bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A study of energy consumption and reliability in a multi-hop sensor network
Authors: Reason Jonathan M. , Rabaey Jan M.
Published: January 2007

For a moderate-size, multi-hop, sensor network, we present experimental measurements of radio energy consumption and packet reliability. We categorize the energy measurements by energy consumed in each radio state and for each traffic type. Packet reliability results are presented from a network and link perspective, whereas prior work only considered the former. We introduce a novel technique of application-aware radio duty cycling called on-demand spatial TDMA. When compared to the non-cycling case, this technique can achieve greater than an order of magnitude reduction in idle energy consumption, while not sacrificing reliability. We show end-to-end packet loss rates as low as 0.04 when averaged over the network. Even with substantial idle energy savings, we identify radio idling as the dominate energy consumer and overhearing as the dominate traffic type.
MR
Authors: Minimair Manfred
Published: January 2007

The software package MR for Maple, Versions 7 and 8, contains an implementation of Macaulay's algorithm for computing the dense multi-variable resultant ([MC93], [Min02]) of a list of multivariate polynomials. An extended list of some of the features is:• Designed independently from the coefficient ring of the input polynomials.• Optimized for polynomials with coefficients being integer polynomials.• Optionally computes generalized characteristic polynomials.• Optionally self-profiling (timing, tracing).• Well integrated with Maple's LinearAlgebra package.• Designed to emulate overloading, according to the type of the input, of the main sub-functions, while not sacrificing efficiency.It important to point out that there are other resultant packages available for Maple (see e.g. [Tri02], [WME98], [BM02]). However, they do not provide the full range of features of the current package, MR, and they are not designed for the most recent versions of Maple. Therefore the author believes that the current package is of great interest to the symbolic computation community.
Usage:
We briefly describe how the package MR is to be used in Maple.The main function, exported by the package MR, is called asMR: MResultant (plist, vlist, options);The input argument "plist" is a list of not necessarily homogeneous polynomials. The variables of these polynomials are contained in the list "vlist". The symbol "options" stands for a sequence of optional arguments. These optional arguments are described in detail in http://minimair.org/MR.mpl. If called without optional arguments, the main function returns the Macaulay (multi-variable) resultant of the polynomials in "plist" with respect to the variables in "vlist".
A novel approach to determine normal variation in gene expression data
Authors: Nadimpally Vinay , Zaki Mohammed J.
Published: January 2007

Animal models for human diseases are of crucial importance for studying gene expression and regulation. In the last decade the development of mouse models for cancer, diabetes, neuro-degenerative and many other diseases has been on steady rise. Microarray analysis of patterns of gene expression in mouse models of various pathological types and the study of molecular level changes as a result of interventions, holds lot of promise to the understanding of biological processes involved. The genes which show normal variance across genetically identical mice are of particular interest because they could serve as a databank for possible false positives in gene expression studies in similar kind of mice. Also they could provide useful insights into the biological processes behind the differential expression patterns in otherwise similar mice. Our approach systematically removes variance due to experimental noise in each of the mice and then mines for normal variance among the identical mice. This analysis carried over six tissues sampled from mice, resulted in several genes which showed variations among identical mice, thus enabling a comprehensive database of normal variations in gene expression for mouse models. A large number of these genes are known to be related to stress response, hypertension and heat shock. Also Principal Component Analysis was done to visualize similarity among the mice models and within the replicates. These studies help in the design of gene expression studies in mouse models and help in validation of the results.
Supervised analysis when the number of candidate features (p) greatly exceeds the number of cases (n)
Authors: Simon Richard
Published: January 2007

New genomic and proteomic technologies provide measurements of thousands of features for each case. This provides a context for enhanced discovery and false discovery. Most statistical and machine learning procedures were not developed for the p>>n setting and the literature of DNA microarray studies contains many examples of mis-use of analytic and computatinal methods such a cross-validation. This paper highlights some of key aspects of p>>n problems for identifying informative features and developing accurate classifiers.
Towards interactive exploration of gene expression patterns
Authors: Jiang Daxin , Pei Jian , Zhang Aidong
Published: January 2007

Analyzing coherent gene expression patterns is an important task in bioinformatics research and biomedical applications. Recently, various clustering methods have been adapted or proposed to identify clusters of co-expressed genes and recognize coherent expression patterns as the centroids of the clusters. However, the interpretation of co-expressed genes and coherent patterns mainly depends on the domain knowledge, which presents several challenges for coherent pattern mining and cannot be solved by most existing clustering approaches.In this paper, we introduce aninteractive explorationsystemGeneX(Gene eXplorer) for mining coherent expression patterns. We develop a novelcoherent pattern index graphto provide highly confident indications of the existence of coherent patterns. Typical exploration operations are supported based on the index graph. We also provide a bunch of graphical views as the user interface to visualize the data set and facilitate the interactive operations. To help users to interpret and validate the mining results, we design thegene annotation panelthat connects the genes with some public annotation databases. The experimental results show that our approach is more effective than the state-of-the-art methods in mining real gene expression data sets.
The Download Estimation task on KDD Cup 2003
Authors: Brank Janez , Leskovec Jure
Published: January 2007

