bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thermal breakage and fallout behaviors of non-tempered glass under the effect of water film
Authors: Wang Qingsong , Shao Guangzheng , Wang Yu , Zhao Han , Sun Jinhua , He Linghui
Published: September 2015

Delayed activation of the sprinkler or water film system may accelerate the crack and fallout process of the heated glass when encountered in a fire. A series of tests were conducted to investigate the thermal breakage and fallout behavior of a non-tempered glass façade with down-flowing water films. The most widely used non-tempered glass, low emissivity coated glass (Low-E), and float glass were studied in this work. An n-heptane pool fire was employed to heat up the glass panes and the water film was acted when the maximum glazing temperature reached the different designed values. The results illustrate that water film has little influence on the fracture behavior of float glass. However, the water film does accelerate the crack and fallout process of Low-E glass significantly when the glazing temperature is over 70°C. This is because large thermal stress is generated inside the glass due to the continuous cooling of the cold water film, which exceeds the ultimate tensile stress of glass. The water film also has a large impact on the crack propagation and fallout ratio of the glass panes.
Design, analysis and control of a novel tendon-driven magnetic resonance–guided robotic system for minimally invasive breast surgery
Authors: Jiang Shan , Lou Jinlong , Yang Zhiyong , Dai Jiansheng , Yu Yan
Published: September 2015

Biopsy and brachytherapy for small core breast cancer are always difficult medical problems in the field of cancer treatment. This research mainly develops a magnetic resonance imaging–guided high-precision robotic system for breast puncture treatment. First, a 5-degree-of-freedom tendon-based surgical robotic system is introduced in detail. What follows are the kinematic analysis and dynamical modeling of the robotic system, where a mathematic dynamic model is established using the Lagrange method and a lumped parameter tendon model is used to identify the nonlinear gain of the tendon-sheath transmission system. Based on the dynamical models, an adaptive proportional–integral–derivative controller with friction compensation is proposed for accurate position control. Through simulations using different sinusoidal input signals, we observe that the sinusoidal tracking error at 1/2 π Hz is 0.41 mm. Finally, the experiments on tendon-sheath transmission and needle insertion performance are conducted, which show that the insertion precision is 0.68 mm in laboratory environment.
Patterns of speech activity at ETUC Executive Committee meetings, 2005–2012
Authors: Furåker Bengt , Seldén Kristina Lovén
Published: September 2015

This article analyses the speech activities of trade unions at European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) Executive Committee meetings, 2005–2012. It is based on the minutes of 48 meetings and direct observations of some of them. The most frequent themes are economic issues, communications and labour law, followed by common activities and intra-organizational issues. Analysis by different regime types shows marked differences in the extent and focus of participation; an important factor behind these differences appears to be the unions’ role in their national industrial relations systems. The impact of the economic crisis in Southern Europe is also highly visible. Another aspect is the number of seats the organizations hold, mirroring size as well as financial and human resources. Moreover, speech patterns seem to reflect ideological and cultural differences.
Estimating the effect of treatment on binary outcomes using full matching on the propensity score
Authors: Austin Peter C , Stuart Elizabeth A
Published: September 2015

Many non-experimental studies use propensity-score methods to estimate causal effects by balancing treatment and control groups on a set of observed baseline covariates. Full matching on the propensity score has emerged as a particularly effective and flexible method for utilizing all available data, and creating well-balanced treatment and comparison groups. However, full matching has been used infrequently with binary outcomes, and relatively little work has investigated the performance of full matching when estimating effects on binary outcomes. This paper describes methods that can be used for estimating the effect of treatment on binary outcomes when using full matching. It then used Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the performance of these methods based on full matching (with and without a caliper), and compared their performance with that of nearest neighbour matching (with and without a caliper) and inverse probability of treatment weighting. The simulations varied the prevalence of the treatment and the strength of association between the covariates and treatment assignment. Results indicated that all of the approaches work well when the strength of confounding is relatively weak. With stronger confounding, the relative performance of the methods varies, with nearest neighbour matching with a caliper showing consistently good performance across a wide range of settings. We illustrate the approaches using a study estimating the effect of inpatient smoking cessation counselling on survival following hospitalization for a heart attack.
Relative Strength Hypothesis of Weak form Efficiency in Indian Stock Market: An Empirical Study
Authors: Chawla Deepak , Makkad Munish
Published: September 2015

The objective of the paper is to test relative strength hypothesis, which states that the stocks, which have done better than market in the past should continue to do so in future. The objective is pursued with the help of data on closing stock prices of 49 companies for the period April 1996 to March 2000. The Spearman's rank correlation using data on returns of 49 stocks for lag period of one-month, three-months, six-months and one-year is computed. The results indicate that relative strength hypothesis may be accepted for 1-month lag period. However, there is not enough evidence for relative strength hypothesis to hold good for lag periods of 3-months and above. The paper concludes by discussing the mplications of the study and suggestions for future research.
Stock Market Responses to Sovereign Rating Revisions – The Indian Experience
Authors: Kumar SSS
Published: September 2015

