bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Puzzled: Where sets meet (Venn diagrams)
Authors: Winkler Peter
Published: January 2012

Welcome to three new puzzles. Solutions to the first two will be published next month; the third is as yet unsolved.
ABS
Authors: Albericio Jorge , Gran Rubén , Ibáñez Pablo , Viñals Víctor , Llabería Jose María
Published: January 2012

Hardware data prefetch is a very well known technique for hiding memory latencies. However, in a multicore system fitted with a shared Last-Level Cache (LLC), prefetch induced by a core consumes common resources such as shared cache space and main memory bandwidth. This may degrade the performance of other cores and even the overall system performance unless the prefetch aggressiveness of each core is controlled from a system standpoint. On the other hand, LLCs in commercial chip multiprocessors are more and more frequently organized in independent banks. In this contribution, we target for the first time prefetch in a banked LLC organization and propose ABS, a low-cost controller with a hill-climbing approach that runs stand-alone at each LLC bank without requiring inter-bank communication. Using multiprogrammed SPEC2K6 workloads, our analysis shows that the mechanism improves both user-oriented metrics (Harmonic Mean of Speedups by 27% and Fairness by 11%) and system-oriented metrics (Weighted Speedup increases 22% and Memory Bandwidth Consumption decreases 14%) over an eight-core baseline system that uses aggressive sequential prefetch with a fixed degree. Similar conclusions can be drawn by varying the number of cores or the LLC size, when running parallel applications, or when other prefetch engines are controlled.
Compiler techniques to improve dynamic branch prediction for indirect jump and call instructions
Authors: Mccandless Jason , Gregg David
Published: January 2012

Indirect jump instructions are used to implement multiway branch statements and virtual function calls in object-oriented languages. Branch behavior can have significant impact on program performance, but fortunately hardware predictors can alleviate much of the risk. Modern processors include indirect branch predictors which use part of the target address to update a global history. We present a code generation technique to maximize the branch history information available to the predictor. We implement our optimization as an assembly language transformation, and evaluate it for SPEC benchmarks and interpreters using simulated and real hardware, showing indirect branch misprediction decreases.
On the simulation of large-scale architectures using multiple application abstraction levels
Authors: Rico Alejandro , Cabarcas Felipe , Villavieja Carlos , Pavlovic Milan , Vega Augusto , Etsion Yoav , Ramirez Alex , Valero Mateo
Published: January 2012

Simulation is a key tool for computer architecture research. In particular, cycle-accurate simulators are extremely important for microarchitecture exploration and detailed design decisions, but they are slow and, so, not suitable for simulating large-scale architectures, nor are they meant for this. Moreover, microarchitecture design decisions are irrelevant, or even misleading, for early processor design stages and high-level explorations. This allows one to raise the abstraction level of the simulated architecture, and also the application abstraction level, as it does not necessarily have to be represented as an instruction stream.

In this paper we introduce a definition of different application abstraction levels, and how these are employed in TaskSim, a multi-core architecture simulator, to provide several architecture modeling abstractions, and simulate large-scale architectures with hundreds of cores. We compare the simulation speed of these abstraction levels to the ones in existing simulation tools, and also evaluate their utility and accuracy. Our simulations show that a very high-level abstraction, which may be even faster than native execution, is useful for scalability studies on parallel applications; and that just simulating explicit memory transfers, we achieve accurate simulations for architectures using non-coherent scratchpad memories, with just a 25x slowdown compared to native execution. Furthermore, we revisit trace memory simulation techniques, that are more abstract than instruction-by-instruction simulations and provide an 18x simulation speedup.
Optimizing explicit data transfers for data parallel applications on the cell architecture
Authors: Saidi Selma , Tendulkar Pranav , Lepley Thierry , Maler Oded
Published: January 2012

In this paper we investigate a general approach to automate some deployment decisions for a certain class of applications on multi-core computers. We consider data-parallelizable programs that use the well-known double buffering technique to bring the data from the off-chip slow memory to the local memory of the cores via a DMA (direct memory access) mechanism. Based on the computation time and size of elementary data items as well as DMA characteristics, we derive optimal and near optimal values for the number of blocks that should be clustered in a single DMA command. We then extend the results to the case where a computation for one data item needs some data in its neighborhood. In this setting we characterize the performance of several alternative mechanisms for data sharing. Our models are validated experimentally using a cycle-accurate simulator of the Cell Broadband Engine architecture.
Seamlessly portable applications
Authors: Kicherer Mario , Nowak Fabian , Buchty Rainer , Karl Wolfgang
Published: January 2012

Nowadays, many possible configurations of heterogeneous systems exist, posing several new challenges to application development: different types of processing units usually require individual programming models with dedicated runtime systems and accompanying libraries. If these are absent on an end-user system, e.g. because the respective hardware is not present, an application linked against these will break. This handicaps portability of applications being developed on one system and executed on other, differently configured heterogeneous systems. Moreover, the individual profit of different processing units is normally not known in advance.

