bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Are gatekeepers to renal services referring patients equitably?
Authors: Kee Frank , Reaney Elizabeth , Savage Gerard , O'Reilly Dermot , Patterson Chris , Maxwell Peter , Fogarty Damian ,   The Northern Ireland Targeting Social Need Renal Group
Published: January 2007

Objective: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) benefit from specialist interventions to retard progression of renal failure and prevent cardiovascular events. Certain patient groups have poor access to specialist renal services when dialysis is required. This study used a population-based laboratory database to investigate access to and timeliness of referral to renal specialists relatively early in the course of the disease.

Methods: All tests for serum creatinine and haemoglobin (Hb) A1c in Northern Ireland in a two-year period (2001 and 2002) were retrieved for 345,441 adults. Of these, 16,856 patients had at least one serum creatinine level above 150 μmol/L in 2001 not deemed to be due to acute renal failure (crude prevalence 1.42%). This cohort was followed until the end of 2002 and the differences in the time to referral to a specialist were assessed using Cox's proportional hazards regression.

Results: Diabetic patients, older patients and those living in deprived areas were significantly more likely to have serum creatinine testing, compared with non-diabetic, younger and those living in more affluent areas. Delays in referral to renal specialists for patients with raised serum creatinine levels were significantly shorter among diabetic patients, women, younger individuals, those living in rural areas, those living close to renal centres and those living in deprived areas. Overall, only 19% of diabetic patients and 6% of non-diabetic patients who had CKD had seen a renal specialist within 12 months of their index creatinine test.

Conclusion: Contrary to other diseases, disadvantaged patients do not seem to be under-investigated for renal disease compared with their more affluent neighbours and are generally referred earlier for specialist assessment. However, the absolute rate of timely specialist assessment is low. Recent changes in referral criteria for CKD will result in more referrals and will have serious resource implications. Opportunities for health gain among patients with declining renal function are being missed, particularly among the old and those living furthest from specialist centres.
Searching for a threshold, not setting one: the role of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
Authors: Culyer Anthony , McCabe Christopher , Briggs Andrew , Claxton Karl , Buxton Martin , Akehurst Ron , Sculpher Mark , Brazier John
Published: January 2007

There has been much speculation about whether the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has, or ought to have, a 'threshold' figure for the cost of an additional quality-adjusted life-year above which a technology will not be recommended for use. We argue that it is not constitutionally appropriate for NICE to set such a threshold, which is properly the business of parliament. Instead, the task for NICE is as a 'threshold-searcher' – to seek to identify an optimal threshold incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, at the ruling rate of expenditure, that is consistent with the aim of the health service to maximize population health. This will involve the identification of technologies currently made available by the National Health Service that have incremental cost-effectiveness ratios above the threshold, and alternative uses for those resources in the shape of technologies not currently provided that fall below the threshold.
A comparison of self-reported and observational work sampling techniques for measuring time in nursing tasks
Authors: Ampt Amanda , Westbrook Johanna , Creswick Nerida , Mallock Nadine
Published: January 2007

Objectives: To compare self-reported and observational work sampling techniques when applied to ward-based nurses.

Methods: A self-reported work sampling study was undertaken with nine registered nurses in an Australian teaching hospital over 8.5 weeks, followed by an observational work sampling study conducted over 4.5 weeks. Both studies used a random reminder method and a multidimensional work task classification. Field notes were also recorded and analysed.

Results: 3910 data points were collected, 667 during the self-report study and 3243 in the observational study. The two techniques yielded significant differences in work patterns of registered nurses. The observational study showed that compared with the self-reported study, patient care (40% versus 33%, P <0.000) and ward-related activities (7% versus 3%; P <0.001) were recorded significantly more frequently, and documentation less frequently (8% versus 19%; P <0.000). Both the techniques generated similar proportions of time spent in breaks (12%), medication tasks (13%) and clinical discussion (15%). The self-report technique was poorly accepted by nursing staff. The observational technique was well accepted and data collection was more effcient.

Conclusions: The self-report work sampling technique is not a reliable method for obtaining an accurate reflection of the work tasks of ward-based nurses. The observational technique was preferred by nurses, and despite concern regarding a potential Hawthorne effect, this was not substantiated.
The credibility of health economic models for health policy decision-making: the case of population screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm
Authors: Campbell Helen , Briggs Andrew , Buxton Martin , Kim Lois , Thompson Simon
Published: January 2007

Objectives: To review health economic models of population screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) among elderly males and assess their credibility for informing decision-making.

Methods: A literature review identified health economic models of ultrasound screening for AAA. For each model focussing on population screening in elderly males, model structure and input parameter values were critically appraised using published good practice guidelines for decision analytic models.

Results: Twelve models published between 1989 and 2003 were identified. Converting costs to a common currency and base year, substantial variability in cost-effectiveness results were revealed. Appraisals carried out for the nine models focusing on population screening showed differences in their complexity, with the simpler models generating results most favourable to screening. Eight of the nine models incorporated two or more simplifying structural assumptions favouring screening; uncertainty surrounding these assumptions was not investigated by any model. Quality assessments on a small number of parameters revealed input values varied between models, methods used to identify and incorporate input data were often not described, and few sensitivity analyses were reported.