In recent years response of stock prices to major economic announcements has received considerable academic attention. This study aims at examining the response of the stock market to revisions in India's sovereign credit rating announcements by employing the ‘event study methodology’. The credit rating announcements by S&P are considered and we compute the abnormal returns around the dates on credit rating revision announcements and test for their statistical significance. The statistically significant abnormal returns are ascribed to the event in the absence of any significant event, which might be expected to influence the market. The results from the statistical analysis indicate that the excess returns are not statistically significant implying there are no abnormal returns following the announcements. It can be concluded that the stock market is not considering the ‘information’ about sovereign rating as relevant in pricing the securities.
Cervical chordoma in a domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) with pulmonary metastasis
Authors: Frohlich Jennifer R. , Donovan Taryn A.
Published: September 2015

A 4-year-old, male neutered domestic ferret ( Mustela putorius furo) was evaluated for a mass in the left cervical region. The owner elected humane euthanasia, and an autopsy was performed, revealing a neoplasm with infiltration into the left cranial articular fovea of the atlas and cervical vertebrae, with regional compression of the spinal cord. Histologic evaluation was consistent with cervical chordoma. At autopsy, a left cranial lung lobe nodule was observed. Additional sectioning and histologic evaluation revealed multiple foci of metastatic chordoma at this site. A small focus of micrometastasis was also detected in a section from the right lung lobes. Chordoma is the most common musculoskeletal neoplasm of ferrets, arising from remnant fetal notochord. To our knowledge, pulmonary chordoma metastasis has not been previously reported in the ferret. This case demonstrates the potential for visceral metastasis of chordoma in the ferret, as has been reported in other species.
The Contribution of Parent and Family Variables to the Well-Being of Youth With Arthritis
Authors: Knafl Kathleen , Leeman Jennifer , Havill Nancy L. , Crandell Jamie L. , Sandelowski Margarete
Published: August 2015

Among developed countries, the reported prevalence of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) varies from 16 to 150 per 100,000. Previous reviews have identified risks faced by children with chronic conditions and indicate a relationship between parent/family characteristics and child adaptation. This analysis provides a mixed-methods synthesis of 29 research reports addressing the intersection of family life and JIA. Data were extracted using a structured template, and effect sizes were calculated for reported relationships between variables. Results were coded using a scheme that differentiated types of family factors. Meta-analysis revealed a moderately strong positive relationship between parent and child psychological functioning, and a medium negative relationship between family conflict and child psychosocial well-being, and parental depression and child physical functioning. Thematic analysis of qualitative results identified parenting challenges related to pain management and regimen demands. Results indicate that interventions to enhance parenting competence and family relationships may improve caregiver and patient outcomes.
Predictors of Topical Use in Psoriasis Patients in the REFINE Study
Authors: Gooderham Melinda J. , Poulin-Costello Melanie , Shelton Jennifer , Bayan Nabil , Papp Kim A.
Published: September 2015

Background:

The factors influencing the use of topical agents in combination with biologic therapies for the treatment of plaque psoriasis (PsO) are not well understood.

Objective:

To examine potential predictors of topical use in patients with moderate to severe plaque PsO receiving etanercept (ETN).

Methods:

Post hoc descriptive analyses and a multinomial regression of the REFINE study data were used to examine associations between topical agent potency and covariates, including Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score, study site, and province.

Results:

Not achieving PASI 90 at week 12 predicted topical use, with a lower PASI 90 rate in patients who used high-potency topical agents post randomization ( P = .003). Additionally, statistically significant differences were found in patterns of topical use among Canadian provinces ( P = .007), with the use of high-potency topical agents being greater in Ontario and Quebec than the rest of Canada.

Conclusion:

This analysis revealed that region and PASI 90 status at week 12 predict topical use.
Modulatory role of inhibition during language switching: Evidence from evoked and induced oscillatory activity
Authors: Liu Huanhuan , Liang Lijuan , Zhang Li , Lu Yao , Chen Baoguo
Published: August 2015

Aims:

The present study adopted the electroencephalogram (EEG) technique to investigate whether inhibition advantage could modulate different language switches, regardless of the time spent on second language learning.

Design:

The inhibitory control (IC) ability of 80 low-proficient Chinese (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals was assessed by the Simon task. Half of these bilinguals were then subdivided into 20 high- and 20 low-IC participants to perform switching between L1 and L2 (L1–L2 switching), and the other half were subdivided into 20 high- and 20 low-IC participants to conduct switching between L1 and Lnew (L1–Lnew switching). All participants were required to name pictures (picture naming task) in their L1 and L2/Lnew in language switching task.

