim resources, county-level indicators of justice, and victim participation in the criminal justice system) affected sentencing outcomes across the state of Pennsylvania. Analyses using sentencing information from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing for the years 1996 to 2006 and contextual information from the U.S. Census, the Uniform Crime Reports, and the Pennsylvania Office of Victims’ Services indicated that the availability of victim resources and county-level indicators of justice increased victim participation and were associated with longer incarcerative sentences.
Readability and test-retest reliability of a psychometric instrument designed to assess HIV/AIDS attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and sources of HIV prevention information of young adults
Authors: Balogun Joseph , Abiona Titilayo , Lukobo-Durrell Mainza , Adefuye Adedeji , Amosun Seyi , Frantz Jose , Yakut Yavuz
Published: July 2010

Objective: This comparative study evaluated the readability and test-retest reliability of a questionnaire designed to assess the attitudes, beliefs behaviours and sources of information about HIV/AIDS among young adults recruited from universities in the United States of America (USA), Turkey and South Africa.

Design/Setting: The instrument was administered on two occasions, within a two week interval, to 219 university students in the USA (n = 66), Turkey (n = 53) and South Africa (n = 100).

Method: The psychometric instrument developed has five major subscales: demographic, HIV/AIDS attitudes and beliefs, HIV risk sexual behaviour, alcohol and drug use, and HIV sources of information.

Results: The instrument’s readability evaluation revealed a Flesch-Kincaid score (literacy difficulty level of the questionnaire) of 8.4, indicating that respondents would need an eighth grade reading level to understand the survey. The overall test-retest reliability coefficients for the items on the demographic subscale were generally high (0.893–0.997). Similarly, high test-retest reliability was obtained for the HIV risk sexual behaviour (0.738–0.996) and the alcohol and drug use (0.562–1.000) subscales. Much lower test-retest reliability was obtained for the HIV/AIDS attitudes and beliefs (0.32–0.80), and sources of information about HIV/AIDS (0.370–0.892) subscales.

Conclusion: We found no discernible difference in the reliability data among the respondents from the three countries. The instrument should be of interest to clinicians and researchers investigating the HIV risk behaviours of young adults and older age groups with an eighth grade reading level. The availability of this instrument may enhance HIV population and intervention studies internationally.
Usefulness of a competency-based reflective portfolio for student learning on a Masters Health Promotion programme
Authors: McKenna Verna , Connolly Claire , Hodgins Margaret
Published: July 2010

Background: Efforts to identify core competencies within health promotion and health education have been on-going for a number of years. These efforts include work carried out by the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) in drawing up a draft list of 11 core competencies which were incorporated into the practice module on the Masters (MA) in Health Promotion at National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway for the academic year 2008–2009. A reflective portfolio was introduced to allow students to reflect on their learning while on the programme. The aim of this article is to explore the usefulness of this competency-based reflective portfolio for student learning on the course.

Methods: A qualitative study design was utilized. Content analysis of 18 student portfolios was undertaken addressing the 11 competencies of: professionalism; values/ethics; needs assessment; planning; implementation; evaluation; communication; policy/strategy; organization/management; collaborative working and technology.

Results: The use of the portfolio promoted high levels of reflection across the entire course rather than within the practice module only. It reinforced student learning across modules and identified further training needs for students. Aspects of the course which were of particular value to students were also identified and included the work placement component and real life experiences of practitioners in the field of health promotion. The importance of dedicated skills workshops, such as strategy development, was also identified.

Conclusion: The competency-based reflective portfolio is a very useful tool which draws together theoretical and experiential learning. It provides students with an opportunity to bring together the course as a whole and to integrate material across modules and tasks.
Two-year follow-up of borderline personality disorder patients in Italy: A preliminary report on prognosis and prediction of outcome
Authors: De Panfilis Chiara , Politi Virginia , Fortunati Renata , Cazzolla Roberto , Scaramuzzino Mariafrancesca , Marchesi Carlo , Maggini Carlo
Published: July 2010

Background and Aims: Few naturalistic studies have examined the course of borderline personality disorder (BPD) outside North American countries. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate remission rate, changes in the level of BPD psychopathology and outcome prediction in a sample ( n = 46) of Italian BPD outpatients over a two-year follow-up.

