bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development and Validation of a Spectrophotometric Method for Quantification and Dissolution Studies of Glimepiride in Tablets
Authors: Induri Madhusudhanareddy , Raju M. Bhagavan , Prasad Y. Rajendra , Reddy K. Pavankumar
Published: March 2012

The objective of present study was to develop and validate an analytical method for quantitative determination and dissolution studies of glimepiride in tablets. The glimepiride shows absorption maxima at 225 nm and obeyed Beer′s law in the range of 6.0 – 14.0 µg/mL. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation were 0.06, and 0.17 µg/mL respectively. Percentage recovery of glimepiride for the proposed method ranged from 99.32 to 100.98% indicating no interference of the tablet excipients. It was concluded that the proposed method is simple, easy to apply, economical and used as an alternative to the existing spectrophotometric and non‐spectrophotometric methods for the routine analysis of glimepiride in pharmaceutical formulations and in vitro dissolution studies.
Use of an Endobronchial Blocker and Selective Lung Ventilation to Aid Surgical Removal of a Lung Lobe Abscess in a Dog
Authors: Bradbrook Carl , Clark Louise , Mosing Martina
Published: March 2012

This paper documents use of an endobronchial blocker (EBB) to achieve selective lung ventilation (SLV) for the purpose of lung lobectomy with thoracoscopy. A 3-year-old female neutered Labrador Retriever, body mass of 18.5 kg, was presented for exploratory thoracoscopy. Acepromazine and methadone were administered as premedication, and anaesthesia was induced with propofol and maintained with isoflurane in 100% oxygen and continuous infusions of fentanyl and lidocaine. Mechanical ventilation of the dog’s lungs was performed prior to placement of an Arndt EBB caudal to the right cranial bronchus to allow SLV. Successful SLV was achieved with this technique, allowing continued inflation of the right cranial lobe. A reduction in the arterial partial pressure of oxygen to fractional inspired oxygen ratio (PaO2 : FiO2) of 444 to 306 occurred after placement of the EBB, with no change in monitored cardiopulmonary variables. F-shunt increased from 17.4% to 23.7% with a reduction in oxygen content (CaO2) of 20.0 to 18.7 mg dL-1, remaining within the physiologic range. Due to lung adhesions to the diaphragm, conversion to thoracotomy was required for completion of the procedure. This technique is challenging to perform in the dog. Arterial blood gas analysis should be performed to allow adequate monitoring of ventilation.
Synthesis of Polyfunctionalized Amino Furans with Long Conjugated Aromatic Systems Using Nucleophilic Aromatic Isocyanide
Authors: Qandalee Mohammad , Mokhtary Masoud , Asghari Sakineh , Mehrzadi Mehrdad
Published: March 2012

Polyfunctionalized amino furans with long conjugated aromatic systems have been synthesized by three component reaction of aldehydes, acetylenic esters and aromatic nucleophilic isocyanide.
Design and Synchronization of Master‐Slave Electronic Horizontal Platform System
Authors: Kuo Hang-Hong , Liao Teh-Lu , Yan Jun-Juh
Published: March 2012

Horizontal platform system (HPS) is one of the mechanical systems with rich behavior and has extensively been applied in offshore and earthquake engineering. A corresponding electronic HPS is proposed in this paper to reduce the research cost and time when studying dynamics of the mechanical HPS. Furthermore, an output feedback controller is proposed for global synchronization between coupled electronic HPS systems and its stability condition is also derived by employing the Lyapunov stability theory. The experimental simulations verify the dynamics of the proposed electronic HPS and the synchronization effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Stability Constants of Some Biologically Important Pyrazoles and Their Ni2+ Complexes in Different Dielectric Constant of Medium
Authors: Deosarkar S. D. , Puyad A. L. , Chavan S. A.
Published: March 2012

The proton‐ligand stability constants of some biologically important new pyrazoles and formation constants of their complexes with Ni(II) were determined at 0.1 mol dm-3 ionic strength and at 303.15 K in different dielectric constant of dioxane‐water mixture by potentiometric method. The Calvin‐Bjerrum′s pH‐titration technique as used by Irving and Rossotti was used for determination of stability constants. The results enabled to study the electrostatic forces of attraction between metal ion and ligand with changes in dielectric constant of the medium.
Tribromomelamine: A Novel and Efficient Catalyst for the Synthesis 2‐Arylthiazolines under Solvent‐free Conditions
Authors: Wu Liqiang
Published: March 2012

A novel procedure for the synthesis of 2‐arylthiazolines through one‐pot condensation of of nitriles with 2‐aminoethanethiol in the presence of tribromomelamine as catalyst under solvent‐free conditions is described.
Microarray Analysis of Colorectal Cancer Stromal Tissue Reveals Upregulation of Two Oncogenic miRNA Clusters
Authors: Nishida Naohiro , Nagahara Makoto , Sato Tetsuya , Mimori Koshi , Sudo Tomoya , Tanaka Fumiaki , Shibata Kohei , Ishii Hideshi , Sugihara Kenichi , Doki Yuichiro , Mori Masaki
Published: March 2012

Purpose: Cancer stroma plays an important role in the progression of cancer. Although alterations in miRNA expression have been explored in various kinds of cancers, the expression of miRNAs in cancer stroma has not been explored in detail.