Data and analysis:

Both response latencies and EEG data were obtained, and then evoked and induced oscillations were calculated using time–frequency analysis.

Findings:

The results of language switching showed similar naming latencies for L1 and L2/Lnew switch trials in the high-IC group, whereas the low-IC group showed larger naming latencies for L1 switch trials than L2/Lnew switch trials. In contrast, the high-IC group exhibited larger theta evoked and induced power for L2/Lnew switch trials than L1 switch trials at the lexical selection level, whereas the low-IC group did not. These findings indicate that inhibition advantage helps the high-IC group to suppress effectively the non-target word via recruiting bottom-up (evoked oscillation) and top-down (induced oscillation) processes.

Innovation:

The present study was a first attempt to provide evidence that theta oscillation indicates cross-language interference at the lexical selection level.

Significance:

Inhibition plays a modulatory role in language switching, which is independent of the time spent on second language learning, and such role involves bottom-up (i.e., evoked oscillation) and top-down (i.e., induced oscillation) processes which were mainly evident at the lexical selection level.
CAE-Based application for identification and verification of hyperelastic parameters
Authors: Gorash Yevgen , Comlekci Tugrul , Hamilton Robert
Published: September 2015

The main objective of this study is to develop a CAE-based application with a convenient GUI for identification and verification of material parameters for hyperelastic models available in the current release of the FE code ANSYS Mechanical APDL. This Windows application implements a two-step procedure: (1) fitting of experimental stress–strain curves provided by the user; (2) verification of the obtained material parameters by the solution of a modified benchmark problem. The application, which was developed using the Visual Basic.NET language, implements a two-way interaction with ANSYS as a single loop using the APDL script as input and text, graphical and video files as output. With this application, nine isotropic incompressible hyperelastic material models are compared by fitting them to the conventional Treloar’s experimental dataset (1944) for vulcanised rubber. A ranking of hyperelastic models is constructed according to model efficiency, which is estimated using fitting quality criteria. The model ranking is done based upon the complexity of their mathematical formulation and their ability to accurately reproduce the test data. Recent hyperelastic models (Extended Tube and Response Function) are found to be more efficient compared to conventional ones. The verification is done by the comparison of an analytical solution to an FEA result for the benchmark problem of a rubber cylinder under compression proposed by Lindley (1967). In the application, the classical formulation of the benchmark is improved mathematically to become valid for larger deformations. The wide applicability of the proposed two-step approach is confirmed using stress–strains curves for seven different formulations of natural rubber and seven different grades of synthetic rubber.
Unpacking the mysteries of sperm DNA fragmentation
Authors: Gosálvez J , López-Fernández C , Fernández JL , Esteves SC , Johnston SD
Published: September 2015

Although it has been thirty years since publication of one of the most influential papers on the value of assessing sperm DNA damage, andrologists have yet to reach a general consensus about how to apply this seminal parameter to improve or predict reproductive outcomes. Studies that have attempted to establish a causal relationship between sperm DNA damage and pregnancy success have often resulted in conflicting findings, eroding the practitioner’s confidence to incorporate this phenomenon into their appraisal of fertility. In this review we have identified and answered ten important unresolved questions commonly asked by andrologists with respect to the relationship between sperm DNA damage and fertility. We answer questions ranging from a basic comprehension of biological mechanisms and external factors that contribute to increased levels of sperm DNA damage in the ejaculate to what type of DNA lesions we might be expect to occur and what are some of the consequences of DNA damage on early embryonic development. We also address some of the fundamental technical issues associated with the most appropriate measurement of sperm DNA damage and the need to attenuate the confounding impacts of iatrogenic damage. We conclude by asking whether it is possible to reduce elevated levels of sperm DNA damage therapeutically.
Prediction of high- and low-risk multiple myeloma based on gene expression and the International Staging System
Authors: Kuiper Rowan , van Duin Mark , van Vliet Martin H. , Broijl Annemiek , van der Holt Bronno , el Jarari Laila , van Beers Erik H. , Mulligan George , Avet-Loiseau Hervé , Gregory Walter M. , Morgan Gareth , Goldschmidt Hartmut , Lokhorst Henk M. , Sonneveld Pieter
Published: September 2015

Key Points

Combination of ISS and the EMC92 gene classifier is a novel clinically applicable risk classification for survival in multiple myeloma. ISS has clear independent additive prognostic value in combination with GEP classifiers or FISH markers.
The origins of mural painting in Ancient Peru: archaeometric preliminary study of the Ventarrón mural paintings, Valle de Lambayeque
Authors: Wright Véronique , Meneses Ignacio Alva , Laval Éric
Published: September 2015

Background

Since 2007, the research led on the Huaca Ventarrón site has allowed investigators to discover outstanding wall paintings. These murals are one of the oldest examples of this artistic expression in the Andean area and American continent (4000 BP). Analyses have given indications on the materials and techniques used by the first painters, ancestors of a long pictorial tradition.