Method: Two years after baseline, remission rate from BPD and changes in the severity of BPD psychopathology were investigated. Initial measures of borderline, comorbid Axis I and II psychopathology and clinical severity, as well as historical and socio-demographic variables, were used to predict the number of BPD criteria met at follow-up.

Results: At the two-year interview, the mean number of BPD criteria endorsed decreased ( p = 0.04) and 12 participants (26.1%) fell below the diagnostic threshold for BPD. Borderline psychopathology at follow-up was predicted by the presence, at baseline, of substance use disorders and self-defeating personality traits, and by the absence of dependent traits ( R2 = 0.409; p < 0.001). However, these results cannot be generalized to patients lost to follow-up (15 out of an initial sample of 61), who may exhibit a more severe psychopathology at baseline and therefore a poorer prognosis. Conclusions: Borderline individuals seeking treatment at Italian public psychiatric centres may show some improvement in BPD psychopathology over a two-year follow-up; however, the remission rate seems to be lower than that found in North American samples. Furthermore, outcome predictors overlap only partially with those detected by North American studies.
Correlates and Consequences of Feedback Orientation in Organizations
Authors: Dahling Jason J. , Chau Samantha L. , O’Malley Alison
Published: July 2010

Feedback orientation is an individual difference that involves seeing feedback as useful, feeling accountable to act on feedback, being aware of social information, and feeling self-assured when dealing with feedback. In this study, the authors present a test of a model of the feedback-seeking process that includes feedback orientation. They hypothesize that emotional intelligence and the organization’s feedback environment are correlates of feedback orientation and that feedback orientation is indirectly related to task performance and leader–member exchange ratings made by the supervisor through increased feedback-seeking behavior. Results largely support the hypothesized model, demonstrating the importance of this construct for performance management research.
Validating automated speaking tests
Authors: Bernstein Jared , Van Moere Alistair , Cheng Jian
Published: July 2010

This paper presents evidence that supports the valid use of scores from fully automatic tests of spoken language ability to indicate a person’s effectiveness in spoken communication. The paper reviews the constructs, scoring, and the concurrent validity evidence of ‘facility-in-L2’ tests, a family of automated spoken language tests in Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, and English. The facility-in-L2 tests are designed to measure receptive and productive language ability as test-takers engage in a succession of tasks with meaningful language. Concurrent validity studies indicate that scores from the automated tests are strongly correlated with the scores from oral proficiency interviews. In separate studies with learners from each of the four languages the automated tests predict scores from the live interview tests as well as those tests predict themselves in a test-retest protocol (r = 0.77 to 0.92). Although it might be assumed that the interactive nature of the oral interview elicits performances that manifest a distinct construct, the closeness of the results suggests that the constructs underlying the two approaches to oral assessment have a stable relationship across languages.
The promise of NLP and speech processing technologies in language assessment
Authors: Chapelle Carol A. , Chung Yoo-Ree
Published: July 2010

Advances in natural language processing (NLP) and automatic speech recognition and processing technologies offer new opportunities for language testing. Despite their potential uses on a range of language test item types, relatively little work has been done in this area, and it is therefore not well understood by test developers, researchers or users in language assessment. This paper introduces NLP for language assessment as an area of inquiry and practice by describing the historical roots coming from computational linguistics, statistical NLP, speech recognition and processing technologies, language assessment, and computer-assisted language learning. It outlines uses of NLP and speech recognition and processing technologies in language assessment through illustrations of current testing projects, and identifies areas in need of further development.
Less Promising Results with Sclerosing Ethoxysclerol Injections for Midportion Achilles Tendinopathy
Authors: van Sterkenburg Maayke N. , de Jonge Milko C. , Sierevelt Inger N. , van Dijk C. Niek
Published: July 2010

Background

Local injections of the sclerosing substance polidocanol (Ethoxysclerol) have shown good clinical results in patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy. After training by the inventors of the technique, sclerosing Ethoxysclerol injections were applied on a group of patients in our center.

Hypothesis

Sclerosing Ethoxysclerol injections will yield good results in the majority of patients.

Study Design

Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods

In 113 patients (140 tendons) with Achilles tendinopathy, we identified 62 patients (70 tendons) showing neovascularization on color Doppler ultrasound. Fifty-three Achilles tendons (48 patients) were treated with sclerosing Ethoxysclerol injections, with intervals of 6 weeks and a maximum of 5 sessions. Treatment was completed when neovascularization or pain had disappeared, or when there was no positive treatment effect after 3 to 4 sessions.