Experimental Design: Using a laser microdissection technique, we collected RNA samples specific for epithelium or stroma from 13 colorectal cancer tissues and four normal tissues, and miRNA microarray and gene expression microarray were carried out. The expression status of miRNAs was confirmed by reverse transcriptase PCR. Furthermore, we investigated whether miRNA expression status in stromal tissue could influence the clinicopathologic factors.

Results: Oncogenic miRNAs, including two miRNA clusters, miR-17-92a and miR-106b-25 cluster, were upregulated in cancer stromal tissues compared with normal stroma. Gene expression profiles from cDNA microarray analyses of the same stromal tissue samples revealed that putative targets of these miRNA clusters, predicted by Target Scan, such as TGFBR2, SMAD2, and BMP family genes, were significantly downregulated in cancer stromal tissue. Downregulated putative targets were also found to be involved in cytokine interaction and cellular adhesion. Importantly, expression of miR-25 and miR-92a in stromal tissues was associated with a variety of clinicopathologic factors.

Conclusions: Oncogenic miRNAs were highly expressed in cancer stroma. Although further validation is required, the finding that stromal miRNA expression levels were associated with clinicopathologic factors suggests the possibility that miRNAs in cancer stroma are crucially involved in cancer progression. Clin Cancer Res; 18(11); 3054–70. ©2012 AACR.
Suppression of Skeletal Muscle Turnover in Cancer Cachexia: Evidence from the Transcriptome in Sequential Human Muscle Biopsies
Authors: Gallagher Iain J. , Stephens Nathan A. , MacDonald Alisdair J. , Skipworth Richard J.E. , Husi Holger , Greig Carolyn A. , Ross James A. , Timmons James A. , Fearon Kenneth C.H.
Published: March 2012

Purpose: The mechanisms underlying muscle wasting in patients with cancer remain poorly understood, and consequently there remains an unmet clinical need for new biomarkers and treatment strategies.

Experimental Design: Microarrays were used to examine the transcriptome in single biopsies from healthy controls (n = 6) and in paired biopsies [pre-resection baseline (weight-loss 7%) and 8 month post-resection follow-up (disease-free/weight-stable for previous 2 months)] from quadriceps muscle of patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGIC; n = 12).

Results: Before surgery, 1,868 genes were regulated compared with follow-up (false discovery rate, 6%). Ontology analysis showed that regulated genes belonged to both anabolic and catabolic biologic processes with overwhelming downregulation in baseline samples. No literature-derived genes from preclinical cancer cachexia models showed higher expression in baseline muscle. Comparison with healthy control muscle (n = 6) revealed that despite differences in the transcriptome at baseline (941 genes regulated), the muscle of patients at follow-up was similar to control muscle (2 genes regulated). Physical activity (step count per day) did not differ between the baseline and follow-up periods (P = 0.9), indicating that gene expression differences reflected the removal of the cancer rather than altered physical activity levels. Comparative gene expression analysis using exercise training signatures supported this interpretation.

Conclusions: Metabolic and protein turnover–related pathways are suppressed in weight-losing patients with UGIC whereas removal of the cancer appears to facilitate a return to a healthy state, independent of changes in the level of physical activity. Clin Cancer Res; 18(10); 2817–27. ©2012 AACR.
Biological Functions of Cytokeratin 18 in Cancer
Authors: Weng Yu-Rong , Cui Yun , Fang Jing-Yuan
Published: March 2012

The structural proteins cytokeratin 18 (CK18) and its coexpressed complementary partner CK8 are expressed in a variety of adult epithelial organs and may play a role in carcinogenesis. In this study, we focused on the biological functions of CK18, which is thought to modulate intracellular signaling and operates in conjunction with various related proteins. CK18 may affect carcinogenesis through several signaling pathways, including the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt, Wnt, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways. CK18 acts as an identical target of Akt in the PI3K/Akt pathway and of ERK1/2 in the ERK MAPK pathway, and regulation of CK18 by Wnt is involved in Akt activation. Finally, we discuss the importance of gaining a more complete understanding of the expression of CK18 during carcinogenesis, and suggest potential clinical applications of that understanding. Mol Cancer Res; 10(4); 485–93. ©2012 AACR.
Inhibition of mTORC1 Kinase Activates Smads 1 and 5 but Not Smad8 in Human Prostate Cancer Cells, Mediating Cytostatic Response to Rapamycin
Authors: Wahdan-Alaswad Reema S. , Bane Kara L. , Song Kyung , Shola Dorjee T.N. , Garcia Jorge A. , Danielpour David
Published: March 2012