In this work, we propose a technique to effectively decouple applications from their accelerator-specific parts, respectively code. These parts are only linked on demand and thereby an application can be made portable across systems with different accelerators. As there are usually multiple hardware-specific implementations for a certain task, e.g., a CPU and a GPU version, a method is required to determine which are usable at all and which one is most suitable for execution on the current system. With our approach, application and hardware programmers can express the requirements and the abilities of the application and the hardware-specific implementations in a simplified manner. During runtime, the requirements and abilities are compared with regard to the present hardware in order to determine the usable implementations of a task. If multiple implementations are usable, an online-learning history-based selector is employed to determine the most efficient one.

We show that our approach chooses the fastest usable implementation dynamically on several systems while introducing only a negligible overhead itself. Applied to an MPI application, our mechanism enables exploitation of local accelerators on different heterogeneous hosts without preliminary knowledge or modification of the application.
The gradient-based cache partitioning algorithm
Authors: Hasenplaugh William , Ahuja Pritpal S. , Jaleel Aamer , Steely Jr. Simon , Emer Joel
Published: January 2012

This paper addresses the problem of partitioning a cache between multiple concurrent threads and in the presence of hardware prefetching. Cache replacement designed to preserve temporal locality (e.g., LRU) will allocate cache resources proportional to the miss-rate of each competing thread irrespective of whether the cache space will be utilized [Qureshi and Patt 2006]. This is clearly suboptimal as applications vary dramatically in their use of recently accessed data. We address this problem by partitioning a shared cache such that a global goodness metric is optimized. This paper introduces the Gradient-based Cache Partitioning Algorithm (GPA), whose variants optimize either hitrate, total instructions per cycle (IPC) or a weighted IPC metric designed to enforce Quality of Service (QoS) [Iyer 2004]. In the context of QoS, GPA enables us to obtain the maximum throughput of low-priority threads, while ensuring high performance on high-priority threads. The GPA mechanism is robust, low-cost, integrates easily with existing cache designs and improves the throughput of an in-order 8-core system sharing an 8MB L3 cache by ∼14%.
TL-plane-based multi-core energy-efficient real-time scheduling algorithm for sporadic tasks
Authors: Zhang Dongsong , Guo Deke , Chen Fangyuan , Wu Fei , Wu Tong , Cao Ting , Jin Shiyao
Published: January 2012

As the energy consumption of multi-core systems becomes increasingly prominent, it's a challenge to design an energy-efficient real-time scheduling algorithm in multi-core systems for reducing the system energy consumption while guaranteeing the feasibility of real-time tasks. In this paper, we focus on multi-core processors, with the global Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS) and Dynamic Power Management (DPM) technologies. In this setting, we propose an energy-efficient real-time scheduling algorithm, the Time Local remaining execution plane based Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (TL-DVFS). TL-DVFS utilizes the concept of Time Local remaining execution (TL) plane to dynamically scale the voltage and frequency of a processor at the initial time of each TL plane as well as at the release time of a sporadic task in each TL plane. Consequently, TL-DVFS can obtain a reasonable tradeoff between the real-time constraint and the energy-saving while realizing the optimal feasibility of sporadic tasks. Mathematical analysis and extensive simulations demonstrate that TL-DVFS always saves more energy than existing algorithms, especially in the case of high workloads, and guarantees the optimal feasibility of sporadic tasks at the same time.
Accelerating large semantic web databases by parallel join computations of SPARQL queries
Authors: Groppe Jinghua , Groppe Sven
Published: January 2012

While a number of optimizing techniques have been developed to efficiently process increasing large Semantic Web databases, these optimization approaches have not fully leveraged the powerful computation capability of modern computers. Today's multi-core computers promise an enormous performance boost by providing a parallel computing platform. Although the parallel relational database systems have been well built, parallel query computing in Semantic Web databases have not extensively been studied. In this work, we develop the parallel algorithms for join computations of SPARQL queries. Our performance study shows that the parallel computation of SPARQL queries significantly speeds up querying large Semantic Web databases.
A Framework for Automatic Web Service Discovery Based on Semantics and NLP Techniques
Authors: Adala Asma , Tabbane Nabil , Tabbane Sami
Published: January 2012

As a greater number of Web Services are made available today, automatic discovery is recognized as an important task. To promote the automation of service discovery, different semantic languages have been created that allow describing the functionality of services in a machine interpretable form using Semantic Web technologies. The problem is that users do not have intimate knowledge about semantic Web service languages and related toolkits. In this paper, we propose a discovery framework that enables semantic Web service discovery based on keywords written in natural language. We describe a novel approach for automatic discovery of semantic Web services which employs Natural Language Processing techniques to match a user request, expressed in natural language, with a semantic Web service description. Additionally, we present an efficient semantic matching technique to compute the semantic distance between ontological concepts.
Circadian Disruption Leads to Loss of Homeostasis and Disease
Authors: Escobar Carolina , Salgado-Delgado Roberto , Gonzalez-Guerra Eduardo , Tapia Osorio Araceli , Angeles-Castellanos Manuel , Buijs Ruud M.
Published: January 2012