Results

Thanks to an archaeometric approach, combining observations and analysis (Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)), it was possible to characterize the colorant materials used in the two constructive sampled phases. These materials are mineral pigments, iron oxides, clays and natural earth, mixed in order to create a wide chromatic scale.

Conclusions

Through this research we were able to obtain the first analytical data concerning such ancient mural paintings. It was very useful to comprehend the emergence of this artistic expression in Peru. These results open new research perspectives as well about the origins of Prehispanic pictorial technology as about conservation of wall-paintings in earthen architecture.
Source separation for simultaneous towed-streamer marine acquisition — A compressed sensing approach
Authors: Kumar Rajiv , Wason Haneet , Herrmann Felix J.
Published: September 2015

Simultaneous marine acquisition is an economic way to sample seismic data and speed up acquisition, wherein single or multiple source vessels fire sources at near-simultaneous or slightly random times, resulting in overlapping shot records. The current paradigm for simultaneous towed-streamer marine acquisition incorporates “low variability” in source firing times, i.e., [Formula: see text] or 2 s because the sources and receivers are moving. This results in a low degree of randomness in simultaneous data, which is challenging to separate (into its constituent sources) using compressed-sensing-based separation techniques because randomization is key to successful recovery via compressed sensing. We have addressed the challenge of source separation for simultaneous towed-streamer acquisitions via two compressed-sensing-based approaches, i.e., sparsity promotion and rank minimization. We have evaluated the performance of the sparsity-promotion- and rank-minimization-based techniques by simulating two simultaneous towed-streamer acquisition scenarios, i.e., over/under and simultaneous long offset. A field data example from the Gulf of Suez for the over/under acquisition scenario was also developed. We observed that the proposed approaches gave good and comparable recovery qualities of the separated sources, but the rank-minimization technique outperformed the sparsity-promoting technique in terms of the computational time and memory. We also compared these two techniques with the normal-moveout-based median-filtering-type approach, which had comparable results.
Probabilistic estimation of density and shear information from Zoeppritz's equation
Authors: Lehocki Ivan , Avseth Per , Hadžiavdić Vedad
Published: September 2015

In a proposed methodology for probabilistic calculation of elastic parameters from seismic reflectivities, one can focus on bulk density and VP/VS ratios and how those change at a layer interface. The probabilistic approach helps to model uncertainties in the elastic parameters. Zoeppritz's equation for calculation of PP reflection coefficients (RCs) is used to create 2D conditional probability density functions (CPDFs) of model parameters which are constructed by systematic grid search over the entire space of the model parameters. The method accurately recovers even highly irregular (nonelliptical) PDFs with multiple maxima. Moreover, it finds a global maximum, as opposed to many other techniques in which the algorithms, if supplied by a poor initial set of parameters, can become “stuck” in a local maximum. No empirical relationships are built into the method. The final products include “most probable” as well as uncertainty maps of various rock properties. The methodology was tested in a North Sea reservoir, and results were validated at two well locations. The “best” estimates of inverted parameters are in very good agreement with parameters extracted from wells. More specifically, uncertainty recovery of density ratios is very small, whereas shear-impedance (SI) ratios are captured within one standard deviation. The combination of density and shear information reveals important reservoir characteristics. Diagenetic differences in sandstone reservoirs are revealed from shear-impedance ratios, whereas high-porosity sands saturated with hydrocarbons are detected from density ratios.
Jumping mechanisms in adult caddis flies (Insecta, Trichoptera)
Authors: Burrows Malcolm , Dorosenko Marina
Published: September 2015

To understand the jumping mechanisms and strategies of adult caddis flies, leg morphology and movements were analysed in three species with mean masses of 3.9 to 38 mg. Two distinct jumping strategies were found. First (67% of 90 jumps), take-off was propelled solely by the middle and hind legs while the wings remained closed. Second (33% of jumps), the same leg movements were combined with wing movements before take-off. The hind legs were 70% and the middle legs were 50% longer than the front legs and represented 105% and 88%, respectively, of body length. Both hind and middle trochantera were depressed together, approximately 15 ms before take-off. The front legs apparently did not contribute to thrust in either strategy and were the first to be lifted from the ground. The hind legs were the next to lose contact, so that the middle legs alone provided the final thrust before take-off. Jumping performance did not differ significantly in the two jumping strategies or between species, in acceleration times (range of means for the three species 14.5–15.4 ms), take-off velocities (range 0.7–1 m s−1) and trajectory angles. A significant difference in jumps propelled only by the legs was the lower angle (9.3±1.9 deg) of the body relative to the horizontal at take-off compared with jumps involving wing movements (35.3±2.5 deg). Calculations from the kinematics indicated that jumps were produced by direct muscle contractions and did not require power amplification or energy storage.
Contemporary midwifery practice: Art, science or both?
Authors: Power Alison
Published: September 2015