Although hyperactivated mTOR is well recognized as being pivotal to prostate cancer growth and progression, the underlying mechanisms by which it promotes such responses remain incompletely understood. Here, we show that rapamycin activates Smads 1 and 5 in human prostate cancer cells and tissues through blocking mTORC1 kinase. Small hairpin RNA–based gene silencing and gene overexpression approaches reveal that Smads 1 and 5 mediate, whereas Smad8 represses, rapamycin-induced cell death and expression of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) transcriptional target Id1 in human prostate cancer cell lines. Moreover, such phospho-Smad1/5–mediated rapamycin responses were blocked by LDN-193189 (a BMPRI kinase inhibitor) or Noggin (a BMP antagonist) in LNCaP prostate cancer cells. Likewise, the mTOR kinase inhibitors Ku-0063794 and WYE-354 each enhanced phosphorylation of Smad1/5. Intriguingly, silencing raptor alone enhanced, whereas silencing rictor repressed, the phosphorylation of Smad1/5, indicating that mTORC1 represses, whereas mTORC2 activates, BMP signaling. Immunohistochemical analysis showed increased levels of phospho-Smad1/5 concomitant with suppression of phospho-S6 and survivin levels in PC3 human prostate cancer xenografts in athymic mice administered rapamycin (intraperitoneally, 5 mg/kg/d, 2–6 days). Moreover, we show that compared with prostate tumor tissue from untreated patients, levels of phospho-Smad1/5 were significantly elevated in the prostate tumor tissue of patients with high-risk prostate cancer who received 8 weeks of the rapalog everolimus as part of a neoadjuvant clinical trial before undergoing local definitive therapy by radical prostatectomy. Taken together, our data implicate Smads 1, 5 and 8 as potential prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for mTOR inhibition therapy of prostate cancer. Mol Cancer Res; 10(6); 821–33. ©2012 AACR.
Eruptive Vellus Hair Cysts: Report of a New Case with Immunohistochemical Study and Literature Review
Authors: Zaharia Daniela , Kanitakis Jean
Published: March 2012

Eruptive vellus hair cysts (EVHC) are rather uncommon lesions, of which 222 cases have been published in the literature. Their etiopathogenesis is poorly known. We report herein a new typical case of EVHC that was studied immunohistochemically. A 15-year-old male presented with a 4-year history of progressively developing small brown-gray papules on the trunk and extremities. Microscopically the lesions consisted of small epidermoid cysts containing vellus hairs. Immunohistochemically, the lesions expressed keratin 1/10, calretinin and p63 but no epithelial membrane antigen, filaggrin or androgen receptors. A review of the relevant literature shows that EVHC may be inherited or acquired and may be associated to other genodermatoses, namely sebocystomatosis. They could be due to hamartomatous follicular growth, to a trouble in infundibular keratinization leading to vellus hair follicle occlusion, or represent an example of acquired hamartoma. Although benign, this condition is difficult to treat.
Importance of Myocyte-Nonmyocyte Interactions in Cardiac Development and Disease
Authors: Tian Ying , Morrisey Edward E.
Published: March 2012

Emerging data in the field of cardiac development as well as repair and regeneration indicate a complex and important interplay between endocardial, epicardial, and myofibroblast populations that is critical for cardiomyocyte differentiation and postnatal function. For example, epicardial cells have been shown to generate cardiac myofibroblasts and may be one of the primary sources for this cell lineage during development. Moreover, paracrine signaling from the epicardium and endocardium is critical for proper development of the heart and pathways such as Wnt, fibroblast growth factor, and retinoic acid signaling have been shown to be key players in this process. Despite this progress, interactions between nonmyocyte cells and cardiomyocytes in the heart are still poorly understood. We review the various nonmyocyte-myocyte interactions that occur in the heart and how these interactions, primarily through signaling networks, help direct cardiomyocyte differentiation and regulate postnatal cardiac function.
Revenge of the Managers
Authors: Goldstein Adam
Published: March 2012

Institutional changes associated with the rise of shareholder value capitalism have had seemingly contradictory effects on managers and managerialism in the United States economy. Financial critiques of inefficient corporate bureaucracies and the resulting wave of downsizing, mergers, and computerization subjected managers to unprecedented layoffs during the 1980s and 1990s as firms sought to become lean and mean. Yet the proportion of managers and their average compensation continued to increase during this period. How did the rise of anti-managerial investor ideologies and strategies oriented toward reducing companies’ labor costs coincide with increasing numbers of ever more highly paid managerial employees? This article examines the paradoxical relationship between shareholder value and managerialism by analyzing the effects of shareholder value strategies on the growth of managerial employment and managerial earnings in 59 major industries in the U.S. private sector from 1984 to 2001. Results from industry-level dynamic panel models show that layoffs, mergers, computerization, deunionization, and the increasing predominance of publicly traded firms all contributed to broad-based increases in the number of managerial positions and the valuation of managerial labor. Results are generally consistent with David Gordon’s (1996) fat and mean thesis.
Three Alternatives to Organizational Value Change and Formation
Authors: Michael Boniface , Neubert Mitchell J. , Michael Rashmi
Published: March 2012

