bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investigation on high-velocity impact performance of multi-layered alumina ceramic armors with polymeric interlayers
Authors: Rashed A , Yazdani M , Babaluo AA , Hajizadeh Parvin P
Published: December 2015

In this study, ballistic behavior of multi-layered ceramic armors under high velocity impact is studied numerically. The model consists of 2D-axisymmetric Lagrangian approach with Johnson–Holmquist constitutive model for alumina ceramic tiles, Mie–Gruneisen equation of state for polymeric interlayers, and Johnson–Cook constitutive relation for Armor Piercing (AP) projectile. The finite element results obtained from various armor layups show the potentiality of multi-layered ceramic armor in extending conoid fracture through the ceramic layers, thus leading to the increase in the armor performance. It is illustrated that besides ceramic armor layup, interlayers of ceramic tiles have a significant role in increasing the armor performance. Finally, the effect of different polymeric interlayers on ballistic performance of multi-layered ceramic armors against AP projectile is investigated. In order to measure the ballistic performance of the armors, various criteria are introduced. Depth of penetration of the projectile in the armor, residual velocity of the projectile, time duration in which the projectile is engaged inside the armor, projectile tip erosion during impact, and interaction volume ratio are some of these criteria. The study indicates that armor layup with thin front ceramic tiles backed by thicker tiles shows better conoid fracture extension and often better ballistic performance. Furthermore, among the polymeric interlayers used between the ceramic tiles, polystyrene causes the best and nylon causes the worst ballistic performance in the armor.
Influence of organo-modified montmorillonite nanolayers on static mechanical and dynamic mechanical behavior of carbon/epoxy composites
Authors: Suresha B , Saini Manpinder S
Published: December 2015

The combination of carbon fiber and organo-modified montmorillonite nanolayers with epoxy matrix can produce a hybrid composite that is competitive to carbon/epoxy composites. In this work, carbon fabrics and organo-modified montmorillonite nanolayers (1.5, 3, and 5 wt%) were used to produce hybrid carbon/epoxy composites using hand lay-up technique followed by autoclave curing, aiming to evaluate their static mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties. Higher organo-modified montmorillonite content in carbon/epoxy yielded slight decrease in the weight and lower voids in carbon/epoxy composite. Transmission electron micrographs showed that the organo-modification improved the dispersion and interfacial bonding of organo-modified montmorillonite with an epoxy at loadings of 1.5 and 5 wt%. The flexural strength, interlaminar shear strength, and impact strength and modulus of the composites were improved with increasing organo-modified montmorillonite content. Carbon/epoxy composite with 5 wt% organo-modified montmorillonite had the greatest increase in mechanical properties, with the flexural modulus and strength increasing by about 33% and 27%, respectively. Although the flexural properties were improved for hybrid composites, the glass transition temperature decreased for lower organo-modified montmorillonite content up to 3 wt% and increased for 5 wt%. Dynamic mechanical analysis results revealed that the storage modulus of carbon/epoxy composite was increased significantly for 5 wt% organo-modified montmorillonite loading. However, the loss modulus was decreased for 1.5 and 3 wt% organo-modified montmorillonite loading. Also, tan  δ has increased for 1.5 wt% and later decreased for 3 and 5 wt% organo-modified montmorillonite loading in carbon/epoxy hybrid composite.
Fairness and Distributive Justice by 3- to 5-Year-Old Tibetan Children
Authors: Robbins E. , Starr S. , Rochat P.
Published: December 2015

We asked whether young children raised in an environment strongly promoting compassion for others, as in the case of Tibetan Buddhism, would show less proclivity toward self-maximizing in sharing. We replicated the procedure of Rochat et al. with a group of 3- and 5-year-old Tibetan children living in exile and attending a traditional Buddhist school where the Dalai Lama resides. We report that Tibetan children, like children of seven other cultures, start from a marked self-maximizing propensity at 3 years of age, becoming significantly more fair by 5 years. These data confirm that the developing sense of equity by young children is comparable in the context of a compassion-based culture.
Cannabis Withdrawal, Posttreatment Abstinence, and Days to First Cannabis Use Among Emerging Adults in Substance Use Treatment
Authors: Davis Jordan P. , Smith Douglas C. , Morphew Jason W. , Lei Xinrong , Zhang Saijun
Published: December 2015

Very little prospective research investigates how cannabis withdrawal is associated with treatment outcomes, and this work has not used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) thresholds for cannabis withdrawal. The sample included 110 emerging adults entering outpatient substance use treatment who were heavy cannabis users with no other drug use and limited alcohol use. We used survival analyses to predict days to first use of cannabis and logistic regression to predict whether participants were abstinent and living in the community at 3 months. Those meeting criteria for cannabis withdrawal were more likely to return to use sooner than those not meeting criteria for cannabis withdrawal. However, the presence of cannabis withdrawal was not a significant predictor of 3-month abstinence. Emerging adults with DSM-5 cannabis withdrawal may have difficulty initiating abstinence in the days following their intake assessment, implying the need for strategies to mitigate their more rapid return to cannabis use.
Does school district and municipality border congruence matter?
Authors: Hall Joshua
Published: December 2015