This paper describes our work on the Download Estimation task for KDD Cup 2003. The task requires us to estimate how many times a paper has been downloaded in the first 60 days after it has been published on
arXiv.org
, a preprint server for papers on physics and related areas. The training data consists of approximately 29000 papers, the citation graph, and information about the downloads of a subset of these papers. Our approach is based on an extension of the bag-of-words model, with linear SVM regression as the learning algorithm. We describe our experiments with various kinds of features. We focus particularly on issues of feature construction and weighting, which turns out to be quite important for this task.
Using unsupervised link discovery methods to find interesting facts and connections in a bibliography dataset
Authors: Lin Shou-de , Chalupsky Hans
Published: January 2007

This paper describes a submission to the Open Task of the 2003 KDD Cup. For this task contestants were asked to devise their own questions about the HEP-Th bibliography dataset, and the most interesting result would be selected as the winner. Instead of taking a more traditional approach such as starting with a inspection of the data, formulating questions or hypotheses interesting to us and then devising an analysis and approach to answer these questions, we tried to go a different route: can we develop a program that automatically finds interesting facts and connections in the data?To do this we developed a set of unsupervised link discovery methods that compute interestingness based on a notion of "rarity" and "abnormality". The experiments performed on the HEP-Th dataset show that our approaches are able to automatically uncover interesting hidden connections (e.g. significant relationships between people) and unexpected facts (e.g. citation loops) without the support of any prerequisite knowledge or training examples. The interestingness of some of our results is self-evident. For others we were able to verify them by looking for supporting evidence on the World-Wide-Web, which shows that our methods can find connections between entities that actually are interestingly connected in the real world in an unsupervised way.
EqRank
Authors: Pivovarov Grigorii , Seus Sergei Trunov
Published: January 2007

A new method of hierarchical clustering of graph vertexes is suggested. The method is motivated by applications to searches of scientific papers in electronic libraries (in these applications, the clustered graph is the citation graph). In the method, the graph partition is determined with an equivalence relation. Iterative application of the partitioning yields a hierarchical clustering of graph vertexes. The method is applied to the citation graph of hep-th, which is an electronic archive of papers on theoretical high energy physics at http://xxx.lanl.gov. The outcome is a two-level classification scheme for the subject field presented in hep-th, and indexing of the papers from hep-th in this scheme. A number of tests show that the classification obtained is adequate.
Exact implicitization of polynomial curves and surfaces
Authors: Kotsireas Ilias , Lau Edmond , Voino Richard
Published: January 2007

Recent advances in the eigenvalue method for implicitization include an efficient C/GMP implementation for polynomial curves and surfaces and investigation of structural properties of implicitization matrices. These advances will be illustrated with numerous examples. CAGD applications will be discussed as well.
Implementation of prime decomposition of polynomial ideals over small finite fields
Authors: Noro Masayuki , Yokoyama Kazuhiro
Published: January 2007

An algorithm for the prime decomposition of polynomial ideals over small finite fields is proposed and implemented. Here "small" means that the order of a finite field is small enough to fit in a single machine word. In particular, we are interested in cases where the order is so small that we cannot apply usual methods which is suc- cessful in cases of characteristic 0. To overcome this difficulty, [8] introduced the notion of "separable ideals" and "separable closure of ideals", and we propose a precise algorithm for the prime decomposition of polynomial ideals over small finite fields based on [8]. Our final goal is to develop a practical algorithm for the primary decomposition of a polynomial ideal over a finite field. For this purpose we can apply the "localization technique" of [7], which enables us to extract primary components from prime divisors. This does not depend on the characteristic of the coefficient field. Therefore primary decomposition computations can be efficiently reduced to prime decomposition computations.
Simulating a complex software system
Authors: Mok Dennis S. , Becker Sheldon T.
Published: January 2007

This paper describes the simulation problems and techniques associated with modeling a complex computer software system. In this study, modeling techniques such as: hybrid simulation, bit packing, mirroring, post-simulation statistical analysis and other special simulation programming techniques are presented together with the results of their application.
A simulation of final stop consonants in speech perception using the bicameral neural network model
Authors: Stinson Michael C. , Foster Dan
Published: January 2007

This paper demonstrates the integration of contextual information in a neural network for speech perception. Neural networks have been unable to integrate such information successfully because they cannot implement conditional rule structures. The Bicameral neural network employs an asynchronous controller which allows conditional rules to choose neurons for update rather than updating them randomly. The Bicameral model is applied to the perception of word-final plosives, an ongoing problem for machine recognition of speech.
Simulation of an expert model-based adaptive controller
Authors: Ma Mark S.
Published: January 2007