The relevance of a synchronized temporal order for adaptation and homeostasis is discussed in this review. We present evidence suggesting that an altered temporal order between the biological clock and external temporal signals leads to disease. Evidence mainly based on a rodent model of “night work” using forced activity during the sleep phase suggests that altered activity and feeding schedules, out of phase from the light/dark cycle, may be the main cause for the loss of circadian synchrony and disease. It is proposed that by avoiding food intake during sleep hours the circadian misalignment and adverse consequences can be prevented. This review does not attempt to present a thorough revision of the literature, but instead it aims to highlight the association between circadian disruption and disease with special emphasis on the contribution of feeding schedules in circadian synchrony.
Modeling Hysteresis with Inertial-Dependent Prandtl-Ishlinskii Model in Wide-Band Frequency-Operated Piezoelectric Actuator
Authors: Hassani Vahid , Tjahjowidodo Tegoeh , Soetarto Albert D.
Published: January 2012

One of the major problems occurring in many technical applications is the presence of the hysteretic behavior in sensors and actuators, which causes a nonlinear relationship between input and output variables in such devices. Since the nonlinear phenomenon of hysteresis degrades the performance of the piezoelectric materials and piezoelectric drive mechanisms, for example, in positioning control framework, it has to be characterized in order to mitigate the effect of the nonlinearity in the devices. This paper is aimed to characterize and model the hysteresis in typical piezoelectric actuators under load-free and preloaded circumstances incorporating the inertial effect of the system. For this purpose, the piezoelectric actuator is modeled as a mass-spring-damper system, which is expressed in terms of a stop operator as one of the essential yet efficient hysteresis operators in the Prandtl-Ishlinskii (PI) model. The reason of utilizing the stop operator in this study is for the sake of control purposes, as the stop operator plays as the inverse of the play operator in the PI model and can be used in a feed-forward controller scheme to suppress the effect of hysteresis in general control framework. The results reveal that this model exhibits better correspondence to the measurement output compared to that of the classical PI model.
An Intraoperative Case of Spontaneous Restoration of Circulation from Asystole: A Case of Lazarus Phenomenon
Authors: Ekmektzoglou Konstantinos A. , Koudouna Eleni , Bassiakou Eleni , Stroumpoulis Konstantinos , Clouva-Molyvdas Phyllis , Troupis Georgios , Xanthos Theodoros
Published: January 2012

This case report refers to a victim of intraoperative cardiac arrest, who restored spontaneous circulation despite of cessation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The victim, a 53-year-old man, was undergoing a surgical investigation and rehabilitation of a thigh hematoma. Two minutes after discontinuation of a 46 min CPR, a normotensive sinus node rhythm appeared at monitor. Despite of lack of an adequate explanation, the authors believe that the combination of the high total dose of adrenaline with the cessation of mechanical ventilation might augment venous return and lead to restoration of spontaneous circulation.
The Circulation Distribution on the Lifting Line for a Given Extracted Power
Authors: Helali Ali , Kamoun Badreddine , Afungchui David , Safi Mohamed Jomaa
Published: January 2012

Presently, there exist few numerical methods which treat the inverse problem for the determination of the geometry of wind turbine blades. In this work, authors intend to solve the inverse optimum project for horizontal axis wind turbine in which the selection of the circulation distribution is obtained by resolving two variational problems: the first consists in sorting the circulation distribution on the lifting line, which, for a given power extracted by the wind turbine, minimizes the loses due to the induced velocity. In the second, the optimal circulation distribution is selected such that the kinetic energy of the wind downstream of the rotor disc is minimum, when the energy extracted by the wind turbine for one rotating period is imposed. A code has been developed which incorporates the real pitch of the helicoidal vortex wake. Very promising results have been obtained: the circulation distribution for a given extracted power and the chord lengths distribution law along the blade span.
Films from Glyoxal-Crosslinked Spruce Galactoglucomannans Plasticized with Sorbitol
Authors: Mikkonen Kirsi S. , Heikkilä Mari I. , Willför Stefan M. , Tenkanen Maija
Published: January 2012