Current midwifery practice is regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), whose primary role is to safeguard the public through setting standards for education and practice and regulating fitness to practise, conduct and performance through rules and codes ( NMC, 2012 ; 2015a ). Practice is informed by evidence-based guidelines developed and implemented by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence based on hierarchies of evidence, with meta-analyses and systematic reviews being identified as the ‘gold standard’. This positivist epistemological approach as developed by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), with scientific evidence at the top of a knowledge hierarchy, fails to acknowledge the ‘art of midwifery’, where a constructivist paradigm of experiential, intuitive and tacit knowledge is used by reflective practitioners to provide high-quality care. As midwifery pre-registration education is now degree-level, is the essence of midwifery practice being ‘with woman’ providing holistic care under threat, as the drive for a systematic and analytical approach to decision-making gathers momentum?
High Tonnage Harvesting and Skidding for Loblolly Pine Energy Plantations
Authors: Jernigan Patrick , Gallagher Tom , Mitchell Dana , Smidt Mathew , Teeter Larry
Published: September 2015

The southeastern United States has a promising source for renewable energy in the form of woody biomass. To meet the energy needs, energy plantations will likely be utilized. These plantations will contain a high density of small-stem pine trees. Since the stems are relatively small when compared with traditional product removal, the harvesting costs will increase. The purpose of this research was to evaluate specialized harvesting and skidding equipment that would harvest these small stems cost efficiently. The feller-buncher utilized was a Tigercat 845D with a specialized biomass shear head. The skidder was a Tigercat 630D equipped with an oversized grapple. This equipment was evaluated in a 4-hectare stand with characteristics of a southern pine energy plantation. During the study, the feller-buncher achieved an average production rate of 47 green tonnes/productive machine hour (gt/PMH) and the skidder had an average production rate of 112 gt/PMH. A before-tax cash-flow model was used to determine a cost per ton for each machine. The feller-buncher costs were $3.85/gt over a 10-year life span, whereas the skidder costs were $1.95/gt over the same 10-year life. The results suggested that the current system working in a southern pine energy plantation could harvest and skid small stems for approximately $5.80/gt.
Radiata Pine Bark Removal Associated with Two On-Landing Log-Processing Methods
Authors: Murphy Glen , Logan Oliver
Published: September 2015

Bark accounts for about 9 percent of the weight of the boles of mature radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) trees. The presence of bark can be considered as either a cost or benefit depending on the participant in the forest-to-customer supply chain. Understanding how much bark is lost or removed by different processing methods should help with managing bark quantities and with the design of harvesting systems and equipment.

Bark loss was measured in autumn in New Zealand on radiata pine logs processed using two methods; delimbing and bucking with a mechanized, dangle-head processor fitted with spiked rollers, and delimbing with a static, pull-through delimber and manual bucking using a chainsaw. The line intersect method and photographic images were used to measure areal bark loss on a total of 302 logs. Equal numbers of logs were measured for each log-processing method.

No difference in bark removal was found between methods for log grades cut from the lower portion of the stem. However, there were significant differences for grades cut from the upper portion of the stem. For the total stem, bark removal was greater with the mechanized processor method (75%) than with the static delimber and manual bucking method (48%).
Laparoscopic decompression as treatment for median arcuate ligament syndrome
Authors: Rubinkiewicz M , Ramakrishnan PK , Henry BM , Roy J , Budzyski A
Published: August 2015

Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS) is a rare disorder due to coeliac trunk compression by the median arcuate ligament, resulting in coeliac artery stenosis characterised by chronic, recurrent abdominal pain. Patients with MALS are often middle-aged females presenting with a triad of postprandial epigastric pain, weight loss and abdominal bruit. It is a diagnosis of exclusion and confirmed by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Laparoscopic or open surgical decompression are the only treatment options in MALS. We present two cases of MALS treated by laparoscopic decompression as well as a literature review on this treatment.
Is the impact factor the only game in town?
Authors: Smart P
Published: August 2015

“Not everything that can be counted counts. Not everything that counts can be counted.” William Bruce Cameron

Journal metrics mania started over 50 years ago with the impact factor that has since become so well entrenched in publishing. Ask anyone where they would like to publish their research and most will reply by saying in a journal with the highest impact factor. While this suggests quality and a degree of vetting by the scientific community, the impact factor has also been used to benchmark and compare journals.

Impact factors are often used as a proxy of a journal 's quality and scientific prestige. However, is medicine dependent on a valuation system that may be grounded in falsity? Much about this measure is imperfect and destructive. Journals can manipulate the impact factor by refusing to publish articles like case reports that are unlikely to be cited or, conversely, by publishing a large proportion of review articles, which tend to attract more citations. Another tactic that may be used is to publish articles that could be highly cited early in the year, thereby leaving more time to collect citations.

