bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pharmacogenomics in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Toward a Mechanistic, Target‐Based Approach to Therapy
Authors: Said Sami I. , Hamidi Sayyed A.
Published: November 2011

Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genetic variations influence the response to drugs, by correlating gene expression with the drug's efficacy and toxicity. This concept has recently been successfully applied in oncology. To test its applicability to PAH, we examined two experimental models of the disease: mice with deletion of the Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide gene (VIP‐/‐); and rats injected with monocrotaline (MCT). Since the two models express comparable phenotypic features, we analyzed their particular gene alterations, with special reference to genes related to pulmonary vasoconstriction, vascular remodeling, and inflammation. We then compared the phenotypic and genotypic responses in each model to treatment with the same drug, VIP. In untreated VIP‐/‐ mice there was over‐expression of almost all genes promoting vasoconstriction/proliferation, as well as inflammation, and under‐expression of all vasodilator/anti‐proliferative genes. As expected, treatment with VIP fully corrected both the key PAH features, and all gene expression alterations. MCT‐treated rats showed two distinct sets of alterations. One, similar to that in VIP‐/‐ mice, i.e., tended to promote vascular remodeling and inflammation, e.g., up‐regulation of myosin polypeptides, procollagen, and some inflammatory genes. The other was a set of opposite alterations that suggested an effort to modulate the PAH, e.g., up‐regulation of the VIP and NOS3 genes. In this model, VIP treatment failed to correct many of the genotypic abnormalities, and, in parallel, incompletely corrected the phenotypic changes as well. This preliminary proof‐of‐concept study demonstrates the importance of genomic information in determining therapeutic outcome, and thus in selecting personalized therapy. Full validation of the merits of pharmacogenomics must await studies of lungs from patients with different forms of PAH.
Fenfluramine‐Induced Gene Dysregulation in Human Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle and Endothelial Cells
Authors: Yao Weijuan , Mu Wenbo , Zeifman Amy , Lofti Michelle , Remillard Carmelle V. , Makino Ayako , Perkins David L. , Garcia Joe G. N. , Yuan Jason X. J. , Zhang Wei
Published: November 2011

Fenfluramine is prescribed either alone or in combination with phentermine as part of Fen‐Phen, an anti‐obesity medication. Fenfluramine was withdrawn from the US market in 1997 due to reports of heart valvular disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and cardiac fibrosis. Particularly, idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), previously referred to as primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), was found to be associated with the use of Fen‐Phen, fenfluramine, and fenfluramine derivatives. The underlying mechanism of fenfluramine‐associated pulmonary hypertension is still largely unknown. We reasoned that investigating drug‐induced gene dysregulation would enhance our understanding of the fenfluramine‐associated pathogenic mechanism of IPAH. Whole‐genome gene expression profiles in fenfluramine‐treated human pulmonary artery smooth muscle (PASMC) and endothelial (PAEC) cells (isolated from normal subjects) were compared with baseline expression in untreated cells. Fenfluramine treatment caused dysregulation in a substantial number of genes involved in a variety of pathways and biological processes. In addition to several common pathways and biological processes such as “MAPK signaling pathway,” “inflammation response,” and “calcium signaling pathway” shared between both cell types, pathways and biological processes such as “blood circulation,” “muscle system process,” and “immune response” were enriched among the dysregulated genes in PASMC. Pathways and biological processes such as those related to cell cycle, however, were enriched among the dysregulated genes in PAEC, indicating that fenfluramine could affect unique pathways (or differentially) in different types of pulmonary artery cells. While awaiting validation in a larger cohort, these results strongly suggested that fenfluramine could induce significant dysregulation of genes in multiple biological processes and pathways critical for normal pulmonary vascular functions and structure. The transcriptional and posttranscriptional changes in these genes may, therefore, contribute to the pathogenesis of fenfluramine‐associated IPAH.
The carbon budget of the Baltic Sea
Authors: Kuliński K. , Pempkowiak J.
Published: November 2011

Abstract. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of the Baltic Sea carbon budget. The Baltic Sea is very much influenced by terrestrial carbon input. Rivers are the largest carbon source, and their input amounts to 10.90 Tg C yr−1 (Tg = 1012 g) with a 37.5% contribution of organic carbon. On the other hand, carbon is effectively exported from the Baltic to the North Sea (7.67 Tg C yr−1) and is also buried in bottom sediments (2.73 Tg C yr−1). The other sources and sinks of carbon are of minor importance. The net CO2 emission (1.05 Tg C yr−1) from the Baltic to the atmosphere was calculated as the closing term of the carbon budget presented here. There is a net loss of organic carbon, which indicates that the Baltic Sea is heterotrophic.
Glacial-interglacial vegetation dynamics in South Eastern Africa coupled to sea surface temperature variations in the Western Indian Ocean
Authors: Dupont L. M. , Caley T. , Kim J.-H. , Castañeda I. , Malaizé B. , Giraudeau J.
Published: November 2011