Conclusions: Large variation exists in the cost-effectiveness results generated by AAA screening models. The substantial number of factors potentially contributing to such disparities means that reconciliation of model results is impossible. In addition, poor reporting of methods makes it difficult to identify the most plausible and thus most useful model of those developed.
Developing attributes and levels for discrete choice experiments using qualitative methods
Authors: Coast Joanna , Horrocks Sue
Published: January 2007

Objectives: The rigour with which the first two stages of discrete choice experiments (attribute development and the choice of levels of these attributes) are generally conducted is questionable. This paper provides a case study describing how attributes and their levels were developed for a study of access to dermatology specialist services for non-urgent skin conditions.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 dermatology patients with non-urgent skin conditions. Informants were purposively sampled for maximum variation and interviews continued until all attributes were fully and clearly defined. An iterative approach was used with data collection and analysis proceeding concurrently.

Results: The interviews and parallel analysis generated three iterations. The first iteration comprised early exploratory work with expertise and waiting time emerging as important to informants. The second iteration continued to emphasize these attributes, but individualized care and convenience were added. By the end of the third iteration all attributes were fully elaborated.

Conclusions: Qualitative methods enabled attributes to be defined. There was clear tension between the aim in qualitative work to explore and describe, and the reductiveness needed to encapsulate the different aspects of the service within a minimum number of attributes for use in the discrete choice modelling. Improved reporting of the methods of attribute development in all discrete choice experiments is required.
Patient performance standards: the next bold policy initiative in health care?
Authors: Buetow Stephen , Elwyn Glyn
Published: January 2007

Performance standards have become a driver for accountability and quality improvement in health care, sometimes as part of payment-for-performance programmes. This essay discusses the novel concept of performance standards for patients – specifically, standards for enrolled groups – and the option of payments for patient performance. Might these ideas define the next logical step to improve quality in health care and help reduce health inequalities between population groups? After considering some possible arguments for patient performance standards, we suggest what these standards might look like, discuss the main concerns regarding their possible development and use, and indicate how these concerns might be appropriately answered.
Local Violence, National Peace? Postwar “Settlement” in the Eastern D.R. Congo (2003–2006)
Authors: Autesserre Séverine
Published: January 2007

This article develops a conceptual analysis of the dynamics of violence during the transition from war to peace and democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2003 and 2006. I locate the sources, at the local, national, and regional levels, of continued local violence during this transition. Through an analysis of the situation in the Kivus, I illustrate how local dynamics interacted with the national and regional dimensions of the conflict. I demonstrate that, after a national and regional settlement was reached, some local conflicts over land and political power increasingly became self-sustaining and autonomous from the national and regional tracks.
Popular Culture and Public Space in Africa: The Possibilities of Cultural Citizenship
Authors: Dolby Nadine
Published: January 2007

Popular culture in Africa is increasingly intertwined with the public space of nations. Drawing on contemporary scholarship on popular culture, citizenship, and identity in transnational and global contexts, this article analyzes the phenomenal success of the television showBig Brother Africain 2003 and argues that people's everyday engagement with popular culture, including television, must be a central component of understanding emergent public spaces and citizenship practices in Africa's present and future.
Origen and Christian Naming: Textual Exhaustion and the Boundaries of Gentility in Commentary on John 1
Authors: Chin Catherine M.
Published: January 2007

This article examines Origen's exegetical practice in the Commentary on JohnÂ 1 in the light of issues from Stoic linguistics and cosmology, particularly the problem of delineating complete meaning for any given word and the related problem of cosmic reunification with the divine logos. The technique of exegetical exhaustion, exemplified in Origen's list of divine names, is shown to be, along Stoic lines, a linguistic participation in the unification of the scriptural reader with the divine, to be completed only at the end of the Christian eschatological narrative. Since this exegetical technique emphasizes plenitude of meaning rather than correctness, however, it entails distinctions between readers that the categories of orthodoxy and heresy do not adequately convey.
Eusebian Theologies of the Son as the Image of God before 341
Authors: DelCogliano Mark
Published: January 2007

This paper explores the nature of ecclesiastical parties in the fourth century by considering how different members of the "Eusebian" alliance understood the Son as the image of God. This study argues that in the years between the Council of Nicaea in 325 and the Dedication Council held at Antioch in 341 the Eusebians developed two fundamentally different and competing accounts. Arius and Asterius advocated a "participative" understanding of the Son as the image of God. As a created essence external to the Father, the Son nonetheless was God through his pre-eminent participation by grace in the divine attributes of the Father. Eusebius of Caesarea and Acacius of Caesarea took a "constitutive" approach to the question. They avoided speaking of the Son as created in any way and understood the Son as "made like" or "constituted in likeness to" the Father without participating in the divine attributes. Such fundamental differences indicate that, rather than by a single monolithic theology, ecclesiastical parties were defined mainly by expectations and the activity of mutual defense and correction, by common opposition to enemies considered as such for reasons not necessarily theological, and by a minimal set of shared doctrinal principles and formulas.
Tertullian and the "Heretical" Origins of the "Orthodox" Trinity
Authors: McGowan Andrew Brian
Published: January 2007