Films were prepared from a renewable and biodegradable forest biorefinery product, spruceO-acetyl-galactoglucomannans (GGMs), crosslinked with glyoxal. For the first time, cohesive and self-standing films were obtained from GGM without the addition of polyol plasticizer. In addition, glyoxal-crosslinked films were prepared using sorbitol at 10, 20, 30, and 40% (wt.-% of GGM). Glyoxal clearly strengthened the GGM matrix, as detected by tensile testing and dynamic mechanical analysis. The elongation at break of films slightly increased, and Young's modulus decreased with increasing sorbitol content. Interestingly, the tensile strength of films was constant with the increased plasticizer content. The effect of sorbitol on water sorption and water vapor permeability (WVP) depended on relative humidity (RH). At low RH, the addition of sorbitol significantly decreased the WVP of films. The glyoxal-crosslinked GGM films containing 20% sorbitol exhibited the lowest oxygen permeability (OP) and WVP of the studied films and showed satisfactory mechanical performance.
Approximation of thepth Roots of a Matrix by Using Trapezoid Rule
Authors: Sadeghi Amir , Ismail Ahmad Izani Md.
Published: January 2012

The computation of the roots of positive definite matrices arises in nuclear magnetic resonance, control theory, lattice quantum chromo-dynamics (QCD), and several other areas of applications. The Cauchy integral theorem which arises in complex analysis can be used for computingf(A), in particular the roots ofA, whereAis a square matrix. The Cauchy integral can be approximated by using the trapezoid rule. In this paper, we aim to give a brief overview of the computation of roots of positive definite matrices by employing integral representation. Some numerical experiments are given to illustrate the theoretical results.
Copy-Number Variations Observed in a Japanese Population by BAC Array CGH: Summary of Relatively Rare CNVs
Authors: Satoh Yasunari , Sasaki Keiko , Shimoichi Yuko , Sugita Keiko , Katayama Hiroaki , Takahashi Norio
Published: January 2012

Copy-number variations (CNVs) may contribute to genetic variation in humans. Reports regarding existence and characteristics of CNVs in a large apparently healthy Japanese cohort are quite limited. We report the data from a screening of 213 unrelated Japanese individuals using comparative genomic hybridization based on a bacterial artificial chromosome microarray (BAC aCGH). In a previous paper, we summarized the data by focusing on highly polymorphic CNVs (in ≥5.0 % of the individuals). However, rare variations have recently received attention from scientists who espouse a hypothesis called “common disease and rare variants.” Here, we report CNVs identified in fewer than 10 individuals in our study population. We found a total of 126 CNVs at 52 different BAC regions in the genome. The CNVs observed at 27 of the 52 BAC-regions were found in only one unrelated individual. The majority of CNVs found in this study were not identified in the Japanese who were examined in the other studies. Family studies were conducted, and the results demonstrated that the CNVs were inherited from one parent in the families.
Study on the Dynamics of Cortisol Secretions in Hypertensive Elderly Patients
Authors: Carstea Doina , Trasca Diana-Maria , Carstea A. P. , Trasca E. T.
Published: January 2012

Ageing is defined as a slow, irreversible process of cellular changes, that are due to a lack of balance between degradation and repair, a continuous interaction between physiological and pathological processes. Physiological aspects in elderly people are often confused with disease. Given these general considerations, we would make observations about the dynamics of cortisol secretion in healthy elderly subjects and patients with a diagnosed cardiovascular disease, more precisely hypertension. The study was conducted during 2003–2010, on a number of 135 patients older than 65 years of age, who were divided into two groups: one group counting 66 patients and consisting of healthy elderly controls (without systemic disease, renal, endocrine, or cardiovascular known issues) and group 2 who consists of 69 elderly patients who associate known hypertensive and other cardiovascular issues.
Subcellular Microanatomy by 3D Deconvolution Brightfield Microscopy: Method and Analysis Using Human Chromatin in the Interphase Nucleus
Authors: Tadrous Paul Joseph
Published: January 2012

Anatomy has advanced using 3-dimensional (3D) studies at macroscopic (e.g., dissection, injection moulding of vessels, radiology) and microscopic (e.g., serial section reconstruction with light and electron microscopy) levels. This paper presents the first results in human cells of a new method of subcellular 3D brightfield microscopy. Unlike traditional 3D deconvolution and confocal techniques, this method is suitable for general application to brightfield microscopy. Unlike brightfield serial sectioning it has subcellular resolution. Results are presented of the 3D structure of chromatin in the interphase nucleus of two human cell types, hepatocyte and plasma cell. I show how the freedom to examine these structures in 3D allows greater morphological discrimination between and within cell types and the 3D structural basis for the classical “clock-face” motif of the plasma cell nucleus is revealed. Potential for further applications discussed.
Modulation of Tumor Tolerance in Primary Central Nervous System Malignancies
Authors: Johnson Theodore S. , Munn David H. , Maria Bernard L.
Published: January 2012

Central nervous system tumors take advantage of the unique immunology of the CNS and develop exquisitely complex stromal networks that promote growth despite the presence of antigen-presenting cells and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. It is precisely this immunological paradox that is essential to the survival of the tumor. We review the evidence for functional CNS immune privilege and the impact it has on tumor tolerance. In this paper, we place an emphasis on the role of tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells in maintaining stromal and vascular quiescence, and we underscore the importance of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activity as a myeloid-driven tumor tolerance mechanism. Much remains to be discovered regarding the tolerogenic mechanisms by which CNS tumors avoid immune clearance. Thus, it is an open question whether tumor tolerance in the brain is fundamentally different from that of peripheral sites of tumorigenesis or whether it simply stands as a particularly strong example of such tolerance.
Novel Energy-Efficient Miner Monitoring System with Duty-Cycled Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Guo Peng , Jiang Tao , Zhang Kui
Published: January 2012