Results

Forty-eight patients (20 women and 28 men) with a median age of 45 years, (range, 33-68 years) were treated. Median symptom duration was 23 months (range, 3-300 months). Fifty-three tendons were treated with a median of 3 sessions of Ethoxysclerol injections. Six weeks after the last injection, 35% of patients had no complaints, 9% had minimal symptoms, 42% were the same, and 14% had more complaints. Women were 3.8 times (95% confidence interval: 1.1-13.8) more likely to have unsatisfactory outcome than men. Pain correlated positively with neovessels on ultrasound (P < .01). At 2.7 to 5.1 year follow-up, 53% had received additional (surgical/conservative) treatment; 3 of these patients (7.5%) still had complaints of Achilles tendinopathy. In 6 patients, complaints that were still present 6 weeks after treatment had resolved spontaneously by final follow-up.

Conclusion

Our study did not confirm the high beneficial value of sclerosing neovascularization in patients with midportion Achilles tendinopathy. Despite the retrospective design of our study, we consider it important to stress that injection of Ethoxysclerol may not be as promising as was thought.
Influence of moisture absorption on GIC and flexural properties of GRP pipes
Authors: Guedes RM , Sá Alcides
Published: July 2010

In this work the moisture diffusion process and the influence of moisture on mechanical properties (critical strain energy release rate in mode I (GIC), flexural modulus and ultimate flexural strength) of GRP pipes was assessed. The research was performed on specimens conditioned in two different environments, water at room temperature and water at 50°C. In this case it was verified that the water diffusion can be well described by the Fick’s second law.

The critical strain energy release rate in mode I, GIC, shows a decrease between 5% and 10% when conditioned in water. The temperature of the conditioning does not have so much influence on the GIC values.

The conditioning either in water at room temperature or at 50°C has an influence on the flexural modulus and strength of the pipes in the hoop direction, between 10% and 20%, respectively. The longitudinal modulus was more significantly affected by the conditioning in water at 50°C with a 30% decrease.
Acoustical properties of Lyocell, hemp, and flax composites
Authors: Buksnowitz Christoph , Adusumalli Ramesh , Pahler Andreas , Sixta Herbert , Gindl Wolfgang
Published: July 2010

This study characterizes the acoustical behavior of natural fiber composites. Regenerated cellulose fibers (Lyocell), hemp fibers, and flax fibers were embedded in an epoxy-matrix. These unidirectional composites were tested for their logarithmic damping decrement, the resonance frequency, the ultrasound velocity, the dynamic and static modulus of elasticity, and bending strength and density. Glass-epoxy composites served as a reference. All tested cellulosic fibers showed a significantly higher damping at lower densities. The ultrasound velocity was in the range of the reference for Lyocell— and hemp—fiber composites. Taking the low density into account, the dynamic and static modulus of elasticity of the samples were relatively high compared to the glass reference. The specific acoustical properties of these natural fiber composites point at high value applications, e.g., devices that require high damping of the body structures.
Leaching characteristics of fly ash from Chinese medical waste incineration
Authors: Tan Zhongxin , Xiao Gang
Published: July 2010

Many of the characteristics of typical medical waste ash can be found by using ash leaching experiments. The present study investigated the characteristics of fly ash derived from incineration of medical waste in China. The particle diameter of the fly ash was in the range 154–900 μm. Elemental analyses of the fly ash indicated that it contained calcium, aluminium, iron, sodium, potassium and magnesium, and that copper, lead, chromium and mercury were the dominant heavy metals it contained. As leaching time was increased the leaching concentrations of the heavy metals increased and the leaching toxicity was augmented. When the pH was neutral, the concentrations of most heavy metals in the leachate were minimum whereas when the pH was alkali or acid, the leaching toxicity was greatly enhanced. High temperature melting was found to be a good method of fixing heavy metals, and the main components of the sinter were Fe3O4, SiO2, CaSO4 and CaSiO3, etc.
The Lived Experience of Socialization Among African American Nursing Students in a Predominantly White University
Authors: Love Katie L.
Published: July 2010