Abstract. Glacial-interglacial fluctuations in the vegetation of South Africa might elucidate the climate system at the edge of the tropics between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. However, vegetation records covering a full glacial cycle have only been published from the eastern South Atlantic. We present a pollen record of the marine core MD96-2048 retrieved by the Marion Dufresne from the Indian Ocean ∼120 km south of the Limpopo River mouth. The sedimentation at the site is slow and continuous. The upper 6 m (spanning the past 342 Ka) have been analysed for pollen and spores at millennial resolution. The terrestrial pollen assemblages indicate that during interglacials, the vegetation of eastern South Africa and southern Mozambique largely consisted of evergreen and deciduous forests. During glacials open mountainous scrubland dominated. Montane forest with Podocarpus extended during humid periods was favoured by strong local insolation. Correlation with the sea surface temperature record of the same core indicates that the extension of mountainous scrubland primarily depends on sea surface temperatures of the Agulhas Current. Our record corroborates terrestrial evidence of the extension of open mountainous scrubland (including fynbos-like species of the high-altitude Grassland biome) for the last glacial as well as for other glacial periods of the past 300 Ka.
Promoting interdisciplinary education – the Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems
Authors: Blöschl G. , Carr G. , Bucher C. , Farnleitner A. H. , Rechberger H. , Wagner W. , Zessner M.
Published: November 2011

Abstract. The Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resource Systems (DK-WRS) is a programme that aims to educate students in interdisciplinary water science through cutting edge research at an international level. It is funded by the Austrian Science Fund and designed to run over a period of 12 yr during which 80 doctoral students are anticipated to graduate. This paper reports on our experiences of setting up and implementing the Programme. We identify three challenges: integrating the disciplines, maintaining depth in an interdisciplinary programme, and teaching subjects remote to each student's core expertise. To address these challenges we adopted a number of approaches. We use three levels of instruments to foster integration across the disciplines: joint groups (e.g. a joint study programme), joint science questions (e.g. developed in annual symposia), and joint study sites. To maintain depth we apply a system of quality control including regular feedback sessions, theses by journal publications and international study exchange. For simultaneously teaching students from civil and environmental engineering, biology, geology, chemistry, mathematics we use visually explicit teaching, learning by doing, extra mentoring and by cross relating associated subjects. Our initial assessment of the Programme shows some very positive outcomes. Joint science questions formed between students from various disciplines indicate integration is being achieved. The number of successful publications in top journals suggests that depth is maintained. Positive feedback from the students on the variety and clarity of the courses indicates the teaching strategy is working well. Our experiences have shown that implementing and running an interdisciplinary doctoral programme has its challenges and is demanding in terms of time and human resources but seeing interactions progress and watching people grow and develop their way of thinking in an interdisciplinary environment is a valuable reward.
A geotechnical and GIS based method for evaluating risk exposition along coastal cliff environments: a case study of the chalk cliffs of southern England
Authors: Stavrou A. , Lawrence J. A. , Mortimore R. N. , Murphy W.
Published: November 2011

Abstract. The present work has established a methodology that allows the user to determine areas susceptible to shoreline recession and cliff instability. This methodology includes the development of a qualitative loss estimation system which utilizes geotechnical field mapping observations and shoreline retreat predictions to estimate the exposition of critical infrastructure to hazards posed by cliff collapse and retreat. The technique identifies hazardous areas along coastal cliff environments. The assessment was undertaken along the cliff section between Brighton Marina and Portobello, East Sussex, UK. The cliff line was divided into 22 sections according to the cliff's geology. Each of these sections was mapped and described with respect to the lithology and possible failures that could occur. Historical shoreline recession analysis was used for the prediction of future shoreline positions. The prediction of future shorelines was performed by using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System, extension of ESRI's ArcView 9.x. The analysis was based on historical maps and aerial photographs dating from 1873 to 2005. The long term average cliff recession rates clearly show that cliff retreat has declined through time due to the presence of coast protection and cliff stability measures. Although these measures have delayed cliff recession to a great extent, they have not eliminated it.
Toward a Unified Theory of High-Energy Metaphysics: Silly String Theory
Authors: Carberry Josiah
Published: November 2011

The characteristic theme of the works of Stone is the bridge between culture and society. Several narratives concerning the fatal !aw, and subsequent dialectic, of semioticist class may be found. Thus, Debord uses the term ‘the subtextual paradigm of consensus’ to denote a cultural paradox. The subject is interpolated into a neocultural discourse that includes sexuality as a totality. But Marx’s critique of prepatriarchialist nihilism states that consciousness is capable of signi"cance. The main theme of Dietrich’s[1]model of cultural discourse is not construction, but neoconstruction. Thus, any number of narratives concerning the textual paradigm of narrative exist. Pretextual cultural theory suggests that context must come from the collective unconscious.
Aggression and Competition
Authors: Paquette Daniel
Published: November 2011