Research on zoning typically assumes that city planners aim to maximise housing prices with their land use decisions, either explicitly for public choice reasons or implicitly through the approval of land uses that create local net benefits. Noncongruence of school district and municipality borders severs the link between costs and benefits in the eyes of the median voter, however, which could result in excessive residential development and fiscal externalities that lower property values. This paper uses a hedonic approach to indirectly observe the presence of these externalities. Border congruency between school districts and municipalities in Ohio is measured using GIS data and matched with a data set of 56,717 home sales. The hedonic results indicate that noncongruence is associated with lower housing prices, while the degree of noncongruence is positively related. For most school districts, the negative effect of noncongruency dominates. My results are robust and consistent across different model specifications and empirical approaches.
Systematic Review of Yoga Interventions to Promote Cardiovascular Health in Older Adults
Authors: Barrows Jennifer L. , Fleury Julie
Published: December 2015

The benefits of physical activity are well established, yet few older adults engage in adequate physical activity to optimize health. While yoga may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, few studies have focused on the efficacy of yoga-based physical activity to promote cardiovascular health in older adults. The objective of this review is to provide an evaluation of yoga interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk in older adults. Four databases were searched for randomized controlled trials of yoga interventions in older adults. Studies with cardiovascular outcomes were included. Literature searches identified nine articles eligible for review. Significant health benefits were reported, including favorable changes in blood pressure, body composition, glucose, and lipids. Yoga practices, participant characteristics, and outcome measures were variable. There was limited use of theory. Yoga is safe and feasible in older adults; additional research is warranted to examine the specific components of yoga interventions essential to reducing cardiovascular risk.
Understanding Synthesis Across Disciplines to Improve Nursing Education
Authors: Blondy Laurie C. , Blakeslee Ann M. , Scheffer Barbara K. , Rubenfeld M. Gaie , Cronin Brenda M. , Luster-Turner Rose
Published: December 2015

Nursing students must learn higher-order thinking skills of analysis and synthesis to manage complex data for decision making in healthcare. Teaching synthesis, however, is challenging and elusive due to lack of understanding of the concept and an explicit pedagogy for teaching it. A qualitative, multi-phased research project was designed to gain understanding of what synthesis is, how professionals acquire synthesis skills, and how to best teach synthesis. The first phase explored interdisciplinary descriptions of synthesis. Three focus groups were conducted, and interdisciplinary participants responded to several questions. Several themes emerged suggesting that synthesis depends on cognitive skills and competencies, situational and contextual factors, preparation and knowledge acquisition skills, interpersonal and interaction skills, and personal qualities. Participants also supported use of multi-modal teaching strategies to reinforce students’ use of synthesis in learning. This project provided a beginning understanding of the synthesis process, revealing striking similarities in synthesis across professional disciplines.
Socioeconomic Factors Affect Outcomes in Well‐Differentiated Thyroid Cancer
Authors: Swegal Warren C. , Singer Michael , Peterson Edward , Feigelson Heather Spencer , Kono Scott A. , Snyder Susan , Melvin Thuy‐Anh N. , Calzada Gabriel , Ghai Nirupa R. , Saman Daniel M. , Chang Steven S.
Published: December 2015

Objectives

The effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on the incidence of well‐differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC) are well researched. However, the association between SES and outcomes is not delineated. Our objective was to determine if SES affected outcomes of WDTC.

Study Designs

Retrospective database review.

Setting

Tertiary care medical center.

Subjects and Methods

The Henry Ford Virtual Data Warehouse Tumor Registry was used to identify cases of WDTC. Socioeconomic data were obtained through the 2010 US Census: median household income, percentage below poverty line, median household size, percentage rent versus own property, and general demographics. Survival was the primary outcome. Disease‐specific survival was also calculated. Cox proportional hazards were calculated and a multivariate analysis performed.