Purpose: This study explored the phenomenon of socialization among African American nursing students in predominantly White universities. Recruitment and retention of African American nursing students is in lower percentages compared with other groups. Many nursing schools reflect a culture of the White middle class, which may present a barrier to minority students by requiring students to socialize to a culture different from their own. Overcoming such barriers cannot begin until the experience of socialization is understood. Design: A sample consisting of eight co-researchers was used who all attended nursing school at a predominantly White university. Interviews were analyzed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method. Results: The following six themes emerged: Theme 1—The Strength to Pursue More, Theme 2—Encounters With Discrimination, Theme 3—Pressure to Succeed, Theme 4—Isolation and Sticking Together, Theme 5—To Fit In and Talk White, and Theme 6—To Learn With New Friends and Old Ones. Conclusions: This study found a strongly consistent process of socialization to the dominant norm, and raised questions about the effects of this process on African American nursing students and its impact on improving patient care.
Older Adults’ Participation in Nursing Home Placement Decisions
Authors: Johnson Rebecca , Popejoy Lori L. , Radina M. Elise
Published: July 2010

African American ( n = 7) and European American ( n = 9) older adults newly relocated to a nursing home described the extent of their relocation decision-making participation via semistructured interviews. Additionally, the study identified whether sense of coherence, functional ability, and physical functioning were related to decision participation. Two themes emerged, “They put me in here” and “I/we made the decision (together with others).” Older adults whose decisions were in the “They” category were younger, were African American, had more children, had lower Mini Mental State Examination scores, and had less education than those in the “I/we” category. Findings suggest older adults’ participation in nursing home relocation decisions may be determined more by informal support than ability to participate. No significant differences were found in sense of coherence, functional ability, or physical functioning across decision-making categories. Decision-making participation approached significance in a positive association with social support.
Stories to Tell? Reflexive (Dis)engagements and (De)legitimized Selves
Authors: Taylor Yvette
Published: July 2010

This article aims to tell a story about the politics of storytelling and the complexity of care. But it is not (completely) a “good” story: It is frayed in its unraveling, and its characters are on edge, in their varied states of disbelief, and misbelief. And an authorial ambivalence exists about its depth, reach and significance, about whether the pronounced pain does justice to a particular methodological approach and to a specific set of sociological—and personal—concerns. The positions of storyteller, sociologist, and granddaughter are navigated in relating an account of my grandmother’s (mis)positioning as Alzheimer’s “patient,” as “senile,” and “unknowing.” My grandmother is unable to tell her story, on the academic page and in medicalized (read “authoritative,” “reasoned,” “capable”) knowledge constructions. So, inspired by Stewart’s question, “How do I remember you?” this article aims to give attention to how “memories,” and opportunities for reflexive engagement and voice, are structured, even negated, within institutional frameworks. Claims to ownership risk the perpetuation of (louder) voices, again raising issues of whose “stories” count? Navigating this, the author aims to inspire the telling of more stories in order to drive theoretical and methodological investigation into the meaning of exchanges: institutional, intimate, reported, and narrated.
Impact on activities of daily living using a functional electrical stimulation device to improve dropped foot in people with multiple sclerosis, measured by the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure
Authors: Esnouf JE , Taylor PN , Mann GE , Barrett CL
Published: July 2010

Background: Dropped foot is a common problem following multiple sclerosis. Functional electrical stimulation can elicit an active muscle contraction providing dorsiflexion and eversion.

Objective: To determine if the Odstock dropped foot stimulator (ODFS), improved Activities of Daily Living for people with multiple sclerosis.

Method: 64 people with unilateral dropped foot due to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis took part in a randomized controlled trial. Research volunteers were assigned to a group using the ODFS or a group who received physiotherapy exercises for 18 weeks. Outcome measures were the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and a falls diary.

Results: Results of 53 research volunteers are reported. Improvements in performance and satisfaction scores were greater in the ODFS group than the exercise group; ( p < 0.05). Use of the ODFS was also perceived as effective in reducing tripping and increasing walking distance. The median number of falls were 5 in the ODFS group and 18 in the exercise group ( p = 0.036) over the study period.