Model-based adaptive controllers have been practiced with numerous successes. The controller is formed in a online discrete optimal controller and implemented in control computer. Because of the fast and accurate calculation capability of microcomputer, this type of controller has reached their limits. To explore the potentiality of model-based adaptive controller, we investigate the adaptive controller with an expert system for selection of identifiers. The model-based adaptive controller usually uses a recursive least squares identifier. This kind of identifier requires a lot of calculations. An alternative for adaptive function can be using an rule-based expert system to decide the need of updating process time series model. In addition, we can use a simplified recursive least squares identifier. This paper presents the formulation of this type of controller. Moreover, the simulations are carried out to test the practicality of such controller. The effect of such rule-based adaptation plus model-based optimization and controller formulation will be presented by accumulated loss versus sampling periods. The improvement of mean and standard deviation of controlled variable indicates the sophistication of combination of artificial intelligence and computation power of control computer.
Towards integrated PSEs for wireless communications
Authors: Skidmore Roger R. , Verstak Alex , Ramakrishnan Naren , Rappaport Theodore S. , Watson Layne T. , He Jian , Varadarajan Srinidhi , Shaffer Clifford A. , Chen Jeremy , Bae Kyung Kyoon , Jiang Jing , Tranter William H.
Published: January 2007

This paper describes the computational methodologies of two problem solving environments (PSEs) for wireless network design and analysis, one academic (S
4
W) and one commercial (SitePlanner®). The PSEs address differently common computational issues such as environment specification, propagation modeling, channel performance prediction, system design optimization, and data management. The intended uses, interfaces, and capabilities of the two PSEs are compared and contrasted in a common framework. An important future direction, for these two and all future wireless system design PSEs, is resolving the fundamental 'impedance mismatch' between physical channel modeling and upper level protocol modeling in wireless networks.
Three-Dimensional Eye–Head Coordination After Injection of Muscimol Into the Interstitial Nucleus of Cajal (INC)
Authors: Farshadmanesh Farshad , Klier Eliana M. , Chang Pengfei , Wang Hongying , Crawford J. Douglas
Published: January 2007

The interstitial nucleus of Cajal (INC) is thought to be the “neural integrator” for torsional/vertical eye position and head posture. Here, we investigated the coordination of eye and head movements after reversible INC inactivation. Three-dimensional (3-D) eye–head movements were recorded in three head-unrestrained monkeys using search coils. INC sites were identified by unit recording/electrical stimulation and then reversibly inactivated by 0.3 μl of 0.05% muscimol injection into 26 INC sites. After muscimol injection, the eye and head 1) began to drift (an inability to maintain stable fixation) torsionally: clockwise (CW)/counterclockwise (CCW) after left/right INC inactivation respectively. 2) The eye and head tilted torsionally CW/CCW after left/right INC inactivation, respectively. Horizontal gaze/head drifts were inconsistently present and did not result in considerable position offsets. Vertical eye drift was dependent on both vertical eye position and the magnitude of the previous vertical saccade, as in head-fixed condition. This correlation was smaller for gaze and head drift, suggesting that the gaze and head deficits could not be explained by a first-order integrator model. Ocular counterroll (OC) was completely disrupted. The gain of torsional vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) during spontaneous eye and head movements was reduced by 22% in both CW/CCW directions after either left or right INC inactivation. Our results suggest a complex interdependence of eye and head deficits after INC inactivation during fixation, gaze shifts, and VOR. Some of our results resemble the symptoms of spasmodic torticollis (ST).
Effects of Compounds That Influence IK (KCNN4) Channels on Afterhyperpolarizing Potentials, and Determination of IK Channel Sequence, in Guinea Pig Enteric Neurons
Authors: Nguyen Trung V. , Matsuyama Hayato , Baell Jonathan , Hunne Billie , Fowler Christopher J. , Smith Julia E. , Nurgali Kulmira , Furness John B.
Published: January 2007

The late afterhyperpolarizing potential (AHP) that follows the action potential in intrinsic primary afferent neurons of the gastrointestinal tract has a profound influence on their firing patterns. There has been uncertainty about the identity of the channels that carry the late AHP current, especially in guinea pigs, where the majority of the physiological studies have been made. In the present work, the late AHP was recorded with intracellular microelectrodes from myenteric neurons in the guinea pig small intestine. mRNA was extracted from the ganglia to determine the identity of the guinea pig intermediate conductance potassium ( IK) channel gene transcript. The late AHP was inhibited by two blockers of IK channels, TRAM34 (0.1–1 μM) and clotrimazole (10 μM), and was enhanced by the potentiator of the opening of these channels, DC-EBIO (100 nM). Action potential characteristics were unchanged by TRAM34 or DC-EBIO. The full sequence of the gene transcript and the deduced amino acid sequence were determined from extracts including myenteric ganglia and from bladder urothelium, which is a rich source of IK channel mRNA. This showed that the guinea pig sequence has a high degree of homology with other mammalian sequences but that the guinea pig channel lacks a phosphorylation site that was thought to be critical for channel regulation. It is concluded that the channels that carry the current of the late afterhyperpolarizing potential in guinea pig enteric neurons are IK channels.
Inpatient and Community Ischemic Strokes in a University Hospital
Authors: Dulli Douglas , Samaniego Edgar A.
Published: January 2007