Results

There were 1317 patients with WDTC. In multivariable analysis, median household income (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.85, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.79‐0.91), household size (HR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.09‐2.14), younger age (HR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.74‐2.23), and female sex (HR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.37‐0.69) were significantly associated with survival. Controlling for stage revealed percentage below poverty line (stage I, HR: 0.51, 95% CI: 1.34‐1.78; stage IV, HR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04‐1.57) and median household income (HR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.71‐0.99) to be significant factors in survival. Median household income was a statistically significant variable for disease‐related death (HR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.69‐0.96)

Conclusions

Along with effects on incidence, lower SES correlates with worse survival in WDTC. This suggests that a patient’s economic background, with younger age and female sex, influences one’s outcomes with regard to both overall and disease‐specific death.
Social networks and regional economic development: the Los Angeles and Bay Area metropolitan regions, 1980–2010
Authors: Makarem Naji P
Published: December 2015

Social capital is widely recognized as an important aspect of regional economies, and social networks in particular have recently been the focus of research in economic sociology and economic geography. Building on this body of work, this research explores the role of social networks in the divergent economic fortunes of two highly advance Californian metropolitan regions over the past three decades, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Proxies for the two regions' industrial social structures are constructed and analysed at three cross sections over the divergence period: 1982, 1995 and 2010. Network analysis shows that the Bay Area's industrial social structure maintains a high level of connectivity, bridging relations across industrial boundaries, and by 2010 has a highly connected and central business-civic organization, the Bay Area Council. The LA region's social structure, on the other hand, fragments substantially over the period.
Malinowski in Oaxaca: Implications of an unfinished project in economic anthropology, part I
Authors: Cook Scott
Published: December 2015

Malinowski’s unpublished and long unavailable field notebooks from 1940 are examined to show how his fieldwork influenced the organization and content of the co-authored preliminary report (with Julio de la Fuente) of his unfinished Oaxaca Valley, Mexico project. The personal and diplomatic background of Malinowski’s Oaxaca project is reviewed, together with the origins and development of his views on economics before, during, and after his fieldwork in Melanesia. The reasons for the fitful nature of the handling of Malinowski’s Oaxaca project materials following his death in 1942 are explored, and the themes and content of his work on Trobriand economics are systematically compared with those of his work in Oaxaca. Implications of his incomplete Oaxaca project, and of other late-career writings, for his place in the history of economic anthropology are considered.
Sweeping as a site of temporal brokerage: Linking town and forest in Mozambique
Authors: Nelson Ingrid L
Published: December 2015

Building on 18 months of ethnographic research between 2007 and 2011 in Mozambique, this article explores how sweeping practices elaborate multiple temporalities and thus can serve as powerful sites of “brokerage” where diverse actors and their many agendas meet. Sweeping renders daily activities legible to local residents and illegible to others. Daily sweeping just outside of the home signifies a day’s routine beginning and a family’s availability for receiving visitors. Sweeping also prevents the rapidly growing miombo woodland undergrowth from invading the home space, which partly explains differences in why many local residents see the woodlands as advancing and environmentalists’ argue that the “forest” is disappearing due to illegal logging. Limited understandings of sweeping as banal or wasted time miss the links between many urban-based non-governmental organization and activist practitioners who implement their projects in rural areas. Sweeping blurs and challenges assumed boundaries between urban and rural woodland spaces.
Dark matter: Toward a political economy of indigenous rights and aspirational politics
Authors: Goodale Mark
Published: December 2015

This article shines a critical light on a trend in anthropology that has both mirrored, and, not inconsequentially, shaped, a broader preoccupation with rights-making and rights-claiming as the foundational strategies behind what Karen Engle called the “elusive promise of indigenous development.” The article uses recent ethnographies of legal implementation and state-capital appropriation to think more generally about the history of indigenous rights in relation to what Tania Li has aptly described as the “dynamic specificity” of global capitalism. The article concludes by arguing for the development of an ethnographic political economy of indigenous rights and aspirational politics that reflects an analytical shift from what James Scott called the “symbolic balance of power” to questions of redistribution, state-capital interdependence, and the cooptation of indigenous rights as a new form of capital accumulation.
Growth, Employment, and Income Distribution in Argentina, 1990-2010
Authors: Santarcangelo Juan Eduardo
Published: December 2015

In spite of the fact that Argentina has experienced a process of high sustained growth that created four million jobs, income distribution did not register substantial changes. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between growth, employment, and income distribution; to clarify under what conditions a virtuous cycle of growth and employment may come to not have substantial impacts on income distribution; and to address the challenges that the working class will face in the future.
Blog-Integrated Writing With Blog-Buddies
Authors: Asoodar Maryam , Atai Mahmood Reza , Vaezi Shahin
Published: December 2015

This article reports a mixed-method research probing the effect of utilizing a blog-buddy system on English for academic purposes learners’ writing performance. Sixty Iranian undergraduate engineering students at Iran University of Science and Technology Virtual Campus participated in this study. Our analysis of the students’ writings indicated that blog-integrated writing instruction accompanied with the implementation of a blog-buddy system resulted in a significant improvement in students’ writing performance. Further, the results of an attitudinal survey revealed that students who received feedback from blog-buddies showed higher positive attitudes toward utilizing blogs for their writing classes. For further investigation, data were gathered through comments the participants left on the weblog and the forums, semistructured interviews, and teacher observations. Four themes emerged, which were used to come up with a framework based on the learner-centred approach. The framework integrates web-based trainings and learners’ learning styles and fosters the learners’ control of their learning experiences.
Hazing Violence: Practices of Domination and Coercion in Hazing in Portugal
Authors: Fávero Marisalva , Pinto Sofia , Ferreira Fátima , Machado Francisco , Del Campo Amaia
Published: December 2015