Conclusion: The study shows that people with multiple sclerosis using the ODFS increased their COPM performance and satisfaction scores of their identified problems of Activities of Daily Living more than a matched group who received physiotherapy exercises. ODFS users also experienced fewer falls.
The effects of becoming an entrepreneur on the use of psychotropics among entrepreneurs and their spouses
Authors: Dahl Michael S. , Nielsen Jimmi , Mojtabai Ramin
Published: July 2010

Aims: Entering entrepreneurship (i.e. becoming an entrepreneur) is known to be a demanding activity with increased workload, financial uncertainty and increased levels of stress. However, there are no systematic studies on how entering entrepreneurship affects the people involved. Methods: The authors investigated prescriptions of psychotropics for 6,221 first-time entrepreneurs from 2001—2004 and their 2,381 spouses in the first two years after becoming entrepreneurs in a matched case-control study using linked data from three Danish national registries: The Danish database for Labor Market Research, the Danish Entrepreneurship database and the Danish Prescription database. Results: Entrepreneurs were more likely to fill prescriptions at pharmacies for sedatives/hypnotics (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.45 [95% CI: 1.26—1.66], p < .0001). However, they were less likely to fill prescriptions for antidepressants (AOR: 0.74 [95% CI: 0.59—0.92] p = 0.007). Spouses of these entrepreneurs were also more likely to fill prescriptions for sedatives/hypnotics (AOR: 1.36 [95% CI: 1.10—1.67], p = 0.005). No difference in prescription of antidepressants was found for spouses. Conclusions: This study showed that there was a significant relation between entering entrepreneurship and receiving prescriptions for sedative/ hypnotics both among the entrepreneurs themselves and their spouses, suggesting that entering entrepreneurship may be associated with increased stress for both the entrepreneurs and their families.
Review Article: Increasing physical activity with point-of-choice prompts - a systematic review
Authors: Nocon Marc , Müller-Riemenschneider Falk , Nitzschke Katleen , Willich Stefan N.
Published: July 2010

Aims: Stair climbing is an activity that can easily be integrated into everyday life and has positive health effects. Point-of-choice prompts are informational or motivational signs near stairs and elevators/escalators aimed at increased stair climbing. The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of point-of-choice prompts for the promotion of stair climbing. Methods: In a systematic search of the literature, studies that assessed the effectiveness of point-of-choice prompts to increase the rate of stair climbing in the general population were identified. No restrictions were made regarding the setting, the duration of the intervention, or the kind of message. Results: A total of 25 studies were identified. Point-of-choice prompts were predominantly posters or stair-riser banners in public traffic stations, shopping malls or office buildings. The 25 studies reported 42 results. Of 10 results for elevator settings, only three reported a significant increase in stair climbing, whereas 28 of 32 results for escalator settings reported a significant increase in stair climbing. Conclusions: Overall, point-of-choice prompts are able to increase the rate of stair climbing, especially in escalator settings. In elevator settings, point-of-choice prompts seem less effective. The long-term efficacy and the most efficient message format have yet to be determined in methodologically rigorous studies.
Predicting changes in protein thermostability brought about by single- or multi-site mutations
Authors: Tian Jian , Wu Ningfeng , Chu Xiaoyu , Fan Yunliu
Published: July 2010

Background

An important aspect of protein design is the ability to predict changes in protein thermostability arising from single- or multi-site mutations. Protein thermostability is reflected in the change in free energy (ΔΔG) of thermal denaturation.

Results

We have developed predictive software, Prethermut, based on machine learning methods, to predict the effect of single- or multi-site mutations on protein thermostability. The input vector of Prethermut is based on known structural changes and empirical measurements of changes in potential energy due to protein mutations. Using a 10-fold cross validation test on the M-dataset, consisting of 3366 mutants proteins from ProTherm, the classification accuracy of random forests and the regression accuracy of random forest regression were slightly better than support vector machines and support vector regression, whereas the overall accuracy of classification and the Pearson correlation coefficient of regression were 79.2% and 0.72, respectively. Prethermut performs better on proteins containing multi-site mutations than those with single mutations.

Conclusions

The performance of Prethermut indicates that it is a useful tool for predicting changes in protein thermostability brought about by single- or multi-site mutations and will be valuable in the rational design of proteins.
Growth inhibition of oral mutans streptococci and candida by commercial probiotic lactobacilli - an in vitro study
Authors: Hasslöf Pamela , Hedberg Maria , Twetman Svante , Stecksén-Blicks Christina
Published: July 2010

Background

Probiotic bacteria are suggested to play a role in the maintenance of oral health. Such health promoting bacteria are added to different commercial probiotic products. The aim of the study was to investigate the ability of a selection of lactobacilli strains, used in commercially available probiotic products, to inhibit growth of oral mutans streptococci andC. albicans in vitro.