This study delineates three alternatives to organizational value change and formation: leader-prescribed top-down planned value change initiatives, spontaneous decentralized value formation among employees, and interactive dialogical value formation through joint dialogue between leaders and employees. Data collected from two companies, ETS and HPS (both pseudonyms), show that organizational values were either consciously changed or spontaneously formed through three alternatives between 1980 and the early 2000s. Under the top-down value change alternative, official values were changed and accompanied by status quo and indifferent patterns of value commitments among employees. Under the spontaneous decentralized alternative, multiple value orientations formed and surfaced a competitive pattern of value commitments among employees. Under this alternative, the official values remained unchanged. Under the interactive dialogical alternative, official values were radically changed or incrementally updated. Employees revealed an appreciation for different value orientations and a pattern of reformative value commitments.
Effective property estimates for composites containing multiple nanoheterogeneities: Part I Nanospheres, nanoplatelets, and voids
Authors: Yu Jaesang , Lacy Thomas E , Toghiani Hossein , Pittman Charles U
Published: March 2012

Effective Continuum Micromechanics Analysis Code (EC-MAC) was developed to predict effective properties of composites containing multiple distinct nanoheterogeneities (fibers, spheres, platelets, voids, etc.) each with an arbitrary number of coating layers based upon either the modified Mori–Tanaka method or the self-consistent method. The influence of solid and hollow nanoreinforcement geometries and distinct elastic properties was addressed for solid silica nanosphere/epoxy, hollow glass nanosphere/polyester, and α-zirconium phosphate nanoplatelet/epoxy composites, along with the influence of spherical voids. The notion of “effective volume fraction” was introduced to denote the fraction of nanoreinforcements that contribute to overall composite properties through their good dispersion. The predicted nanocomposite effective elastic moduli obtained using the Effective Continuum Micromechanics Analysis Code matched well with experimental results from the literature.
Static and bending fatigue properties of ultra-thick 3D orthogonal woven composites
Authors: Yao Lan , Rong Qi , Shan Zhongde , Qiu Yiping
Published: March 2012

Nowadays, ultra-thick 3D woven composites have great potential applications in aerospace, maritime and infrastructure fields. Static and dynamic mechanical data for 3D ultra-thick composites are on a high demand by industry. In this study, a 15 mm ultra-thick 3D composite reinforced with woven glass fabric was fabricated, and the static and bending fatigue properties were analyzed. For comparison, the 2D composite with almost the same thickness and fiber volume fraction with the 3D composite was also fabricated. The results showed that the 3D-warp and 3D-weft samples have 21% and 5% higher normalized tensile strengths, 28% and 9% higher normalized tensile moduli, 29% and 25% higher normalized compression strengths, 18% higher and a similar normalized compression moduli compared with those of the 2D laminated sample, respectively. The superior in-plane properties of the 3D composite to the 2D laminates were due to crimp-free states of the warp and weft yarns in the 3D orthogonal structure. In the bending test, the 3D-warp and 3D-weft samples both have 42% higher normalized flexure strengths, 32% and 28% higher normalized flexure moduli than those of the 2D sample, respectively. Meanwhile, the failure mechanisms and fracture modes are also analyzed for the different mechanical tests of the two types of composites. In bending fatigue test of 3D composite, a linear regression model is used to predict the residual stiffness of the composite. The experimental results of fatigue residual stiffness reduction of both directions agree reasonably well with the predictions of the model.
Transatlantic Connections and Conspiracies: A.K. Chesterton and The New Unhappy Lords
Authors: Macklin Graham
Published: March 2012

The internationalization of political antisemitism in the postwar period has received comparatively little scholarly attention. Studies of organized political antisemtism and far right extremism in postwar Britain has similarly suffered from a lack of focus on the increasingly transatlantic nature of the phenomenon. American scholars meanwhile have determined that the impetus for the ideological transmission of repackaged antisemitic tropes shifted from the Old World to the New after 1945. This article seeks to redress the balance by presenting a detailed case study of the Anglo–American activities of Arthur Kenneth Chesterton, the doyen of conspiratorial antisemitism in postwar Britain. Chesterton was the author of The New Unhappy Lords, which provided the far right on both sides of the Atlantic with a cogent and coherent antisemitic critique of the forces perceived to be driving globalization and which he believed threatened white racial and cultural identity. This article explores the importance of The New Unhappy Lords on a national and international level, assessing its impact on the far right in the United States before moving to locate its importance in terms of the contemporary debate within the transatlantic far right as to who or what constitutes the greatest threat to white racial survival, Islam or Judaism.
Brownfield Residential Development: What Happens to the Most Deprived Neighbourhoods in England?
Authors: Schulze Bäing Andreas , Wong Cecilia
Published: March 2012

The strategic re-use of brownfield land for housing in the late 1990s in England is a policy instrument introduced to achieve multiple sustainability and urban regeneration objectives. Previous research, mostly relying on qualitative data and local authority case studies, tends to focus on barriers and drivers of brownfield regeneration, rather than on its impact. This study aims to bridge this research gap by examining the impact of residential brownfield development in the most deprived urban areas during 2001–08. Policy impacts in terms of changing housing markets, residential density, population growth and economic deprivation are systematically examined with a series of indicators through GIS analysis and the analysis of variance tests. Conclusions are then drawn on the effectiveness of brownfield development in tackling deprivation and the relevance of these findings for the international debate about planning and land use policy.
Environmental Consequences of Tourism Consumption at Major Events
Authors: Collins Andrea , Munday Max , Roberts Annette
Published: March 2012