The moment of entry into university marks an important transition for students in Portugal. Their new situation requires an update and a new personal, academic, and social contextualization and, in this new universe, hazing plays a significant role. This study aimed to understand the phenomenon of hazing in Portugal, analyzing, specifically, the violent behaviors that can occur in this context. To this effect, we have developed the Questionnaire for the Assessment of Experience in Hazing (QAVPA)—a questionnaire that allows the analysis of Portuguese students’ hazing experiences and situations of violence. This questionnaire was applied to a sample consisting of 586 university students and ex-students who participated in hazing, 393 (67.1%) women and 193 (32.9%) men, with ages between 18 and 47 years ( M = 23.27, SD = 4.24). From the gathered data, 77.8% were victims of violence in hazing rituals, 86.9% witnessed violent practices, and 39.8% admitted having had violent behaviors toward new students. It was also found that variables such as having been a victim of this type of violence, sex, type of education, and hierarchy level are associated with the perpetration of violence in this context.
Chinese Investment in U.S. Real Estate Markets Using the EB-5 Program
Authors: Simons Robert A. , Wu Jing , Xu Jie , Fei Yu
Published: December 2015

EB-5 is a U.S. immigrant-attraction program created in the early 1990s. After lying mostly dormant, it recently became a source of gap capital when the lending markets collapsed during the Great Recession of 2008 to 2012. With low loan-to-value ratios and high capitalization rates for real estate projects at the end of the Great Recession, the EB-5 investor visa program has been instrumental in filling the financing gap, especially for hotels. Most EB-5 investors are Chinese. We focus primarily on Chinese investor attitudes toward the program, using a nonrandom survey of 85 potential investors who invested in projects in Cleveland, Ohio. The survey was administered in Chinese. Our survey found that Chinese wealthy private business owners are mainly participants in EB-5 for acquiring a U.S. green card on behalf of their young adult children. The rate of return of the EB-5 program for investors is a low-priority item, less important than return of capital.
Normal and oblique projectile impact of double-layered pyramidal lattice truss structures filled with ceramic insertions
Authors: Ni Changye , Hou Run , Han Bin , Jin Feng , Ma Guowei , Lu Tianjian
Published: December 2015

Systematic three-dimensional finite element (FE) simulations are carried out to study the ballistic protection performance of double-layer sandwich plates having metallic pyramidal lattice truss cores filled with ceramic prism insertions and void-filling epoxy resin. Both normal and oblique projectile impacts are considered in the FE simulations that are validated against experimental measurements. The ballistic limit velocity, the energy absorbed by key constituting elements and the critical oblique angle corresponding to the transition from ballistic perforation to projectile embedment are calculated. As the oblique angle is increased, the evolution of deformation and failure in the double-layer plates as well as the underlying mechanisms are explored. It is demonstrated that the proposed double-layer sandwich plates outperform both the single-layer sandwich plates and the homogeneous (monolithic) metallic plates having equal total mass, and the top layer (the ceramic insertions in particular) of the double-layer configuration plays a more dominant role in energy absorption.
My Brother as “Problem”
Authors: Dumas Michael J.
Published: December 2015

In this article, the author argues that the Obama Administration’s My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) initiative serves as an exemplar of neoliberal governmentality, in which Black young men and boys are constructed as essentially damaged, as problems in need of a technocratic public–private solution. More than simply an ideological imposition from above or outside—from policy makers, state bureaucrats, or market actors—MBK signals the neoliberal turn in Black politics, in which technical, entrepreneurial interventions replace political organization as the imagined solution to the social and economic inequities experienced in Black life. The author highlights three discursive “moments” that capture the work neoliberal governmentality does in and through MBK, and offers discussion of what it might mean to pursue a more critical engagement with MBK and other neoliberal initiatives intended to address racial inequities in education and society.
Some studies on temperature field during plasma arc welding of thin titanium alloy sheets using parabolic Gaussian heat source model
Authors: Dhinakaran V , Shanmugam N Siva , Sankaranarayanasamy K
Published: December 2015