Methods

Eight probiotic lactobacilli strains were tested for growth inhibition on three reference strains and two clinical isolates of mutans streptococci as well as two reference strains and three clinical isolates ofCandida albicanswith an agar overlay method.

Results

At concentrations ranging from 109to 105CFU/ml, all lactobacilli strains inhibited the growth of the mutans streptococci completely with the exception ofL. acidophilusLa5 that executed only a slight inhibition of some strains at concentrations corresponding to 107and 105CFU/ml. At the lowest cell concentration (103CFU/ml), onlyL. plantarum299v andL. plantarum931 displayed a total growth inhibition while a slight inhibition was seen for all five mutans streptococci strains byL. rhamnosusLB21,L. paracaseiF19,L. reuteriPTA 5289 andL. reuteriATCC 55730. All the tested lactobacilli strains reduced candida growth but the effect was generally weaker than for mutans streptococci. The twoL. plantarumstrains andL. reuteriATCC 55730 displayed the strongest inhibition onCandida albicans. No significant differences were observed between the reference strains and the clinical isolates.

Conclusion

The selected probiotic strains showed a significant but somewhat varying ability to inhibit growth of oral mutans streptococci andCandida albicans in vitro.
Transverse colon volvulus in a 15 year old boy and the review of the literature
Authors: Rahbour Goher , Ayantunde Abraham , Ullah Muhammad Rehan , Arshad Sobia , Kerwat Rajab
Published: July 2010

We report a rare case of transverse colon volvulus in a fifteen year old boy with a review of the literature. This brings the total number of pediatric cases reported in the English literature to fifteen. This case is unusual in that no aetiological factor has been found, in contrast to the majority of the pediatric cases. Diagnosis can be challenging and the effective management remains controversial. The various radiological imaging modalities are presented. The epidemiology, aetiology, diagnosis and management of transverse colon volvulus are discussed. It is important to highlight this case and those in the literature, as many surgeons may never have seen a single case of transverse colon volvulus. It may therefore not be considered in the differential diagnosis of recurrent intermittent abdominal pain or acute intestinal obstruction.
Decision Support and Optimization in Shutdown and Turnaround Scheduling
Authors: Megow Nicole , Möhring Rolf H. , Schulz Jens
Published: July 2010

Large-scale maintenance in industrial plants requires the entire shutdown of production units for disassembly, comprehensive inspection, and renewal. We derive models and algorithms for this so-called turnaround scheduling that include different features such as time-cost trade-off, precedence constraints, external resource units, resource leveling, different working shifts, and risk analysis. We propose a framework for decision support that consists of two phases. The first phase supports the manager in finding a good makespan for the turnaround. It computes an approximate project time-cost trade-off curve together with a stochastic evaluation. Our risk measures are the expected tardiness at time t and the probability of completing the turnaround within time t. In the second phase, we solve the actual scheduling optimization problem for the makespan chosen in the first phase heuristically and compute a detailed schedule that respects all side constraints. Again, we complement this by computing upper bounds for the same two risk measures.

Our experimental results show that our methods solve large real-world instances from chemical manufacturing plants quickly and yield an excellent resource utilization. A comparison with solutions of a mixed-integer program on smaller instances proves the high quality of the schedules that our algorithms produce within a few minutes.
Resource Allocation via Message Passing
Authors: Moallemi Ciamac C. , Van Roy Benjamin
Published: July 2010

We propose a message-passing paradigm for resource allocation problems. This serves to connect ideas from the message-passing literature, which has primarily grown out of the communications, statistical physics, and artificial intelligence communities, with a problem central to operations research. This also provides a new framework for decentralized management that generalizes price-based systems by allowing incentives to vary across activities and consumption levels. We demonstrate that message-based incentives, which are characterized by a new equilibrium concept, lead to system-optimal behavior for convex resource allocation problems yet yield allocations superior to those from price-based incentives for nonconvex problems. We describe a distributed and asynchronous message-passing algorithm for computing equilibrium messages and allocations, and we demonstrate its merits in the context of a network resource allocation problem.
Operating Room Pooling and Parallel Surgery Processing Under Uncertainty
Authors: Batun Sakine , Denton Brian T. , Huschka Todd R. , Schaefer Andrew J.
Published: July 2010