This paper examines two related methods for estimating selected environmental effects of tourism consumption associated with major events. Monitoring and evaluation procedures for major events require that event promoters and managers understand how levered tourism consumption creates both economic and environmental effects. This process is however far from straightforward. The article focuses on the case of the UK stages of the 2007 Tour de France and describes two interrelated methods for examining environmental effects. The article shows that the methods adopted can be linked to more common economic impact assessments. With respect to the Tour de France event, the paper demonstrates that the approaches when combined provide useful information for policy makers, particularly in terms of how changes in travel behavior could significantly reduce the environmental consequences of major events.
The design reference year – a new approach to testing a building in more extreme weather using UKCP09 projections
Authors: Watkins R , Levermore GJ , Parkinson JB
Published: March 2012

Current practice in building design is to assess a building’s performance using average or typical weather, a test reference year (TRY), and then to see how it performs when ‘stressed’, using a design summer year (DSY). The DSY is an actual year of hourly data which has the third warmest summer in 20 years’ summers. One of the problems with the DSY method is that it does not explicitly take into account solar radiation, or humidity, nor when more extreme weather occurs – it is selected solely on the mean six monthly temperature from April to September. A DSY may actually be cloudier than the average weather of a TRY. This article proposes an alternative approach using a new type of design reference year (DRY) consisting of a year formed from individual more extreme weather months. The DRY is used in simulating the performance of a building and to identify a single critical month for over-heating, or maximum cooling load. This article compares the characteristics of the DSY and proposed DRY using future projected weather data from UKCIP.

Practical applications: Building designers are increasingly required by their clients to demonstrate how a proposed building will perform under a future rather than historical climate. This article describes a method of processing the latest future climate projections (UK Climate Impacts Programme’s (UKCIP’s) CP09 data released in June 2009) and generating a design reference year (DRY) for use in building simulation programmes. The DRY is proposed as a replacement for the design summer year (DSY), which has a number of limitations.
From SpaceStat to CyberGIS
Authors: Anselin Luc
Published: March 2012

This essay assesses the evolution of the way in which spatial data analytical methods have been incorporated into software tools over the past two decades. It is part retrospective and prospective, going beyond a historical review to outline some ideas about important factors that drove the software development, such as methodological advances, the open source movement and the advent of the Internet and cyberinfrastructure. The review highlights activities carried out by the author and his collaborators and uses SpaceStat, GeoDa, PySAL, and recent spatial analytical web services developed at the ASU GeoDa Center as illustrative examples. It outlines a vision for a spatial econometrics workbench as an example of the incorporation of spatial analytical functionality in a cyberGIS.
Hans Jonas’ ‘Gnosticism and Modern Nihilism’, and Ludwig von Bertalanffy
Authors: Tibaldeo Roberto Franzini
Published: March 2012

‘Gnosticism and Modern Nihilism’ (published in Social Research, 1952) is indeed one of Hans Jonas’ most famous essays, to which its author reserved very deep attention during his philosophical career. As a former pupil of Martin Heidegger and Rudolf Bultmann, Jonas started to deal with religious topics, and specifically with Gnosticism, from the very outset of his philosophical career in the 1920s. After gaining recognition thanks to his remarkable philosophical-existential interpretation of Gnosticism, he returned to the modern age and its philosophical characters. Principally, Jonas discovered that modern philosophy up to Heidegger and Sartre suffered from a peculiar spiritual disease – namely, nihilism – that he had already traced in ancient Gnosticism and that he intended to reject. Therefore, Jonas’ acquaintance with ancient religion and thinking gave him a deep insight into the modern age and provided him with a first glimpse of what was later to become his biological philosophy. However, whoever could imagine that the idea of tracing similarities between Gnosticism and modern thinking came to Jonas at the beginning of 1950 from the famous philosopher and biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy? In this article, I shall endeavour to demonstrate this thesis by quoting from unpublished documents. However, I shall also try to prove that Jonas did not follow von Bertalanffy’s advice completely. The overall aim is, therefore, both to highlight the origins of an essential turning point in the thinking of Hans Jonas, and, on such a basis, to outline the innovation and originality of his philosophical contribution.
Cochlear Implants in Children Younger Than 6 Months
Authors: Colletti Liliana , Mandalà Marco , Colletti Vittorio
Published: March 2012

Objectives

(1) To determine the long‐term outcomes of cochlear implantation in children implanted younger than 6 months and (2) to evaluate auditory‐based performance in very young children compared with older children, all with profound sensorineural bilateral hearing loss.

Study Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting

Tertiary referral center.

Subjects and Methods

Twelve subjects aged 2 to 6 months, 9 aged 7 to 12 months, 11 aged 13 to 18 months, and 13 aged 19 to 24 months, all with profound bilateral hearing loss, were fitted with cochlear implants and followed longitudinally for 4 years. Subjects were developmentally normal with no additional disabilities (visual, motor, or cognitive). Auditory‐based communication outcomes included tests for speech perception, receptive language development, receptive vocabulary, and speech production.