In the dominant school of thought in developmental psychopathology, aggression is seen as one of several components in the general category of so‐called externalizing problem behaviours. Aggression is generally considered a form of social maladjustment, a manifestation of antisociality that should be neutralized through preventive and curative intervention programs. However, more and more studies are trying to understand the specific determinants of the development of aggression.
Archival Research
Authors: Bercovitch Jacob
Published: November 2011

Questions about conflict and peace are central to many social science disciplines. There is clearly a need to know how to limit violence and resolve conflicts between individuals, groups, or nations. Such knowledge can only come about if suitable research methods are adopted to capture the reality of conflict and peace, build bridges between ideas and action, and integrate a wide range of notions from theorists and practitioners of conflict resolution. There are different methodologies and approaches to studying substantive issues of conflict and peace. Archival research, the particular methodology that is highlighted here, can achieve these objectives by reducing tensions between abstract notions and concrete actions, and between the object of study and the way it is studied. While no methodology can claim a monopoly on knowledge and research practices, there is much about archival research that makes it ideal for answering questions about peace and conflict.
Child Soldiers, Traditional Healing and
Authors: Honwana Alcinda
Published: November 2011

In many societies, postwar healing is closely linked to the “social pollution”w caused by death and bloodshed during war. Individuals who have been in a war, who killed or saw people being killed, are seen as polluted by the “wrongdoings of the war.” The spirits of those killed unjustly during wars become unsettled because people cannot conduct proper burial rituals in the midst of war. Burial rituals are important to appease the spirits and place them in their proper positions in the world of the ancestors. The spirits of the dead in wartime are unsettled and bitter and they may afflict their killers or others who cross their path. These spirits may cause mental disorders and other types of afflictions. Once the war is over, former child soldiers, their families and their communities can heal the social wounds of war through traditional ritual performance.
Children, Psychosocial Interventions with
Authors: Veale Angela
Published: November 2011

Psychosocial interventions with children aim to address the root causes and consequences of violence, exploitation, and abuse directed at or experienced by children and adolescents by fusing personal, material, and social resources to prevent harm and to support children's capacity to thrive. Interventions range from addressing children's physical and psychological health to tackling the repercussions of dominant cultural narratives or structural factors that depress or hinder their development. Old paradigms that place biology, psyche, or culture in opposition in psychosocial interventions with children have been challenged over the past decade. An evolving paradigm can be identified which views children's developmental trajectory as rooted in biology but in which family, community, political institutions, and culture all provide “structuring contexts” in which children actively participate and can support or disempower their development. Conceptually this is evident in models such as the social‐ecological model of the Psychosocial Working Group. In practice, it is evident in the rise of empowerment and community‐mobilization approachs in child psychosocial programming.
Children and Human Rights
Authors: Veale Angela
Published: November 2011

Child rights instruments have become powerful tools in the arsenal of peace psychologists working to address the impact of both direct and structural violence on children's lives. Children below 18 years of age account for almost 45% of the world's population. Africa and Asia have the greatest concentrations of absolute deprivations of children's rights (UNICEF, 2009) and significantly, these regions are also disproportionately affected by conflict. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the most widely ratified human rights instrument in history, recognizes children as individuals entitled to legally enforceable rights. The CRC obliges state parties to address the consequences of conflict for children through measures such as rehabilitation and social reintegration as well as to provide economic, social, and cultural resources necessary for children's development and well‐being. Perhaps of even wider significance, principles of nondiscrimination or universality (Article 2) directly challenge structural violence whereby children of particular social or ethnic groups may be disadvantaged by political, legal, or culturally institutionalized inequalities.
Climate Change and Violence
Authors: Anderson Craig A.
Published: November 2011

Rapid global climate change is now a fact of twenty‐first century life. Human activity especially the production of huge quantities of several greenhouse gases primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, has initiated a general warming trend in our atmosphere and on our planet. This trend will continue and likely will accelerate unless we find a way to return the composition of our atmosphere to a pre‐industrial era norm. Because of the longevity of greenhouse gases, even a slowing of the warming trend won't occur until decades after we stop producing such a large load of such gases.
Collective Remembering
Authors: Paez Dario , Liu James H.
Published: November 2011

Memory of collective violence often burdens present conflicts with aggressive forms of ingroup favoritism, a duty of retaliation, and generalized hatred towards past perpetrators, and makes the current situation appear to repeat previous violent conflicts. Emotionally loaded collective memory (CM) of past conflicts, wars in particular, can sow the seeds of fear and distrust and make it virtually impossible to negotiate a compromise solution. In addition to the emotional component, research has examined cognitive and motivational features of CM.
Common Ingroup Identity Model
Authors: Gaertner Samuel L. , Dovidio John F.
Published: November 2011