Background: Previous studies have shown that inpatient strokes are common and severe. We sought to characterize the risk factors, stroke subtypes, timing of acute stroke evaluation and frequency of thrombolytic therapy in inpatient ischemic strokes compared with community ischemic strokes. Design/Methods: The hospital records of patients admitted for acute ischemic stroke between 1996 and 2002 were reviewed. Acute stroke was defined as occurrence of stroke symptoms within 72 h, and in-hospital status was assigned if the patient was currently admitted for another illness at the time of the stroke. Patient demographics such as medical versus surgical service, admission diagnoses, clinical features including stroke risk factors, access to thrombolytic therapy and immediate outcome were analyzed. Results: Of 947 patients with acute ischemic stroke, 161 (17.0%) had strokes occurring while already in the hospital (IHIS), compared to 786 (83%) that occurred in the outpatient community (CIS). Approximately two thirds of IHIS occurred on medical services (102, 63.4%) and one third on surgical services (59, 36.7%). Mean age, male gender, atherothrombotic etiology and risk factors including hypertension, diabetes and smoking history were of similar frequencies in IHIS and CIS, but penetrating artery disease was the cause of only 5.6% of IHIS compared to 21.8% of CIS (p < 0.0001). The mean modified Rankin scale for IHIS at presentation was 4.33 ± 0.74, compared to 3.67 ± 1.03 for CIS (p < 0.0001). Of 161 IHIS patients, 21 (13.0%) had neurological assessment within 3 h of symptom onset, compared to 16.0% of CIS patients (p = 0.403, n.s.), and the rate of thrombolytic therapy was not significant between IHIS (3.7%) and CIS (5.6%) patients. Conclusions: IHIS are common and severer than CIS. The use of thrombolytic therapy in IHIS patients was limited because of time of recognition and inpatient-associated conditions. Increased vigilance for timely neurological assessment of these patients is warranted.
Mirtazapine Enantiomers in Blood and Cerebrospinal Fluid
Authors: Baumann Pierre , Jonzier-Perey Michèle , Paus Erik , Nikisch Georg
Published: January 2007

Little information exists on the concentrations of recent antidepressants and their metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Using a stereoselective method, we measured plasma and CSF levels of mirtazapine (MIR), N-demethylmirtazapine and 8-OH-MIR in 3 depressed patients treated with racemic MIR (45 mg/day) for 4 weeks. S-(+)-MIR is considered to be the antidepressant enantiomer, but only R-(–)-MIR reached measurable concentrations in CSF. For R-(–)-MIR, the CSF/plasma ratio varied between 0.08 and 0.31. Further studies are needed to test the hypothesis that there are possible differences in the transport mechanisms of the enantiomers of MIR at the blood-CSF barrier.
One-Dimensional Variational Data Assimilation of SSM/I Observations in Rainy Atmospheres at MSC
Authors: Deblonde G. , Mahfouf J-F. , Bilodeau B. , Anselmo D.
Published: January 2007

Currently, satellite radiances in the Canadian Meteorological Centre operational data assimilation system are only assimilated in clear skies. A two-step method, developed at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, is considered to assimilate Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) observations in rainy atmospheres. The first step consists of a one-dimensional variational data assimilation (1DVAR) method. Model temperature and humidity profiles are adjusted by assimilating either SSM/I brightness temperatures or retrieved surface rain rates (derived from SSM/I brightness temperatures). In the second step, 1DVAR column-integrated water vapor analyses are assimilated in four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4DVAR). At the Meteorological Service of Canada, such a 1DVAR assimilation system has been developed. Model profiles are obtained from a research version of the Global Environmental Multi-Scale model. Several issues raised while developing the 1DVAR system are addressed. The impact of the size of the observation error is studied when brightness temperatures are assimilated. For two case studies, analyses are derived when either surface rain rate or brightness temperatures are assimilated. Differences in the analyzed fields between these configurations are discussed and shortcomings of each approach are identified. Results of sensitivity studies are also provided. First the impact of observation error correlation between channels is investigated. Second, the size of the background temperature error is varied to assess its impact on the analyzed column-integrated water vapor. Third, the importance of each moist physical scheme is investigated. Finally, the portability of moist physical schemes specifically developed for data assimilation is discussed.
Validation of an EnKF System for OGCM Initialization Assimilating Temperature, Salinity, and Surface Height Measurements
Authors: Leeuwenburgh Olwijn
Published: January 2007