Operating room (OR) scheduling is an important operational problem for most hospitals. In this study, we present a novel two-stage stochastic mixed-integer programming model to minimize total expected operating cost given that scheduling decisions are made before the resolution of uncertainty in surgery durations. We use this model to quantify the benefit of pooling ORs as a shared resource and to illustrate the impact of parallel surgery processing on surgery schedules. Decisions in our model include the number of ORs to open each day, the allocation of surgeries to ORs, the sequence of surgeries within each OR, and the start time for each surgeon. Realistic-sized instances of our model are difficult or impossible to solve with standard stochastic programming techniques. Therefore, we exploit several structural properties of the model to achieve computational advantages. Furthermore, we describe a novel set of widely applicable valid inequalities that make it possible to solve practical instances. Based on our results for different resource usage schemes, we conclude that the impact of parallel surgery processing and the benefit of OR pooling are significant. The latter may lead to total cost reductions between 21% and 59% on average.
Management Economics in a Large Retail Company
Authors: Siebert W. Stanley , Zubanov Nikolay
Published: July 2010

We use unique data from 245 stores of a UK retailer to study links among middle (store) manager skills, sales, and manager pay. We find that, of the six management practice areas surveyed, the most important is “commercial awareness,” where abler managers achieve up to 13.9% higher sales per worker. We find that many stores have poor managers on this indicator. However, the company is careful to incentivize managers, operating a scheme giving shares (approximately 20%) in both positive and negative deviations of actual sales from expected. Abler managers do not receive higher pay, implying that their skills are company specific.
Strategic Entry Before Demand Takes Off
Authors: Shen Qiaowei , Villas-Boas J. Miguel
Published: July 2010

In developing industries, firms have to decide whether and when to enter the market depending on the state of demand, existing firms in the industry, and the firm's capabilities. This paper investigates a model of increasing demand, in which firms decide when to enter the market anticipating the strategic behavior of other potential entrants, and the effects of entry on future potential entrants. This paper shows that the ability of early entry to deter future competitors' entry leads firms to enter the market at a rate faster than demand is expanding. If there is the potential for many firms to enter the market, firms may be less likely to enter because of future competitor entry to correct any market opportunities. If firms enter the market depending on their fixed capabilities rather than depending on the firm's circumstances at each moment in time, firms end up entering the market at a faster rate in the early periods.
Using Scheduled Ordering to Improve the Performance of Distribution Supply Chains
Authors: Chen Lucy Gongtao , Gavirneni Srinagesh
Published: July 2010

We study a supply chain with one supplier and many retailers that face exogenous end-customer demands. The supplier and the retailers all try to minimize their own inventory-related costs. In contrast to the retailers' newsvendor-type ordering behavior (under which retailers may place orders freely in every period), we propose two scheduled ordering policies: the scheduled balanced ordering policy (SBOP) and the scheduled synchronized ordering policy (SSOP). Under both the SBOP and SSOP, retailers are allowed to order freely only in one period of an ordering cycle, and receive fixed shipments in other periods. Retailers take turns to order freely under the SBOP, while under the SSOP all retailers order freely in the same period. With the average supply chain cost per period as the performance measure, we identify mathematical conditions under which scheduled ordering policies outperform the newsvendor-type ordering. Through a large-scale numerical study, we find that scheduled ordering policies are most effective when (i) the supplier's holding and expediting costs are high and the retailer's backorder cost is small, (ii) the end-customer demand variance and correlation are high, and (iii) the supplier's capacity is high. In addition, we observe that the behavior of the SSOP often complements that of the SBOP. Whereas the SBOP is better than SSOP when the supplier's capacity is low and when the end-customer demand correlation level is high, the SSOP is better when the opposite conditions prevail.
Immunoassay for Quantifying Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen in Serum
Authors: Erickson J Alan , Lu Jun , Smith Jeffery J , Bornhorst Joshua A , Grenache David G , Ashwood Edward R
Published: July 2010

BACKGROUND

Although the benefits of quantifying serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCa) have been reported, SCCa reagents were no longer available in the US by the late 1990s. Because SCCa quantification still has demonstrated clinical utility, we developed and validated a microtiter plate–based ELISA for measuring SCCa in serum.