Target monitoring is an important application of wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we develop an energy-efficient miner monitoring system with sensor nodes. To keep monitoring miners' activities in tunnels, periodical localization and timely data transmission are both required. Since the localization and data transmission much depend on the media access control (MAC) scheme, codesign of localization and MAC scheme is actually needed for the resource-constrained system, which is seldom discussed in existing related works. Moreover, as sensor nodes form an ultra-sparse network with linear topology in tunnels, it is a challenge for existing range-free localization methods to localize targets. In this paper, we propose a localization-MAC codesign approach for the monitoring system under the environment of coal mine. With the proposed approach, the system can achieve higher localization accuracy with low energy consumption and transmission delay, compared with existing range-free localization methods for sensor nodes.
The Impact of Diacetylmorphine on Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Activity and Heroin Craving in Heroin Dependence
Authors: Gerber Hana , Borgwardt Stefan J. , Schmid Otto , Gerhard Urs , Joechle Wolfgang , Riecher-Rössler Anita , Wiesbeck Gerhard A. , Walter Marc
Published: January 2012

Background/Aim: Heroin dependence is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by the compulsion to seek and use heroin. Stress and craving are seen as key factors for heroin use. Moreover, altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function has been frequently reported. However, the acute effects of diacetylmorphine (DAM) on HPA axis activity and craving have not been investigated in a controlled study. The present randomized controlled study examined whether DAM administration differs from placebo (saline) administration with regard to HPA axis response and heroin craving. Methods: In a crossover experiment, 28 DAM-maintained heroin-dependent patients were first injected with DAM and then saline, or the converse. Plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol in saliva and serum were measured at baseline and 20 and 60 min after both injections. Heroin craving was measured at baseline and 60 min after both injections, by means of the Heroin Craving Questionnaire. Results: Compared to saline, DAM administration induced a significant decrease in plasma ACTH (p < 0.01), serum cortisol (p < 0.0001) and saliva cortisol (p < 0.01), as well as in craving (p < 0.0001), over time. Conclusion: Since acute DAM administration suppresses the stress response, DAM-assisted treatment may be an effective alternative to methadone maintenance in stress-sensitive heroin-dependent patients.
The Geneva Smoking Pictures: Development and Preliminary Validation
Authors: Khazaal Yasser , Zullino Daniele , Billieux Joël
Published: January 2012

Cue reactivity is essential to the maintenance of addictive disorders. A useful way to study cue reactivity is by means of normative pictures, but few validated tobacco-related pictures are available. This study describes a database of smoking-related pictures: The Geneva Smoking Pictures (GSP). Sixty smoking-related pictures were presented to 91 participants who assessed them according to the classic emotional pictures validation provided by the International Affective Picture System (NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, 2002). The pictures were rated according to three dimensions: (1) valence (from positive to negative), (2) emotional arousal (from high arousing to low arousing), and (3) dominance (from submissive to dominant). Participants were also screened with the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence. Normative ratings for valence, arousal and dominance of the pictures are provided for the whole sample, as well as separately for dependent (n = 46) and nondependent smokers (n = 45). Arousal and dominance were associated with greater nicotine dependence, but valence ratings were not. The GSP is a normative database providing a large number of stimuli for investigators who are conducting nicotine and tobacco research.
Sleep Duration and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Black and White Adolescents
Authors: Mezick Elizabeth J. , Hall Martica , Matthews Karen A.
Published: January 2012

Self-reported short sleep duration is linked to higher blood pressure and incident hypertension in adults. Few studies have examined sleep and blood pressure in younger samples. We evaluated the associations between actigraphy-assessed time spent asleep and ambulatory blood pressure in adolescents. Participants were 246 black and white adolescents (mean age: 15.7 years) who were free from cardiovascular or kidney disease and were not taking sleep, cardiovascular, or psychiatric medications. Sleep duration and efficiency were assessed with in-home wrist actigraphy and sleep diaries across 1 week; ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was used to obtain 24-hour, sleep, and wake blood pressure, as well as sleep:wake blood pressure ratios across 2 full days and nights. Results showed that shorter actigraphy-assessed sleep across 1 week was related to higher 48-hour blood pressure and higher nighttime blood pressure. Shorter sleep was also related to a higher systolic blood pressure sleep:wake ratio. These results were independent of age, race, sex, and body mass index. Follow-up analyses by race revealed that associations between sleep duration and blood pressure were largely present in white, but not black, adolescents. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the cardiovascular consequences of short sleep may begin as early as adolescence.
America's Constitutional Narrative
Authors: Tribe Laurence H.
Published: January 2012