The common ingroup identity model is a strategy for reducing prejudice. The model assumes that intergroup biases are rooted in the universal tendency to simplify a complex environment by classifying objects and people into groups or categories. This process of categorization often occurs spontaneously on the basis of physical similarity, proximity, or shared fate. The common ingroup identity model reveals how changing the ways people socially categorize others can reduce intergroup prejudice and bias.
Cooperation and Competition
Authors: Deutsch Morton
Published: November 2011

Cooperative and competitive processes result primarily from two basic types of goal interdependence: positive (where the goals are linked in such a way that the amount or probability of a person's goal attainment is positively correlated with the amount or probability of another obtaining his goal) and negative (where the goals are linked in such a way that the amount or probability of goal attainment is negatively correlated with the amount or probability of the other's goal attainment). To put it colloquially, if you're positively linked with another, then you sink and swim together; with negative linkage, if the other sinks, you swim, and if the other swims, you sink.
Coping: Emotion and Problem‐Focused
Authors: Fabick Stephen D.
Published: November 2011

Coping is the process of responding to internal or external demands that are perceived to be a threat. Coping strategies enable people to tolerate and sometimes master stressful experiences. such efforts rely upon a person's actions or attitudes in dealing with a stressor, and often a combination of both.
Counseling and Social Justice
Authors: Toporek Rebecca L.
Published: November 2011

Throughout the history of counseling there has been a continuous, yet fluctuating, thread of social justice. Frank Parsons is often noted as one of the earliest and most visible social justice advocates, as he worked in the early 1900s to provide services to homeless and jobless individuals, challenged the structure of distribution of resources, and designed systems of service that focused on strength and community Counseling historians also note the work of Clifford Beers, who is attributed with taking social action to challenge mental health hospitalization policies, bringing attention to the rights of individuals diagnosed with mental illness (see Kiselica & Robinson, 2001). The fields of counseling and counseling psychology have also been moved by the many scholar‐activists who have worked on establishing guidelines for working with populations who have historically been denied appropriate services and rights, including women, people of color, sexual minorities, people with disabilities, religious minorities, economically poor individuals, and others. Multicultural counseling, feminist counseling, prevention counseling, and community counseling have all made important contributions to this discourse. Significant social justice work has arisen from these efforts as the process of developing guidelines has acknowledged the systemic oppression faced by these groups. This is often accompanied by the assertion that the responsibility of counselors and psychologists is to acknowledge and challenge this imbalance of rights and resources. This assertion is not without debate.
Culture and Conflict
Authors: Marsella Anthony J.
Published: November 2011

Conflict is one of the most frequently used terms in our daily lives. It refers to states and/or situations of discord, disharmony, and opposition within, between, and among people, groups, and nations. It can also refer to intrapsychic tensions in which beliefs, values, impulses, and behaviors contend with one another. This opposition or contention can assume the proportion of a simple disagreement, or it can extend to the level of violence, aggression, and even warfare. In all instances, a conflict has its roots in “differences” that require resolution because of the inherent state of tension, stress, and/or emotional and intellectual discomfort and discontent. For conflict to exist, the differences usually are perceived as threatening to identity, security, and/or health and well‐being.
Domestic Violence: Feminist Perspective
Authors: Bagshaw Dale
Published: November 2011

Domestic violence is prevalent in most, if not all, countries and cultures in the world (World Health Organization, 2008) and is very hard to detect, as generally the victims are too powerless, fearful, intimidated, or ashamed to disclose the abuse. Central to feminist definitions of domestic violence is the misuse and abuse of power and control by the perpetrators, who are more often than not men, particularly in patriarchal societies where men have more power and control in families and the broader society. More recently it has been recognized that domestic violence also occurs in lesbian and gay relationships and there is evidence that in a small minority of cases men are abused by women, indicating that it is the misuse and abuse of power, not necessarily gender, which is central to understandings of domestic violence. Postmodern feminists also focus on the social construction of masculinities and femininities in a social group or culture and the ways in which they contribute to gendered violence (Weedon, 1987). They also highlight the role that dominant discourses play in the social and cultural meanings given to gender and violence, and to the way that people interpret and respond to the violence (Bagshaw & Chung, 2000). (See
gender
‐
based violence
;
family violence and abuse
.)
Emotion
Authors: Lickel Brian
Published: November 2011

Intergroup relations are often suffused with emotion. We may feel intense negative emotions — such as of anger, fear, and disgust — toward those groups with which we are in conflict. However, emotions may also play a role in promoting peace between groups, such as when we feel guilt for the wrongdoing of our group, sympathy for members of harmed outgroups, and hope for the future of relations between our group and others. Understanding the emotions that people feel in intergroup situations is vitally important, but because of their complexity emotions can be a difficult thing to measure and change.
Emotional Climate for Peace
Authors: de Rivera Joseph
Published: November 2011