Results are presented from a decade-long assimilation run with a 64-member OGCM ensemble in a global configuration. The assimilation system can be used to produce ocean initial conditions for seasonal forecasts. The ensemble is constructed with the Max Planck Institute Ocean Model, where each member is forced by differently perturbed 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis atmospheric fields over sequential 10-day intervals. Along-track altimetric data from the European Remote Sensing and the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon satellites, as well as quality-controlled subsurface temperature and salinity profiles, are subsequently assimilated using the standard formulation of the ensemble Kalman filter. The applied forcing perturbation method and data selection and processing procedures are described, as well as a framework for the construction of appropriate data constraint error models for all three data types. The results indicate that the system is stable, does not experience a tendency toward ensemble collapse, and provides smooth analyses that are closer to withheld data than an unconstrained control run. Subsurface bias and time-dependent errors are reduced by the assimilation but not entirely removed. Time series of assimilation and ensemble statistics also indicate that the model is not very strongly constrained by the data because of an overspecification of the data errors. A comparison of equatorial zonal velocity profiles with in situ current meter data shows mixed results. A shift in the time-mean profile in the central Pacific is primarily associated with an assimilation-induced bias. The use of an adaptive bias correction scheme is suggested as a solution to this problem.
Thermodynamic Analysis of Supercell Rear-Flank Downdrafts from Project ANSWERS
Authors: Grzych Matthew L. , Lee Bruce D. , Finley Catherine A.
Published: January 2007

Data collected during Project Analysis of the Near-Surface Wind and Environment along the Rear-flank of Supercells (ANSWERS) provided an opportunity to test recently published associations between rear-flank downdraft (RFD) thermodynamic characteristics and supercell tornadic activity on a set of 10 events from the northern plains. On average, RFDs associated with tornadic supercells had surface equivalent potential temperature and virtual potential temperature values only slightly lower than storm inflow values. RFDs associated with nontornadic supercells had mean group equivalent potential temperature and virtual potential temperature values that were colder relative to storm inflow values than their respective tornadic counterparts. Additionally, the analysis revealed that RFDs associated with tornadic supercells had higher CAPE and lower convective inhibition than the RFDs of nontornadic supercells, on average. The results of this study provide further support for the general concept that a thermodynamic delineation generally exists between the RFDs of tornadic and nontornadic supercells.
Educational Psychologists as Scientist-Practitioners
Authors: Hagstrom Robert P. , Fry Mary Kelly , Cramblet Leslie D. , Tanner Kellie
Published: January 2007

The scientist-practitioner model provided by the Boulder Conference has served as an invaluable training model for clinical psychology. However, the goal of this article is to expand the understanding of the role of the scientist-practitioner model to the domain of educational psychology by providing readers with an understanding of the scope of the traditional educational psychology degree and what the authors, as scientist-practitioners, do in educational psychology. Information presented includes a brief history and definition of educational psychology, as well as a demonstration of the authors’ roles as psychologists and the positions they take as educational psychologists in their communities.
Reaffirming the Role of the Scientist-Practitioner Model of Training in Psychology
Authors: Mellott Ramona N. , Mehr Shannon L.
Published: January 2007

This article provides concluding remarks to the journal issue and reaffirms the viability of the scientist-practitioner training model as effective and essential for this dynamic discipline of psychology. The skills developed in science and practice and applications to practice are considered invaluable for professional psychology.
Group Psychotherapy for Parents of Patients with Schizophrenia
Authors: Gruber Ema N. , Kajević Milka , Agius Mark , Martić-Biočina Sanja
Published: January 2007

Background: During a four-month period, the authors provided group psychotherapy combining psychodynamic, supportive and psycho-educational approaches. The aim was to investigate whether this approach would enable parents of patients with schizophrenia to re-establish their psychic balance and the balance of the whole family system by reducing high expressed emotion.

Methods: The following tools were administered: a socio-cultural questionnaire, MMPI and PIE psychological tests and two questionnaires for group evaluation.

Results: The socio-cultural questionnaire showed that the group of parents is heterogeneous. MMPI profiles showed truthful answers and well organized thinking; there were no psychopathological symptoms. The PIE test showed increased dimensions of sociability and trust. The dimensions of fear, sorrow and anger were decreased. Combinations of primary emotions (marked sociability and high self-protection) show that the parents are cautious, responsible and tend to feel guilt. The parents evaluated the group work as interesting and helpful and the group as a place where the parents can overcome the stigma of the disease that affects them, get information, find help and friends and find a way out of their social isolation.