Tertullian's allegiance to the New Prophecy (later known as "Montanism") has often been connected only to his advocacy of ascetic "discipline," and considered irrelevant to his treatment of doctrine. In the treatise Against Praxeas he defends and articulates trinitarian belief, insisting on continuity between his recent defense of the Paraclete and the older Rule of Faith. This work indicates that monarchian Christians at Carthage were substantially the same as the "psychic" majority opposed to the New Prophecy. Thus what was to become "orthodox" Christian theology depended on the "heretical" New Prophecy at this particular place and time.
Walter Bauer's Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum
Authors: Völker Walther , Scheck Thomas P.
Published: January 2007

The following early review of Walter Bauer's book, Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum (1934), was by one of the most prominent Protestant patristic scholars of the era. Walter Völker was himself the author of important and still valuable studies on Philo, Gnosticism, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius Areopagita, and Maximus the Confessor. The significance of Völker's devastating critique of Walter Bauer's thesis and historical method is that it stemmed from a scholar whose stature in the field of patristic studies was not negligible and whose expertise was precisely focused on the material and time period covered in Bauer's work. Moreover, as a fellow German Protestant, Völker could hardly be suspected of "Roman" sympathies. It is certainly interesting to observe that the highest praise for Bauer's thesis has come from New Testament scholars, such as Bultmann and Koester; yet Bauer's work does not deal with the New Testament, but with second and third century Christianity.
Early Christian Re-Writing and the History of the Pericope Adulterae
Authors: Knust Jennifer Wright
Published: January 2007

Texts, even sacred texts, are never fixed. Meaning is never stable and interpretations shift in concert with the changing concerns of those who present them. These principles are readily demonstrated by a consideration of the complex history of the pericope adulterae—a story about Jesus, an adulteress, and a group of interlocutors found in the Gospel of John. This story is absent from many early gospel manuscripts and is remarkably unstable when it does appear. There are a few second- and third-century citations of the tale, but they do not mention the identity or motives of the interlocutors, nor do they specify the guilt (or innocence) of the woman or the men who accused her. By contrast, fourth- and fifth-century exegetes regularly suggested that the interlocutors sought to test Jesus, represented the woman as guilty, and claimed that "the Jews" were damned for their sins, readings that were preserved in gospel manuscripts. The pericope adulterae, increasingly invoked to produce Christian hegemony at the expense of "the Jews," real or imagined, became a story about Jewish sin and Christian difference. This interpretation then influence the transmission of the tale, though traces of earlier readings lingered.
Maids, Wives and Widows: Multiple Meaning and Marriage in The Witch of Edmonton
Authors: Bonavita Helen Vella
Published: January 2007

In considering the multiple authorship and divergent plotlines of The Witch of Edmonton two main issues emerge. One is the relationship between Elizabeth Sawyer and the other women of the play, particularly Winnifride, while another issue which provides thematic coherence despite its apparent diversity is the use of ambiguity and equivocation to challenge established meaning and social structures within the play.
The Politics of War: Paolo Uccello's Equestrian Monument for Sir John Hawkwood in the Cathedral of Florence
Authors: Hudson Hugh
Published: January 2007

While Uccello's Equestrian Monument in Florence's Cathedral has long been admired as a spectacular example of Florentine early Renaissance mural painting, distinguished by its serene, ordered geometry, only in recent decades has the turbulent political climate in which it was created been linked to its iconography. The lists of the Cathedral's treasurers and members of its board of works who oversaw the commission, housed in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, represent a neglected source of information illuminating the political allegiances of those who helped determine the work's iconography amidst the dramatic fallout from Florence's recent unsuccessful war with Lucca.
Ben Jonson and 'the proper passion of Mettalls'
Authors: Miller Anthony
Published: January 2007

Ben Jonson's works display an unusual knowledge of minerals and the technology of metalworking. Detailed references to poetic creation as blacksmithing underline his respect for careful revision, but also complicate the usual Senecan understanding of poetry as a liberal art. Contemporary practices of tempering, chemically transforming and mining metals receive significant moral applications in works such as Sejanus and The Alchemist. In The Golden Age Restor'd, with reference to Ovid's myth of the decline of the world, Jonson suggests that only a process of moral refinement, as modelled by the virtuous labourer in metals or poetry, can keep James I's new Golden Age from reversion to the Age of Iron
'O brotel wele of mannes joie unstable!': Gender and Philosophy in Troilus and Criseyde
Authors: Nair Sashi
Published: January 2007

Chaucer transformed Boccaccio's Criseida to create a female character imbued with agency: his Criseyde mobilises Boethian philosophy in order to negotiate the pressures upon her. Not only is she characterised as vital to the poem's Boethian frame, but her agency and philosophical acuity provide an explanation for her 'betrayal' of Troilus. Yet ultimately, the incompatibility of Boethian philosophy with the romance genre results in Criseyde's exclusion from the poem's ending, as Troilus rejects the romantic love it has hitherto represented and privileges a Boethian perspective on the futility of earthly cares. Criseyde's absence from this problematic conclusion has tended to obscure her Boethian pragmatism and the significance of her agency.
Marvell's 'Interior Paramour': Clora meets the Cavaliers in 'The Gallery'
Authors: Reichardt Dosia
Published: January 2007