Many use the impact factor as an important determinant of grants, awards, promotions and career advancement, and also as a basis for an individual's reputation and professional standing. Nevertheless, you should remember that the impact factor is not a measure of an individual article, let alone an individual scientist. As long as an article has been cited, the citation will contribute to the journal's impact factor. This is regardless of whether the article's premise is true or false, or whether the cited paper was being credited or criticised. Perversely, a weak paper that is being refuted will augment the impact factor, as will a retracted article, because although the article may have been retracted, the citations of this article will still count.

The impact factor has weathered many storms in the past but criticisms against it are increasing, as is interest in displacing it as a single metric used to measure an article's influence. Many would like the scientific community to assess research on its merits rather than on the basis of the journal in which it is published. With the advent of social media, an article can now be commented on in real time with Tweets, bookmarks and blogs. In future, these measures will complement the impact factor but they will probably not become an alternative.

Despite its imperfections, the impact factor has been around for a long time. As yet, although many alternative metrics have since emerged, nothing better is available. Perhaps it is the scientific community's misuse of the impact factor that is the problem and not the impact factor itself?

In this article, Pippa Smart, who is the guest editor for this series, writes about the ways to measure the impact of a journal and published articles.

JYOTI SHAH

Commissioning Editor
from Westminster
Authors: Leahy Patrick
Published: August 2015

Adapt to survive: the uphill challenge facing the Labour Party
A stressful job: are surgeons psychopaths?
Authors: Pegrum J , Pearce O
Published: August 2015

And if so, is that such a bad thing?
Better not look down…
Authors: Marsh Henry
Published: August 2015

Neurosurgeon and bestselling author Henry Marsh reflects on the psychology of surgery.
Just noise?
Authors: Winter George
Published: August 2015

George Winter wonders why background noise in the operating theatre isn't music to everyone's ears.
Touch Surgery: Is this the future for surgical training?
Authors: Uzoho Chukwudi , Doganay Emre , Watson Lara
Published: August 2015

Make way for the arrival of 'virtual' surgery.
Healthy living sucks
Authors: Boyd Robert
Published: August 2015

Why Robert Boyd thinks it might be time for a regime change.
The naked surgeon
Authors: Nashef Samer
Published: August 2015

By Samer Nashef
Robot wars
Authors: Kuku Esther
Published: August 2015

Man vs machine? Why we should welcome advances in robot-assisted surgery, albeit with caution.
Treasures from the collections
Authors: O’Driscoll Geraldine
Published: August 2015

Heroes of Heritage: William Clift (1775–1849)
Sloppy seems to be the hardest word
Authors: Slop
Published: August 2015

Slop is asked to write a column wondering why he must always apologise.
Analysis of procedures of limited clinical value in ENT surgery
Authors: Ross E , Trotter MI
Published: August 2015

What new PCT guidelines mean for those in need of grommets and tonsillectomies.
Are urology indicative numbers an achievable objective?
Authors: Tang V , Ali Z , Hall K
Published: August 2015

Assessing their feasibility within a five-year training programme.
Reducing the cost and clinical implications of delayed cholecystectomies
Authors: Patel P , Sihre H , Bhogal R , Mirza S
Published: August 2015

Recommendations for the management of gallstone-related diseases.
Ocular care in Bell’s palsy
Authors: Siddiq S , Trotter MI , Reuser TTQ
Published: August 2015

Is basic eye care lacking in routine management of this condition?
Itinerant Teachers’ Perspectives of Using Collaborative Practices in Serving Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Authors: Compton Mary V. , Appenzeller Margo , Kemmery Megan , Gardiner-Walsh Stephanie
Published: August 2015

I n a qualitative study conducted in the southern United States, the researchers explored the perceptions of seven itinerant teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing regarding the formation and maintenance of collaborative relationships during consultation services the teachers provide to general educators. The researchers used the theoretical construct of collaboration proposed by Friend and Cook (1990, 2007) in the analysis of interviews. It was found that itinerants employed elements of collaboration as outlined by Friend and Cook and that these teachers regarded these collaborative relationships as essential to fulfilling their consultative responsibilities. However, as the itinerant teachers strived to establish and maintain collaborative relationships, they faced barriers related to time constraints, insufficient administrative support, and variable perceptions of the necessity of collaborating with general educators.
Social and Emotional Learning and the Work of Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Authors: Norman Nancy , Jamieson Janet R.
Published: August 2015

T he study investigated how social and emotional learning (SEL) is reflected in the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing (ITDHHs). A mixed-methods approach was taken to survey 53 ITDHHs about their comfort with teaching SEL, commitment to ongoing professional development in SEL skills, and perceptions of SEL in school cultures. Follow-up interviews with 11 ITDHHs provided a deeper perspective on how these teachers prioritize and teach SEL skills within their unique teaching role. Overall, the findings revealed that ITDHHs overwhelmingly recognized the need to provide SEL support to their students, and very often provided direct teaching of SEL skills. However, they did not necessarily feel adequately prepared, nor supported by their schools, in terms of teaching SEL. Implications of the findings for professional preparation and practice are discussed.
Using an Informal Reading Inventory to Differentiate Instruction: Case Studies of Three Deaf Learners
Authors: Trezek Beverly J. , Mayer Connie
Published: August 2015