In this paper, a new volumetric heat source model is developed for predicting the weld bead geometry during plasma arc welding of thin sheets of titanium alloy. Numerical simulations are carried out with the proposed parabolic Gaussian heat source (PGHS) model and already prevailing familiar heat source models namely, conical heat source and modified conical heat source, using finite element package COMSOL. The temperature-dependent material properties for Ti–6Al–4V alloy are considered for performing numerical calculations, which tend to influence the temperature fields while computing. Besides, the effect of trailing gas shielding, latent heat, and radiative and convective heat transfer are taken into account while performing the transient thermal analysis which significantly alters the sensitivity and accuracy of the model. Experimental trials on thin titanium alloy sheets are carried out to enable the validation of the proposed PGHS model. Subsequently, the outcome reveals that the PGHS model is capable and proved its high degree of efficiency in predicting the weld bead geometry more accurately than the existing heat source models. The distribution of heat intensity along the thickness of thin sheet is observed to be parabolic as predicted by the proposed model. The prediction appears to have a good correlation with the experimental result and it is clearly perceptible that the parabolic shape is more reliable and yields greater accuracy of the proposed heat source model.
William Cooke MD MRCS (1785–1873) – General Practitioner, Founder of the Hunterian Society and Deacon of the Congregational Church
Authors: Selley Peter
Published: December 2015

Farmer’s son William Cooke completed his medical training at Barts before embarking on a 60-year career as a general practitioner in and around London. In 1819, he was a co-founder, and for 20 years secretary, of the Hunterian Society which continues to provide education to its members. He was the author of several books where his views on the importance of post-mortem examinations and the interrelationships of body and mind in disease were discussed. He was a prominent non-conformist and became a deacon in the Congregational Church. He died in 1873, aged 87.
Archibald Lang McLean (1885–1922) – Explorer, writer and soldier
Authors: Guly HR
Published: December 2015

Archibald McLean qualified in Sydney in 1910 and in the following year joined Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–1914). He took a full part in the expedition and was forced to stay an extra year when Mawson failed to return to the base before the ship left. During this time he edited the expedition newspaper, The Adelie Blizzard. His writing impressed Mawson who invited him to work on the book about the expedition. This necessitated visiting England to liaise with publishers and promote the book. He was in England when the First World War broke out and he was commissioned in the RAMC and sent to France. He was invalided out of the army in 1916 and returned to Australia where he obtained his MD for his research in the Antarctic. Then he joined the Australian Army Medical Corps and returned to France where he won the Military Cross and he also suffered gassing. During the war, he developed TB and was unwell when he returned to Australia.
Loss of Ownership of Land and Social Displacement
Authors: Mehta Shalina , Singh Sarbjeet
Published: December 2015

Rapid urbanization and industrialization has necessitated the need for sustainable eco-development. In response to this urgent demand, India is promoting the concept of eco-cities. One of the most recent ventures towards that objective is ‘New Chandigarh’ developed by GMADA1 in Punjab in the vicinity of Chandigarh. This article attempts to explore gaps in the perception of the local residents of Mullanpur-Garibdass regarding the eco-city development project for which they had to surrender their agricultural land and their traditional village networks and development planner’s perspective of alternative urban spaces. This article is based on observations, case studies and in-depth interviews of 50 local residents of Mullanpur-Garibdass village in Punjab, who had to forgo ownership of their land in both Mullanpur and Devi Nagar. Empirical data suggest that the local residents of these sites did not fully comprehend the consequences of these displacements. They are now regretting the loss of ownership of land and breakdown of village networks that provides social support in the traditional rural social systems.
FNCATB Superelastic damper for seismic vibration mitigation
Authors: Bhowmick Sutanu , Mishra Sudib Kumar
Published: December 2015

A new shape memory alloy of Ferrous origin (Fe-Ni-Co-Al-Ta-B, referred to as FNCATB) is reported recently that shows huge Superelasticity in comparison with its earlier variants, such as Nitinol and Cu-Al-Be alloy, commonly employed in vibration damping applications. The performance of the FNCATB alloy based Superelastic damper is explored herein and compared with its conventional alternative. The optimal performance of the dampers is ensured by maximizing the equivalent damping, a closed form expression of which is derived based on the force–deformation behavior of the combined structure–damper system. The formulation closely follows that of conventional yield damper but with an additional term [Formula: see text] characterizing the flag shaped hysteresis. The available experimental data from a cyclic test are fitted with the existing Auricchio model to describe the force–deformation hysteresis of FNCATB alloy. The dynamic response analysis of the structure–damper systems subjected to recorded seismic ground motions reveals the superior performance of this new damper in reducing the drift of the structure with almost identical base shear, experienced by the structure without damper. The primary constituent being ferrous, the FNCATB might be cost-effective, which is also supported by its less volume requirement, demonstrated herein.
Governance, Coordination, and Evaluation
Authors: Greenwood Dan
Published: December 2015