Marvell's 'The Gallery' has been a comparatively neglected poem and has usually been read as a tribute to Clora within the framework of lyric based on Marino's 'La Galeria'. Using well-worn conceits and adopting the pose of an ultra fashionable art connoisseur, Marvell creates a gallery of mirrors that challenges Cavalier notions of compliment while criticizing the Stuart court's obsession with imagery and revealing the darker side of pastoral. Clora has many faces â not one â and the poem fails to reveal her immutable Platonic essence. Among Clora's innumerable portraits five are described: these have no relation to art works of the time but allow Marvell to explore the nature of poetic creativity in his typically oblique way.
Why Girls Leave Home: Victorian and Edwardian "Bad-Girl" Melodrama Parodied in Early Film
Authors: Mayer David
Published: January 2007

Purporting to depict an entire four-act stage play, Why Girls Leave Home, a six-minute Edison film made in America for the British market, dates either from 1909 or 1912. This film parodies the clichés of the Melville brothers' "bad-girl" melodrama, thus inviting study of Melvillian melodrama as a pervasive, if lurid, English theatrical genre, and similarly inviting investigation of the tactics of theatrical parody. The action of Why Girls Leave Home is described. The terms "girl" and "home" are analyzed in the contexts of turn-of-the-century Britain, where these words attained significance in relating to recently emancipated women, to work, to marital choices, and, adversely, to the inevitable consternation and social backlash that female independence brought. Melvillian melodrama is seen as a significant part of this widespread backlash. "Bad-girl melodrama" is also contrasted with "girl" musical comedy, especially girl-musicals presented at London's Gaiety Theatre that toured widely throughout Britain, the Empire, and North America. The Melvilles, theatrically successful, placed some of their stage dramas on early film. Parody, explicit in Why Girls Leave Home, creates a simulacrum of Melvillian drama in order to ridicule melodramatic plotting, inept and heartless gesticulatory stage acting, excessive reliance on stage machinery for sensational effects, and the propensity of such machinery to malfunction at critical moments of performance.
Tramp Sensibility and the Afterlife of Showgirls
Authors: Salvato Nick
Published: January 2007

"Tramping" is a performative style indebted to the techniques of camp and "trash," but is ultimately distinct from and irreducible to either practice. Like camp, tramping is a form of queer parody; and like self-conscious "trash," it complicates the idea of bad taste. Tramp performance articulates itself in the negotiation of three paradoxes: degraded elevation, constrained freedom, and deceitful truth-telling. This article analyzes the tramp sensibility as expressed in a few recent off-off-Broadway plays, most notably the comedy Showgirls. The Best Movie Ever Made. Ever! and suggests further areas of critical inquiry in the investigation of this complex aesthetic.
Up-to-Date Magic: Theatrical Conjuring and the Trick Film
Authors: Solomon Matthew
Published: January 2007

During the first decade of the twentieth century, "up-to-date magic" was a theatrical and cinematic phenomenon that entertained audiences around the world. This article traces an integrated history of stage and screen that connects the styles of magic performed in turn-of-the-century vaudeville and music-hall theatres to the modes of cinematic illusion seen in contemporaneous trick films. Attention is paid to the work of Georges Méliès and Gaston Velle—French magicians who became prolific early filmmakers—to exhibition contexts where live illusions were seen alongside trick films, and to the divide that opened between conjuring and cinema as a result of differing attitudes toward the importance of mystery and secrecy.
Becoming-Animate: On the Performed Limits of "Human"
Authors: Parker-Starbuck Jennifer
Published: January 2007

Jennifer Parker-Starbuck's essay develops the theoretical concept of "becoming-animate," a triangulation among concepts of human, animal, and technology, which has the potential to draw attention to possible affiliations among the three terms. Developing Haraway's cyborg, Parker-Starbuck's own cyborg theatre, and Deleuze and Guattari's "becoming-animal" through moments of pause and hiatus inspired by Giorgio Agamben's idea of the "anthropological machine," the "becoming-animate" emerges as a provocative site for new alliances, especially ones that re-situate contemporary issues of animality. Cathy Weis's multimedia piece "Painting and Stripping" provides a theatrical example of work that blurs the questions of the boundaries among the three elements to foreground the ethical space of performance as the necessary staging ground of this questioning.
"In the Grip of an Obsession": Delsarte and the Quest for Self-Possession in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Authors: Walker Julia A.
Published: January 2007

In this article, Julia Walker challenges the current critical consensus among film scholars that the expressionist style of the German silent-film classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari bears no relation to its seemingly conventional romantic narrative. She begins by offering an allegorical reading of the film, showing how the well-established Freudian model of self that is figured in the Caligari / Cesare dyad is set in conflict with an older, moral-philosophical model of self represented by the trio of friends, Francis, Jane, and Alan. In Walker's reading, the narrative conflict between these two models of self encodes a fear of Freudian "depth psychology" that is figured visually in the shallow, painted perspective of the film's expressionist design. But what is more, Walker argues, the expressionist acting also functions to encode this narrative conflict insofar as it draws upon the Delsarte method that, itself, was based upon a moral-philosophical model of self that is strained to its limits. As she shows, the recurring motif of grasping hands stylistically figures the narrative quest for self-possession—a quest that the Freudian model holds to be impossible.
Filmed Scenery on the Live Stage
Authors: Waltz Gwendolyn
Published: January 2007