America has always been a wonderfully diverse place, a country where billions of stories spanning centuries and continents converge under the rubric of a Constitution that unites them in an ongoing narrative of national self-creation. Rather than rehearse familiar debates over what our Constitution means, this essay explores what the Constitution does. It treats the Constitution as a verb – a creative and contested practice that yields a trans-generational conversation about the meaning of our past, the imperatives of our present, and the values and aspirations that should point us toward our future. And it meditates on how this practice, drawing deeply on the capacious wellsprings of text and history, simultaneously reinforces the political order and provides a language for challenging its legitimacy, thereby constituting us as “We, the People,” joined in a single project framed centuries ago that nevertheless remains inevitably our own.
Narratives of the Constitutional Covenant
Authors: Brooks Peter
Published: January 2012

The constitutional narrative plays perhaps a surprisingly important role in American society. It claims to unfold present judgment from past precedent, according to the doctrine of stare decisis, given an eloquent exposition by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, where the Constitution is referred to as a “covenant” among generations. Analysis of this and other covenantal narratives spun by the Court suggests that despite the emphasis on precedent they may work according to the retrospective logic of narrative itself, in which elements become functional in terms of what follows them. Plots work from end to beginning, reinterpreting the past in terms of the present. The Supreme Court opinion, when subjected to an analysis sensitive to its narrative rhetoric, suggests something akin to the structure of prophecy and fulfillment in its composition of the covenantal narrative.
The American Mythos
Authors: Parini Jay
Published: January 2012

This essay examines the notion of an American narrative, looking at a variety of myths that have been prominent and that have, in various ways, shaped the concept of a nation devoted to Enlightenment and Anglo-Saxon ideals. These include liberty, equality, and justice, which can be traced to thinkers such as Montesquieu, as well as ideals laid out in the Magna Carta. These lofty ideals took the place of more traditional narratives and tribal alliances, and they helped establish a nation that had been formed by so many different immigrant strands. That these stories – going back to the Puritans landing on Plymouth Rock, for example – have been influential seems beyond question. Yet it remains difficult to assess their broader value in determining the course of a nation. How might these founding myths prove useful in refashioning the American stories in ways that, in the future, could be productive?
The Accommodation of Protestant Christianity with the Enlightenment: An Old Drama Still Being Enacted
Authors: Hollinger David A.
Published: January 2012

Throughout its history, the United States has been a major site for the accommodation of Protestant Christianity with the Enlightenment. This accommodation has been driven by two closely related but distinct processes: the demystification of religion's cognitive claims by scientific advances, exemplified by the Higher Criticism in Biblical scholarship and the Darwinian revolution in natural history; and the demographic diversification of society, placing Protestants in the increasingly intimate company of Americans who did not share a Protestant past and thus inspiring doubts about the validity of inherited ideas and practices for the entire human species. The accommodation of Protestant Christianity with the Enlightenment will continue to hold a place among American narratives as long as “diversity” and “science” remain respected values, and as long as the population includes a substantial number of Protestants. If you think that time has passed, look around you.
Why Diamonds Really are a Girl's Best Friend: Another American Narrative
Authors: Kerber Linda K.
Published: January 2012

The old law of domestic relations and the system known as coverture have shaped marriage practices in the United States and have limited women's membership in the constitutional community. This system of law predates the Revolution, but it lingers in U.S. legal tradition even today. After describing coverture and the old law of domestic relations, this essay considers how the received narrative of women's place in U.S. history often obscures the story of women's and men's efforts to overthrow this oppressive regime, and also the story of the continuing efforts of men and some women to stabilize and protect it. The essay also questions the paradoxes built into American law: for example, how do we reconcile the strictures of coverture with the founders' care in defining rights-holders as “persons” rather than “men”? Citing a number of court cases from the early days of the republic to the present, the essay describes the 1960s and 1970s shift in legal interpretation of women's rights and obligations. However, recent developments – in abortion laws, for example – invite inquiry as to how full the change is that we have accomplished. The history of coverture and the way it affects legal, political, and cultural practice today is another American narrative that needs to be better understood.
Death Comes to the Broadway Musical
Authors: Greenspan Charlotte
Published: January 2012

The Broadway musical is an excellent prism for viewing the narrative of American life – as it is, has been, and perhaps should be. In the first part of the twentieth century, musicals viewed life through rose-colored glasses; musicals were equivalent to musical comedy. Starting in the 1940s, the mood of musicals darkened. One indication of the new, serious tone was that characters in musicals died in the course of the show. This essay examines several questions relating to death in the Broadway musical, such as who dies, when in the course of the drama the death occurs, and how the death is marked musically. It concludes with a look at musicals involving the deaths of historical characters and at AIDS-related musicals, works whose assumptions and ideals are very far from those of the musical comedies of the early twentieth century.
The Tree, the Spiral and the Web of Life: A Visual Exploration of Biological Evolution for Public Murals
Authors: Ricou Joana , Pollock John Archie
Published: January 2012