While much political science research focuses on conceptualizing and analyzing various forms of governance, there remains a need to develop frameworks and criteria for governance evaluation. The post-positivist turn, influential in recent governance theory, emphasizes the complexity, uncertainty, and the contested normative dimensions of policy analysis. Yet a central evaluative question still arises concerning the capacity of governance networks to facilitate “coordination.” The classic contributions of Charles Lindblom, although pre-dating the contemporary governance literature, can enable further elaboration of and engagement with this question. Lindblom’s conceptualization of coordination challenges in the face of complexity shares with post-positivism a recognition of the inevitably contested nature of policy goals. Yet Lindblom suggests a closer focus on the complex, dynamically evolving, broadly “economic” choices and trade-offs involved in defining and delivery policy for enabling these goals to be achieved and the significant epistemological challenges that they raise for policy makers. This focus can complement and enrich both post-positivist scholarship and the process and incentives-orientated approaches that predominate in contemporary political science research on coordination in governance. This is briefly illustrated through a short case study evaluating governance for steering markets toward delivering low- and zero-carbon homes in England.
Comparison of the dynamic response of two columns of milling machines made of standard carpentry and metal foam sandwiches
Authors: Portentoso M , Pennacchi P , Chatterton S
Published: December 2015

In this paper, a comparison between two different machine tool columns is presented. The two columns are realized with a different technology: classic metalworking versus metal foam sandwiches. The aim of the experimental tests is the evaluation of their different mechanical performances and characteristics, with a particular focus on the dynamic response and on the convenience to consider system damping as a key parameter. This kind of comparison is generally believed as difficult, because the foam-filled structures usually show not-linear behavior, which makes not applicable the usual experimental modal procedures. The comparison is carried out in terms of both modal analysis and wide frequency range excitation, as described in the paper. A new method is introduced by the authors to deem which technology is the more suitable, based on overall dynamic response in a wide range of frequency, rather than on modal damping.
Urban Social Problems and Marginalized Populations in Postsocialist Transition Societies
Authors: Temelová Jana , Jíchová Jana , Pospíšilová Lucie , Dvořáková Nina
Published: December 2015

Despite growing scholarly interest in residential segregation in Central and Eastern Europe, thus far insufficient attention has been paid to understanding marginalization in these postsocialist transition societies through the perceptions of stakeholders. The present article reports the findings of a qualitative study of the perceptions of urban social problems in the city center of Prague, Czechia. Semistructured interviews with the key actors involved in the city’s social development are used to understand what social phenomena they perceive as problematic, how they localize them within the urban space, and how their perceptions translate into policy attitudes. We find that stakeholders emphasize the issues of homelessness, drug addiction, and the appropriate delivery of social services in their narratives. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the repressive nature of policy interventions partly results from a lack of experience of overcoming such societal issues and partly results from weak coordination at the city level.
Levetiracetam in the management of feline audiogenic reflex seizures: a randomised, controlled, open-label study
Authors: Lowrie Mark , Thomson Sarah , Bessant Claire , Sparkes Andrew , Harvey Robert J , Garosi Laurent
Published: December 2015

Objectives

Currently, there are no published randomised, controlled veterinary trials evaluating the efficacy of antiepileptic medication in the treatment of myoclonic seizures. Myoclonic seizures are a hallmark of feline audiogenic seizures (FARS).

Methods

This prospective, randomised, open-label trial compared the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam (20–25 mg/kg q8h) with phenobarbital (3–5 mg/kg q12h) in cats with suspected FARS that experienced myoclonic seizures. Cats were included that had ⩾12 myoclonic seizure days during a prospective 12 week baseline period. This was followed by a 4 week titration phase (until a therapeutic serum concentration of phenobarbital was achieved) and a 12 week treatment phase.

Results

Fifty-seven cats completed the study: 28 in the levetiracetam group and 29 in the phenobarbital group. A reduction of ⩾50% in the number of myoclonic seizure days was seen in 100% of patients in the levetiracetam group and in 3% of patients in the phenobarbital group ( P <0.001) during the treatment period. Levetiracetam-treated cats had higher freedom from myoclonic seizures (50.0% vs 0%; P <0.001) during the treatment period. The most common adverse events were lethargy, inappetence and ataxia, with no difference in incidence between levetiracetam and phenobarbital. Adverse events were mild and transient with levetiracetam but persistent with phenobarbital.

Conclusions and relevance

These results suggest that levetiracetam is an effective and well tolerated treatment for cats with myoclonic seizures and is more effective than phenobarbital. Whether it will prevent the occurrence of generalised tonic–clonic seizures and other forebrain signs if used early in the course of FARS is not yet clear.
Sensemaking in an online community after financial loss: Enterprising Jamaican investors and the fall of a financial messiah
Authors: Bourne Clea D
Published: December 2015

Online communities are popular sites for collective sensemaking. This study explores sensemaking in one such community following the closure of Olint Corp, a highly successful Jamaican investment club. After Olint’s disbanding, Jamaicans reconnected through online communities to make sense of their financial losses, to make sense of Olint – seen variously as an altruistic endeavour, a global currency trader, or Ponzi scheme – and to make sense of themselves as enterprising investors. This narrative inquiry unveils their rich, multi-voiced, fragmented storying of Olint and its founder, once praised as a ‘financial messiah’.
Overworked? An Observation of the Relationship Between Student Employment and Academic Performance
Authors: Logan Jennifer , Hughes Traci , Logan Brian
Published: December 2015