Not quite half a year after Edison's introduction of projected motion pictures to the American public in 1896, North American Review writer George Parsons Lathrop wondered whether the stage would be revolutionized by filmed scenery. Theatrical entrepreneurs and effects inventors quickly explored the multimedia potential of the new medium, enlarging the scenic scope of the stage and bringing to the theatre a spatial freedom that in some cases transcended the limits of traditional stagecraft, for instance by simulating movement in depth. Prominent Broadway producers featured filmed scenery effects in popular productions for several decades. As projection technology has improved—most recently with digital techniques—designers repeatedly have envisioned a stagecraft of screens and moving images, but practitioners and historians are largely unaware of the origins of this perpetually innovative scenic approach. In this article, Gwendolyn Waltz examines the early history of filmed scenery.
Geotechnical variation of London Clay across central London
Authors: Pantelidou H. , Simpson B.
Published: January 2007

The paper presents classification and stress path test results from various sites across central London, and focuses on interpreting the observed behaviour within the context of the geology and geological history of the Formation. The large majority of the tests have been undertaken by commercial laboratories in the course of design projects. A good correlation is found between the classification tests and the stratification of the London Clay described by King in 1981. Based on the secant stiffness at a shear strain of 0·01%, the stiffness of the clay in triaxial stress path tests can reasonably be normalised in the way suggested by Viggiani & Atkinson or Simpson. However, variation with plasticity is not evident from these test results.
The influence of structure on the behaviour of London Clay
Authors: Gasparre A. , Nishimura S. , Coop M. R. , Jardine R. J.
Published: January 2007

An intensive investigation is described into the London Clay units from Heathrow Terminal 5. Intrinsic properties and composition were established, and relating the behaviour of intact and reconstituted samples allowed the effects of the clay's natural structure to be identified at all depths. Structure varied between units, but some general features emerged that have not been seen in other stiff clays. In particular, intact samples follow paths under isotropic or K0 compression that fail to provide well-defined gross yield points, or converge with the unit's intrinsic compression lines. Structure contributes to the enhanced shear strength of intact unfissured clay and affects the initial stiffness relationships. Some identifiable features of the intact units’ fabric correlated directly with their behaviour. Natural fissures within the clay, the most important mesofabric feature, had an important impact on shear strength and led to an unusual pattern of directional dependence, and particle orientation trends identified by scanning electron microscopy governed the strong elastic stiffness anisotropy. The potential for destructuration through swelling to low effective stresses was also studied and found significant for subsequent volumetric compression behaviour, but not for shearing. Hight et al. synthesise the data from this and companion papers presented by the authors, and discuss the practical consequences of the results obtained.
The stiffness of natural London Clay
Authors: Gasparre A. , Nishimura S. , Minh N. A. , Coop M. R. , Jardine R. J.
Published: January 2007

An investigation of natural London Clay is reported involving advanced triaxial, hollow cylinder apparatus (HCA) and dynamic testing techniques. Significant anisotropy was revealed at all scales of deformation, and the framework of cross-anisotropic elasticity was found to apply broadly to the initial elastic behaviour. The stiffness parameters obtained by independent techniques generally exhibited good agreement, with the greatest deviation being seen in the Poisson's ratios, which fell far from the values usually assumed in conventional foundation analysis. Probing tests established the limits to the elastic domain over a range of depths, showing that these scaled in proportion to the mean effective stress level, as did those of a second kinematic surface that surrounded the elastic domain. Once engaged, this second surface signified a new pattern of strain increment directions, faster elastic-plastic stiffness decay with strain, and also a greater dependence of behaviour on recent stress history. However, the two kinematic surfaces cover a relatively small proportion of the admissible stress space, and behaviour at larger strains is both anisotropic and strongly non-linear, features that affect profoundly the soil displacements induced by geotechnical construction in this deposit.
Modelling of long-term ground response to tunnelling under St James's Park, London
Authors: Wongsaroj J. , Soga K. , Mair R. J.
Published: January 2007

Following a tunnel excavation in low-permeability soil, it is commonly observed that the ground surface continues to settle and ground loading on the tunnel lining changes, as the pore pressures in the ground approach a new equilibrium condition. The monitored ground response following the tunnelling under St James's Park, London, shows that the mechanism of subsurface deformation is composed of three different zones: swelling, consolidation and rigid body movement. The swelling took place in a confined zone above the tunnel crown, extending vertically to approximately 5 m above it. On the sides of the tunnel, the consolidation of the soil occurred in the zone primarily within the tunnel horizon, from the shoulder to just beneath the invert, and extending laterally to a large offset from the tunnel centreline. Above these swelling and consolidation zones the soil moved downward as a rigid body. In this study, soil–fluid coupled three-dimensional finite element analyses were performed to simulate the mechanism of long-term ground response monitored at St James's Park. An advanced critical state soil model, which can simulate the behaviour of London Clay in both drained and undrained conditions, was adopted for the analyses. The analysis results are discussed and compared with the field monitoring data. It is found that the observed mechanism of long-term subsurface ground and tunnel lining response at St James's Park can be simulated accurately only when stiffness anisotropy, the variation of permeability between different units within the London Clay and non-uniform drainage conditions for the tunnel lining are considered. This has important implications for future prediction of the long-term behaviour of tunnels in clays.
Berechnung erdgedeckter Lagertanks nach Windels
Authors: Bußhaus Ludger
Published: January 2007