The authors created the Spiral of Life as a new, accessible symbol for the evolution of life. This novel visual interpretation of evolution challenges traditional tenets of the field in light of emerging new themes in research. The Spiral brings recent principles to the general public and also provides scientists with a new visual concept to support further discussion. The Spiral emerged from the combination of the analysis of the latest scientific research with an artistic process to create new images and icons. A resulting complementary series of artworks was installed in five cultural institutions and museums in Pittsburgh, PA.
Electric Circus, Electric Ear and the Intermedia Center in Late-1960s New York
Authors: Gluck Robert J.
Published: January 2012

Composer Morton Subotnick moved to New York in 1966 for a brief but productive stay, establishing a small but notable electronic music studio affiliated with New York University. It was built around an early Buchla system and became Subotnick's personal workspace and a creative home for a cluster of emerging young composers. Subotnick also provided artistic direction for a new multimedia discoteque, the Electric Circus, an outgrowth of ideas he formulated earlier at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. A Monday evening series at the Circus, Electric Ear, helped spawn a cluster of venues for new music and multimedia. While the NYU studio and Electric Ear represent examples of centers operating outside commercial forces, the Electric Circus was entrepreneurial in nature, which ultimately compromised its artistic values.
Networks of Contemporary Popular Musicians
Authors: Park Juyong
Published: January 2012

The Internet has enabled easy storage and retrieval of various network data, including data showing the relationship between music professionals. “High-Throughput Humanities” is a new way of thought that aims to bring analysis of such large-scale data to the study of traditional humanities subjects including music. Here we present how networks of musical professionals can help us understand the process of collective music production and the human perception of musical similarity.
Developing Software-Dependent Artwork: Artist and Software Developers' Collaboration
Authors: Ahmed Salah Uddin
Published: January 2012

Software-dependent artwork is on the increase as software use expands into every part of our lives. Sometimes artists develop this style of artwork by themselves, but more commonly they seek help from technologists, creating an opportunity for artists and software developers to collaborate. This paper presents the experience of a real-world collaboration through a case study of the development of a software-dependent artwork where students were the software developers.
Media Art, Mediality and Art Generally
Authors: Bunt Brogan
Published: January 2012

The wide ranging, trans-disciplinary interest in technological media suggests the possibility of a new discipline concerned with the history, implications and practice of mediation. Within this context, the field of media art gains a new sense of coherence and identity. Given the lingering tension between media art and mainstream contemporary art, this may lead the latter to assert its disciplinary autonomy. This paper argues against such a move. Media art is better positioned as an integral strand within contemporary art and, more particularly, as a key space of creative enquiry and practice within a generally conceived contemporary art education.
Crystal Zoetrope: New Visual Medium for Displaying 3D Animation
Authors: Lee Woohun , Seong JinHa
Published: January 2012

The authors have turned the Zoetrope, initially an optical toy from the pre-cinema era, into a three-dimensional (3D) animation display. “Crystal Zoetrope” is a new visual medium involving a glass disc with numerous engraved objects that displays a sophisticated 3D animation. It can be built in small sizes and even be embedded in everyday objects or environments. Using this new visual medium, the authors produced the 3D animation “Sea of Stars” that portrays the life cycle of planets in the universe.
Appropriate Dose of Parenteral Arginine Enhances Immunity of Peripheral Blood Cells and Splenocytes in Rats With Subacute Peritonitis
Authors: Chen Ya‐Hui , Lee Chien‐Hsing , Hsu Li‐Sung , Hsiao Chien‐Chou , Lo Hui‐Chen
Published: January 2012

Background: Arginine deficiency and chronic inflammation may cause immune dysfunction. The authors previously showed that a pharmacological dose of parenteral arginine facilitates ornithine rather than nitric oxide production in subacute peritonitis. Herein, they investigated the effects of different doses of parenteral arginine supplementation on immunocytic subpopulation distribution and function. Materials: Male Wistar rats that underwent cecal punctures for induction of subacute peritonitis were infused with conventional parenteral nutrition solution (1.61% of total calories as arginine) or solutions supplemented with low‐, medium‐, or high‐dose arginine (2.85%, 4.08%, and 6.54% of total calories, respectively) for 7 days. Distributions of T cells, B cells, and monocytes/macrophages and cytokine productions of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and splenocytes were analyzed. Results: There were no significant differences in circulating white blood cell numbers and serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–α and interferon (IFN)–γ concentrations among groups. Serum nitrate/nitrite (NOx) and interleukin (IL)–2 levels were significantly decreased by arginine in a dose‐dependent manner. Animals supplemented with parenteral arginine had significantly decreased productions of concanavalin (Con) A– and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)–stimulated TNF‐α in PBLs and splenocytes, spontaneous IL‐6 and LPS‐stimulated IFN‐γ in PBLs, and LPS‐stimulated IL‐6 in splenocytes. In addition, low‐dose arginine significantly increased production of spontaneous IFN‐γ in PBLs and splenocytes. High‐dose arginine significantly increased spontaneous TNF‐α, and Con A stimulated IL‐4 and IL‐6 in PBLs. Conclusion: Parenteral arginine administration at approximately 4% of total calories may alter PBLs and splenocytic immunity, and >6% of total calories might not be of benefit in rats with subacute peritonitis.
How Many “Friends” Do You Need? Teaching Students How to Network Using Social Media
Authors: Sacks Michael Alan , Graves Nikki
Published: January 2012