Current observations from the National Center for Education Statistics demonstrate the dramatic increase in college student employment over the past few decades. Not only are more students employed than in previous decades, students are working more hours. This could lead to declines in academic performance as hours worked increase, resulting in less time for studying. This article correlates the number of hours worked with each student’s academic performance. Data used in the article are taken from student responses to the College Student Experience Questionnaire developed by the Indiana University at Bloomington. This analysis looks at differences regarding students employed in on-campus jobs relative to off-campus jobs. Various relationships are estimated, breaking down the sample by various cohorts including class, gender, and age. Estimated findings show that students should be discouraged from working over 20 hours in off-campus jobs in their first 2 years of college.
A Qualitative Analysis of Health Education Practice in Applied Work Settings
Authors: Baisch Brett A. , Krajny Shelly , Wagner Laurie M. , Symons Cynthia W.
Published: December 2015

Job analysis projects play a critical role in the health education profession by validating what is constant in the profession and identifying emerging patterns of effective practice. In this regard, the Role Delineation Project, Competencies Update Project (CUP), and Health Educator Job Analysis Project (HEJA) have provided frameworks for the accreditation of professional preparation programs, credentialing, and continuing education of health education specialists. To date, projects (CUP, HEJA, and Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis) have revalidated the framework to help describe the contemporary practice of health education specialists. Evidence is lacking regarding exactly how the frameworks have been integrated into applied practice and what guides the practice of health educators. In context of the Areas of Responsibility for health education specialists, the purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the gap between the “state of the art” and the “state of the practice” among health education practitioners in a range of workplace settings. Data were collected through structured interviews and analyzed for emergent themes. Major themes included the use of formal and informal assessment methods, program-specific planning materials and implementation strategies, supplemental materials for planning and conveying information, and the influence and work with organizations. Based on the emergent themes, the gaps between the “state of the art” and the “state of the practice” were described, with suggestions for advancing the profession.
Fat Face Illusion, or Jastrow Illusion with Faces, in Humans but not in Chimpanzees
Authors: Tomonaga Masaki
Published: December 2015

When two identical faces are aligned vertically, humans readily perceive the face at the bottom to be fatter than the top one. This phenomenon is called the fat face illusion. Furthermore, an apparent similarity has been pointed out between the fat face illusion and the Jastrow illusion. Recent studies have suggested the importance of facial contours and the role of basic-level processing of faces. In the present study, we directly compared the typical Jastrow illusion and fat face illusion in humans and chimpanzees using the same task. Both humans and chimpanzees clearly showed the Jastrow illusion, but only humans perceived the face at the bottom as fatter than the top. Although further examination is necessary, these results might reflect different processing levels of faces between the two species.
Are samples drawn from Mechanical Turk valid for research on political ideology?
Authors: Clifford Scott , Jewell Ryan M , Waggoner Philip D
Published: December 2015

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is an increasingly popular tool for the recruitment of research subjects. While there has been much focus on the demographic differences between MTurk samples and the national public, we know little about whether liberals and conservatives recruited from MTurk share the same psychological dispositions as their counterparts in the mass public. In the absence of such evidence, some have argued that the selection process involved in joining MTurk invalidates the subject pool for studying questions central to political science. In this paper, we evaluate this claim by comparing a large MTurk sample to two benchmark national samples – one conducted online and one conducted face-to-face. We examine the personality and value-based motivations of political ideology across the three samples. All three samples produce substantively identical results with only minor variation in effect sizes. In short, liberals and conservatives in our MTurk sample closely mirror the psychological divisions of liberals and conservatives in the mass public, though MTurk liberals hold more characteristically liberal values and attitudes than liberals from representative samples. Overall, our results suggest that MTurk is a valid recruitment tool for psychological research on political ideology.
From Necessity to Possibility
Authors: Cullum Charles
Published: December 2015

This article applies theories of fragmented postmodern identity and Heidegger’s modes of existence and concept of historicality to the issue of passing and traces the treatment of that motif across six African American novels that move from the largely realistic perspective of the 19th century to the subjectivist perspective of the early 20th century. These novels thus foreshadow the postmodernist questioning of the basis of discrete personal identity. The article claims that, across these novels, the act of passing and its relationship to human identity through time and historical circumstance becomes problematized from a necessary tool for escaping slavery, and so sustaining identity in its most basic form as life itself, to a potential existential dilemma of identity as a matter of authenticity and possibility. The article further discusses whether the individual is constrained by his or her background, especially, by race itself, or is a totally free, ungrounded agent.
Comparison of intraspinal and intrathecal implantation of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural precursors for the treatment of spinal cord injury in rats
Authors: Amemori Takashi , Ruzicka Jiri , Romanyuk Nataliya , Jhanwar-Uniyal Meena , Sykova Eva , Jendelova Pavla
Published: December 2015

Background

Stem cell treatment provides a promising therapy for patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). However, the applied stem cells exert their effects in different manners that are dependent on the route used for administration.