Erdgedeckte Lagertanks sind zylindrische Behälter, die auf einem Sandbett liegen und ein‐ oder doppelwandig ausgebildet sind. Sie dienen zur unter‐ oder oberirdischen Lagerung von Flüssigkeiten und weisen eine volle oder teilweise Erddeckung auf. Die unterirdische Lagerung erfolgt üblicherweise als “Grabenlagerung” im gewachsenen Boden, und die oberirdische Lagerung mit einer hügelförmigen Überschüttung wird als “Hünengrablagerung” bezeichnet. Bei beiden Lagerungsarten ist sowohl die Einzellagerung als auch eine Batterielagerung möglich.
Zugschwellverhalten von offenen Spiralseilen
Authors: Raupp Daniela , Vogel Wolfram , Wehking Karl‐Heinz
Published: January 2007

Für Seile im Bauwesen werden unlösbare Seilendverbindungen, wie Vergüsse und Preßfittinge, eingesetzt. Die Preßfittinge zeichnen sich durch eine elegante Formgebung mit zahlreichen Anschlußmöglichkeiten aus. Seile werden im Bauwesen vorwiegend statisch, aber auch dynamisch zugschwellbeansprucht. Für offene Spiralseile (OSS) mit unterschiedlichen Endverbindungen liegen bereits vereinzelte Zugschwelluntersuchungen vor. Aufgrund uneinheitlicher Auswertungsmethoden können diese jedoch nicht ohne weiteres auf andere Seilkonstruktionen und Endverbindungen übertragen werden. Hinzu kommt, daß die zulässigen Schwingweiten nur für bestimmte Konstruktionen in Normen festgelegt sind. Bei den vermehrt eingesetzten Preßfittingen (auch Bolzenverpressungen genannt) ist zunächst unklar, wie groß die ertragbaren schwingenden Beanspruchungen (Mittellast und Schwingweite) in Abhängigkeit von Seil‐ und Bolzenwerkstoffen sowie Preßparametern sind.

Einen großen Einfluß auf das Ermüdungsverhalten von Seilzuggliedern hat u. a. die Wahl der Seilendverbindungen. In diesem Aufsatz wird über die Ergebnisse des AiF‐Forschungsprojekts (Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen “Otto von Guericke” e.V.) “Vergleich der Zugschwelleigenschaften von Bolzenverpressungen für Stahlseile mit unterschiedlichen Werkstoffen” berichtet.
Gap junctional intercellular communication capacity by gap‐FRAP technique: A comparative study
Authors: Abbaci Muriel , Barberi‐Heyob Muriel , Stines Jean‐René , Blondel Walter , Dumas Dominique , Guillemin François , Didelon Jacques
Published: January 2007

Gap junctions play an important role in vital functions, including the regulation of cell growth and cell differentiation. Connexins 43 (Cx43) are the most widely expressed gap junction proteins. Cellular localization of phosphorylated Cx43 has been implicated in the capacity of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC). To follow the functionality of GJIC of different cell types, in monolayer cultures, characterized by different patterns of phosphorylated Cx43, we used a fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) technique, and compared two tracers, 5(6)‐carboxyfluorescein diacetate (CFDA) and calcein acetoxymethylester (AM). The GJIC capacity was quantified by estimating fluorescence redistribution parameters. The functionality of GJIC was in relation with the staining localization of phosphorylated Cx43 to the cell–cell contact areas, corresponding to gap junctions between contacting cells. GJIC involvement in fluorescence restitution after photobleaching was checked by a gap junction channel inhibition assay. We demonstrated that the choice of the dye did not significantly influence the fluorescence recovery percentages despite a cell line‐dependent CFDA release, whereas it had an important impact on fluorescence kinetic profiles. This study reinforces the interest of the gap‐FRAP approach to quantify modifications in the functionality of gap junctions and, above all, argues about the limits of CFDA for 3‐D future approaches.
Self‐Assembly of Semifluorinated Minidendrons Attached to Electron‐Acceptor Groups into Pyramidal Columns
Authors: Percec Virgil , Aqad Emad , Peterca Mihai , Imam Mohammad R. , Glodde Martin , Bera Tusha K. , Miura Yoshiko , Balagurusamy Venkatachalapathy S. K. , Ewbank Paul C. , Würthner Frank , Heiney Paul A.
Published: January 2007