Results

Age at cochlear implantation was a significant factor in most outcome measures, contributing significantly to speech perception, speech production, and language outcomes. There were no major complications and no significantly higher rates of minor complications in the younger children.

Conclusion

This article reports an uncontrolled observational study on a small group of infants fitted with cochlear implants following personal audiological criteria and, up to now, with limited literature support due to the innovative nature of the study. This study shows, for the first time, significantly improved auditory‐based outcomes in children implanted younger than 6 months and without an increased rate of complications. The data from the present study must be considered as explorative, and a more extensive study is required.
Public Values and Public Service Motivation
Authors: Andersen Lotte Bøgh , Jørgensen Torben Beck , Kjeldsen Anne Mette , Pedersen Lene Holm , Vrangbæk Karsten
Published: March 2012

The literatures on public values (PV) and public service motivation (PSM) both address whether public service delivery is driven by something more than self-interest. They have developed separately, although they can benefit from insights developed by the other, and this article discusses conceptual and empirical relationships between them. Based on a survey of 501 public managers, we find that PSM and PV are associated empirically, but not in a manner allowing total integration. The conceptual discussion reveals how the two concepts cannot be totally separated, as values can be motivating and motivation is often oriented toward something desirable (e.g., values). This suggests that neither total separation nor integration is a fruitful strategy. Given that the concepts are related, the literatures may benefit from more awareness of the conceptual overlaps and differences.
Trends in sustainable landfilling in Malaysia, a developing country
Authors: Fauziah SH , Agamuthu P
Published: March 2012

In Malaysia, landfills are being filled up rapidly due to the current daily generation of approximately 30 000 tonnes of municipal solid waste. This situation creates the crucial need for improved landfilling practices, as sustainable landfilling technology is yet to be achieved here. The objective of this paper is to identify and evaluate the development and trends in landfilling practices in Malaysia. In 1970, the disposal sites in Malaysia were small and prevailing waste disposal practices was mere open-dumping. This network of relatively small dumps, typically located close to population centres, was considered acceptable for a relatively low population of 10 million in Malaysia. In the 1980s, a national programme was developed to manage municipal and industrial wastes more systematically and to reduce adverse environmental impacts. The early 1990s saw the privatization of waste management in many parts of Malaysia, and the establishment of the first sanitary landfills for MSW and an engineered landfill (called ‘secure landfill’ in Malaysia) for hazardous waste. A public uproar in 2007 due to contamination of a drinking water source from improper landfilling practices led to some significant changes in the government’s policy regarding the country’s waste management strategy. Parliament passed the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management (SWPCM) Act 2007 in August 2007. Even though the Act is yet to be implemented, the government has taken big steps to improve waste management system further. The future of the waste management in Malaysia seems somewhat brighter with a clear waste management policy in place. There is now a foundation upon which to build a sound and sustainble waste management and disposal system in Malaysia.
A reliability assessment of railway track buckling during an extreme heatwave
Authors: Nguyen Minh N , Wang Xiaoming , Wang Chi-Hsiang
Published: March 2012

This paper presents a reliability assessment of railway track buckling during extreme heatwave events. Monte Carlo simulation is used to estimate the probability of track buckling. The effects of important predictor parameters such as the effective buckling length and buckling modes of the rails, as well as the rail temperatures at the time of their installation and during the heatwave are taken into account in the simulation. The results show that the probability of the buckling of tracks during an extreme heatwave similar to the event that took place in Melbourne in January 2009 is about 2/100,000 on average, which is a good estimate of the number of the track segments that were actually observed to have buckled in the Melbourne railway network. This assessment demonstrates a science-based approach to reliability assessment for track buckling during heatwaves.
Rail freight in 2035 – traction energy analysis for high-performance freight trains
Authors: Hoffrichter Andreas , Silmon Joseph , Iwnicki Simon , Hillmansen Stuart , Roberts Clive
Published: March 2012

This paper provides a comparison of the energy consumption and carbon emissions of rail and road vehicles for two routes. The scenarios considered are a high running speed container train, in locomotive hauled and electrical multiple unit (EMU) configuration, and a converted passenger EMU for pallets, as well as the corresponding road heavy goods vehicles. The container route is over the UK’s East Coast Main Line and the pallet route is from London to the border with Scotland. The well-to-wheel 2008 and projected 2035 energy figures and carbon emissions are determined. It is demonstrated that, despite higher running speeds, a modal shift to rail reduces carbon emissions. The higher speed results in a more flexible path allocation for freight trains, enabling more attractive and flexible offers to shippers, therefore encouraging modal shift. The particular advantage of rail in hauling large volumes of cargo is highlighted, particularly if locomotives are used for traction.
Proactive control of wind turbine with blade load constraints
Authors: Stotsky Alexander , Egardt Bo
Published: March 2012