Emotional climate refers to the prevailing state of emotional relationships in a collective. These may either involve the relationships between individuals or between groups/communities within a society. Thus, descriptions of emotional climate involve the extent to which people, and groups within a collective, trust and respect one another, and the degree to which a society is unified or polarized. They include the extent to which people are feeling secure, are living in a climate of fear that isolates people from one another, or experience a climate of anger and despair at the corruption in their government. The state of the emotional climate may be described along different emotional dimensions and regarded as the collective's affective response to its economic, political, and social conditions.
Experimentation, Design, and Analysis
Authors: Hulsizer Michael R. , Woolf Linda M.
Published: November 2011

Peace psychology researchers have a multitude of methodologies available to explore the diverse areas of inquiry which compose the field of peace psychology. For example, researchers may choose a qualitative approach through the use of field studies, ethnographies, oral histories, or case studies. Although many of these approaches are more commonplace in disciplines such as women's studies and anthropology, there are an increasing number of psychologists utilizing these methodologies given the richness of the resultant data and the challenges of international research. However, the most prevalent research approach in psychology involves the investigation of quantitative data – often collected through archival data, interviews, surveys, quasi‐experiments, and/or experiments. The focus of this essay is on experimentation using quantitative data.
Fear, Politics of
Authors: Bar‐Tal Daniel , Rosler Nimrod
Published: November 2011

Research about the role and effects of fear in politics and conflicts has received contributions from scholars in different domains, such as psychology, political science, international relations, and history.
Guilt: Personal and Collective
Authors: Wohl Michael J. A. , Branscombe Nyla R.
Published: November 2011

Guilt is an unpleasant emotion that is evoked when people's behavior deviates from salient moral standards concerning how other people should be treated. Simply deviating from these standards, however, is insufficient to experience guilt. For guilt to occur, the individual must recognize that his or her behavior is inconsistent with what is normative with regard to the treatment of others and accept personal responsibility for the harm inflicted. For example, John might feel guilt if he knowingly and unjustifiably failed to hire a person because of his/her race or ethnicity rather than the merit of that particular applicant.
Identity‐Based Conflicts, The
ARIA
Contingency Approach to
Authors: Rothman Jay
Published: November 2011

A major focus of the ARIA methodology of conflict engagement is its disciplined approach to
conflict as opportunity
. Using music as its primary organizing metaphor (an “aria”), this methodology views conflict as an opportunity to foster creativity and resonance within and between people and their primary group affiliations (Rothman, 1996). While its focus was originally on creatively engaging identity‐based conflicts, with the idea that the deeper the conflict the greater the need and potential for creativity, ARIA has evolved into a more comprehensive approach that builds upon and synthesizes other approaches. Thus, it has become a broader contingency model with the type of intervention suggested dependent upon the analysis of the nature and depth of the conflict.
Intergroup Hatred: Psychological Dimensions
Authors: Halperin Eran
Published: November 2011

The negative impact of hatred on human life has been widely documented (Sternberg 2003; Opotow & McClelland, 2007). Aristotle perceived hatred as one of the more momentous emotions because of the way it undermines people's sense of judgment. Hatred is also known as one of the most prevalent and destructive affective phenomena in situations of long‐term intergroup conflict (Halperin, 2008). It fulfills a fundamentally destructive role in the violent effect it exerts on intergroup relations, potentially impelling people to acts of mass murder and war. Hence, hate makes a huge contribution to the escalation and maintenance of long‐term conflicts and it stands as a powerful barrier to conflict resolution.)
Intergroup Threat Theory
Authors: Stephan Walter G. , Mealy Marisa D.
Published: November 2011

Over the past several decades, a growing number of social scientists have become interested in the role that threats play in intergroup conflict. Threats are believed to be a major cause of conflict as well as an impediment to peace and reconciliation. In this essay we explore these two issues using the intergroup threat theory as a framework. We also discuss psychological processes and techniques involved in reducing intergroup threats.
Markov Chain Models of Negotiators' Communication
Authors: Olekalns Mara , Smith Philip L. , Weingart Laurie R.
Published: November 2011