The synthesis and self‐assembly of twelve semifluorinated first‐generation dendrons or minidendrons attached to electron‐acceptor (n‐type) groups generated from various combinations of eight acceptors and three dendrons are reported. Dendrons attached to small electron‐acceptor molecules mediate their self‐assembly into π‐stacks located in the center of a supramolecular helical pyramidal column with the long axis of the acceptor perpendicular to the long axis of the column. Dendrons attached to large electron‐acceptor molecules, such as perylene bisimide, mediate the assembly of their acceptors in an unprecedented arrangement of π‐stacks that have the long axis of the acceptors parallel to the long axis of the supramolecular pyramidal column. All supramolecular columns self‐organize into various periodic columnar arrays that exhibit liquid‐crystalline phases, crystalline phases, or a liquid‐crystalline phase with enhanced intracolumnar order. The present study demonstrates the simplicity and the versatility of the concept of assembly of n‐type electroactive groups mediated by semifluorinated dendrons and assesses the scope and limitations of this supramolecular strategy.
First‐Principles Molecular Dynamics Evaluation of Thermal Effects on the NMR 1JLi,C Spin–Spin Coupling
Authors: de la Lande Aurélien , Fressigné Catherine , Gérard Hélène , Maddaluno Jacques , Parisel Olivier
Published: January 2007

Car–Parrinello (CP) molecular dynamics were applied to sample conformations of various models of organolithium aggregates which are chosen to estimate 1JLi,C NMR coupling constants. The results show that the deviations from the values computed using static (optimized) geometries are small provided no large‐amplitude motions occur within the timescale of the simulations. In the case of the vinyllithium dimer, for which rotation of the vinyl chain is observed, this approach allows analysis of the various contributions to the experimentally measured constants. For the trisolvated methyllithium monomer, partial decoordination of solvating dimethyl ether is observed and results in a significant shift of 1JLi,C. All these results highlight that a varied physicochemical machinery is hidden behind general empirical formulas, such as the Bauer–Winchester–Schleyer rule used experimentally.
The Supramolecular Helical Architecture of 8‐Oxoinosine and 8‐Oxoguanosine Derivatives
Authors: Lena Stefano , Cremonini Mauro A. , Federiconi Francesco , Gottarelli Giovanni , Graziano Carla , Laghi Luca , Mariani Paolo , Masiero Stefano , Pieraccini Silvia , Spada Gian Piero
Published: January 2007

The 8‐oxoguanosine derivative 1 and the 8‐oxoinosine derivative 2 b, with appropriate substituents on their ribose moieties, form hexagonal lyotropic mesophases in hydrocarbon solvents. Small‐angle X‐ray scattering analysis of a film of 1 and of the mesophase of 2 b, and NMR and CD spectra of isotropic solutions of 2 b, indicate that in both cases the supramolecular structures adopted are continuous helices formed by a hydrogen‐bond network between the heterocyclic bases. Notably, while derivative 2 b, which bears large substituents on its ribose moiety, undergoes self‐assembly and mesophase formation, oxoinosine 2 a, with only decanoyl groups on its ribose moiety, does not. This may be ascribed to the reduced amphiphilic properties of the latter and the absence of aromatic groups.
The First Pure ΛHT Rotamer of a Complex with a cis‐[Metal(nucleotide)2] Unit: A cis‐[Pt(amine)2(nucleotide)2] ΛHT Rotamer with Unique Molecular Structural Features
Authors: Benedetti Michele , Tamasi Gabriella , Cini Renzo , Marzilli Luigi G. , Natile Giovanni
Published: January 2007

cis‐[PtA2(nucleotide)2] complexes (A2 stands for two amines or a diamine) have been extensively investigated as model compounds for key cisplatin–DNA adducts. All cis‐[metal(nucleotide/nucleoside)2] complexes with guanine and related purines characterized in the solid state thus far have the ΔHT conformation (head‐to‐tail orientation of the two bases and right‐handed chirality). In sharp contrast, the ΛHT conformation (left‐handed chirality) dominates in acidic and neutral aqueous solutions of cis‐[PtA2(5′‐GMP)2] complexes. Molecular models and solution experiments indicate that the ΛHT conformer is stabilized by 5′‐phosphate/N1H hydrogen‐bond interactions between cis nucleotides with the normal anti conformation. However, this evidence, while compelling, is indirect. At last, conditions have been defined to allow crystallization of this elusive conformer. The structure obtained reveals three unique features not present in all other cis‐[PtA2(nucleotide)2] solid‐state structures: a ΛHT conformation, very strong hydrogen‐bond interactions between the phosphate and N1H of cis nucleotides, and a very small dihedral angle between the planes of the two guanines lying nearly perpendicular to the coordination plane. These new results indicate that, because there are no local base–base repulsions precluding the ΛHT conformer, global forces rather than local interactions account for the predominance of the ΔHT conformer over the ΛHT conformer in the solid state and in both inter‐ and intrastrand HT crosslinks of oligonucleotides and DNA.
Analysis of Intramolecular Dynamic Processes in Enantiomeric Diaryl Atropisomers and Related Derivatives by 2H NMR Spectroscopy in Polypeptide Liquid Crystals
Authors: Lafon Olivier , Lesot Philippe , Fan Chun‐An , Kagan Henri B.
Published: January 2007