Conclusion: This combined approach changes the emotional profile of parents, reduces high expressed emotions (fear, sorrow and anger) in parents and helps re-establish their psychic balance and the balance of the whole family system.
Gender Differences in Life Stressors Associated with Child and Adolescent Suicides in Singapore from 1995 to 2003
Authors: Ang Rebecca P. , Chia B. H. , Fung Daniel S.S.
Published: January 2007

Aims: This study explored gender differences in life stressors of children and adolescents who died by suicide. Three main classes of life stressors have been identified by previous research to be significant risk factors for suicide in children and adolescents: interpersonal/relationship problems, family problems, and academic/school problems.

Methods: The sample consisted of 156 (89 males and 67 females) completed child and adolescent suicides in Singapore from 1995 to 2003. The age of these individuals ranged from 10 to 19 years with a mean age of 16.49 (SD = 2.59).

Results: Significantly more females were found to have had interpersonal/relationship problems as recent life stressors compared with males. No gender differences were found for the other two life stressors, family problems and academic/school problems. In addition, among the three life stressors studied, only interpersonal/relationship problems emerged as a significant predictor of female child and adolescent suicide.

Conclusions: Consistent with previous research literature, these findings contribute to a growing literature documenting the relatively larger impact of relational life stressors on child and adolescent female suicidality. Implications for suicide intervention and prevention, especially among young females, were discussed.
Social Movements and Democratic Transitions in Kenya
Authors: Nyinguro Philip O. , Otenyo Eric E.
Published: January 2007

An influential conventional wisdom holds that democratic movements respond to windows of opportunity engendered by both domestic and international environments. We show that all democratic transitions in Kenya since independence are conditioned by and are a function of the expansion and contraction of the window of opportunity. We argue that the opportunity window structure is elastic to the extent that gains and losses of democracy movements between 1963 and 2005 depended on elite responses to the opportunity pendulum. We find that the expansion of the window of opportunity for the democracy movement often meant a corresponding contraction of the same for all the emergent regimes.
‘More Fire’ Next Time?
Authors: Larmer Miles
Published: January 2007

Have the Social Forums that have taken place in southern Africa between 2003 and 2005 provided a useful forum for the region's social movements to improve their understanding of, and response to, the impact of global neo-liberal capitalism? The global Social Forum movement remains biased towards Western activists and agendas. Interviews with participants in southern African Social Forums, suggest that while the influence of Africans on the global social justice movement remains limited, southern African social movements are utilizing the Social Forum model to strengthen their own struggles.
Examining the Role of Culture-Specific Coping as a Predictor of Resilient Outcomes in African Americans From High-Risk Urban Communities
Authors: Utsey Shawn O. , Bolden Mark A. , Lanier Yzette , Williams Otis
Published: January 2007

This investigation examined the role of culture-specific coping in relation to resilient outcomes in African Americans from high-risk urban communities. Participants (N = 385) were administered a survey questionnaire packet containing measures of culture-specific coping, traditional resilience factors (cognitive ability, social support, and familial factors), and resilient outcomes (physical, psychological, social, and environmental quality of life). Structural equation modeling was used to test the degree to which culture-specific coping would uniquely contribute to the prediction of quality of life above and beyond traditional predictive factors of resilience. Findings indicated that spiritual and collective coping were statistically significant predictors of quality of life outcomes above and beyond the traditional predictive factors. Overall, the findings indicated that both traditional and cultural factors were predictors of resilient outcomes (i.e., positive quality of life indicators) for African Americans.
Are Works Councils and Joint Consultative Committees a Threat to Trade Unions? A Comparative Analysis
Authors: Brewster Chris , Wood Geoff , Croucher Richard , Brookes Michael
Published: January 2007

This article assesses whether the operation of works councils or joint consultative committees (JCCs) is inimical to unionization in different business systems. An extensive transnational survey reveals that both works councils and JCCs are positively associated with a union presence; there is no evidence from this sample that either is used to any significant extent as a substitute for unions. The finding holds true irrespective of business system. Its implications for industrial relations actors are examined.
Front Line Family: ‘Women's culture’ comes to the BBC
Authors: Hilmes Michele
Published: January 2007

During the 1930s and 1940s, the BBC resolutely held out against the program form most notoriously associated with ‘vulgar’, commercial, feminized US radio culture: soap operas, or serial drama with a domestic setting directed primarily at an audience of women. Yet the first British soap opera, Front Line Family, made its debut in 1941 on the North American Service, as a propaganda vehicle aimed expressly at encouraging US entry into the Second World War. It became part of the Light Programme schedule after the war and led directly to Mrs Dale's Diary and The Archers. This article traces the controversial origins and contested life of the first British soap, within the context of the ‘women's culture’ largely missing from the BBC in its early years. The terms of the debate over its origins show clearly how notions of ‘quality’ and public service were both gendered and linked to notions of national identity, and how a popular yet ‘feminine’ and ‘American’ form like the domestic serial drama challenged those important cornerstones of the BBC ethos.
The mediated conversational floor: an interactive approach to audience reception analysis
Authors: Wood Helen
Published: January 2007