Negotiators' communication can be analyzed at several levels: the frequency with which strategies are used, how negotiators sequence strategies, and how strategies evolve over time. Each level of analysis provides us with different kinds of information about the negotiation process. An important difference between these approaches is that analyses focusing on how often negotiators use a specific strategy assume that the negotiation process is static over time whereas analyses that focus on sequences or phases allow for the possibility that, as negotiators learn about each other, they redefine the negotiation and change their strategy preferences. The analysis of sequences enables us to answer questions that cannot be answered by focusing solely on the frequency with which negotiators use particular strategies. By analyzing sequences, we are able to assess how negotiations unfold over time and how negotiators influence each other and transform the negotiation. Understanding how the negotiation is transformed is especially important because it helps us to identify the most important mechanisms for building mutually beneficial solutions across a range of questions. In this entry, we describe the use of Markov chain models to represent and analyze strategy sequences (Bakeman & Gottman, 1986; Smith, Olekalns & Weingart, 2005; Thomas, 1985).
Mediation
Authors: Hardy Samantha
Published: November 2011

Generally speaking, mediation is a process that involves two or more people in conflict who are assisted by a third person, who does not determine the outcome of their conflict (Wall, Stark, & Standifer, 2001). This third person is called the mediator. The mediator's main role is to assist the people to communicate with each other in relation to the conflict between them.)
Mobilization: Peaceful and Violent
Authors: Valencia Jose F.
Published: November 2011

There is agreement among the scholars of democracy, from Rousseau and J. S. Mill to Tarrow and Putnam, that mass participation is essential for the life of a representative democracy. Political participation is the critical link between the citizenry and the governing process and “provides the mechanism by which citizens can communicate information about their interests, preferences, and needs and generate pressure to respond” (Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995, p. 1).
Moral Conviction
Authors: Morgan G. Scott , Skitka Linda J.
Published: November 2011

A theme that cuts across many societal debates is that at least one side defines its position in moral terms. For example, some people's positions on legalized abortion, same‐sex marriage, or healthcare reform are vested with moral conviction (i.e., these positions are based on beliefs about fundamental right and wrong, good and bad). The recognition that some attitudes seem to be imbued with particular moral fervor led to a program of theory and research designed to investigate whether there is anything special about attitudes held with strong moral conviction (“moral mandates”). This article will briefly review the integrated theory of moral conviction, which distinguishes moral mandates from otherwise strong but nonmoral attitudes. In addition, we will review some research that clarifies some potentially unsettling and reassuring implications of moral conviction for peace and conflict.
Narrative Psychology
Authors: László János
Published: November 2011

Narratives are generally conceived as accounts of events which involve some temporal and/or causal coherence. This minimal definition is usually amended with criteria according to which storiness requires some goal‐directed action of living or impersonated actors taking place in time. A full‐blown narrative involves an initial steady state which implies the legitimate order of things including the characters' normal wishes and beliefs, a trouble which disturbs this state, efforts for re‐establishing the normal state, a new, often transformed state, and a concluding evaluation, which draws the moral of the story.
Negotiation, Role of Emotions in
Authors: Shapiro Daniel L.
Published: November 2011

Scientific inquiry into the role of emotions in negotiation has transformed from a quiet niche to a major field of scholarly study. During the early years of scholarship on negotiation, game theory, decision analysis, and behavioral theories of negotiation consumed widespread attention. As the cognitive revolution struck, a new genre of negotiation study examined cognitive biases, heuristics, framing, and “rational” approaches to negotiation.
Peace, Overcoming Psychological–Cognitive Barriers to
Authors: Maoz Ifat
Published: November 2011

An important phenomenon in ethnopolitical intergroup conflict is the sides' lack of rationality. Deutsch, a major researcher in the area of conflict, asserts that the great tension that is associated with conflict diminishes intellectual resources for dealing with information and leads to perceptual distortions. Such perceptual distortions and biases can contribute substantially to the maintenance and escalation of conflict (Deutsch, 1973). This article will describe major psychological–cognitive barriers to peace in ethnopolitical conflict and will discuss ways to overcome these barriers.
Peace Studies, Psychological Contributions to
Authors: Webel Charles P. , Sotakova Viera
Published: November 2011

The relationships between psychology and peace studies, often called peace and conflict studies, are, like the disciplines themselves, complex, significant, sometimes contested, and in process. Peace studies emerged after World War II and is largely a response by people in higher education to the nuclear age and the Cold War. It is also a child of peace, antiwar, and social justice movements, and has shifting relationships with peace education, peacekeeping, peace movements, and peace and conflict research. Similarly, what is now known as peace psychology is also a product of the Cold War and its termination, when the perceived threat to global peace posed by nuclear weapons was at its peak.
Police–Community Relations
Authors: Diaz Eduardo I.
Published: November 2011

The nature of policing has changed considerably in the United States, and in many other countries, since the advent of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and '60s. It is important to note that, historically, police officers have been the enforcers of racist laws and unjust political administrations (Gabbidon & Greene, 2009). Modern policing varies greatly in policy and practice, depending on the agency's adherence to democratic principles and human rights. Unfortunately, in too many places police may still be involved in oppression; consciously, by the unquestioning following of orders, or subconsciously as a consequence of ethnocultural bias. This article aims to introduce the reader to mechanisms that have been set up worldwide to address both direct and structural violence associated with policing (Diaz, 2009).
Power: Hard, Soft, and Smart
Authors: Nye Joseph S.
Published: November 2011