We demonstrate the analytical potential of 2H‐{1H} NMR spectroscopy in weakly ordering, chiral lyotropic liquid crystals made of poly(γ‐benzyl‐L‐glutamate) (PBLG) dissolved in chloroform or dichloromethane for investigating the intramolecular dynamic processes of four deuterated diaryls (derivatives of 1‐(4′‐methylphenyl)naphthalene). When the rotation of the aryl groups about the sp2sp2 bond is sufficiently slow relative to the NMR timescale, the method allows the spectral discrimination of enantiomeric atropisomers or enantiotopic directions in the prochiral derivatives. The effect of the position of substituents on the phenyl group on the conformational dynamics of these compounds has been examined as well as the nature of the organic co‐solvent. When coalescence phenomena are observed, simulation of the experimental 2H‐{1H} lineshapes using a formalism tailored for two deuterons undergoing mutual exchange allows the rate constants and the activation parameters for the internal rotation processes to be calculated. Experimental values of ΔH≠ have been compared with data evaluated by molecular modelling calculations and the activation parameters are discussed for the various compounds. It is shown that these polypeptide mesophases have no significant impact on the interconversion dynamics of these compounds. In contrast with the nematic thermotropic phases, Haller's equation cannot be used to predict the evolution of the quadrupolar splittings (ΔνQ values), and hence the order parameters, versus T in the PBLG mesophases. For these particular lyotropic systems, it is shown that an exponential function of the form ΔνQ[Hz]=C×exp (−E/RT[K]) provides excellent agreement between the experimental and expected ΔνQ values. Analysis of the results reported in this work suggests that orientation and chiral discrimination phenomena in these lyotropic solvents could be treated separately because they would involve different interaction mechanisms.
Synthesis and Structures of Cross‐Conjugated Bis‐dehydroannulenes with a Y‐Enediyne Motif and Different π Topologies
Authors: Bandyopadhyay Arkasish , Varghese Babu , Hopf Henning , Sankararaman Sethuraman
Published: January 2007

A synthesis of cross‐conjugated bis‐dehydroannulenes with different topologies of the π electrons by CuII‐mediated oxidative coupling of the corresponding terminal acetylenic precursors is reported. In general, of the two possible modes of cyclization, which would yield either a [13]annulene or an [18]annulene, the precursors yielded exclusively the bis‐dehydro[13]annulenes. However, one example of the formation of a bis‐dehydro[18]annulene is also reported. The mode of cyclization to form either the [13]annulene or the [18]annulene is explained on the basis of the conformational preference of the core unit bearing the Y‐enediyne moieties. The structures of the two types of bis‐annulenes have been unequivocally established by means of single‐crystal X‐ray crystallographic analysis.
One‐Pot Solid‐Phase Glycoblotting and Probing by Transoximization for High‐Throughput Glycomics and Glycoproteomics
Authors: Shimaoka Hideyuki , Kuramoto Hiromitsu , Furukawa Jun‐ichi , Miura Yoshiaki , Kurogochi Masaki , Kita Yoko , Hinou Hiroshi , Shinohara Yasuro , Nishimura Shin‐Ichiro
Published: January 2007

The development of rapid and efficient methods for high‐throughput protein glycomics is of growing importance because the glycoform‐focused reverse proteomics/genomics strategy will greatly contribute to the discovery of novel biomarkers closely related to cellular development, differentiation, growth, and aging as well as a variety of diseases such as cancers and viral infection. Recently, we communicated that rapid and efficient purification of carbohydrates can be achieved by employing sugar‐specific chemical ligation with aminooxy‐functionalized polymers, which we termed “glycoblotting” (see S.‐I. Nishimura et al., Angew. Chem. 2005, 117, 93–98; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44, 91–96). The chemoselective blotting of oligosaccharides present in crude biological materials onto synthetic polymers relies on the unique oxime‐bond formation between aminooxy group displayed on the supporting materials and aldehyde/ketone group at the reducing terminal of all oligosaccharides, thus enabling highly selective and rapid oligosaccharide purification. Aiming to improve the detection sensitivity of the released oligosaccharides, we introduce here a novel strategy for one‐pot solid‐phase glycoblotting and probing by transoximization. We found that oligosaccharides captured by the polymer supports via the oxime bond can be released in the presence of excess O‐substituted aminooxy derivatives in a weakly acidic condition. The released oligosaccharides could be recovered as newly formed oxime derivatives of the O‐substituted aminooxy compound added, thus demonstrating the simultaneous releasing and probing. In addition, we synthesized a novel aminooxy‐functionalized monomer, N‐[2‐[2‐(2‐tert‐butoxycarbonylaminooxyacetylamino‐ethoxy)ethoxy]ethyl]‐2‐methacrylamide, which allows for the large‐scale preparation of a versatile polymer characterized by its high stability, high blotting capacity, and easy use. The one‐pot protocol allowed to profile 23 kinds of N‐glycan chains of human serum glycoproteins. This concept was further applied for the glycopeptides analysis in a crude mixture followed by galactose oxidase treatment to generate free aldehyde group at the non‐reducing terminal of oligosaccharide moiety of glycopeptides. Our technique may be implemented in existing biochemistry and molecular diagnostics laboratories because enriched oligosaccharides and glycopeptides by solid‐phase transoximization with high‐sensitive labeling reagents are widely applicable in a variety of common analytical methods using two‐dimensional HPLC, LC/MS, and capillary electrophoresis as well as modern mass spectrometry.