This paper describes an easy-to-implement, proactive control strategy for wind turbines, incorporating constraints on blade loads. The control strategy is aimed for rejecting wind gusts and is based on upwind speed measurements and a new statistical wind gust detection mechanism. The control action comprises simultaneous driveline and collective pitch control with constraints on flapwise bending moment. The controller is evaluated by simulation on a transient between two steady-state operational modes of the wind turbine. A new driveline backstepping-based controller with integral action for compensation of steady-state errors is also proposed and verified by simulations.
Stress of Conscience among psychiatric nursing staff in relation to environmental and individual factors
Authors: Tuvesson Hanna , Eklund Mona , Wann-Hansson Christine
Published: March 2012

The present study aimed at investigating the relationship between environmental and individual factors and Stress of Conscience among nursing staff in psychiatric in-patient care. A questionnaire involving six different instruments measuring Stress of Conscience, the ward atmosphere, the psychosocial work environment, Perceived Stress, Moral Sensitivity, and Mastery was answered by 93 nursing staff at 12 psychiatric in-patient wards in Sweden. The findings showed that Sense of Moral Burden, Mastery, Control at Work and Angry and Aggressive Behavior were related to Stress of Conscience. We conclude that Mastery and Control at Work seemed to work as protective factors, while Sense of Moral Burden and perceptions of Angry and Aggressive Behavior made the nursing staff more vulnerable to Stress of Conscience. Future research should investigate whether measures to increase the level of perceived control and being part of decision making will decrease the level of Stress of Conscience among the staff.
Modelling of the McKibben artificial muscle: A review
Authors: Tondu Bertrand
Published: March 2012

The so-called McKibben artificial muscle is one of the most efficient and currently one of the most widely used fluidic artificial muscles, due to the simplicity of its design, combining ease of implementation and analogous behaviour with skeletal muscles. Its working principle is very simple: The circumferential stress of a pressurized inner tube is transformed into an axial contraction force by means of a double-helix braided sheath whose geometry corresponds to a network of identical pantographs. However, behind this apparent simplicity lie two phenomena, which must be considered so as to fully understand how the McKibben muscle works. First, the non-linear relationship between stress and strain inside the inner tube elastomer, together with the complex relationship between physical artificial muscle parameters and its effective working pressure range. Second, the behaviour of the braided sheath which acts like a ‘flexible joint structure’ able to adapt itself during contraction to the increasing radius muscle in its middle portion, with the boundary constraint of rigid tips. By distinguishing an ideal model with a zero inner tube thickness from a real model with a non-zero inner tube thickness, we attempted to synthesize static models by including and excluding an elastic force component. However, we also highlight the possible need, in further modelling, to distinguish modelling thin-walled from thick-walled inner tube McKibben muscles. In our attempt to understand the hysteresis peculiar to the muscle, it seems, resulting from our review, that this hysteresis phenomenon is essentially due to strand-on-strand friction inside the weave. Nevertheless, although Hertz’s contact theory has shown its relevance in tackling this problem, friction modelling in a McKibben muscle is particularly hard due to the difficulties, first, to correctly determine the real contact surface strand-on-strand and, second, to estimate the friction coefficient and its possible dependence on pressure and velocity with the weaving peculiar to McKibben braided sheaths. We propose in a future approach to better integrate textile physics into this very complex modelling problem. Moreover, because we consider friction to be velocity-dependent, a distinction between static and dynamic modelling appears necessary to us and can help, in our view, towards a better understanding of the Hill-like character (or not) debate concerning artificial muscles.
A hybrid approach for modelling of plasticity and failure behaviour of advanced high-strength steel sheets
Authors: Lian J , Sharaf M , Archie F , Münstermann S
Published: March 2012

The ductile damage mechanisms dominating in modern high-strength steels have emphasised the significance of the onset of damage and the subsequent damage evolution in sheet metal forming processes. This paper contributes to the modelling of the plasticity and ductile damage behaviour of a dual-phase steel sheet by proposing a new damage mechanics approach derived from the combination of different types of damage models. It addresses the influence of stress state on the plasticity behaviour and onset of damage of materials, and quantifies the microstructure degradation using a dissipation-energy-based damage evolution law. The model is implemented into ABAQUS/Explicit by means of a user material subroutine (VUMAT) and applied to the subsequent numerical simulations. A hybrid experimental and numerical approach is employed to calibrate the material parameters, and the detailed program is demonstrated. The calibrated parameters and the model are then verified by experiments at different levels, and a good agreement between the experimental and numerical results is achieved.
Knowledge in transition: The role of prospective, descriptive concepts in a practice-situated, hermeneutical-phronetic social science
Authors: Shotter John
Published: March 2012

What is special about our everyday activities is that they occur within the ceaseless flow of many unfolding strands of spontaneously responsive, living activity. This requires us to adopt a kind of fluid, process thinking, a shift from thinking of events as occurring between things existing as separate entities prior to their interaction, to events occurring within a continuously unfolding, holistic but stranded flow of events, with no clear, already existing boundaries to be found anywhere – a flow of events occurring within intra-actions in which we ourselves are also immersed. Bringing the nature of these flowing processes to light requires the use of concepts of a kind very different from the well-defined concepts expressive of theories or models. I have called them prospective, descriptive concepts, and below I explore their nature and their use in characterizing how our surroundings can influence the unfolding shape of our utterances and other expressions within them.
Ex-centric Cinema: Machinic Vision in the Powers of Ten and Electronic Cartography
Authors: Harbord Janet
Published: March 2012