Audience studies, as they have been traditionally associated with cultural studies, have recognized relations of power at each end of the communication process, privileging the framework of ‘text-reader’ relations. This article offers an alternative method of reception analysis which seeks to overcome text/reader/context distinctions and place the communicative ‘act’ itself at the centre. It argues that broadcasting needs to be understood within the terms of communication per se with specific tools designed for that dedicated purpose. A model for reception analysis is offered which captures the specifically communicative relationship between daytime talk programmes and viewers by using a ‘text-in-action’ approach. The findings illuminate the viewing experiences as pragmatically negotiated discursive encounters, establishing the possibility of a ‘mediated conversational floor’.
Motivation, Interest, and Positive Affect in Traditional and Nontraditional Undergraduate Students
Authors: Bye Dorothea , Pushkar Dolores , Conway Michael
Published: January 2007

This study compares affective and motivational components of academic life for traditional and nontraditional university undergraduates. Traditional students are defined as those aged 21 and younger, who are most likely to have followed an unbroken linear path through the education system, whereas nontraditional students are defined as those aged 28 and older, for whom the undergraduate experience is not necessarily age normative. A total of 300 undergraduates ranging in age from 18 to 60 years were assessed on measures of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learn, interest, and positive affect. Nontraditional students reported higher levels of intrinsic motivation for learning than did traditional students. Intrinsic motivation correlated with positive affect more strongly for nontraditional than for traditional students. For all students, interest and age emerged as significant predictors of intrinsic motivation to learn, and both interest and intrinsic motivation significantly predicted positive affect.
Circadian Rhythms in the Mating Behavior of the Cockroach, Leucophaea maderae
Authors: Rymer Jennifer , Bauernfeind Amy L. , Brown Scott , Page Terry L.
Published: January 2007

Mating behavior of small populations of virgin males and females of the cockroach Leucophaea maderae were continuously monitored via time-lapse video recording in controlled laboratory conditions. The time of onset of copulation was found to be rhythmic in a light cycle of 12 h light alternated with 12 h of darkness, with the peak of mating behavior occurring near the light to dark transition. This rhythm persisted in constant dim red illumination and constant temperature. In constant conditions, the period of the rhythm was slightly less than 24 h, with a peak of copulation during the late subjective day. These data demonstrated that mating behavior is gated by a circadian clock. When males and females were taken from light cycles that were 12 h out of phase, a bimodal rhythm was observed with one peak in the males' late subjective day and a second peak of equal amplitude in the late subjective day of females. The results indicated that circadian systems in both males and females contribute to the circadian rhythm in copulation. Bilateral section of the optic tracts (OTX) of both males and females abolished the rhythm, but the rhythm persisted when OTX females were paired with intact males or when OTX males were paired with intact females. Furthermore, when OTX males or OTX females were paired with intact animals that were 12 h out of phase, a bimodal rhythm was still observed. These results suggested that the circadian pacemaker in the optic lobes of both male and female cockroaches participates in the control of mating, but that a pacemaker outside the optic lobes is also likely involved. Finally, it was shown that the female's olfactory response (measured by electroantennogram) to components of the male sex pheromone exhibited a circadian rhythm, but the data suggested the peripheral olfactory rhythm is not likely to be involved in the rhythm of mating behavior.
Studies of Novel Hyaluronic Acid-collagen Sponge Materials Composed of Two Different Species of Type I Collagen
Authors: Lin Yung-Kai , Liu Deng-Cheng
Published: January 2007

The authors have developed novel hyaluronic acid (HA)-collagen sponge materials (HACSMs) composed of various ratios of bird feet (BF) and pig skin (PS) collagen that are fabricated employing a combination of freezing, lyophilizing, and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC) crosslinking methods. Morphology, swelling ratio, resistance to collagenase, thermal stability, tensile strength, and free amine index are determined to evaluate the physical-chemical properties of various HACSMs. Different BF: PS ratios directly vary with the physical-chemical properties of HACSMs and control their biodegradability for multiple uses. Resistance to collagenase, thermal stability, and tensile strength of HACSMs increases as the ratio of BF collagen increases. On the contrary, the higher swelling ratio, free amine index, and pore size occur in materials composed of higher ratios of PS collagen. A linear relationship between the decreased ratio of PS collagen and the increase in tensile strength and biostability are observed. The materials of B4P1HA (BF: PS: HA=4: 1: 0.2) exhibit the highest value of tensile strength, but no significant difference exists between B4P1HA and B5P0HA (BF: PS: HA=5: 0: 0.2). These phenomena should be closely related to the BF collagen which contains a higher amount of carboxyl groups of glutamic or aspartic acid residues and forms more amine bonds under EDC cross-linking when compared to PS collagen. However, these results suggest that the B4P1HA and B5P0HA materials should be produced according to highest bio-stability and mechanical strength and, furthermore they may be suitable for artificial skin or drug delivery applications.
Content Analysis of Diet Advertisements: A Cross-National Comparison of Korean and U.S. Women's Magazines
Authors: Kim Minjeong , Lennon Sharron J.
Published: January 2007