T he present study examined the efficacy of using an informal reading inventory to assess literacy levels in elementary-age deaf students, grades 3–5: the period when the gap between deaf and hearing learners often begins to widen, and the need to identify and remediate specific skill deficits becomes increasingly imperative. Emphasis was placed on exploring how results of a formative assessment can inform instruction across a variety of literacy skills (e.g., word identification, reading accuracy, reading fluency, reading comprehension, writing) and among a broad range of learners. A case study approach is used to present in-depth overviews of the performance profiles of three students; also, instructional implications of the findings are discussed. The results illustrate how an informal reading inventory can be used to design interventions that are differentiated and targeted based on identified needs in both the code- and language-related domains of literacy skill development.
Emotional Availability and Touch in Deaf and Hearing Dyads
Authors: Paradis Grace , Koester Lynne Sanford
Published: August 2015

I n recent years , increasing attention has been given to the development of deaf children, though few studies have included Deaf parents. The present study examined emotional availability (EA) and functions of touch used by Deaf or hearing parents with hearing or deaf infants during free play. Sixty dyads representing four hearing status groups were observed when the infants were 18 months old. Comparisons among all four groups revealed significant differences in regard to parental sensitivity and child responsiveness, with hearing mothers with deaf infants tending to score lowest in the various subcategories of EA. Significant differences were also found for attentional touch and total touch, with deaf mothers of deaf or hearing infants using both types of touch more than hearing mothers of deaf or hearing infants. The importance of support and interventions for hearing mothers with deaf infants is discussed.
Preservice Teacher and Interpreter American Sign Language Abilities: Self-Evaluations and Evaluations of Deaf Students’ Narrative Renditions
Authors: Beal-Alvarez Jennifer S. , Scheetz Nanci A.
Published: August 2015

I n deaf education , the sign language skills of teacher and interpreter candidates are infrequently assessed; when they are, formal measures are commonly used upon preparation program completion, as opposed to informal measures related to instructional tasks. Using an informal picture storybook task, the authors investigated the receptive and expressive narrative sign language skills of 10 teacher and interpreter candidates in a university preparation program. The candidates evaluated signed renditions of two signing children, as well as their own expressive renditions, using the Signed Reading Fluency Rubric (Easterbrooks & Huston, 2008) at the completion of their fifth sign language course. Candidates’ evaluations were compared overall and across 12 sign language indicators to ratings of two university program professors. Some variation existed across ratings for individual indicators, but generally the candidates were aware of and could accurately rate their own abilities and those of two signing children.
“How Did I End Up Here?”: Dynamic Cartography in Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
Authors: Cesare Nicole
Published: August 2015

This article considers the principle of relation in Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears in order to suggest that the novel brings narrative and mapping practices closer together. I develop this relational reading by connecting Edouard Glissant’s work on the poetics of relation to David Harvey’s conception of relational spacetime and arguing that the novel’s fragmented and elliptical narrative embodies these principles. As a result, it generates what I call “dynamic cartography,” a mode of space-writing characterized by fluidity, mobility, and disjunction. Reading Beautiful Things through the framework of relation shows how the text deploys maps and other cartographic ephemera to negotiate and mediate geographical upheavals such as diaspora and gentrification. More broadly, it reveals how the literature of globalization functions as a form of cartography, a representation of space that conditions our understanding of the world. Ultimately, this reading suggests that as space becomes increasingly dynamic and disjunctive, so too do the forms that represent that space.
Acts without Agents: The Language of Torture in J. M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians
Authors: Adams Kelly
Published: August 2015

This article draws from J. M. Coetzee’s linguistic work on the passive sentence to analyze his representation of torture in Waiting for the Barbarians . It argues that Coetzee’s complex use of the short passive (also known as the “agentless sentence”) counters the transparent connection between truth and language in the novel by creating critical gaps in the narrative that disrupt the process of interpretation. Given how the torturer in the novel, Colonel Joll, perceives “truth” as having a certain “tone,” the question of how truth is represented in language becomes critical to undermining the logic of torture Joll explicates. Throughout the novel, Coetzee exploits the ambiguity created by the short passive to not only illustrate the grammatical fictions that undergird our assumptions while reading the text but also challenge the linguistic certainties of “truth” to which the torture chamber owes its existence.
A Living Legacy: An Interview with Saleem Peeradina
Authors: Venkateswaran Pramila
Published: August 2015