Methods

In the present study, we administered neural precursors derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS-NPs) either intraspinally into the lesion center or intrathecally into the subarachnoid space of rats with a balloon-induced spinal cord compression lesion. Functional locomotor performance, cell survival, astrogliosis, axonal sprouting and the expression of endogenous neurotrophic growth factors were evaluated using behavioral tests (BBB, flat beam test, rotarod, plantar test), morphometric analysis, immunohistochemistry and qPCR.

Results

Both treatments facilitated the functional locomotor recovery of rats with SCI. iPS-NPs injected intraspinally survived well for 2 months and were positive for MAP2, while cells grafted intrathecally were undetectable at the site of administration or in the spinal cord tissue. Intraspinal implantation increased gray and white matter sparing and axonal sprouting and reduced astrogliosis, while intrathecal application resulted only in an improvement of white matter sparing and an increase in axonal sprouting, in parallel with no positive effect on the expression of endogenous neurotrophic growth factor genes or glial scar reduction.

Conclusions

Intrathecally grafted iPS-NPs had a moderate therapeutic benefit on SCI through a paracrine mechanism that does not require the cells to be present in the tissue; however, the extended survival of i.s. grafted cells in the spinal cord may promote long-term spinal cord tissue regeneration.
Fusing passive RFID and BIM for increased accuracy in indoor localization
Authors: Costin Aaron M. , Teizer Jochen
Published: December 2015

Background

Finding the current location of a specific utility or oneself in an unfamiliar facility can be difficult and time consuming. The hypothesis tested in this paper is that using the information contained within Building Information Models (BIM) can increase the accuracy of indoor positioning algorithms using context-aware sensing technology. The presented work demonstrates how the integration of passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking technology and Building Information Modeling (BIM) can assist indoor localization for potential applications in facilities management for proactive preventative maintenance.

Methods

This paper includes (1) developing a framework that utilizes the integration of commercially-available RFID and a building information model; (2) evaluating the framework for real-time resource location tracking within an indoor environment; and (3) developing an algorithm for real-time localization and visualization in a BIM. A prototype application has been developed that simultaneously connects the RFID readers on a maintenance cart, an asset maintenance database and a BIM model. Three multilateralization approaches were compared in the system to use in the algorithm. Testing was conducted in a facility with a corridor that loops around in a rectangle.

Results

The goal is to have a system accuracy within 3 m. Results show that fusing BIM with multilateralization techniques for RFID technology can decrease the number of false reads by 64 % versus standalone multilateralization equations. The greatest system accuracy achieved was 1.66 m.

Conclusions

Significantly, the results validate the hypothesis that BIM can increase indoor localization accuracy, and show the usefulness of using BIM for indoor localization in addition to real-time visualization.
Prediction of occult lymph node metastasis using volume-based PET parameters in small-sized peripheral non-small cell lung cancer
Authors: Park Seong Yong , Yoon Joon-Kee , Park Kwang Joo , Lee Su Jin
Published: December 2015

Background

Patients with small-sized peripheral non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but without lymph node metastasis, may be optimal candidates for sublobar resection. We aim to identify the predictors of occult lymph node metastasis (OLNM) using F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in clinically node-negative, small-sized NSCLC.

Methods

One hundred thirty nine patients with small-sized NSCLC (of less than 3 cm in diameter) who underwent surgical resection with mediastinal lymph node dissection were evaluated. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), metabolic total volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of the primary tumor were measured on pretreatment PET/CT. These metabolic parameters and pathological variables were analyzed for OLNM.

Results

The mean tumor size was 2.11 ± 0.63 cm, and the mean number of dissected lymph nodes was 19.74 ± 12.86. Adenocarcinoma occurred in 106 patients (76.3 %). Twenty-four patients (17.2 %) had lymph node metastasis. The mean SUVmax, MTV and TLG were 4.61 ± 3.99 (0.5 ~ 17.8), 4.18 ± 6.39 (0 ~ 34.6) and 16.13 ± 28.86 (0 ~ 164.2), respectively. On receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the areas under the curve (AUC) for SUVmax, MTV and TLG for node metastasis were 0.753, 0.783 and 0.775, respectively. On multivariate analysis, SUVmax (Odds ratio [OR] = 1.120, p = 0.044) and MTV (OR = 1.117, p = 0.007) were found to be risk factors for OLNM. The concordance index of MTV was 0.763, which was slightly higher than that of SUVmax.

Conclusion

SUVmax and volume-based parameters are significant risk factors for OLNM in small peripheral NSCLC. MTV showed a better predictive performance than that of the other PET parameters; therefore, MTV may be a possible indicator for sublobar resection in clinically node-negative small-sized NSCLC.