Power is a contested term with multiple definitions, but the dictionary suggests that its core is the capacity to achieve one's purposes or goals. More specifically, it is the ability to affect others to get the outcomes one wants. There are three main ways to produce such behavior — coercion, payment, and attraction. In an influential behavioral definition, Dahl (1961) defined power as the ability to get others to do what they otherwise would not do, but this captures only part of power behavior. One can also obtain preferred outcomes through co‐opting others through agenda setting, attraction, and persuasion. Hard power rests primarily on coercion and payment. Soft power (Nye, 2004) is the ability to obtain preferred outcomes through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion or payments.
Psychosocial Impact of Political Violence
Authors: Wessells Michael , Kostelny Kathleen
Published: November 2011

Contemporary political violence tends to be fought within state boundaries and is often intercommunal in nature and exacts a heavy toll on civilian populations, which may be targeted directly. For example, in Sierra Leone, the rebel group named the Revolutionary United Front frequently attacked villages, killed civilians, raped women, and looted and plundered as they went. As a result, people suffered enormously not only from the visible, physical wounds of war but also from the invisible wounds of war, which interweave physical, emotional, social, and spiritual elements.
Reconciliation: Instrumental and Socioemotional Aspects
Authors: Nadler Arie
Published: November 2011

Different concepts have been used to describe peacemaking between groups and nations, among them resolution, settlement, and reconciliation (Kelman, 2008). This article focuses on the latter concept, of which Gibson once commented, “No one seems to know what reconciliation means” (Gibson, 2006, p. 85). We aim to define reconciliation, to differentiate it from related concepts, and to discuss its central dimensions. In particular, we situate reconciliation with respect to the distinction between the “real conflict” and “psychological needs” perspectives on intergroup conflicts, and between processes of socioemotional versus instrumental reconciliation (Nadler & Shnabel, 2008).
Refugee Mental Health Interventions
Authors: Philpot Catherine , Schweitzer Robert
Published: November 2011

There is great diversity in the type of interventions carried out under the rubric of “refugee mental health.” This is partly due to the holistic ecological and psychosocial approaches that have come to dominate research and humanitarian understandings of refugee mental health. The diverse application of psychosocial principles in refugee mental health is also extended by the many varied locations in which such interventions are carried out. Guidelines have been developed to aid would‐be practitioners of mental health care amongst refugee communities. However, challenges remain in demonstrating the effectiveness of the approaches used. The maxim “do no harm” which must guide all interventions in this area has nonetheless been threatened at times by well‐meaning, yet misguided actions. Despite these issues, there is much promise that together with refugees themselves, steps can be taken to promote well‐being and relieve distress in communities of people displaced by conflict.
Siege Mentality
Authors: Bar‐Tal Daniel
Published: November 2011

The experience of being under siege is an interesting sociopolitical–psychological phenomenon which can be observed in different societies. It involves a widely shared societal belief — i.e., a shared cognition by society members that addresses themes and issues with which they are particularly occupied and which contribute to their sense of uniqueness — that the rest of the world has highly negative intentions towards one's own society or that one's own society is surrounded by a hostile world. The focus is on “negative intentions” and “the rest of the world.” Negative intentions refer to the desire and motivation of the world to inflict harm or to hurt the society, so that they imply a threat to the society's well‐being (Bar‐Tal, 2000).)
Social Identity Theory
Authors: Ferguson Neil
Published: November 2011

Social identity theory (SIT: Tajfel, 1978, 1981; Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1986) emerged in the 1970s and was developed in order to explain the unwarranted discrimination that Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, and Flament (1971) found in their
minimal group paradigm
experiments. In a typical minimal group experiment, boys aged 14 to 15 were placed into groups on the basis of their preference for one style of abstract art over another (either the work of Paul Klee or that of Vassilij Kandinsky). However, regardless of their preference, every participant was privately informed that they preferred Klee to Kandinsky and were members of the Klee group. The participants were then asked to distribute points to random unknown members of the Klee ingroup and of the Kandinsky outgroup by using specially designed booklets of decision matrices. The results indicated that the participants persistently gave higher rewards to unknown ingroup members over unknown outgroup members, even when they had the possibility of maximizing joint profits. They also demonstrated a tendency to allocate rewards that maximized the difference between ingroup rewards over outgroup rewards rather than maximizing ingroup rewards, even when this led to the ingroup gaining smaller total rewards. So doing better than the outgroup was more important to the participants than doing as well as possible.
Social Representation Theory
Authors: Wagner Wolfgang
Published: November 2011