In this interview, Indian-American poet Saleem Peeradina discusses the effects of immigration on his writing, his writing process, the relationship between his academic and literary work, his advice to younger poets, the challenges faced by poets writing in the diaspora, and other topics.
Reassessing Thematic Crossings between South Africa and Nigeria: Postcolonial Leadership and Power in Mandla Langa’s The Lost Colours of the Chameleon and Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel
Authors: Fasselt Rebecca
Published: August 2015

While Chris Dunton has described Nigeria and South Africa as the two powerhouses of African fiction, their literatures have, for evident historical reasons, followed distinct trajectories. Thus far, little critical attention has been paid to comparing theorisations of contemporary South African and Nigerian novels. This article aims to contribute to re-enlivening the sorely lacking dialogue between the countries’ literatures by providing a comparative reading of Mandla Langa’s The Lost Colours of the Chameleon and Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel . I argue that Langa’s allegorical novel dispenses with the idea of South African exceptionalism by exploring the lust for power in the postcolony. In particular, his representation of the postcolonial ruling class establishes an intertextual dialogue with writing from elsewhere on the continent. Waiting for an Angel , while engaging with postcolonial military dictatorships during the mid-1980s and 1990s in Nigeria, is also noteworthy for invoking a sense of placelessness and, therefore, offers itself for a comparative analysis. Relating the novels to their literary antecedents as well as to recent theorisations of third-generation Nigerian fiction and the post-apartheid novel, I suggest that their reflections on postcolonial leadership unsettle the boundaries of national literatures and invoke a sense of continental connectivity.
Freedom on a Frontier?: The Double Bind of (White) Postapartheid South African Literature
Authors: de Kock Leon
Published: August 2015

The trend in analyses of postapartheid South African literature is to see a body of writing that is largely “freed from the past” and exhibits a wide range of divergences from “struggle” writing. This article provides a differently nuanced conceptualisation and argues that some of the literature’s key dynamics are founded in “mashed-up temporalities.” My analysis borrows from Ashraf Jamal’s appropriation of art historian Hal Foster’s “future anterior” or a “will have been.” In my reading, emblematic strands of postapartheid writing are less “free from the past” than trading in an anxiety about never having begun. The body of literature in question—in this case, white post-transitional writing—is inescapably bound to the idea of the time of before, so much so that it compulsively iterates certain immemorial literary tropes such as those of the frontier and the journey of discovery. Further, I suggest that much postapartheid literature written in what I call “detection mode”—providing accounts of “crime” and other social ills—is distinguished by disjunctive continuity rather than linear or near-linear discontinuity with pre-transition literature, yet exhibits features of authorial voice and affect that place it within a distinctly postapartheid zone of author-reader interlocution.
Playful Ethnography: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Nigerian Education
Authors: Borman David
Published: August 2015

This paper looks at the critical and popular reception of Chinua Achebe’s first novel, Things Fall Apart , as an authentic text offering an “insider” perspective on Igbo culture. Drawing from small magazines and university publications in 1950s Nigeria, this paper suggests that early Nigerian authors like Achebe were educated and began writing in a culture that valued a playful exploration of meaning in Western texts. These early publications express multiple uses of the texts students read in colonial school, and I read Achebe’s novel as an extension of this playfulness. Although it is generally seen as an example of the empire “writing back,” I argue that Things Fall Apart actually uses ethnographic accounts of Nigerian village life—especially G. T. Basden’s Niger Ibos and C. K. Meek’s Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe —in an open and exploratory manner. Seeing Achebe’s work in this light allows for a complex view of the novel’s presentation of Igbo life, and I argue that such a reading resituates his first novel as a playful encounter with ethnography rather than as a literary response to more traditional literary texts like Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness or Joyce Cary’s Mister Johnson .
Autobiography Scholarship 2.0?: Understanding New Forms of Online Life Writing
Authors: Sorapure Madeleine
Published: August 2015

Concepts of interface, interactivity, and organization are key to articulating autobiography theory that can account for popular new modes of online autobiographical writing taking place at social networking sites and in data-driven, visually-based infographic self-representations.
Online Lives 2.0: Introduction
Authors: McNeill Laurie , Zuern John David
Published: August 2015

Looking back to Biography ’s 2003 “Online Lives,” the coeditors reflect on continuities and analyze new developments in Internet-based auto/biographical production since the advent of Web 2.0. They outline recurring themes in the essays in Online Lives 2.0 , which include the merging of public and private life, online self-curation, the socioeconomic dimensions of online self-presentation, and the filtering and falsification of lives in social media, and they explore the implications of these issues for auto/biography studies.
On (Not) Talking in the Dark: Why I Stopped Blogging
Authors: Josefowicz Diane
Published: August 2015

This personal essay explores the author’s decision to stop blogging after a person close to the author revealed herself to be a hostile secret reader of the author’s blog. The author uses this experience to raise larger questions about online audiences and intersections between public writing and private life.