Student reliance on social media is undeniable. However, while we largely regard social media as a new phenomena, the concepts underlying it come directly from social network theory in sociology and organizational behavior. In this article, the authors examine how the social network concepts of size, quality, complexity, diffusion, and distance determine the situational usefulness of social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The authors also provide in-class and out-of-class teaching assignments that help students recognize the specific ways in which social networks can aid or hinder their professional endeavors.
The dual faces of service user participation: Implications for empowerment processes in interprofessional practice
Authors: Kvarnström Susanne , Hedberg Berith , Cedersund Elisabet
Published: January 2012

• Summary: This article reports on an empirical research study exploring and describing variations in how front-line practitioners perceive service user participation (SUP), specifically in interprofessional practice. The settings comprised three Swedish health and social care organizations where the professionals worked in interprofessional teams: a program for chronic pain rehabilitation, a program for surgical treatment of obesity, and a short-term municipal home for older adults. The qualitative study design was informed by a phenomenographic approach and conducted as semi-structured individual interviews with 15 professionals representing nine professions, including social work.

• Findings: The main findings show seven qualitative variations in understanding of SUP: 1) inclusion in activities and social events, 2) obtaining guidance, 3) having self-determination and choice, 4) getting confirmation from and contact with professionals, 5) negotiating for adjustment, 6) personal responsibility through insight, and 7) circumstance surrounding SUP.

• Applications: The interprofessional dimensions discerned in the meaning attributed to SUP are mainly described in terms of amplified opportunities for participation. An interesting aspect of the findings is that in all the variations of perceptions of SUP, there are potentials to reverse to their opposites, that is, paradoxes that can be termed ‘the dual faces of service user participation’. These aspects stress the need for continuing reflection on practices among both front-line practitioners and managers in empowering and paternalistic processes and on constantly improving organizational and policy conditions to facilitate SUP.
The Elevated Plus-Maze Test: Differential Psychopharmacology of Anxiety-Related Behavior
Authors: Pawlak Cornelius R. , Karrenbauer Britta D. , Schneider Peggy , Ho Ying-Jui
Published: January 2012

The role of individual factors in behavioral neuroscience is an important, but still neglected, area of research. For example, the Elevated Plus-Maze Test has been one of the most used paradigms to gauge unconditioned aversively motivated behavior in rodents. However, despite a great number of experiments with this test there have been only few efforts to assess systematic individual variations in the elevated plus-maze and related neurobiological functions. The present review aims to give, first, a general overview and introduction about the test, and second, an animal model of anxiety based on natural variance of plus-maze behavior within a given unselected population of rats. Finally, critical aspects of such approaches in animal research are discussed, and suggestions are given as to where to go from here.
PIP2-dependent regulation of Munc13-4 endocytic recycling: impact on the cytolytic secretory pathway
Authors: Capuano Cristina , Paolini Rossella , Molfetta Rosa , Frati Luigi , Santoni Angela , Galandrini Ricciarda
Published: January 2012

Cytotoxic lymphocytes clear infected and transformed cells by releasing the content of lytic granules at cytolytic synapses, and the ability of cytolytic effectors to kill in an iterative manner has been documented previously. Although bidirectional trafficking of cytolytic machinery components along the endosomal pathway has begun to be elucidated, the molecular mechanisms coordinating granule retrieval remain completely unexplored. In the present study, we focus on the lytic granule priming factor Munc13-4, the mutation of which in familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis type 3 results in a profound defect of cytotoxic function. We addressed the role of phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate (PIP2) in the regulation of Munc13-4 compartmentalization. We observed that in human natural killer cells, PIP2 is highly enriched in membrane rafts. Granule secretion triggering induces a transient Munc13-4 raft recruitment, followed by AP-2/clathrin–dependent internalization. Phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase (PIP5K) γ gene silencing leads to the impairment of granule secretion associated with increased levels of raft-associated Munc13-4, which is attributable to a defect in AP-2 membrane recruitment. In such conditions, the ability to subsequently kill multiple targets was significantly impaired. These observations indicate that Munc13-4 reinternalization is required for the maintenance of an intracellular pool that is functional to guarantee the serial killing potential.