Communities are characterized by their name, which reflects their self‐attributed identity, and by the fact that their members communicate among themselves by virtue of a shared meanings system. This system of meanings describes and, indeed, defines their local world and the objects populating it. The biggest part of the shared meanings system comprises cultural items that derive from traditions and long‐term historical processes. The sociologist Émile Durkheim called these traditional structures
collective representations
. Given their long history, they are relatively stable and comprise core ideas about the world. They give the religious and moral justification for what is right or wrong, and they comprise the rules of the community's social structure.
Tribal Culture and Violence
Authors: Najam Najma
Published: November 2011

The evolutionary development ofHomo sapiensnecessitated living and hunting in groups for survival, and these groups emerged where protection was ensured with safety in numbers. The evolution of social grouping naturally progressed to a formalized system of tribes where regulation of behaviors was carried out through appropriate controls. These controls ensured that members had a strong core identity (for ingroup–outgroup differentiation) and were able to hunt and fight together. Further, the separation of male and female roles as hunter‐gatherers (with the female role specialized for bearing and nurturing the young) also emerged out of this process of evolution (physiological and social).
Cyclic RGD–Polyethylene Glycol–Polyethylenimine for Intracranial Glioblastoma‐Targeted Gene Delivery
Authors: Zhan Changyou , Meng Qinggang , Li Qinghua , Feng Linglin , Zhu Jianhua , Lu Weiyue
Published: November 2011

Even though the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is compromised for angiogenesis, therapeutic agents for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are particularly inefficient due to the existence of a blood–tumor barrier (BTB), which hampers tumor accumulation and uptake. Integrin αvβ3 is overexpressed on glioblastoma U87 cells and neovasculture, thus making its ligands such as the RGD motif target glioblastoma in vitro and in vivo. In the present work, we have designed a modified polyethylene glycol–polyethylenimine (PEG–PEI) gene carrier by conjugating it with a cyclic RGD sequence, c(RGDyK) (cyclic arginine‐glycine‐aspartic acid‐D‐tyrosine‐lysine). When complexed with plasmid DNA, this gene carrier, termed RGD–PEG–PEI, formed homogenous nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 73 nm. These nanoparticles had a high binding affinity with U87 cells and facilitated targeted gene delivery against intracranial glioblastoma in vivo, thereby leading to a higher gene transfer efficiency compared to the PEG–PEI gene carrier without RGD decoration. This intracranial glioblastoma‐targeted gene carrier also enhanced the therapeutic efficacy of pORF‐hTRAIL, as evidenced by a significantly prolonged survival of intracranial glioblastoma‐bearing nude mice. Considering the contribution of glioblastoma neovasculature to the BBB under angiogenic conditions, our results demonstrated the therapeutic feasibility of treating a brain tumor through mediation of integrin αvβ3, as well as the potential of using RGD–PEG–PEI as a targeted gene carrier in the treatment of intracranial glioblastoma.
Simultaneous in vivo RP‐HPLC‐DAD quantification of multiple‐component and drug–drug interaction by pharmacokinetics, using 6,7‐dimethylesculetin, geniposide and rhein as examples
Authors: Zhang Aihua , Sun Hui , Wang Xijun , Jiao Guozheng , Yuan Ye , Sun Wenjun
Published: November 2011

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that multidrug combinations could amplify the therapeutic efficacies of each agent. Interestingly, the pharmacological effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is usually attributed to the drug‐interaction property (synergism) of multiple active constituents. Pharmacokinetics is a useful means of evaluating the drug interactions of major active compounds in TCM. A simple, sensitive and reliable RP‐HPLC‐DAD method has been developed to simultaneously quantify 6,7‐dimethylesculetin (D), geniposide (G) and rhein (R), which are the active ingredients in Yin–Chen–Hao–Tang (YCHT), performing drug‐interaction pharmacokinetics studies in vivo. Plasma samples were prepared using methanolic precipitation, a filtration step, and then injection of the methanolic extract onto a Nova‐Pak C18 Guard‐Pak™ guard column with a gradient mobile phase. Triple‐wavelength diode array detection was set at λmax values of 343 nm for D, 241 nm for the G, and 259 nm for R. Our results successfully demonstrate that this method has excellent and satisfactory selectivity, sensitivity, linearity, precision, accuracy and recovery. In healthy rats, the estimated pharmacokinetic parameters (i.e. Cmax, AUC and Cl) of D, G and R, when administered with COC (a combination of D, G and R), were Cmax 16.05 mg/L, AUC 108.96 mg h/L and Cl 0.36 L/h for D; Cmax 9.35 mg/L, AUC 64.71 mg h/L and Cl 0.88 L/h for G; and Cmax 14.18 mg/L, AUC 57.98 mg h/L and Cl 1.77 L/h for R. Here, we report that the COC combination could significantly increase the plasma level and slow the elimination rate compared with any one or two of the three individual compounds, which may indicate a drug–drug interaction. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.