Content analysis of diet advertisements was performed to examine how diet advertisements portray the Western ideal of feminine beauty and promote dieting in Korean women's magazines in comparison with U.S. women's magazines. Results showed that the Western cultural ideal of feminine beauty and dieting were prevalent in Korean women's magazines. Diet advertisements in Korean magazines appear to promote more passive dieting methods (e.g., diet pills, aroma therapy, diet crème, or diet drinks) than active dieting methods (e.g., exercise). Results further indicated that women may be misled to believe that dieting is simple, easy, quick, and effective without pain, if they consume the advertised product. This study suggests that there is an urgent need to establish government regulations or policies about diet products and their claims in Korea. Magazine publishers also need to recognize their role in societal well-being and accept some responsibility for advertisements in their magazines.
Modelling an entitlement to long-term care services for older people in Europe: projections for long-term care expenditure to 2050
Authors: Pickard Linda , Comas-Herrera Adelina , Costa-Font Joan , Gori Cristiano , di Maio Alessandra , Patxot Concepció , Pozzi Alessandro , Rothgang Heinz , Wittenberg Raphael
Published: January 2007

As the numbers of older people rise in Europe, the importance of long-term care services in terms of numbers of users and expenditures can be expected to grow. This article examines the implications for expenditure in four countries of a national entitlement to long-tem care services for all older people, based on assessed dependency. It is based on a European Commission-funded cross-national study, which makes projections to 2050 of long-term care expenditure in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The policy option investigated is based on the German long-term care insurance scheme, which embodies the principle of an entitlement on uniform national criteria to long-term care benefits. The research models this key principle of the German system in the other three participating countries, with respect to home care services. The study finds that, if all moderately/severely dependent older people receive an entitlement to formal (in-kind) home care, the impact on expenditure could be considerable, but would vary greatly between countries. The impact on long-term care expenditure is found to be the least in Germany, where there is already an entitlement to benefits; and the greatest in Spain, where reliance on informal care is widespread. This article discusses the policy implications of these results.
Fostering Entrepreneurial Drive in Business Education: An Attitudinal Approach
Authors: Florin Juan , Karri Ranjan , Rossiter Nancy
Published: January 2007

Drawing from research in individual characteristics of entrepreneurs and the theory of planned behavior from social psychology literature, this study identifies attitudinal dimensions of entrepreneurial drive (ED), proposes a model, and develops and tests an instrument to measure it. Results show that students differentiate among five attitudes that have been found to promote entrepreneurial behavior in prior research, namely, preference for innovation, nonconformity, proactive disposition, self-efficacy, and achievement motivation. Taken together, these attitudes define the authors’ conceptualization of ED. The article provides recommendations of initiatives that were proven to be helpful in developing entrepreneurial drive in undergraduate business students.
Drop your Tools: On Reconfiguring Management Education
Authors: Weick Karl E.
Published: January 2007

This article is based on a keynote address delivered at the 33rd annual Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference in Rochester, New York, on June 15, 2006. The audience for this address included faculty, executive educators from the profit and nonprofit sectors, and doctoral students in the organizational and management sciences who had gathered to explore the content and processes for high-quality management education.
Patterns of Homicide in East St. Louis
Authors: Watkins Adam M. , Decker Scott H.
Published: January 2007

Existing research examining recent homicide trends is dominated by studies of national, cross-national, state, or large-city homicide patterns. Often absent from this research are studies exploring homicide trends in smaller U.S. cities. This study addresses the absence of such research by examining patterns of homicide in East St. Louis, Illinois, from 1976 to 2002. More specific, this research examines whether recent homicides trends in East St. Louis are comparable to national homicide trends. Current findings uncover similarities between the United States and East St. Louis in recent homicide patterns, but important differences are revealed that caution against categorizing homicide trends as corresponding to all U.S. cities.
The Influence of Social and Economic Disadvantage on Racial Patterns in Youth Homicide Over Time
Authors: Strom Kevin J. , MacDonald John M.
Published: January 2007

Explanations for the increase in youth homicide in the mid-1980s and early 1990s focus predominantly on crack cocaine markets and related firearms effects. This study examines whether weakened social controls contributed to the escalation of youth homicide, independent of drug market effects. Specifically, the authors consider how city-level changes in social and economic disadvantage contributed to increases in race-specific youth homicide victimization. They find that structural factors played an important role in race- and age-specific youth homicide rates, independent of others factors, including drug arrests. City-level increases in social and economic disadvantage were positively associated with increases in Black teenage and young adult homicide rates and White teenage homicide rates. The implications of these findings for theories of homicide are discussed.