After a century of cinema, accounts of this cultural form see it as divided between documentation and animation (the real and the magical). Yet the challenge that cinema presented in terms of a relocation of perception from the eye to the machine has become occluded. The shock of cinema in its earliest manifestations resided in the body of the spectator, no longer the site of primary perception, but dependent on an other (the camera, the projector) lacking in human qualities. This article argues that the newly configured body–machine relationship provided by cinema became a marginalized feature of cinematic culture, an ex-centric cinema relegated to the sub-fields of science and educational film. In the mid-20th century the project surfaces spectacularly in the work of pioneering designers Charles and Ray Eames, most poignantly in their film Powers of Ten (first made in 1968, remade in 1977) , a journey into the cosmos and back again into the body of a man. Bringing together discourses of space travel, cartography, physics and cinema, the film moves us towards an understanding of visual culture as an apparatus of calculated possibilities, where visualization replaces representation. If we take the Powers of Ten as a non-representational film, an ex-centric cinematic practice, we uncover non-linear and non-representational ways of apprehending the relationship between bodies and matter. This literal line of flight is one path that cinema may have taken. Its presence, however, is detectable outside of the cinema, in the software programs of electronic cartography copyrighted as Google Earth. The human body is not made virtual by its engagement with calculated visualization but is in turn part of the field of enquiry, equally porous, and definable in various scales and in different dimensions.
Dance Your PhD: Embodied Animations, Body Experiments, and the Affective Entanglements of Life Science Research
Authors: Myers Natasha
Published: March 2012

In 2008 Science Magazine and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science hosted the first ever Dance Your PhD Contest in Vienna, Austria. Calls for submission to the second, third, and fourth annual Dance Your PhD contests followed suit, attracting hundreds of entries and featuring scientists based in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe and the UK. These contests have drawn significant media attention. While much of the commentary has focused on the novelty of dancing scientists and the function of dance as an effective distraction for overworked researchers, this article takes seriously the relationship between movement and scientific inquiry and draws on ethnographic research among structural biologists to examine the ways that practitioners use their bodies to animate biological phenomena. It documents how practitioners transform their bodies into animating media and how they conduct body experiments to test their hypotheses. This ‘body-work’ helps them to figure out how molecules move and interact, and simultaneously offers a medium through which they can communicate the nuanced details of their findings among students and colleagues. This article explores the affective and kinaesthetic dexterities scientists acquire through their training, and it takes a close look at how this body-work is tacitly enabled and constrained through particular pedagogical techniques and differential relations of gender and power. This article argues that the Dance Your PhD contests, as well as other performative modalities, can expand and extend what it is possible for scientific researchers to see, say, imagine and feel.
Everything is Animated: Pervasive Media and the Networked Subject
Authors: Coleman Beth
Published: March 2012

In a world of pervasive media and ubiquitous computing, this article asks what happens as everything (objects, subjects, and actions) moves toward animation across a network. How do media and mediation affect our sense of agency? I argue that the contemporary subject, as described by real-world media practice and animated film, exists within a space of accelerated mediation that distorts self-perception. I use the example of A Scanner Darkly, the 2006 Richard Linklater film, to discuss the effects of pervasive media and how it affects the parameters of self-reflection and agency. The importance of A Scanner Darkly to my argument is that it provides a vision of pervasive mediation in which subjects and objects collide. In A Scanner Darkly, I focus on the use of rotoscoping animation as visual effect and conceptual filter. Effectively, as I argue, animation is used in this case to illustrate the loss of face-to-face engagement – the impossibility of the unmediated encounter. In the first section of the article, I conceptualize a networked subject in reference to the film’s rendition of a subject adrift in a field of mediation. In the second section, I contrast this vision with a formulation of networked subjectivity that engages modalities of mediated presence to explore issues of agency in light of a technologically animated environment. The question I ask is: if as a society we are subjected to a pervasive mediation, how may we imagine modes of agency within an animated world?
The structure of coping among older adults living with HIV/AIDS and depressive symptoms
Authors: Hansen Nathan B , Harrison Blair , Fambro Stacy , Bodnar Sara , Heckman Timothy G , Sikkema Kathleen J
Published: March 2012

One-third of adults living with HIV/AIDS are over the age of 50. This study evaluated the structure of coping among 307 older adults living with HIV/AIDS. Participants completed 61 coping items and measures of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and coping self-efficacy. Exploratory factor analyses retained 40 coping items loading on five specific first order factors (Distancing Avoidance, Social Support Seeking, Self-Destructive Avoidance, Spiritual Coping, and Solution-Focused Coping) and two general second order factors (Active and Avoidant Coping). Factors demonstrated good reliability and validity. Results suggest that general coping factors should be considered with specific factors when measuring coping among older adults.