METHODS

We coated microtiter strips overnight with capture anti-SCCa monoclonal antibody, washed the wells, added blocking buffer, and lyophilized the strips. For detection, we used a biotinylated anti-SCCa detection antibody, streptavidin/horseradish peroxidase conjugate, and tetramethylbenzidine/H2O2 substrate. A novel blocking reagent against human antimouse antibodies (HAMA) was evaluated. A reference interval was established with sera from healthy individuals and was confirmed in smokers.

RESULTS

The assay was linear to 40 μg/L SCCa (slope, 1.00; y intercept, 0.695; R2, 0.996) with a detection limit of 0.3 μg/L. The intraassay imprecision results [mean (CV)] were 2.5 μg/L (3.4%), 18.0 μg/L (3.0%), and 30.7 μg/L (2.4%); interassay imprecision results were 2.0 μg/L (9.9%), 20.0 μg/L (7.6%), and 36.3 μg/L (3.5%). A correlation analysis against an established automated assay generated a slope of 0.976 and a y intercept of −0.193 μg/L (r2 = 0.916). An upper reference limit of 2.1 μg/L SCCa was established at 95% confidence level, with no difference observed in smokers. No correlation between SCCa concentration and age was observed (r2 = 0.0003). At a blocking reagent concentration of 5 mg/L, HAMA interference was eliminated in 3 samples known to produce falsely increased SCCa results.

CONCLUSIONS

This SCCa ELISA demonstrates acceptable performance characteristics for quantifying serum SCCa and is effective in eliminating HAMA interference.
Hazardous Use of Car Seats Outside the Car in the United States, 2003–2007
Authors: Parikh Shital N. , Wilson Lindsay
Published: July 2010

PURPOSE:

Car seats should be used to prevent injury or death in children during motor vehicle crashes. When used improperly or for unintended purposes, car seats can place children at risk for injury or death. The objective of this article is to describe patterns of hazardous use of car seats outside the car for infants (<1-year-olds) in the United States from 2003 to 2007.

METHODS:

The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission database was accessed to obtain information regarding car seat–related injuries treated in emergency departments from 2003 to 2007. Injuries sustained during motor vehicle crashes were excluded. Demographic data, type of injury, body location, disposition, injury circumstances, and other pertinent information were extracted and analyzed.

RESULTS:

An estimated 43 562 car seat–related injuries were treated in emergency departments from 2003 to 2007. This national estimate was based on a weighted sample of 1898 infants. The average age of these infants was 4.07 ± 2.73 months, 62.4% of the injuries occurred in infants younger than 4 months, and 54.4% occurred in boys. Of these injuries, 49.1% occurred at home, 8.4% of the infants had to be hospitalized, and 84.3% of the infants suffered a head injury. The most common mechanisms of injury were infants falling from car seats, car seats falling from elevated surfaces, and car seats overturning on soft surfaces.

CONCLUSIONS:

Injury-prevention efforts should be focused on eliminating hazardous use of car seats outside the car. Caregivers should be cautioned against the placement of car seats on elevated or soft surfaces.
Dynamic excitation of cables by deck and/or tower motion
Authors: Macdonald John H G , Dietz Matthew S , Neild Simon A
Published: July 2010

Large-amplitude cable vibrations have been observed on many major cable-stayed bridges. One possible source of excitation is movement of the deck and/or tower. Of particular concern is parametric excitation, whereby small deck/tower motion at one frequency can cause large cable motion at half the frequency under certain conditions. More commonly, deck/tower motion causes direct excitation of the cable at the same frequency in the same plane. Since cables have low damping, the response amplitudes can be large and geometric non-linearities can become important. Current design guidelines treat the axial and transverse components of end motion separately, but for an inclined cable subject to vertical deck motion at the lower anchorage and/or in-plane horizontal motion at the upper anchorage, both components occur simultaneously, modifying the behaviour considerably. This paper gives simplified results of non-linear mathematical modelling of inclined cable dynamics, with experimental validation, with the aim of providing more reliable guidelines for use in design. The proposed guidelines are summarised an appendix .